The drivers behind attendance: How understanding parental engagement can be used to support attendance at school

Harriet Ratty, Partnerships Support Coordinator, ImpactEd, UK The percentage of students persistently missing school in the 2021/22 academic year was considerably higher than pre-pandemic in 2018/19, at 22.5 per cent compared to 10.9 per cent (DfE, 2023). These numbers have since risen. At ImpactEd, we support schools to measure the impact of their initiatives so […]
An education of the head, heart and hand

Liz Robinson and Sarah Seleznyov, Big Education, UK Big Education is a multi-academy trust with three schools: Surrey Square, School 360 and School 21. The trust works with a network of over 500 schools across the UK, focusing on developing pupils as empowered and successful individuals, and moving beyond a narrow emphasis on teaching for […]
Education in times of crisis: Effective approaches to distance learning

Sharing teachers’ expertise and experiences Report summary
Reconsidering the role of mock exams in schools

Nick Pointer, Programmes Tutor, Ambition Institute, UK The hegemony of assessment For many years, schools have given a central role to summative-style assessments. The use of terminal exam questions to drive in-class learning and employing regular internal mock exams to generate grades and measure student progress have become unquestioned practices. This is demonstrated in recent […]
Six key revision strategies to embed knowledge into memory

‘But I don’t know how to revise.’ Sound familiar? Of course, it does. It’s a common phrase we hear from our students when it comes to exam preparation. It can also serve as a reminder that it is vital we consider not just the content of what we teach, but also how students learn the […]