Watch this 2 minute video about developing pupils’ and teachers’ digital skills. Liz Jones is the Learning Technology Manager at The British School, The Netherlands. In this video, Liz talks about the skills that teachers and pupils need in today’s schools. Take some time to reflect on their perspective. Share your experiences with educators […]
Three years ago, I moved back to the UK, having worked internationally for seven years. Being an active educator on social media, I had read about a potential teacher wellbeing crisis and the impact of this for recruitment and retention. After taking on a role as deputy head in a small independent school in Northamptonshire, […]
Watch this 2 minute video about effective approaches to online and digital learning. Dr Kristen Weatherby is an Education researcher and consultant. In this video, Kristen talks about the benefits of education technology in today’s schools. Take some time to reflect on their perspective. Share your experiences with educators globally by joining the discussion […]
Chartered College of Teaching ¬∑ Young children, place and movement – during social distancing and beyond The access young children and their families have to different kinds of spaces, and what they are able to do in these spaces, has shifted dramatically as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. Stenning and Russell (2020), among others, […]
Chartered College of Teaching ¬∑ The role of youth social action in creating independent learners Through our work on Youth Social Action (YSA), we see a great deal of overlap in the skills and processes that support independent learning, and those that are developed within YSA projects. In this article, we look at how […]
Chartered College of Teaching ¬∑ Outdoor learning and wellbeing As many schools across the world are reopening or preparing to reopen to more pupils – some settings are considering increasing outdoor learning in order to provide a safer learning environment where coronavirus is less likely to spread (Quian et al., 2020). However, spending more […]
Chartered College of Teaching ¬∑ Journal clubs as an approach to teacher CPD Journal clubs have been used widely in medical settings since the 19th century during training and as ongoing professional development. Meetings are led by a facilitator who begins by reading a summary of a pre-decided paper or article and guides a […]
Chartered College of Teaching ¬∑ How can a learning community be designed… My background is in teacher learning and I have always been fascinated by the factors that influence teacher engagement in professional learning activities in schools. I have spent years studying teacher learning and comparing the learning that takes place in schools with […]
In March 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic left thousands of children to carry on with their learning outside of school. This changed the educational landscape dramatically and gave the world a glimpse into how teaching and learning could change for better, or for worse, in the long term. Partial school closures as a result of the […]
Chartered College of Teaching ¬∑ What does effective professional learning look like in the 21st century? For secondary school teachers, I have always found the expression ‘professional learning’ somewhat vague and amorphous. It lacks the enchantment, essence and energy of what I know from my own experience of growing as a subject teacher and […]
Chartered College of Teaching ¬∑ Community-building in a time of crisis Perspective can be elusive at times like these. The unprecedented nature and monumental scale of the COVID-19 crisis can blind us to those mundane, minute experiences that are our best guides to action. Take, for example, something that every teacher will have experienced: […]
Chartered College of Teaching ¬∑ How can different groups work together to support learners? Parental engagement in the learning of children and young people has always been important (Desforges and Abouchaar 2003; Goodall and Vorhaus 2011). By ‘parent’, I mean any adult with a caring responsibility for the child. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced […]
Online Learning ¬∑ Schools as testbeds for our vital creativity In times of great challenge, such as the ones we are living through today, human creativity is what we need if we are to emerge into a better world. It is the pillar on which we need to rebuild our education system, the anchor […]
Chartered College of Teaching ¬∑ Growing better learners: are we serious yet? In an ideal world, all the cogs of school are driven by the flywheel of vision and purpose. For things to mesh smoothly you have to give good clear answers to these six questions: What are the desirable outcomes of education? After […]
Chartered College of Teaching ¬∑ Learning from lockdown: using technology to empower parents When we first went into lockdown following the spread of COVID-19 I, like many of us, was deeply concerned. What will learning look like with only a computer screen to connect us? How will I reach out to the children in […]
I am going to begin this piece with a bold statement: The overall purpose of schooling is pastoral. I know that this is likely to be regarded as a controversial statement, or one that is simply wrong. Some readers will wish to problematise the obvious false dichotomy that I seem to have presented between the […]
Chartered College of Teaching ¬∑ Promoting independence through project-based learning In schools, teachers set the agenda for what needs to be learned, and how, and by when. We set deadlines for the students to meet, we remind them of those deadlines regularly and, if it looks like a student is not going to meet […]
Watch this 2 minute video about coaching, mentoring and professional collaboration. Rachel Lofthouse is the Professor of Teacher Education at Leeds Beckett University, UK. In this video, Rachel speaks about coaching and mentoring over the last few months. Take some time to reflect on their perspective. Share your experiences with educators globally by joining […]
Chartered College of Teaching ¬∑ Why is teacher assessment biased? I have previously written about how disadvantaged pupils do better on tests than on teacher assessments – and also about how many people assume the opposite is the case (Christodoulou, 2015a). It’s interesting that today, we seem to think that teacher assessment will help […]
Chartered College of Teaching ¬∑ How can pastoral and extracurricular learning enhance students’ independent learning skills? Independent learning is a complicated term. In practice, it can mean any number of things to any number of people. It’s useful, therefore, to think about a clear definition which captures the essence of its meaning. Dianne Murphy […]
