Teen reading lives in focus: Autonomy, agency and social reading cultures
KELLY ASHLEY, Lecturer in Reading for Pleasure, The Open University, UK TERESA CREMIN, Professor of Education (Literacy) and Co-Director of the Literacy and Social Justice Centre, The Open University, UK ALISON KING, Librarian, Literacy Lead and PSHE Coordinator, Kings Monkton School, Cardiff, UK SUSAN LATTER, Lead Teacher, Crofton School, Hampshire, UK Adolescent reading lives are shaped by a complex […]
SPACE to Flourish: Cultivating children’s creativity through supporting pedagogy in professional learning – interim findings
DEBI KEYTE-HARTLAND, EARLY EDUCATION ASSOCIATE; ARTIST-EDUCATOR, UK CATHY GUNNING, EARLY EDUCATION ASSOCIATE; EDUCATION COACH AND MENTOR, UK Introduction This article examines transformative learning at the midpoint of SPACE to Flourish – a four-year professional learning programme for Early Years educators in London, funded by the Mercers’ Company, delivered by Early Education (2024) and its associates, who author […]
‘Tell Me the Story’: Reframing creativity through student voice in specialist and mainstream settings
DR NIGEL MATTHIAS, HEADTEACHER, KING’S ACADEMY LORD WILSON, UK; VISITING FELLOW, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON, UK ‘Tell me the story of a time when you were successful in school’: this simple prompt opened a window into the complex internal worlds of boys in an SEMH (social, emotional and mental health) specialist academy, revealing that their creativity is […]
Calm through creativity: Embedding daily creative habits to foster emotional regulation and wellbeing in primary classrooms
Daisy Bethan Wilson, Institute of Education and Humanities, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UK Addressing readiness to learn UK schools are increasingly impacted by the escalating mental health crisis affecting both pupils and teachers (Teach First, 2024). A concerning one in six children in the UK are reported to experience a diagnosable mental health condition (Health […]
Whole-class approaches for addressing reading underachievement in disadvantaged communities: A comparative study of questioning versus uninterrupted reading
STEVE MURRAY, SEXEY’S SCHOOL, BRUTON, UK JON JAMES, UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL, UK Introduction In the UK, even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a quarter of students were shown to have reading ages of 12 years or below, something that adversely affects academic outcomes across the subject spectrum (GL Assessment, 2020). One method of improving reading ability, enhancing […]
A coaching pedagogy for autonomy and agency in the classroom
KIRSTY NUNN, HEAD OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, MILLFIELD SCHOOL, SOMERSET, UK Context and rationale Developing independent learners is a widely stated aim across education. However, students often remain dependent on teacher guidance, particularly when faced with challenge. In computer science, this is especially evident during programming tasks, where students frequently seek rapid reassurance rather than persisting independently. […]
The Nervous State: Using cross-curricular learning to develop students’ emotional literacy and subject knowledge
MARK COTTINGHAM, SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD, UK JULIE GOTTLIEB, SCHOOL OF HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY AND DIGITAL HUMANITIES, THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD, UK ANDREW SPRAKES, XP TRUST, UK Introduction and context This case study summarises a collaboration between historians, educators and a dramatist to develop cross-curricular, creative methods to embed emotional literacy (Steiner, 1997; Goleman, 1996) in […]
Improving levels of student agency and self-regulation: A case study of the ‘Real LiFE’ Curriculum
STEVE HALL, LiFE MULTI-ACADEMY TRUST, UK Introduction Having been inspired by the OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030 framework (OECD, 2018) and its advocacy for the development of student agency, leaders within LiFE Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) followed the achievements of schools both globally and within the UK who had purposely designed their curriculum, teaching and […]
Classroom to care transformation: The use of mannequin simulation to boost confidence, autonomy and psychological wellbeing in T-level health education
VANOJAN MANICKANADARAJAH, HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE, SOUTH AND CITY COLLEGE BIRMINGHAM, UK One of the top priorities in the further education (FE) sector is the preparation of learners for industry-based placements; however, most learners experience a wide gap between their theoretical knowledge and its practical application. This is similarly experienced by T-level health learners who […]
Use of an academic framework to help students to take a critical attitude to their use of information
ANDREW K SHENTON, RETIRED EPQ MENTOR, WHITLEY BAY HIGH SCHOOL, UK The problem Students today are routinely urged to question the information that they access, and various checklists have been developed to encourage them to test material against individual criteria. Although the importance of source evaluation has been highlighted for decades, moves in this direction have […]
Mathematical creativity: An overlooked dimension?
IAIN WILSON, TEACHER OF MATHEMATICS AND THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE, MARLBOROUGH COLLEGE, MALAYSIA Ask someone to list ‘creative’ subjects and they are likely to respond with music, art, drama… but maths is not generally included. And yet creativity is a vital tool in the armoury of a mathematical researcher: if mathematicians never thought in new ways, then […]
Policy into practice: Empowering creativity and agency through ethical AI integration
Featured image source: Yutong Liu & Kingston School of Art / https://betterimagesofai.org / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ MICHAEL FEGAN FCCT, ST COLMAN’S COLLEGE, NEWRY, UK Introduction St Colman’s College, Newry, first engaged with AI in late 2023. What began as curiosity soon highlighted a wider need for structure, clarity and a whole-school approach that could harness AI’s potential while […]
Building human-centred schools: Generative AI, creativity and strategic leadership
JAMES CLEMENTS, HEADMASTER, FOREST PREPARATORY SCHOOL, UK Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is no longer a peripheral concern for schools. Teachers and pupils already encounter chatbots, image generators and lesson-planning assistants in everyday work. In England, the Department for Education acknowledges that GenAI offers ‘exciting opportunities’ to improve education by helping teachers to focus on teaching and […]
Beyond the page: Contemporary classroom use of generative AI to democratise the expression of learning
Featured image source: Yutong Liu & Digit / https://betterimagesofai.org / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ DR FIONA AUBREY-SMITH, FOUNDER, ONE LIFE LEARNING, UK Roughly 60 to 85 per cent of teachers are now using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools for purposes associated with classroom practice (Latham and Montacute, 2025). These uses are widespread and varied, reflecting different exposure to AI […]
Co-constructing learning with generative AI: Implications for supporting autistic students
Featured image source: Alan Warburton / https://betterimagesofai.org / © BBC / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ DR LUCY CATON, UNIVERSITY OF GREATER MANCHESTER, UK ZAINAB PATEL, PRINCIPAL, OLIVE TREE PRIMARY, UK CHRIS HESKETH, KEY STAGE 2 TEACHER, HASLAM PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL, UK Aims and context This article reports on preliminary findings from a small-scale empirical study and outlines the implications and emerging […]
A multimodal AI approach to supporting students with English as an additional language in a British international school setting
Featured image source: Yasmine Boudiaf & LOTI / https://betterimagesofai.org / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ STEWART LAWSON-HASKETT, THE BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF NEW YORK, USA The global context British international schools are seeing a significant rise in the number of students for whom English is an additional language (EAL) (Strand et al., 2015). Teachers must balance curriculum demands with the […]
Don’t let the bots do the thinking: Reclaiming creativity and creative skills in an AI world
REECE SOHDI, SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF SUNDERLAND, UK Introduction In today’s educational landscape, artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a speculative future but has the potential to become deeply embedded in teaching and learning linked to creativity. Generative AI tools can write essays, produce images and music, and suggest creative ideas at the click of […]
Generative AI, integrated curricula and a new index for measuring creative and original learning
Featured image source: Nidia Dias & Google DeepMind / https://betterimagesofai.org / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ MARVIN STAROMINSKI-UEHARA, ADJUNCT ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY, JAPAN This article examines how generative artificial intelligence (GAI) supports the transition from subject-based teaching to integrated curriculum (IC) models in primary and secondary education. A systematic literature review of 22 empirical studies published between 2022 and […]
Autonomy and agency in the age of algorithms: How is AI shaping professional knowledge, identity and practice?
Featured image source: Catherine Breslin & Tania Duarte / https://betterimagesofai.org / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ RACHELE NEWMAN, DIRECTOR OF TEACHER PROFESSIONAL LEARNING, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON, UK SIAN CUMMING, DEPUTY HEADTEACHER, UPPER SHIRLEY HIGH SCHOOL, UK NATALIE BUNGAY, DEPUTY HEADTEACHER, WESTON SECONDARY SCHOOL, UK The benefits for teachers in engaging with research-rich professional activity include improved subject and pedagogical knowledge, as well […]
From novelty to normal: How teachers are using AI in 2026
Featured image source: Max Gruber / https://betterimagesofai.org / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ KAREN WESPIESER, TEACHER TAPP, UK Quick-read summary AI has shifted from novelty to near-routine in teachers’ professional lives. By autumn 2025, a majority of teachers report using AI weekly to support school work, although 12 per cent have never used it. Teachers’ use of AI is selective […]