Category Archives: Innovation

Parent Governors are Dead, Long live Parent Governors

It’s time for a revolution in School Governance, one that is driven by us, and our communities, rather than politicians.  It seems that changes to the governance of schools are coming, whether we want them or not. As a new … Continue reading

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Inanimate Alice animates learning, again!

I am so pleased to see that the newest episode of Inanimate Alice is now out for download, and here’s why. I was a fan of the first few episodes of Inanimate Alice, and used it with groups of kids, … Continue reading

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“You mean introverts are real?”

My views on how we run schools has been totally shaken since reading Susan Cain’s book Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking (2012). Yes, very late to the party, but as a card carrying extrovert, … Continue reading

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A chorus of teachers

In previous posts, I have applied lessons from evolutionary theory to the early  development of the new College of Teaching. I hope it will also find a way to channel the creativity, innovation and diversity of our profession; a channel … Continue reading

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The Red Queen – Evolving the profession

We need to be more honest about failure in education. As we canter towards the College of Teaching are we danger of ignoring a fundamental principle of evolution? It is not enough to maintain or even improve standards. As a … Continue reading

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Loose threads in Oxford City schools

Based on my most recent work with schools in East Oxford, I have seen a huge opportunity to improve the coordination and collaboration between, and across schools in the city. There are too many loose ends, and those threads need … Continue reading

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A Quantum of CPD – Atomic TeachMeet

The first Atomic TeachMeet took place this week, bringing Teachmeet back to it’s roots. When Brian Sharland and I started tweeting about this, our intention was to create a regular, social and small gathering of classroom practitioners,… Or a teach … Continue reading

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A Treat for Teachers

I have a pitch for you. Ready? I would like to introduce you to… TeachTreat! An introduction service for the education world.   TeachTreat will connect teachers together, as professionals, to learn better. TeachTreat will match schools with partners for … Continue reading

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The false standard of ‘Standards’

Though I was enormously relieved to read Labour’s first statement of their own education policy, I was disappointed that we still are in awe of a word that has rarely meant less than it does now – ‘Standards’. Blunkett did … Continue reading

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Any colour as long as it is grey

As the sharpest commentator on education in the UK Laura McInnerney is widely considered to be right about the unqualified teacher ‘row’,.. and, following a twitter discussion with her at the time, I have thought long and hard since my … Continue reading

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