A Guide To Scenes From The Battleground

I have updated this guide for the holidays.

This blog is about the state of secondary education. There is an introduction to it here:

• Welcome (or welcome back) to the Battleground

And some reflections on it here:

• Now We Are Seven
  
• Now We Are Eight
• This Blog’s 9th Birthday
• 10 Years A Blogger
• 11 Years Of Blogging

Here is a summary of my main points:

• A New Summing Up

Here are a few posts written purely for a laugh (although some of them perhaps make a point at the same time):

• The Driving Lesson
• The Cult of INSET
• The Theory of Multiple Fitnesses
• The Kennedy Assassination: A Headteacher’s Perspective
• Blood and Guts
• Rewriting the Dictionary
• What if Senior Managers Told the Truth?
• You Know it’s Time to Quit Teaching When…
• Charlie and the Inclusive Chocolate Factory
• Back To Work
• Negative Correlations in Teaching
• Sports News (written by a friend)
• 10 Reasons Why I Shouldn’t Tidy my House
• Progressive Teaching Methods In the Primary School
• The Two Types of Guardian Journalism About Where to Send your Kids to School
• What have women ever been allowed to do in the education system?

The following posts sum up what is typical in schools these days in various respects:

Behaviour:

• The Top Five Lies About Behaviour
• The Naughty Boy
• The Disruptive Girl
• How To Find Out If Your Teacher Is Gay
• Getting “Terrored”
• The F***-Off Factor
• Excuses, Excuses: Part 1
• Excuses, Excuses: Part 2
• Excuses, Excuses: Part 3
• Excuses, Excuses: Part 4
• The Two Discipline Systems
• “I Don’t Get It”
• Zen and the Art of Going to the Lavatory
• Ammunition
• The Year 11 Tipping Point
• The Good Kids
• Obedience
• Seven Signs of a “Good Enough” Discipline System
• Newspapers Persecute Schools For Enforcing The Rules
• Behaviour Consultants

Curriculum:

• They Call It PSHE, I Call It Hell
• Mixed Ability Teaching Doesn’t Exist
• The Joy of Sets
• Political Education Goes Down the Toilet
• Values
• English Language GCSE – Narrowing the Horizons of the Next Generation
• Attitudes Which Cause Dumbing Down
• Yes, Those Were Definitely Examples of Dumbing Down

Teachers and Managers:

• The Appeasers
• A Few More Words About Appeasement
• Excuses, Excuses – This Time from the Grown Ups
• Seven Habits of Highly Defective Headteachers
• Heroes of SMT
• The Illusionists
• Good Year Heads
• How Low Can Expectations Go?
• The Job that Never Ends
• How to be bad SMT
• Should Managers Tell Teachers What To Do? Part 1
• Should Managers Tell Teachers What To Do? Part 2
• Should Managers Tell Teachers What To Do? Part 3
• Holding Teachers To Account Fairly
• The 7 Deadly Sins Of Workload
• Managerialism
• Teacher Autonomy Part 1
• Teacher Autonomy Part 2

Special Needs:

• Not-So Special Needs
• Tourette’s, Turrets, Tourects
• Total Eclipse of the SEN
• Failing The Most Vulnerable
• The Latest SEN Fad Diagnosis: Attachment Disorder

School Life:

• Sports Day
• Cover
• 10 Things To Avoid in INSET

Miscellaneous:

• Unsolved Mysteries of Teaching
• Ten Things to Know About the Kids
• 10 Things You Never Hear In Teaching
• And On the Plus Side
• Pointing Out The Obvious
• Twenty Lies
• Obstructions
• Have Sixth-Formers Changed?
• Some Pedagogical Resources
• More Pedagogical Resources
• Enough With The Green Pens!
• There’s One Thing Worse Than Green Pens
• In Scotland’s Schools, it is still 2008
• Untruths in teacher training
• What’s normal in a school is what matters
• 10 “unbelievable” things that used to be common in schools

As well as the advice for teachers included in many of the other posts, I have written advice specifically for new teachers:

• FAQs for NQTs
• Is This Normal?
• How to Destroy NQTs
• Lies, Damned Lies and Things You are Told During Teacher Training
• Some Quick Tips for NQTs and Trainees
• Why Most Behaviour Management Advice Doesn’t Work

These deal more directly with my own personal experiences, or the experiences of others:

• The Corridor of Death
• The SIG Group
• The Anonymous Questionnaire. Part 1
• The Anonymous Questionnaire. Part 2
• The Behaviour Management Database
• More from the Behaviour Management Database
• A Good Class
• Non-Discipline Day
• Five Incidents That Didn’t Result In A Permanent Exclusion
• The Culture of Blame
• The Most Ridiculous Complaints Against Me Ever Made
• Being Supported by a Year Head
• Meanwhile, Elsewhere in the Education System
• The Core Business of Schools
• I Have A Dream
• Doctor What?
• I Have a Bad Relationship with the Kids
• Insane Teacher Bothers the Prime Minister
• God
• Shoot The Messenger
• A Personality Clash
• Charlene
• Holiday In Hell: Part 1
• Holiday In Hell: Part 2
• Higher Education? (written by a friend)
• Success
• Selling Out
• Students and Detentions
• With a Little Help from my Friends
• Eight Out Of Forty-Three Ain’t Bad (If You’re a Member of SMT)
• The School’s on Fire
• Snow Days
• The Hostile Observation
• What I Didn’t Say During the INSET day on Special Educational Needs
• The Outstanding School
• The Failing Department (written by a friend)
• Further Education
• Parallel Universes at the London Festival of Education
• A Reader Comments on their NQT Year (written by a reader)
• A Primary School Mutiny (written by a reader)
• A Maths Teacher writes… (written by a reader)
• Should We Care About Our Students?
• What I did during my half-term holiday
• The Darkest Term: Teacher Stress and Depression
• School Governor Writes… (written by a reader)
• The Unintended Consequences of Teaching Schools (written by a reader)
• The Darkest Term Revisited: Teacher Stress and Depression Part 1
• The Darkest Term Revisited: Teacher Stress and Depression Part 2
• The Darkest Term Revisited: Teacher Stress and Depression Part 3
• The Darkest Term Revisited: Teacher Stress and Depression Part 4
• The Darkest Term Revisited: Teacher Stress and Depression Part 5
• The Darkest Term Revisited: Teacher Stress and Depression Part 6
• The Obligatory Michaela Post
• What happens when schools don’t permanently exclude?
• The most pointless activities from teacher training
• Teachers describe their worst injury at work

I have also written a number of posts exploring and explaining how this situation came to be, discussing the arguments in education and suggesting what can be done.

Background:

• Modern Education is Rubbish Part 1. Where Are We Now?
• Modern Education is Rubbish Part 2. What Should We Be Trying To Do?
• Modern Education is Rubbish Part 3. Why Are Our Schools Failing?
• A Brief History of Education. Part 1. Educational Thought
• A Brief History of Education Part 2. The 1944 Education Act
• A Brief History of Education Part 3. The Rise of the Comprehensive
• A Brief History of Education Part 4. The Assault on Professionalism
• A Brief History of Education Part 5. The Battleground School
• The Cast of Culprits Part 1. The Students
• The Cast of Culprits Part 2. The Teachers
• The Cast of Culprits Part 3. The School Leaders
• The Cast Of Culprits: Part 4. The Bureaucrats
• Was It Always Like This?
• It’s Not Just Me

Apologia and arguments:

• Why I Like Being a Teacher
• Just For The Record, I Don’t Hate The Kids
• Optimism
• A Member of the Patriarchy Writes…
• Why I Blog Anonymously
• I felt a great disturbance in the internet yesterday
• The State of the Education Debate
• How the tide has turned…
• Avoiding the Difficult Choices in Education
• Has The Debate Moved On?
• Witch-hunt
• When Should Education Events Be Held?
• Authentic Concern Versus Emotional Correctness
• 3 Things I Strongly Disagree With
• Sorry for wasting your time with the TES awards
• A quick note on the TES teacher blogger of the year award
• My post for @LabourTeachers : The Five Worst Education Clichés
• Is criticising learning styles an attack on the poor?
• The Rise Of The Progressive Trolls
• The Troll Report
• This poll explains why there is conflict between primary and secondary teachers on Twitter
• We should be more offended by dishonesty than by pointing it out
• Why you shouldn’t complain about being patronised online
• Let’s not argue over why we can’t make a difference
• Should teachers question authority?

Progressive Education:

• If Only They Didn’t Have to Learn
• The Devil’s Own Education System
• Group-Work
• Education as a Religion
• Childish Things
• Why Students Aren’t Given More of a Say in Education
• How to Argue for Progressive Education
• Play
• A New Primary Teacher Writes… (written by a reader)
• That Primary School Teacher Post
• The Trendiest Current Arguments For Progressive Education Part 1
• The Trendiest Current Arguments For Progressive Education Part 2
• Denying the debate about progressive and traditional education (Part 1)
• Denying the debate between progressive and traditional education (Part 2)
• Denying the debate about progressive and traditional education (Part 3)
• Denying the debate about progressive and traditional education (Part 4)
• Revisiting the Trendiest Arguments for Progressive Education
• Nobody’s actually against knowledge are they?
• Definitions of Progressive and Traditionalist
• Why do progressives deny the debate?
• How Educational Progressives are still trying to silence those who disagree
• How Educational Progressives are still trying to silence those who disagree. Part 2
• How Educational Progressives are still trying to silence those who disagree Part 3
• Teachers are divided by values, not just methods
• Revisiting the Trendiest Arguments for Progressive Education Again
• The Progressive Narrative on Behaviour. Part 1
• The Progressive Narrative on Behaviour. Part 2
• The Progressive Narrative on Behaviour Part 3

Behaviour:

• Bad Ideas for Dealing with the Behaviour Crisis
• Bad Idea for Dealing with the Behaviour Crisis #1: Make Lessons More Fun
• Bad Idea for Dealing with the Behaviour Crisis #2: Bring Back Selection
• Bad Idea for Dealing with the Behaviour Crisis #3: End Compulsory Education
• Bad Idea for Dealing with the Behaviour Crisis #4: Have More Vocational Subjects
• Bad Idea for Dealing with the Behaviour Crisis #5: End Parental Choice
• The First Law of Behaviour Management
• The Second Law of Behaviour Management
• The Third Law of Behaviour Management
• The Fourth Law of Behaviour Management
• “But They Have To Go Somewhere”
• In Praise of Harshness
• Detentions: Part 1
• Detentions: Part 2
• The Driving Lesson Revisited
• The Denial Twist
• The Three Main Debating Strategies of Behaviour Crisis Denialists
• Shouting
• A Solution to Poor Discipline in Challenging Schools
• What Makes A School Discipline System Work?
• The Behaviour Delusion (or “Why do Kids Kick Off?”)
• Will a behaviour consultant help your school get through an OFSTED inspection?
• Is obedience dangerous? Part 1
• Is obedience dangerous? Part 2

Initiatives:

• Gag the Student Voice
• Teach First, Repent at Leisure
• Snake Oil (BLP)
• A.P.P.
• Surviving A.P.P.
• Inclusion and the Special Needs Racket
• Is Growth Mindset the new Brain Gym?

Education Policy and Current Affairs:

• Why Education Shouldn’t be Run by Bankers
• Strike!
• Scabs
• Who Is To Blame?
• Why Sir Alan Steer Should Stick his Stupid Lying Report up his Arse
• Lessons Not Learned (Or Why Sir Alan Steer Should Still Stick his Report up his Arse)
• We Are The People We’ve Been Waiting For
• Parental Choice
• Parental Choice Revisited
• Three Opinions Best Ignored
• Bye, Bye, Mr Balls
• Snuffy
• The Education White Paper
• Let’s Twist Again…
• These Riots Prove Whatever the Hell it was I was Already Saying
• The Exam Scandal
• The Education Spectrum
• The Attitudes Which Cause the Behaviour Crisis
• How Not to Criticise an Education Secretary
• A Reply To Fiona Millar’s Latest Exercise in Denialism
• Dumbing Down: The Tory Way
• Why Is Nationwide Funding A Campaign Against The Teaching Of Basic Numeracy?
• A Note About The GCSEs
• Actually, It Was About Cheating
• The Exam Hysteria Continues…
• More About Exams
• A Note on Exams
• The GCSE English Farrago
• I Told You So
• What good should follow this, if this were done?
• Why those of us on the left should support Michael Gove’s efforts to “clever-up” the curriculum
• Policy Based Evidence Making
• Last Week’s Verdict on the English GCSE Farrago
• Some Final Words on the English GCSE Farrago
• A Response to Ben Goldacre’s Building Evidence Into Education Report. Part 1
• A Response to Ben Goldacre’s Building Evidence Into Education Report. Part 2
• Well, this is disappointing
• Why I’m against Performance-Related Pay
• Michael Gove’s Favourite Bloggers (or why my credibility is now shot)
• Spot the Difference
• A Petition Against Passing Off Blogposts as Petitions
• Seven Things All Politicians Should Know About Education
• Michael Gove’s Mr Men Speech
• Is it even possible to discuss education policy any more?
• Where did Michael Gove find that Mr Men Story?
• Should Language Students Learn to Translate? (written by a reader)
• A Further Thought on Language Teaching  (written by a reader)
• A Few Points About the Teaching Unions
• The History Teachers We Don’t Hear From (written by two readers)
• Discussing the 7 Myths About Education
• Kids are failed by The System, not their genes
• The Case against Michael Gove
• The Case against Stephen Twigg
• A Few Comments on Last Week’s GCSE Results
• Shocking News: Labour activist (and NUT member) criticises Michael Gove
• It’s because I agree with Gove about the curriculum that I disagree with him about pay and conditions
• Bye bye, Mr Twigg
• No OFSTED Hope From Tristram Hunt
• How To Sabotage Your Own Policy
• Liz Truss’s Textbook Speech
• Tristram Hunt proposes something which may just be worse than OFSTED
• Spot The Difference: Part 2
• How To Sabotage Your Own Policy Part 2
• The International Language of Edu-Platitudes
• The International Language of Edu-Platitudes (Updated)
• Towards a Blue Labour Agenda on Schools Part 1
• Towards a Blue Labour Agenda on Schools Part 2
• Goodbye, Mr Gove
• Will everything really calm down after Gove?
• Spot The Difference Part 3
• Spot The Difference: The ATL and Behaviour.
• Workload
• How the Education Establishment Supports Inequality
• Lies, Damned Lies and #WomenED Statistics Part 1
• Lies, Damned Lies and #WomenED Statistics Part 2
• Kids Company shows us why truth is important
• Is promoting women really the issue? (From @LabourTeachers)
• My post for @LabourTeachers : Stop Demonising Academies
• Mental Health Champion Axed
• My post for @LabourTeachers : Defending teachers who work in academies
• Nick Gibb on Grammar Schools and Secondary Moderns
• The debate over feeding kids when their parents refuse to
• Children are human beings, not labels
• If we are not careful, history will repeat itself on exclusions

Phonics

• A Very Short Summary of the Phonics Debate
• Is Phonics Being Implemented Correctly?
• A Response about the Implementation of Phonics
• The Latest Iteration of the Phonics Debate
• Phonics Denialism and Rational Debate
• Revisiting the Debate Over the Davis Phonics Pamphlet: Part 1
• Revisiting the Debate Over the Davis Phonics Pamphlet: Part 2
• Revisiting the Debate Over the Davis Phonics Pamphlet: Part 3
• The arguments against the phonics screening check have been discredited
• 3 ways phonics denialists will try to fool you
• Addendum: A 4th Way phonics denialists will try to fool you
• Don’t let phonics denialists move the goal posts after PIRLS 2016

OFSTED:

• OFSTED Must Die
• What OFSTED Say They Want
• What OFSTED Actually Want
• Does Sir Michael Wilshaw Know What OFSTED Good Practice Looks Like?
• OFSTED Best Practice Videos
• Did OFSTED just remove those good practice videos?
• OFSTED Under Fire
• The Strange Case of OFSTED and School Governors (written by a guest)
• Do OFSTED pay attention to their chief inspector or their handbook?
• Can Sir Michael Wilshaw order OFSTED to change?
• Just when you think OFSTED have got their act together, the flip cameras are back.
• The OFSTED Teaching Style
• The Government Should Listen to Teachers. And By “Teachers”, I Mean “Me”
• More OFSTED Good Practice that isn’t
• A Brief Comment on OFSTED and Teacher Talk
• New OFSTED Handbook
• The Open-Ended Hypocrisy of OFSTED
• What I’d do about OFSTED
• When will OFSTED change?
• I’ll Accept No Excuses for OFSTED
• New Academic Year. New Inspection Handbook. Same Old OFSTED
• More OFSTED Nonsense
• Why I don’t think OFSTED can be reformed
• Has OFSTED Changed Since Last Month?
• Some Progress with OFSTED (and how little difference it makes)
• They’re Back – OFSTED Subject Specific Guidance Notes
• A Christmas Miracle – OFSTED Get It Right For Once
• Why That OFSTED News Is So Important
• Have OFSTED Changed Yet?
• Missing OFSTED Reports
• How have OFSTED behaved in the last 2 weeks?
• Bizarre Developments and Unfair Judgements on the OFSTED Website
• Ten Questions OFSTED Need to Answer
• More OFSTED Reports Edited After Publication
• Two More Edited OFSTED Reports
• Arnold Hill Academy Responds to the OFSTED Shambles
• Can OFSTED stop publishing ridiculous reports, even if they try?
• Last Week’s OFSTED Story in the Times
• OFSTED Quotations About Independence
• That Gove/Wilshaw Spat
• OFSTED go mad In Coventry
• An OFSTED Round Up
• OFSTED Culture
• Are OFSTED Judgements Reliable?
• An Example of OFSTED’s Inconsistency
• My Meeting With Sean Harford, OFSTED’s National Director for Schools Policy
• First Impressions of the New OFSTED Handbook
• A Tale Of Two Schools (Or How OFSTED Are Still Pushing Fuzzy Maths)
• Tough Questions For OFSTED
• The OFSTED Teaching Style R.I.P. (Part One)
• Is this the most clueless OFSTED report ever written?
• Do OFSTED criticise teachers who set the same work for everyone in a class?
• What did you make of this term’s OFSTED changes?
• The #OFSTEDMyths Videos
• 4 Things Sir Michael Wilshaw would never have said
• Bye, bye, Sir Michael
• Why I won’t be complaining that the new chief inspector isn’t an ex-teacher
• Dear politicians, don’t mess up the chance to make OFSTED fair
• Spielmania takes hold on social media
• What OFSTED still needs to do
• OFSTED and Workload
• OFSTED and triple-marking

The College of Teaching:

• Why I’m Deeply Sceptical About A College Of Teaching
• Why Evidence and Research Won’t Resolve Ideological Disputes Around The College of Teaching
• What Would Make Me Join A College Of Teaching?
• Why There Should Only Be Teachers In The College Of Teaching
• What is the College of Teaching for?
• It Seems I Won’t Be Joining The College Of Teaching
• The College Of Teaching Debate
• Nick Hassey’s Views on The College Of Teaching
• Politician’s Logic and The College Of Teaching
• The College Of Not-Actually-Teaching
• Politicians Competing To Be The Most Clueless About Education
• Those Backing the College Of Teaching Still Don’t Get It
• The Creation Myth of the College of Teaching
• The College Of Teaching Claims Your Cash
• Catching Up With The College Of Teaching
• The College Of Teaching gives more power to the powerful
• The Chartered Teacher Programme: Another stick to beat teachers with
• Chartered College Of Teaching misses its membership target
• I told you so: Evidence and the Chartered College of Teaching
• The Chartered College Of Not Actually Teaching
• The Chartered College of Getting It Wrong
• I was wrong about the Chartered College Of Teaching. It’s worse than I thought it would be.
• Another note on those Chartered College Of Teaching elections
• The “teacher led” College Of Teaching. Part 1
• The “teacher led” College Of Teaching. Part 2

Children’s Mental Health

• Lies, Damned Lies and Child Mental Health Statistics
• The mental health fad in schools
• The Child Mental Health Crisis Debate: Part 1
• The Child Mental Health Crisis Debate: Part 2
• The Child Mental Health Crisis Debate: Part 3

School shamings and witch hunts

• The Daily Mail is still shaming schools
• Don’t Twitter shame a school and call it a debate
• What’s it like for a school to be shamed? Part 1
• What’s it like for a school to be shamed? Part 2
• What’s it like for a school to be shamed? Part 3
• Further thoughts on shaming schools
• How to criticise without starting a witch hunt
• School Uniforms and The Mob
• The New Type Of School Shaming
• Schools should be championed not shamed
• On Edu-Twitter Witch Hunts
• School Shamings: Why they are unnecessary and who is to blame for them
• Using Race To Smear Education Events
• Don’t let @BAMEedNetwork shame your education event
• Shamed Schools 2 – Edutwitter Trolls 0

Teaching and Teachers:

• Lesson Observations
• The Appeasers’ Creed
• It
• The Bisected Teacher
• Wilful Stupidity
• Hard Work
• Never Forget: Learning Styles are Complete Arse
• A Teacher’s Oath
• The Insanity of Allowing Phones in Class
• More about Phones
• The Problem with AfL
• Another Problem with AfL
• Denying the Debate
• Marking and Workload
• Arguing over the Ridiculous: Brain Gym and Mantle of the Expert
• Hands Up
• A Question (and a Straw Man) About Lying to Children
• Fluency in Mathematics: Part 1
• Fluency in Mathematics: Part 2
• Fluency in Mathematics: Part 3
• In Praise of Explanations
• On Just Teaching
• Nobody Believes in Learning Styles Any More, Do They?
• Why I Am Against Mixed Ability: Part 1
• Why I Am Against Mixed Ability: Part 2
• Learning Styles Strike Back
• What education bloggers have said about times tables tests
• Why You Should Welcome Times Tables Tests: Part 1
• Why You Should Welcome Times Tables Tests: Part 2
• Are teachers filthy, rotten liars?
• Learning Styles – The fad which will not die

Educational Ethics and Philosophy:

• Professionalism
• Ethics Man
• Human Nature
• Blamelessness
• The Blameless. Part 1: The Young
• The Blameless. Part 2: The Poor
• The Blameless. Part 3: The Afflicted
• Needs
• Desert Part 1: Rewards
• Desert Part 2: Punishment
• Desert Part 3: The Purpose of Punishment
• Corporal Punishment
• Kindness and Justice
• Self-Esteem: Part 1
• Self-Esteem: Part 2
• Health Versus Education
• Why it is Annoying to Discuss Teaching Methods
• Bad Ideas About the Aim of Education #1: Developing Character
• Bad Ideas About the Aim of Education #2: Improving Emotional Well-Being
• Bad Ideas About the Aim of Education #3: Fitting Children to their Future Role in Society
• More about those Bad Ideas
• The Aim of Education
• Culture
• The Porpoise of Education
• Facts
• Information and Understanding
• Thinking Skills
• Creativity
• Autonomy
• Inspiration
• Skills or Knowledge?
• Weasel Words #1: Engage
• Weasel Words #2: Understand
• Weasel Words #3: Skills
• The Future Part 1: Another Argument for Dumbing-Down
• The Future Part 2: Overseas Competition
• The Future Part 3: Changes in the Labour Market
• The Future Part 4: Technological Change as Normal and Unpredictable
• The Future Part 5: Are We Living in a Time of Unprecedented Technological Change?
• The Future Part 6: Does New Technology Mean We Don’t Need to Know Anything?
• A Note About The Future
• The Future Part 7a: What’s a Digital Native?
• The Future Part 7b: Is there such a thing as a Digital Native?
• The Future Part 7c: Whose silly idea was this Digital Natives thing anyway?
• Hannah Arendt
• Letter from a Professional Part 1: What is a Profession?
• Letter from a Professional Part 2: What are professional ethics?
• Letter from a Professional Part 3: Teaching and Professionalism
• What’s Essential in the Education Debate Part 1: Truth
• What’s Essential in the Education Debate Part 2: Reason
• What’s Essential in the Education Debate Part 3: Refutation
• The Problem With Knowledge Part 1
• The Problem With Knowledge Part 2
• Teachers Should Welcome Open Debate: Part 1
• Teachers Should Welcome Open Debate: Part 2
• Teachers Should Welcome Open Debate: Part 3
• The Return Of The Most Annoying Question In Education
• Born Bad
• Behaviour change and justice

Education Research and Academics

• Statistical Data and the Education Debate Part 1: Effect and Cause
• Statistical Data and the Education Debate Part 2: Why we can reach conclusions from limited data
• Statistical data and the Education Debate Part 3: Errors and Gold Standards
• Criticising the Obviously Wrong
• Drawing the Line Between Research and Propaganda
• Does teaching philosophy to children improve their reading, writing and mathematics achievement? (Guest post by @mjinglis)
• Shutting Teachers Up
• Lies, damned lies and things you hear from Australian educationalists
• Do educationalists hate teachers having a voice?
• Why all the research on teacher qualifications is worthless
• Why is the EEF getting it so wrong about ability grouping?
• The EEF were even more wrong about ability grouping than I realised
• Educationalists welcome my contribution to the debate about setting
• Does this data show a primary school cheating in KS2 exams?

The Curriculum

• Academic and non-academic subjects
• More on academic and non-academic subjects

Here are some videos I found on the internet which I thought were interesting, or relevant, enough to present in a blog post. Some will probably no longer be available, I hope to correct this where possible when I get the chance.

• Blame The Teacher – 1947 Style
• A Helpful Video On Learning Styles
• Another Helpful Video
• Brain Gym Exposed
• Is Teaching an Art or a Science? – Dan Willingham
• Dylan Wiliam’s Lecture and “Sharing Good Practice”
• We all know David Starkey was a terrible teacher… don’t we?
• My Interview with the OFSTED Big Cheeses
• The Mixed Ability Debate
• Is Inclusion Working? | Debate from #educationfest

I wrote about some of the myths that are spread to teachers, often in INSET or during PGCEs:

• Three Myths For Teachers
• More Myths for Teachers
• Technology and Another Myth for Teachers
• A Myth for Teachers: Jobs That Don’t Exist Yet

I have also outlined what I would expect from schools willing to do put things right:

• My Dream School: Part 1
• My Dream School: Part 2

Here are my book recommendations:

• The Battleground Bookshelf
• More from the Battleground Bookshelf
• Progressively Worse – A Subversive Text
• “Changing Schools: Perspectives on five years of education reform”, Edited by Robert Peal
• A Review of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Teachers
• “Yes, But Why? Teaching for understanding in mathematics” by @solvemymaths

This may be of interest if you are considering writing a blog or are looking for blogs to read:

• Advice For Education Bloggers
• Quick Tips for New Education Bloggers
• A Guide To My Favourite Bits of The Education Blogosphere
• A blogger all teachers should be following: @greg_ashman

You may also have found me…

• in the New Statesman blog
• on the Labour Teachers website (The Education Spectrum)
• on the Labour Teachers website again (How Not To Criticise an Education Secretary)
• on the Labour Teachers website yet again (Reflections on the Festival of Education) 
• From Labour Teachers: Why I’m not convinced about local authority control in education
• On the Fabian Society website
• On the Fabian Society website again
• mentioned in some print media
• On the NUT website
• On Radio 4’s The Report
• On Radio 4’s One to One
• On Radio 4’s More or Less
• Reviewing blogs in Schools Week

Here’s an idea for using Twitter to advertise teaching jobs:

• Finding or advertising a teaching job on Twitter with #teachingvacancyuk

I have also written sections in the following three books:

• Progressively worse: The Burden of Bad Ideas in British Schools
• Don’t change the light bulbs: A compendium of expertise from the UK s most switched-on educators
• Changing Schools: Perspectives on five years of education reform

Please let me know if any of the links don’t work.

Finally, I can be found on Facebook (please “friend” me) or Twitter (please “follow” me).

If you want to keep up with education blogging other than mine, or to see some of these same concerns discussed by others, then you should follow my sister blog, The Education Echo Chamber. The blog is here. The twitter feed is here. The sister blog to the sister blog is The Echo Chamber Uncut which automatically shares all UK education blogs. The blog is here. The twitter feed is here. There are details of some “mini Echo Chambers” here.

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