Children with Sensory Disorders – The Signs Are There If We Look Closely
Children with sensory disorders exhibit consistent patterns of behaviours. As teachers we may not observe the pattern or join the dots of the behaviour into a pattern. Thanks again to … Continue reading
What happens when you privatise your national schools estate and fail to put in adequate governance and accountability?
I’ve spoken before about the Tory government flagship educational policy of privatisation of the national schools estate through the mechanism of creating Academy chains to replace local authority control of … Continue reading
New Article on Future Proofing Your School in pDT Journal 21.1
In a rather bleak Christmas period, it was a treat yesterday to be contacted by Graham Handscomb, the editor of pDT (Professional Development Today), to say that my polemical article … Continue reading
Thought For The Day: Be Kind
Be kind, be fair and treat others as you would want to be treated and all will be well.
What the PISA tables don’t tell us, what the politicians don’t understand, and what good teachers know
The PISA tables reviewing the year 2018 have just been published. They present a ranking of the effectiveness of the respective education systems of countries in the areas of reading, … Continue reading
Emotional Intelligence: Towards an Operational Definition For Learning
Many thanks to Daniel Sobel for bringing this table based on work by Daniel Goleman back to my attention. I first read it when completing the National Professional Qualification for … Continue reading
Thought For The Day: Art and Creativity
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Pablo Picasso
UK PISA Results: Not Much Change, But Some Worrying Developments
This week’s release of the international comparative data on educational performance (PISA) revealed a marginal improvement in performance of UK schools in Maths, but otherwise no breakthroughs in teaching and … Continue reading
10 Simple Steps for Reducing Toxic Stress in the Classroom
Thanks to Sarah Morgan for bringing this article by Jim Hickman and Kathy Higgins in Education Week to my attention. Sarah highlights the need for early interventions to ensure the … Continue reading
School/Parent Relations and SEND Pupils
The relationship between schools and parents can be a fraught one. It is often characterised by an arm’s length relationship, which exacerbates when the child enters secondary school and the … Continue reading
Estonia: How to do education effectively!
With the latest PISA figures published by the OECD now available, it might be worth considering one of the brightest stars in the educational firmament… Estonia. Estonia has come from … Continue reading
Project-Based Learning: Some Hiccups Along the Way
This blog has long advocated Project Based Learning (PBL) as a key conduit towards creating a 21st century curriculum in schools. PBL is the basis for transforming a teacher led … Continue reading
What to buy the hard pressed educationalist in your life for Christmas… new insights in learning and teaching!
Wherever you live, the role of teacher and educationalist is never easy and seemingly getting harder. Give the gift of fresh insights to your teacher or educationalist this year, so … Continue reading
Revision: The Acquisition, Retention and Recall of Information For Examinations
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most insightful. This one came via Jon Tait on Linked In and he recognised something I noticed when students are revising. Often they spend … Continue reading
Labelling Learners: The Effects, Intended and Unintended
I am again indebted to Professor Amanda Kirby and Dr Mary Cleaton of Do-It Solutions for this really clear exposition of the pros and cons of labelling in the field … Continue reading
Future Proof Your School and Re-Examining Success Tour 2020
Following the publication of Re-Examining Success in February 2020, I shall be embarking on a speaking and support tour. The tour will encompass three related areas: Strategic briefings for senior … Continue reading
How to write an educational book: Future Proof Your School by David Hughes
I’m writing this, conscious that there are many teachers out there keen to write their own books on the improvement of learning in schools. Working with Julia and Di at … Continue reading
Edutopia and the George Lucas Education Foundation
One of our favourite go-to sites to catch up with innovative thinking is the George Lucas Foundation’s Edutopia. For someone who could conceive of the Star Wars universe, it was … Continue reading
Phil Rooke’s 15-minute Music Break: Music Building Learning!
I’ve been conversing with Phil Rooke on matters about the future of education for almost a decade and his passion and innovative insights never fail to impress me. At a … Continue reading
Initial Teacher Training reforms in the UK
It has been very pleasing to see Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector for Education, Amanda Spielman becoming more vocal about some of the detrimental practises in schools. Aspects such as ‘Off-rolling’ … Continue reading
Re-Examining Success: A Step Change in Promoting Student Achievement
My new book on school culture change, Re-Examining Success, has a release date in time for the 2020 revision season: 12th February 2020! Available to pre-order from all good bookshops … Continue reading
Charity!
Our younger son Owen has taken to marathon running. It started with the London Marathon, and in his usual way, he set out to master the event. He is committed … Continue reading
Finland’s Formula for School Success
Whenever some latest report or statistics are published which outlines some shortcoming in learning and teaching in the UK I always look for inspiration from the experience of the Scandinavian … Continue reading
Marginalising the Arts: A Travesty of Learning!
There has always been a hierarchy of subjects in school, ranked according to their perceived value. Although we need to qualify the word value, depending on the perspective of those … Continue reading
