Let's Move On From Here...

"Donkeys live a long time" If you read anything about education these days, you will inevitably read that it is essential to raise standards in education. It is difficult to argue with such an endeavour. How can it possibly be wrong to want to improve the standard of education we give our young people? It's an easy sell for anyone in politics. Nobody in their right mind would argue against the raisng of standards. Take me for example - I am probably all for it, I just want to know what it means... I am an English teacher, so of course I turn to a dictionary first: standard ˈstandəd/ noun plural noun:  standards 1 . a level of quality or attainment. "their restaurant offers a high standard of service" synonyms: quality ,  level ,  grade ,  degree ,  worth ,  calibre ,  merit ,  excellence "the standard of work is very good" The problem I have is that...

It's amazing how quickly things can change isn't it? On Friday I received an email informing me that the job I was going to in January no longer existed. By Monday I was accepting the offer of a job in an outstanding mainstream school - a school I know well and love dearly. It's a big school, but it is a place that genuinely cares about its learners. The staff are amazing and there is a wonderful atmosphere. Some wit called it Hogwarts because of all the staircases. They will pay me properly and I will work my butt off for the kids. I went in today to do DBS admin (for the third time this year) and to meet people. I met my new form - lovely bunch of Y8 lads who just wanted to know if I was a stressy, shouty, angry, strict teacher. I asked them what they thought, and one lad said he thought not. Why's that? I asked him. Because of the way you are speaking now, he said. So I reassured them that I am quite strict - they need to behave and get to school on time - bu...

Not many people really like change let's face it: it's stressful. We are supposed to see change as an opportunity but sometimes it is hard even as an adult. We get into a nice comfortable groove and then we want to stay in it because it's reassuring, we know what to expect and we can switch on the mental autopilot. Schools are lovely places for that. Timetables are published and stuck to, bells ring at the appointed hours and consequences for actions tend to be pretty predictable. You know where you are meant to be and what you are meant to be doing. The kids I work with don't do well with change, and I don't blame them! So when it came to saying goodbye to the young people that I have been working with since last Easter, I was expecting some wobbles. These are youngsters who find change very challenging - some are ASD, all are anxious - so me leaving to be replaced by someone they don't know is daunting. I know that my replacement is a really experienced ...

If, like me, you grew up in a happy home, then it can be hard to imagine that Christmas is anything but a wonderful time of the year. Christmas in my home was all about family. It was a warm, cosy time of year: there was always food on the table and presents under the tree; I got to see my cousins, rearrange my grandparents' furniture into train and eat way too much chocolate. But for some kids, Christmas is a bust. First of all, it means a change in routine and for some children that is really hard to cope with. Just the anticipation of Christmas can make some children stressed and anxious and the last two weeks of term can be very difficult. For an ASD child,  "fun" festive activities like special assemblies and nativity plays are a nightmare - suddenly their nice predictable routine is up in the air and they can't keep up. Stressed and anxious children - with or without an ASD label - are less able to make positive choices and they can end up being sanctioned...

I have read several interesting articles recently on the skills vs knowledge debate with seemingly good arguments put forward for each side. For some time now, there has been a bias in education towards skills. Teach kids how to analyse, evaluate and synthesise (for example) and they will then be able to apply and use those skills whenever they are needed in a range of contexts. Focus on the skills, we are told, and you create empowered, confident and independent learners. The knowledge based approach is often presented as being old fashioned - like something out a Dickens novel. Focus on facts in your classroom, and you might as well change your name to Thomas Gradgrind and don an academic gown and mortar board. But here's the rub for me in my classroom: the skills based approach assumes that learners have a knowledge base to use and my learners generally don't. Here are some things I have needed to teach individual learners this week in order for them to make progress w...