Interviews
It's that time of year when we start thinking about possibly moving schools and looking for a new job or challenge. Teachers usually have to give half a term's notice before resigning and the job market starts to ramp up from now, ready for next September. It has been over twenty years…
Burnout
You've been back a week since half term! A whole week at work after a whole week off - you must be flying high, right? Energy levels at the highest they've been since September, lessons going brilliantly, students finally accepting you and their behaviour is impeccable, right? Wrong. So,…
Every Second Counts
Doesn't it? The average human lives for around 2,240,543,592 seconds, which a mind-bogginly large number. The average UK student spend 117,000 seconds per week in school, or 56,160,000 seconds over an education from 5 to 16 years old. Huge numbers that lack meaning, much like…
Consistency
A word has been bandied about in education over the last few years, and I think it's one that has been much misunderstood - by everyone from support staff, students, parents, teachers and most of all, of course, SLT. Consistency. Nicked from Memedroid. Possibly my new favourite…
To phone or not to phone…
In England this week, the government have announced new guidance suggesting that all mobile phones should be banned during the school day and teachers should be encouraged not to use theirs in front of students. I have some views on this, so here we go. A recent study1 of…
Mistakes, mishaps and mayhem
If you are a frequent reader of this blog, you'll know I work with other teachers helping improve classroom practice amongst other things. Occasionally a few of these teachers will look at me like I know all the answers, and the simple truth is I do not, and never…
Parents evening 2
What's this? Another post about parents evening? Well, yes, there's more than one in a year you know... There is a particular hell to the parents evening at this time of year. Why oh why is it now? Returning after Christmas always feels tough, as the Christmas holiday is not…
And we’re back!
Yep, it's January which only means one thing: back to work. With any luck, the first day this term was an interminable inset day, where you can perhaps play back to work bingo and get all the important questions out of the way. How many times did you hear any of this: How was your…
It's finally Christmas! Or at least, it's the end of the school term...
david-watkins.com/2025/12/19/s...
#education #school #teaching #learning #coulddobetter
So here it is…
Merry Christmas - you made it! Definitely time for a beverage of your choice1. So, how was the last week for you? Did you have to keep students engaged up to today? Did you decorate your classroom? Give out Christmas cards to everyone in your tutor group2? Play carols during tutor…
One week to go…
Yeah, it is, really. No, no come back.... One week of the longest term in the school year left. The Autumn term is usually fifteen weeks long, which is unfeasibly1 huge. For year 11 and 13, they are halfway through the year. Unbelievable. The summer term can also be as long, but…
Interesting questions
Full disclosure: this wasn't going to be this week's topic, but something happened yesterday. I am luck enough to work with teachers to try and improve their practice, and work with small groups of students. Yesterday, a cool, enthusiastic teacher asked me a very important…
Now I've stopped teaching, I've been blogging about my memories and thoughts over the last 30+ years at the chalkface. I'd love more eyes on it!
david-watkins.com/could-do-bet...
#education #redundancy #teaching
Post Mock Blues
By now the year 11 (and possibly year 13) mocks are over, or very nearly over and so our focus turns to more important things - namely, how the hell are we going to improve these results? This is a fundamental problem with teaching and I have no clue how to solve it. We need…
OFSTED
Is there a word1 more likely to cause stress and panic amongst teachers than OFSTED? We get a phone call, up to 48 hours before arrival and then they're in, looking at everything and anything they want. Then they disapper, and providing everything is okay, they disappear for three years.…
Parents’ Evening
You are now most likely entering the time of year where everyone's favourite evening of the school calendar happens1. Yep, it's time for the first parents' evening of the year! People do though.... Parents evening should be a time for you to give feedback to parents as to how…
It’s mock time!
At some point in the next couple of weeks, or possibly already, year 11 will start their first round of mocks. Before I go any further, I should say the majority of my experience was in a 11-16 school, so if you also have year 12/13 mocks then I feel for you, and particularly your…
Half Term.
It's the holidays. What the fuck1 are you doing reading an education blog? Get outside, play with your kids, read a book, watch a film, do something else. Look! It's outside! Until next time.
You made it!
It's half term! One half term down, five to go. No, wait, come back, don't go cry in the corner... Have a beverage of your choice - you've earned it. When we reached this particular half term, my overriding feeling was always relief. This one is always a monster. We go from the light…
Inspirational?
A few years ago, there was an advertising campaign which had celebrities naming a teacher who had inspired them. I can't remember much about it1, apart from Bob Hoskins growling someone's name. There's also a video on YouTube of Ian Wright meeting his former teacher guaranteed to…
Bad teachers?
Nope, not the Cameron Diaz film, which I admit I found pretty funny, although I am easily pleased1. The reason for all the lesson observations and performance management shenanigans is down to bad teachers. Nothing improves a blog like a random picture of Cameron Diaz2. In an earlier…
Now I've stopped teaching, I've been blogging about my memories and thoughts over the last 30+ years at the chalkface. I'd love more eyes on it!
david-watkins.com/could-do-bet...
#education #redundancy #teaching
In between reviewing new books, I am making an effort to review books that "fell by the wayside" thanks to my depression over the years.
Today it is The Original's Rage by @davewatkins.bsky.social
The final part of his excellent werewolf trilogy.
gnofhorror.com/the-original...
💙📚🩸
Lesson Observations
Following on from last week's musings on Perfomarmance Management, let's take a look at the other bit to PM - having a lesson observed. Lesson observations are weird. They are undoubtedly nerve wracking, but they shouldn't be. See, the problem is teachers work in isolation most…
Performance Management (PM)
Ah, is there any other two word phrase designed to invoke a mixture of fear, disgust and feelings of inadequacy in a teacher than ‘performance management’? The process involves looking at your performance (clues in the name!) over the past academic year. It is meant to…
Performance Management (PM)
Ah, is there any other two word phrase designed to invoke a mixture of fear, disgust and feelings of inadequacy in a teacher than 'performance management'? The process involves looking at your performance (clues in the name!) over the past academic year. It is meant to…
The grind starts…
So I had some feedback from people1 reading this and as a result, I'll do less footnotes this week, promise. Okay, with that out of the way, let's get on with the grind. You've been back in school three weeks. What's that? No, really, you have. The summer seems a lifetime ago…
Open Evening and other shenanigans
Ah open evening - one of the highlights of the academic year1. Children come to look around 'big school' and get excied about the range of activities teachers have cobbled together to show them. These activities are designed to get the children to be students, so…
I've got a few that are either part or entirely set in Devon and/or Cornwall. Happy to send you something? Also Adam Nevill 'Cunning Folk' is clearly set this way, of not explicitly.
The first week
A school year starts something like this: Day one: 9am start (earlier if you're really unlucky). You've just had the worst night of sleep you've had in the last six weeks, possibly ever. You turn up early, because you want to set a good impression1. The staff room/hall/wherever…
