Richard Harvey-Swanston

Hi folks. I'm Richard: teacher and senior lecturer in education. Teacher cpd and primary maths.

Callout reads #FFBWednesday: Connecting UK Educators and Education. A matrix shows excellent people involved in education, including worthy BlueSky contributors: 1. @simonebeach.bsky.social, a primary school headteacher 2. @bennewmark.bsky.social, a secondary school teacher 3. @hoylerosemary.bsky.social, a chair of governors 4. @5naureen.bsky.social, a school governor 5. @primaryteachermary.bsky.social, a primary school teacher 6. @nourishworkplce.bsky.social, a supporter for school wellbeing 7. @simonknight100.bsky.social, a special school headteacher 8. @danlyndon.bsky.social, a secondary history specialist / teacher 9. @schoolsweek.bsky.social, a widely respected education newspaper. Footer reads @9000Lives.org

Bringing #FFBWednesday to BlueSky.

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Creating the education community BlueSky deserves.

I think you're (a) hugely overestimating the wealth/location of those of us who oppose grammar schools. (B) Misunderstanding what quality education looks like and how it is distributed across the country.

"even £200k can't make a dumb smart". Really?

A partially filled hundred square with 3 pairs of coloured tiles.

Which pair of coloured tiles has the greatest total?

How do you know?

A call for people to write for The Mathematical Gazette, and a plea for volunteers to peer review, from @amiemathematics.bsky.social. It's the journal I edit, behind the scenes we're getting ready to publish my first issue!

Connecting and making sense of those memories?

That's from Tall and Vinner (1981)

Important q and id be interested in @cmooreanderson.bsky.social 's thoughts. Fwiw makes me think of the concept definition v concept image distinction, where concept image is the collective impression of prior experience reenacted in the mind.

Building confidence during your PhD Doing a PhD can feel like wandering through a forest with no map. You’re constantly questioning whether you’re smart enough, working hard enough or heading in the right direction. If yo…

Doing a PhD can feel like wandering through a forest with no map. You’re constantly questioning whether you’re smart enough, working hard enough or heading in the right direction. If you’re feeling this way, you’re not alone. More importantly, you’re not broken. patthomson.net/2025/10/25/b...

The Ultimate Guide to Adaptive Teaching - Webinar with Sue Cowley Sue Cowley shares ideas about adaptive teaching and offers a range of practical strategies for creating an inclusive classroom

I'm running a webinar on adaptive teaching on 5th November. Loads of practical advice about inclusive approaches to teaching. Pay what you can to attend. Please share. Thank you! #EduSky
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And in terms of a best way to do something, sure but there's no single aim to judge against and trade offs to consider. I guess that's where we disagree: I don't think there's a best way of deciding what best is.

There are some strong arguments why teaching is different to other professionals - they generally point to it being so complex and hard to predict.

Ah you're already on the reading list Christian ... It's just that the reading list is really long! I will get there!

Thanks. I'm going to have to take a look at that.

Certainty is really attractive but my view is it's the enemy of quality and the death of on the ground problem solving/adapting that teaching is all about.

I think there's a lot of judgement and adaptation going on when schools borrow from each other. My main critique though is that I just don't think it's feasible to identify best bets for all schools with a degree of accuracy that goes beyond what eef etc. do currently.

My view is that expertise in how to implement and adapt 'best' practice from elsewhere is where the gains are. Investing in your teachers, keeping them in the profession longer really matters.

Insights into what seem to be features of effective provision are really helpful - and we have good examples of this already./3

We can identify what has 'worked' (but we have to agree what that means), and what seem to be the features of effective provision but all research/evaluation is flawed and there are no guarantees. It's what makes the job interesting and why prof. judgement and investing in effective cpd matters. /2

Searching for 'what works' is understandable, but there are no silver bullets out there and very little in education is reducible to treatments and procedures as it is in health. Education is an open, complex system, and it's purpose and nature is contested./1

How do you know what has worked well in one setting will work well in another?

Now published online as well as in print: my.chartered.college/impact_artic... @collegeofteaching.bsky.social

I'm not one to normally do this but really pleased to see our article published today in the CCT journal. The product of our beliefs and experience in teacher professional development and we hope of value and interest to readers.
@collegeofteaching.bsky.social

Primary educators 👋🏻

I am interviewing teachers for a research project aimed at understanding how teachers learn from each other in the workplace. But my sample is currently very secondary heavy

Could you (please!) spare me an hour of your time this week or next? It will be interesting, I promise!

Are we also another step further away from years where we lost (sadly) lots of teachers to early retirement/profession changes? I always wondered if this led to increased negative views about the profession to potential applicants.

Improvement still vital in recruitment and retention in primary though. Barrier for primary is long standing routes are often undergraduate - and a traditional degree route is becoming too expensive for many. The new teacher degree apprenticeship routes may be a viable option for many tho.

His updates are brilliant aren't they? I have similar concern but primary recruitment didn't fall as slow as some secondary subjects over the past few years, and overall numbers are still relatively(!) high compared to secondary. Cont...

Yes - true

Really interesting debate but I'm afraid you've lost me with this comparison. Stress as a child at one fixed period in time feels rather distant from accountability year on year, and sidelines other influences on adult stress: parenting, caring for family members, employment future and finances.