@ensermark
Yorkshire based freelance writer, TES columnist, author of books and school support person. Ex-HMI and national geography lead Once a teacher Wanderer of hills, wonderer of everything else. Posting on Education, Folklore, Dungeons & Dragons and music.
Do schools kill creativity?”
It’s a seductive story. But creativity isn’t a free-floating spark waiting to be protected from schooling. It grows from knowledge, constraint, revision and judgement. Far from killing creativity, schools breathe life into it.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
A somewhat unexpectedly creepy find down a vomit splattered back alley in Preston.
What the process of writing a text book taught @ensermark.bsky.social about creating shared resources (which should help teachers and subject leaders who are developing such resources for others in their team): @tesmagazine.bsky.social www.tes.com/magazine/tea...
Thanks 😊
Finally, a great TES article by @ensermark.bsky.social about making resources for others. As he notes, it's relevant in many different scenarios and there's clearly a danger of AI shortcuts meaning that the resources fail the requirements that Mark sets out.
www.tes.com/magazine/tea...
Is your school’s quality assurance helping or hindering improvement? QA should be about curiosity & clarity – not compliance. @ensermark.bsky.social & @greeborunner.bsky.social explore five essential questions every leader should ask to make QA purposeful and impactful: buff.ly/jcBWkGe #schools
I had non-specialists and slt teaching the other class in my subject. I had to provide explicit lessons with everything they needed to deliver. Actually worked better then when I allowed for more flexibility in some circumstances.
An interesting article if you are in to the theory of games (and literature) - although trigger warning, they don't know how character attributes are rolled for...
theconversation.com/want-to-unde...
Shift from personal planning to public pedagogy, when resources have to carry the reasoning, not just the activity.
Limiting factor becomes transfer, clarity under pressure, likely misconceptions, checks for understanding & smallest set of choices a colleague needs to teach with fidelity.
Most teachers will, at some point, write lessons they will never teach themselves.
Heads of department do it constantly.
That shift changes everything.
1/6
Works really nicely with subject specialists (and/or experienced teachers) and capacity.
Sometimes the reality of teachers with other specialisms, high turnover and perhaps less experience etc. might mean that it's not quite so easy to operationalise.
As a Hod I preferred to give a model that said, these are the things the students need to learn (and not learn according to spec), why they need to learn it (v important IMO),these are some resources you might find helpful and this is roughly how many lessons you have.
Shared planning is now normal in most departments.
The real question is whether our resources genuinely support professional judgement, or quietly rely on it.
6/6
This thinking also shaped the Discover Geography series with Collins.
The aim was not just content, but support for the teacher who has to teach it.
collins.co.uk/collections/...
5/6
Shared materials need:
• Clear curriculum logic
• Explicit explanations
• Likely misconceptions surfaced
• Usability under pressure
Otherwise they increase workload rather than reduce it.
4/6
My latest TES article explores what writing a textbook taught me about shared curriculum resources.
The key lesson?
Make the reasoning explicit.
If the thinking stays in your head, the resource won’t travel well.
3/6
When you stop planning for yourself and start planning for others, you’re no longer relying on your own subject knowledge or classroom instincts.
You’re trying to support another teacher’s thinking.
www.tes.com/magazine/tea...
2/6
Most teachers will, at some point, write lessons they will never teach themselves.
Heads of department do it constantly.
That shift changes everything.
1/6
In my last Substack piece I looked at the implications of the white paper for curriuclum thinking - today, I turn my attention to what it means for the classroom.
open.substack.com/pub/enserm/p...
What’s the secret to writing effective shared curriculum resources? @ensermark.bsky.social shares tips for creating lesson plans that colleagues can easily pick up and use at short notice
In my last Substack piece I looked at the implications of the white paper for curriuclum thinking - today, I turn my attention to what it means for the classroom.
open.substack.com/pub/enserm/p...
I think you’re right. Structural stuff matters insofar as changes what happens in lessons.
SEND section is attempt to redesign operating conditions so curriculum access deliverable at scale.
If capacity doesn’t materialise, “curriculum” becomes aspiration and exclusion-by-drift does the rest.
Thank you.
I really enjoyed reading this, Mark. It has definitely provoked my thinking and I’ll be sharing it 👏🏻
For too long inclusion has been an add on at best, or worse, a removal of access.
If education is the great leveller we want it to be, we have to get this right. Now. At last.
*hopes*
Everyone is talking about the structures in the new schools white paper.
But what if the real story is curriculum?
In my latest piece I argue Every Child Achieving and Thriving is fundamentally a curriculum and pedagogy document, not just a reform plan.
What does it mean for subject leaders and classroom practice?
Read here:
open.substack.com/pub/enserm/p...
Would love to hear what others think.
#education #curriculum #schoolleadership
Everyone is talking about the structures in the new schools white paper.
But what if the real story is curriculum?
In my latest piece I argue Every Child Achieving and Thriving is fundamentally a curriculum and pedagogy document, not just a reform plan.
Do brain scans tell us anything about how to structure a curriculum? Should we be lead by what cognitive psychology indicates about how we learn or by what neuroscience suggests about how knowledge is stored?
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
Image of the first edition cover. Green. Title and a lino cut print of main street. Timbered cottages and a cobblestone street..
1. A Year in Willerby.
12 stories from a haunted village.
First edition run of 100 sold out but we're building a waiting list for edition two, which will be mostly the same with some interesting differences.
Here's the link for the list.
More detail in thread.
www.welcometowillerby.co.uk/blank
