Ian

Head of Assessment in London | Ark View details and apply for this Head of Assessment vacancy in London. The Head of Assessment has lead responsibility for overseeing and developing assessment across the Ark network at both the pr...

Huge role at Ark advertised here. Come join us as Head of Assessment.
arkcareersweb.eploy.net/vacancies/34...

We going to need a bigger Bazooka How Labour can get the economy growing

New post just out:

A special guest post from John Kingman - former second perm sec at the Treasury and chair of Legal and General, the UK's biggest invester - on what Labour need to do to grow the UK economy.

"We're going to need a bigger bazooka"

(£/free trial)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/w...

This has some very clear thinking from John Kingman - with practical policy solutions, difficult though some may be to implement.

If Ofsted's aim is for senior leaders to be inspection preparation managers, who equate school improvement with making things look good for Ofsted and get teachers to spend a lot of time generating evidence to do so, then this inspection toolkit is a great idea. schoolsweek.co.uk/ofsted-boss-...

On Monday we learnt that 1 in 3 children are living in poverty…

And that deprivation has hit a record high

Given their new found compassion for struggling Brits

Where’s Jeremy Clarkson, Nigel Farage and Andrew Lloyd Webber to fight their corner?

…anywhere?

a black cat sitting on top of a red welcome mat ALT: a black cat sitting on top of a red welcome mat

Excited to see how @bsky.app is building membership amongst educators. Pleased to be here and to welcome friends @collegeofteaching.bsky.social

Calling all school and college staff – can our education system better support pupils with SEND? Time to have your say The national curriculum and statutory assessments for students with SEND need improvement. A Review is underway to identify necessary changes and gather professional insights. Stakeholders are enco…

Calling all school and college staff – can our education system better support pupils with SEND? Time to have your say

sendmatters.co.uk/2024/11/13/c...

Families of children with SEND – it’s time to be heard Too many families have to fight when their children have Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND). They have to battle a system that seems not to have been built with their children in mind.…

Families of children with SEND - it’s time to be heard

sendmatters.co.uk/2024/11/12/f...

Well it's not very big yet so I need your help but here's the start of a SENDCO (plus friends) starter pack.
If you are a SENDCO, Asst SENDCO, ALNCO, SEND Consultant or system leader, Please reply to this post with a hello or a wave and I will add you to the pack.
go.bsky.app/UrbNzMT

10: Positivity.... Much needs to be done to share what's great about teaching / education but done with real depth, substance, a proper offering that's clearly narrated, coupled with highly competitive pay, conditions, opportunities for progression & first rate CPD

Hey #EduSky, any recommendations for supporting dyslexic high school student struggling with writing/spelling? They've completed Wilson Reading System through Step 11, with more success decoding than encoding.

Exclusions and suspensions in 2023/24 - FFT Education Datalab Based on our analysis of attendance registers, rates of exclusions and suspensions in 2023/24 were higher than last year

NEW: Exclusions and suspensions in 2023/24

Based on our analysis of attendance registers, rates of exclusions and suspensions in 2023/24 were higher than last year.

ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2024/11/excl...

Fascinating and thoughtful thread from multiple perspectives on university selection bias and what is or isn’t valuable for all our students 👇

I definitely see this in the context of our schools, and while it can be hugely frustrating for less-well-resourced state schools you can’t fault the private schools for being smart about transforming extra resources into a genuinely great education.

A key understanding of middle leadership is to realise that instead of teaching students being your primary role, it is now the professional development of adults and the development of the curriculum and how it is assessed. Those three things are really challenging on their own, let alone together.

I think @missmc.bsky.social made a similar point on here last week… (ps I agree too!)

Really sensible, nuanced thread on outcomes follow-up conversations 👇

Ofsted reports seem more positive without headline grades Three in five schools rated ‘requires improvement’ last year had two or more ‘good’ sub-grades

Most schools rated ‘requires improvement’ last year had multiple ‘good’ or better sub-grades, suggesting parents will see a more positive picture of their child’s school now headline grades are gone

Includes this, possibly the most sensible two paragraphs I've read for a long time on England's education system:

I’m not watching it, but if everyone is Smaug all the time I can see it’s going to get confusing.

“Use all the sources and your own knowledge”: is it time to move on? I have written a few times now that I think we need a radical change in how we set source-based questions in exams. Some relevant earlier posts are Less generic analysis and more case studies: teachin...

Regarding source question in history exams, I remain convinced that the only way to do meaningful source analysis in an exam context is to have specified sources, perhaps as an anthology.

clioetcetera.com/2016/12/30/u...

Personalised learning as being able to work at a different pace is different to personalised curriculum. The former is very helpful in subjects where mastery matters. I have a draft blog post about GCSE options that I really must post!

Ive made it a personal policy to double all garlic/butter and reduce water by 20%. This appears to be the main secret to cooking.

Really interesting piece on the link between words and art …

Mark Reviews As part of my exam role, at this time of year, I undertake reviews of marking. These are more commonly referred to as re-marks, which is a misnomer. Papers are not re-marked from scratch. Instead, the...

I wrote something about mark reviews (you may know these as re-marks) which summarises what I think every year when I read social media, but never say.
sallythorne.com/2024/08/25/m...
TLDR: if you put in bulk review requests, consider spending the money on interventions instead.
#edusky

Quick bump for this - all advice welcome! #edusky

Hi all - does anyone have any recent analysis on the comparability of GCSE and iGCSE grades? There used to be a sense I think that top grades were easier to achieve in iGCSEs - but I don’t know if that was/remains true, nor (if true) how to quantify it. Thanks!