History lesson, by Terry Freedman.jpg — History lesson, by Terry Freedman

Two more for the archive

April 22, 2025

I’ve just published a couple of documents in the Digital Education Supplement. This is a collection of free resources for subscribers to my newsletter, Digital Education, which is also free.

The state of Computing

June 7, 2022

Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education) has published its first report in ages into Computing as a subject. I've summarised the findings, and added some links and comments on my own in italics.

Inspection of a Computing department in the form of a really bad TV documentary 2021

December 13, 2021

Fortunately, such an inability to explore interesting and sensible questions would not be found in a real inspection. Would it??

The horror, the horror! N-Noooo!!!, by Terry Freedman

The inspector cometh

November 9, 2021

Being told that the inspectors are coming is pretty scary, but I would say that some people respond in ways that are counterproductive, including to their own health. These are the things I’ve either come across first-hand or experienced when I was an Ofsted inspector myself, or when I was being inspected.

To put it Bluntly: Ofsted jargon revisited

September 23, 2021

Derek Blunt takes issue with inspectors' jargon. Should you ever find yourself looking for examples of what Kenneth Hudson referred to as “diseased English”, I think you could do worse than looking at Ofsted guidance or listening to Ofsted pronouncements. Ofsted is the name of the schools inspectorate in England,

Judge not -- again

April 23, 2021

In my experience, an expectation of compliance was baked in to the system, and that really does mitigate against innovation.

Judge not, etc

April 3, 2021

A lot of inspectors judged how good the subject was being taught by how nicely formatted the kids' work was.

Ofsted's guidance on "remote learning"

January 14, 2021

I think that this guidance is useful in making the idea of online teaching sound doable, but there are too few details or links to details that would make it truly useful.

Ofsted: how is the new framework shaping up? Updated

December 13, 2019

The Westminster Forum has a conference coming up on 25th March 2020:

The new Ofsted inspection framework — implementation, impact on schools, and the next steps for the curriculum

Ofsted consultation on its proposed new Framework: my comments

April 3, 2019

There are only a few days to go before the consultation on the proposed new Ofsted framework closes. Here are my comments.

A new framework for judging teachers

February 5, 2019

Fears about the unintended consequences of the proposed new Ofsted framework — have your say — plus links to other articles about Ofsted-related fears.

Evidence-based education revisited

December 23, 2018

A reflection on the contents of the 2017-18 annual Ofsted report as summarised in a word cloud.

Educational research reading, by Terry Freedman

Evidence-based teaching: what's striking or new about it?

December 13, 2018

In the latest Ofsted annual report, teachers using an evidence-based approach is something that “strikes” the Chief Inspector. But what is remarkable about it?

Inspecting Computing in schools: 6 research questions

September 27, 2017

The schools inspectorate in England (Ofsted) aspires to become a research hub. How might or should this affect Computing?

Digital Education: what's in the latest issue?

March 21, 2017

Assessment, Book reviews, Ofsted: just three of the topics covered in the latest issue of our newsletter, Digital Education.

Articles on Ed Tech: Retrospective #5

September 23, 2016

Here are some articles you may have missed in the past week or so. Topics featured include inspection, book reviews and Word macros.

11 attributes of the ideal ICT and Computing inspector

September 20, 2016

If ICT or Computing is inspected in your school, what attributes would you like the inspector to have?

To put it Bluntly: Ofsted jargon

September 16, 2016

Derek Blunt takes issue with inspectors' jargon.

Recent book reviews

Review: Social Media for Academics

This book is very readable, and if I sound surprised that is because it’s not always true of academics!

Quick looks: VIBE Coding by Example

For the time being, this book is free in Kindle format.

Review: The Game Changers: How Playing Games Changed the World and Can Change You Too

Despite the relative paucity of immediately obvious National Curriculum links, teachers will find several of sections of this book to be highly engaging.

Review: The Dictators: 64 Dictators, 64 Authors, 64 Warnings from History

In some respects one could view this book as a single warning repeated 64 times.

Review: The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker: A History of the High Street

Taking readers from the Middle Ages to (more or less) the present day, Gray charts how the places where we do our shopping and what we buy have changed over the centuries.

Review: Extraordinary Learning For All

As a source of potential ideas and inspiration, the book could be very useful indeed.

Review: Bad Education: Why Our Universities Are Broken and How We Can Fix Them

One has the impression that the main role of the university these days is to maximise profit, while that of the majority of teaching staff is to ensure the ‘correct’ views are passed on to students. All the while, students’ main concern seems to be to seek protection from anything that might make them feel unsafe.

Review: Next Practices - An Executive Guide for Education Decision Makers

Is a 2014 book on managing the computing provision in a school still worth buying?

Still relevant (sadly): How to lie with statistics, by Darrell Huff

Although this book is over 60 years old, it is remarkably apposite for our times -- and especially in the fields of educational research and assessing pupils' understanding and progress.

Quick looks: Bad Education: Why Our Universities Are Broken and How We Can Fix Them

It was a great source of pride to me, getting hundreds of students through their A levels and encouraging them to go to university. But for some time I have asked myself a question: would I recommend this route now?