Teacher admin tasks: the ritual is alive and well

March 6, 2024

In January 2024 the English Department for Education published its initial thoughts on teacher admin tasks, as in what teachers should not be expected to have to do.

This is one of those rituals that the DfE goes through every so often in one form or another.

My worst IT training days #4: Too much admin on a course (Updated)

September 4, 2021

How the admin involved in a course led to its being abandoned by one group of trainers.

How teachers can use the tick box in Google Sheets

June 10, 2020

Google sheets has a tick box feature. Here are some ways you can make use of it.

My worst IT training days #4: Too much admin on a course

August 2, 2019

How the admin involved in a course led to its being abandoned by one group of trainers.

Teachers of the future? I don't think so. Picture from pixabay.com Licence: CCO

From AM to AI -- or why teachers should embrace the robot revolution

February 13, 2018

AI should be embraced, not avoided, because it has the potential to enable teachers to do their job withoiut much of the associated drudgery.

Recent book reviews

Review: Teach Fast

The book contains some interesting ideas.

A question of leadership

I have somewhat dichotomous views of this question of whether leaders make a difference, or much of a difference. I think my views can be classified as macro and micro.

Review: Making Good Progress?

Daisy Christodoulou carefully picks apart the pitfalls of various kinds of assessment, drawing on different subject areas to do so.

principles and practice of assessment.jpg

Review: Principles and Practices of Assessment

There is plenty in this book to like.

Review: Effective Teaching: Evidence and Practice

Although this is a few years old now (2018), it has stood the test of time.

Review: One for maths teachers

This wide-ranging book takes in probability, fractals, astronomy, Babbage, Lovelace and a host of other areas and people.

Reviews: Two for History teachers

Two books on the Nazi era.

Review: One for English teachers

No book about the craft of writing seems complete without a stern chapter on the importance of eschewing adverbs and adjectives - but what to put in their place?

Review: The Great Formal Machinery Works: Theories of Deduction and Computation at the Origins of the Digital Age

If you’re of a mathematical bent this could be just the book to delve into.

Review: How to lie with statistics

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.