I am increasingly aware of how lucky we’ve been in terms of recruitment. I’ve always said that “it” (I’m talking UK-wide here!) isn’t just about recruiting new people to the profession – we need to look at retention too. It’s a false economy to just keep throwing time and effort into feeding the funnel without … Read more
It is that time of year when I become a bit blinkered and focus on one thing … the maths GCSE for year 11! I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing and I’m not saying that Maths is more important than any other subject, but there are accountability measures in place upon which, so … Read more
It is the day of the general election and all of the major parties are using the “we’re here at the behest of the voters” (or words to the effect) to try to win our votes. Well today I received an email from the DFE and I am frustrated and concerned about “the extent to which … Read more
I’ve been thinking. Following a comment on my last post about statistical significance I’m putting my hands up and saying I don’t know enough about the maths behind “significance”… there are much better equipped people out there that I am sure can inform me. All I know is that in the section where Ian Stockford … Read more
The long awaited day has arrived and I’ve been doing my own version of an impatient child checking the DFE site and clicking refresh to see if the promised findings had been published and so what a treat it was for me when THIS POST this appeared on the blog pages of Ofqual. I was so … Read more
Study leave or not? that is the question! There is always some debate at this time of year about how different schools structure their study leave and lots of schools now run a “revision timetable” once the exam season starts; I have recollections of having my last day at school where shirts got signed and … Read more
OK so it’s not mid-week yet but I have my last ever parish council meeting tomorrow (it’s the annual general meeting so not an “actual” meeting) and I will officially no longer be Councillor Muldowney having made the decision to not stand at the next election so won’t be around to do my usual midweek blog post. When … Read more
Just a quickie … busy, busy, busy … We’re on the home run with year 11, but we’ve already started reflecting on what went well and what we need to refine from September and post the GCSE exam is a good time to introduce new routines to embed them prior to the start of the … Read more
Back in March 2015 Ofqual announced that NFER had been awarded the contract to provide National Reference Tests ( OFQUAL ANNOUNCEMENT ) The idea is that Ofqual is introducing the new National Reference Tests (NRTs) to provide additional information to support the awarding of the new “big fat” 9-1 GCSEs. The intention according to Ofqual is … Read more
I’m just home having spent the last 3 days of the Easter Holiday at Keele University for the annual conference of the Mathematical Association and I’ve come away with loads to think about as you do after events of this type. Subject associations and where they “fit” in the day to day grind of teaching … Read more
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