EDIT 28th MARCH 2017 – Given the news today -> TES report here about the change to accountability measures this post is now outdated!! I will post a proper updated post soon!! I‘d like to have called this post .. the truth, the whole truth and … ummmm … what we don’t yet know! Further to my … Read more
This evening has been one of the most frustrating I’ve had in a long time. I’ve been distracted and I can feel my blood pressure rising; today was MathsConf6 and from my twitter timeline it looks like a great time was had by all that attended – that is what the events should be about. … Read more
A contact sent this through to me to share with fellow teachers. In the body of the email forwarded to me it mentions that the aim is to “elicit teacher preparedness for the upcoming and recently implemented GCSEs and A levels.” It goes on to say; “At Ofqual we hear a lot of anecdotal feedback … Read more
It seems apt given both the financial situation schools are finding themselves in but also the recruitment issue to point out that we’re STILL doing our bit. At the start of the 2014 academic year we launched SchoolScanner and contacted every school – initially there was a rush of jobs appearing but we’ve had to … Read more
I mean National Reference Tests! An update was published recently on the Ofqual blog and on several occasions I’ve written about these in December 2015, June 2015 and April 2015 so I’ve been following their development quite closely. Basically I think they’re a rubbish idea! I get the fact the government are crapping themselves about … Read more
My thoughts recently have been concerned with resits of one form or another, both at either end of the 11 -16 age spectrum. So not only are we dealing with the impending new 9-1 GCSE, the ends of my spectrum are blurred with uncertainty (it isn’t as painful as that sounds!?!) and I find that … Read more
To HOD or not to HOD – The poison chalice? Occasionally, when I’m not being over-protective about this being “my blog” I hand over the reigns to a guest author and this evening is one of those times -having put a “shout out” for guest posts it looks like I’m going to have a series … Read more
As the saying goes: “every day is a school day” and last weekend at a meeting of the Teaching Committee of the Mathematical Association (the MA!) I found out about the primary maths challenge which is aimed at students in years 5 and 6. It is held every November with bonus rounds usually in the … Read more
So I’ve shared the fact that we had “the call” (Part 1) and was observed (Part 2). Now time for the feedback session. You may remember (I know it sounds odd) that myself and Seager met with the lead inspector to get feedback on our lessons together. As we walked in it felt OK (we … Read more
oh come on … of course it’s not a genius idea. Right … brace yourself. For the record this is not a primary v secondary school debate – we’re all in this together and the fact is primary teaching is becoming ever more accountable, if that is even possible. The idea of resits in year … Read more
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