The Evidence People
"Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful"*Assessment is definitely in the air. A very focussed conference (Assessing the Way Forward) on 24 June, for all Yorkshire and Humber schools that wrestled determinedly with systematising and framing assessment, helped me pull some pretty disparate threads together.
Whose Vision is it anyway? The Role of Governors“The Buck Stops Here” was famously the motto on the desk of US President Harry S Truman. The staff in most schools would probably think that the rightful place for this sign was on the head teacher’s desk – but they would be wrong. |
“Peccavi” was the one word telegram that Sir Charles Napier (apocryphally) sent to announce his conquest of Sindh province (it’s Latin for “I have sinned”). Blaise Pascal, French mathematician and philosopher famously ended a letter with the apology “I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time”. Both are good examples of how less can definitely be more in communicating something important.
The evidence base about Continuing Professional Development (CPD), and more recently Continuing Professional Development and Learning (CPDL) that works for teachers and pupils is settled and mature.
Phew wot a scorcher!Newsnight carried a item on 20th February about the growing gap in school performance between London and the rest of the country. Chris Cook of the Financial Times did his customary job cogently summarising the situation and Sir Michael Wilshaw attempted to suggest that what was happening in London could happen elsewhere. Nudged by Gavin Esler, he also said heads could and should 'root out' poorly performing teachers.
Is what you're doing making a difference?
This blog focuses one way or another, on working out how well we are doing. There are lots of good things going on in school, but only some of them have a very big impact on pupils’ learning and so really help us meet our aspirations for them. There are obviously a lot of variables to take into account in weighing up what to focus on and do really well, and each of the news stories and details about research has been selected to help people think about just that.