Blog

  • The most boring (but important) reasons that centralised planning fails

    The most boring (but important) reasons that centralised planning fails

    This post is about the common pitfalls in departments who use centralised planning. It discusses the issues and offers solutions. Read more

  • Beware the Ends of Branches

    Beware the Ends of Branches

    This post looks at certain topics which are often neglected when it comes to retrieval, why that happens, and what can be done about it. Read more

  • Teach Them HOW To Revise

    Teach Them HOW To Revise

    A summary of revision tips for teachers to use with students. Read more

  • Effective Assessment Feedback

    Effective Assessment Feedback

    Feeding back to content in a lesson, when using means of mass participation (e.g. mini whiteboards) can be relatively straight forward. If you check the understanding of a tiny aspect of the curriculum, you can then respond accordingly depending on how the class have performing. This gets tricky when a lot has been assessed at… Read more

  • QLAs – How to Use Them Well

    QLAs – How to Use Them Well

    Question level analysis (big old spreadsheets which look very colourful and contain data about how every student did on every question) are time consuming to produce and, by themselves, are not useful. Data managers and trust-leads might insist on them but they are nothing but a superficial exercise until they are used purposefully. This post… Read more

  • Department Handbooks

    Department Handbooks

    If you were thinking this swanky site was just built to hold a selection of dis-connected blogs, you’d only be 90% correct. There are a couple of things of actual use too. One of those things is a Maths Department Handbook that I put together. When I was Head of Department I was lucky enough… Read more