As the festive season ebbs into distant memory, accompanied by all of its good cheer, people are once more ready to feel bad about things. Cue a slew of articles last week once more highlighting the stress epidemic gripping the profession. What’s new here? Not much, except that stress is spreading. Metastatic, its migrated to [...]
With both pupil numbers and demand for teachers set to rise in the near future, it will become increasingly important for school leaders not just to recruit, but to retain good staff. New models for better retention are required. The number of teachers joining the profession has roughly counterbalanced the number leaving it in recent [...]
Teachers always know when its close to Christmas. Even if they’ve somehow managed to avoid being carpet-bombed with seasonal adverts, they can sense the change in air pressure around school. The machine is slowly grinding to a halt, ready to power down for the holidays. In such a climate of school plays, Christmas jumper [...]
What do the collapse of Enron and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have in common? You might reasonably guess some nascent political or economic concept. But actually it’s a psychological one – they can both apparently be explained by a lack of growth mindset. Growth Mindset is a powerful idea; and its absolutely everywhere. Sports teams, Silicon [...]
The recruitment crisis looms large over the whole profession of teaching. Most simply bemoan the situation; others choose to do something about it. Professor John Howson is probably the sagest example of an individual working to understand and reverse this current crisis. In an illustrious career spanning 40 years, Howson has played many parts. [...]
Part 2 of our survival guide for NQT's - take heed and prosper. 6 - Keep trying new things No doubt after the first few weeks the novelty of having your own classroom and teaching groups will begin to evaporate. No doubt your enthusiasm for crafting perfect lessons will follow suit and you’ll [...]
Achtung NQTs - the summer is nearly over. If you’re anything like me, the divine bliss of the holiday freefall is now coming to an abrupt end as you see the ground rapidly approaching. With that in mind, let me try and assuage your anxieties with some sage advice I was once given as [...]
Rightly, background and compliance checks for teachers are very stringent. The process can seem complex and confusing and often there is a lack of comprehensive guidance. So we put together this guide to explain what’s required and why, and how you can help the process. Interview What happens We’ll go through your experience [...]
