The law of unintended consequences has led to this? A focus on curriculum (last 8 years) is vital to ensure what we are teaching is coherent and develops coherently but has led to this over simplified, reductionist perspective. Teaching must be relational since it involves 30+ humans

Talking to more and more Heads that are struggling to cope with the demands of the job. I'm convinced we need to redesign our roles, acutely assess how we spend our time, re-evaluate priorities and change. We can't work the way we did 5 or 10 years ago, the game has changed.

From coverage to coherence Well hello there, and welcome to update #187!

Another great article provoking whilst highlighting an important thought process we should all remember to revisit.

marymyatt.substack.com/p/from-cover...

I Don't Teach Like a Champion (But I Do Want to be Treated Like a Professional)

"Rather than being lionized as champions, many teachers simply want to be treated like professionals."

This piece by @zachczaia.bsky.social was everything I needed to read this morning:

zachczaia.substack.com/p/i-dont-tea...

Great read and an excellent evaluation of the strengths and pitfalls of modelling. Thanks @didau.bsky.social

Great article and placing acting above listening can never be a bad thing regardless of your view on learning- thanks @cmooreanderson.bsky.social

There are aspects of the EduCognitivist movement that reflect Taylorism: "Every second counts".
This is defensible within the assumptions that schools function like production lines: the goal is the most efficient transmission of knowledge from head to head.
But, learning doesn't happen this way.

Imo there has to be a recognition that teachers cannot be 'on' 100% of the time because it's too exhausting. I've just seen someone saying that everyone must be learning 100% of the time in class. This kind of fervent, unrealistic claim is not good for staff or children's wellbeing or mental health.

Lots to like here thanks, the reason this new route appeals to some is because- it could be possible but in order to bridge the contradiction you so effectively highlight you’d need private-school level class sizes- 13 similar students + 2 completely adapted is possible-22+10 is not.

Absolutely brilliant article that rightly brings self-reflection, complexity and uncertainty back into pedagogical discourse. Not to mention a healthy dose of Wittgenstein style language perspectives thanks @cmooreanderson.bsky.social

Totally agree!

Not the first time this has been raised- the inequity created when the rest are left to deal with all the most vulnerable and complex is very real.

Many thanks for all the shares. Please let any colleagues know who might find these useful. ⬇️

Well if you watched any of the Webinars that were Orwellian in their attempt to promote clear predetermined messages it was all driven by parental feedback. Despite politicians insistence everyone be average at Maths a few decision makers could have done with looking at the sample size!

Fury as Ofsted digs in on ‘low expectations’ barb Oliver told the ASCL conference he would 'never acquiesce to the quiet curse of low expectations'

schoolsweek.co.uk/fury-as-ofst...
There are heads around like this - presumably raised in Michael Wilshaw's image - who think that you can just demand and bully success from things by being "tough" or "unapologetic".
The damage they cause goes unregistered in the all-powerful data.

I think there's a very important lesson in this for educators. I always mention aphantasia when I'm doing sessions on adaptive teaching. Quite a lot of people don't even realise they have it.

Teaching Slavery Teaching Slavery offers ground-breaking research and practical guidance for teaching Britain’s role in transatlantic slavery. Combining historical analysis with classroom strategies, it equips educato...

I would encourage all #historyteacher colleagues to engage with this book. There are 6 enquiries explained in the book (with resources available for all)

uclpress.co.uk/book/teachin...

#HTEN2026 #HistoryEducation #TeacherEducation

Horrendous story not just because of the arbitrary and unwarranted book banning, but the complete lack of regard that seems to have been paid to neurodivergent staff and pupils too.

This is why I love the discipline of History and why it is so important in today’s society- which other discipline so clearly demonstrates how flawed assumptions, lack of a complete picture and retelling can erroneously shape millions of people’s facts!

Completely agree. The challenge for school leaders is not to fall into the trap of seeing these high fidelity simplified systems as being the active ingredient. Especially when faced with the dual challenge of academically “successful” examples of it working & high accountability inspections.

The really pernicious thing about the acting on model aside from it’s oversimplification & attempt to reduce education to simple formulae is it gains traction from the evidence of a lot of successful books and academy chains/outstanding schools- who socially engineer a more homogenous population

A fantastic summary of a truly responsive approach to T&L that avoids the one size fits all mantras of some. Thanks @cmooreanderson.bsky.social

Part of being a headteacher is knowing when to ignore the noise.

Staying positive, focusing only on the children that you serve, and not letting other things taint your day.

#edusky #TeachersOfBluesky #TeacherLife #Teachers #BlueskyTeachers #TeacherCommunity #Education

Department for Education loses in High Court on expanding grounds in the Judicial Review on Oak National Academy The Department for Education has today [24 February 2026] suffered a defeat in the High Court on the Judicial Review on the Oak National Academy. The High Court granted an application brought by The B...

This is super-interesting on the ongoing legal challenge against the government's Oak National Academy: www.publishers.org.uk/department-f...

Oak’s value is access and coherence under constraint. But state made curriculum at scale without proper consultation risks centralising power, distorting the market and narrowing professional agency.

Keep it lean, transparent, optional and evidence led.

This is the argument against this approach- it doesn’t happen when schools adopt a behaviourist approach. The arg. they make is if needs are met there is no SEND need that needs a different consequence as that isn’t how the real world works- Doing otherwise lowers expectations.

Agreed and viewed as whole or at a student level fails too many. Although serves those schools who adopt it fairly well- making it a tempting path to take for leaders

Totally agree my hypothesis is those behaviourist approaches create exclusion by compliance but are often then better on other metrics I.e. attainment they also become self selecting like KB’s school in they attract parents who conform to their norms

My personal preference is to have consistent boundaries but a more adaptable consequence system this is a lot more work and harder to get right than the alternatives and does need effective communication to staff, students and parents

The govts Behaviour Hubs programme taught that students respect consistent boundaries- if staff input decides sanction/consequence you have inconsistency therefore an inconsistent behav. system. Students don’t like this and it is argued struggle to know how to respond. But there is a huge downside.