Blog
PISA 2018: does reading on screen make a difference?
Posted on December 19, 2019
In my last blog, I showed how the PISA tests have been updated to take account of the fact we do more reading online. Not only are the tests computer-based, but they also feature tasks that mimic the…
What can the PISA 2018 scores tell us about digital natives?
Posted on December 7, 2019
Every three years, the OECD’s PISA tests report on student performance in maths, reading and science in dozens of countries. They also choose one subject in particular to focus on in more detail. This…
Even reliable assessments can be biased
Posted on September 20, 2019
Imagine a class of 20 students, ten boys, ten girls. They all sit a maths exam which is graded from 0 – 9. On average, the boys and girls do equally well. The average grade of all the pupils is 4.5, a…
What is Mastery? The good, the bad, the ugly
Posted on May 7, 2019
Over the last couple of years the idea of a ‘mastery curriculum’ has become ever more popular – and ever more nebulous. I’ve heard the word ‘mastery’ applied to very different approaches to the curric…
What the marathon teaches you about education
Posted on April 27, 2019
In my book Making Good Progress I developed an analogy between education and marathon running. Put simply, you wouldn’t train for a marathon by trying to run 26.2 miles in every training session. And…
English Mastery: Writing an evidence-based curriculum
Posted on April 18, 2019
My experience of English Mastery In 2013 I started working at Ark Schools, a network of academy schools based in London, Birmingham, Portsmouth and Hastings. Part of my job was to develop Ark’s…
My top 10 education books of 2018
Posted on December 15, 2018
In no particular order… Learning How to Learn by Barbara Oakley, Terrence Sejnowski and Alistair McConville This book is a fun, witty and very, very practical summary of how we learn, and…
Global Education and Skills Forum 2018
Posted on March 20, 2018
Last weekend I spoke at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai. I spoke for the motion in the following debate: ‘”I can just Google it” is making us stupid.’ You can see the video here. I’ve p…
Research Ed 2017
Posted on September 10, 2017
This was the fifth national Research Ed conference, and in my mind they’ve started becoming a bit like FA Cup Finals or Christmas – recurring events that start to blur into one. “Oh, South Hampstead -…