Blog
Comparative judgment: practical tips for in-school use
Posted on July 16, 2016
I have blogged a bit before about comparative judgment and how it could help make marking more efficient and more reliable, and help to free the teaching of writing from tick box approaches. I…
A new blog you need to follow
Posted on May 29, 2016
A good friend of mine, Maria Egan, has just set up a new education blog. It’s called the Razor Blade in the Candy Floss. Maria has been an enormous influence on my thinking and writing so I am really…
“Best fit” is not the problem
Posted on May 28, 2016
I can remember taking part in marking moderation sessions using the Assessing Pupil Progress grids. We marked using ‘best fit’ judgments. At their worst, such ‘best fit’ judgments were really flawed….
Ouroboros by Greg Ashman
Posted on April 9, 2016
I’m a bit late to this, but I just wanted to write about how much I enjoyed Ouroboros by Greg Ashman. It’s a very elegantly and sparely written account of Greg’s experiences of teaching in England and…
How to crack the Oxford History Aptitude Test
Posted on April 2, 2016
Recently, a friend of mine sent me a link to Oxford University’s History Aptitude Tests (HAT). These tests are designed for 18 year olds applying for admission to Oxford. I really liked the look of t…
What can teachers learn from high-performance sport? Plan for injury!
Posted on November 29, 2015
Yesterday I went to a brilliant day of professional development at Ark Globe Academy called Teach Like a Top Athlete: Coaching and Mastery Methods. I went to a workshop run by the amazing Jo Facer on…
Debating Education review
Posted on November 22, 2015
I spent yesterday at the Michaela Community School Debating Education event, which was absolutely brilliant. I spoke against the motion ‘Sir Ken is right: traditional education kills creativity’, and…
Comparative judgment: 21st century assessment
Posted on November 15, 2015
In my previous posts I have looked at some of the flaws in traditional teacher assessment and assessments of character. This post is much more positive: it’s about an assessment innovation that really…
Character assessment: a middle-class ramp?
Posted on November 8, 2015
My last two posts (here and here) have looked at how teacher assessments can be biased, and how tests can help to offset some of these biases. I’ve been quite sceptical of the possibility of improving…