I like Jamie Oliver but this is infuriating because AGAIN nobody seems to be aware/care that our biggest issue is portion size. The decline over the last ten years has been remarkable. Feed kids enough. Then worry about what. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

After 20 years of my school dinners campaign, I’m a happy man. At last, we’re going to feed kids properly | Jamie Oliver

This week’s government announcement on school food standards is huge. It’s based on common sense and science. Beautiful, says chef and campaigner Jamie Oliver

theguardian.com

What students can do in a lesson isn’t the same as what they’ve learned. Learning is what survives forgetting and changes how we see the world. If we want evidence of learning, we need to look elsewhere and later. daviddidau.substack.com/p/elsewhere-...

Elsewhere and later: a definition of learning

Retention, transfer and crossing the threshold of understanding

daviddidau.substack.com

What students can do in a lesson isn’t the same as what they’ve learned. Learning is what survives forgetting and changes how we see the world. If we want evidence of learning, we need to look elsewhere and later. daviddidau.substack.com/p/elsewhere-...

Elsewhere and later: a definition of learning

Retention, transfer and crossing the threshold of understanding

daviddidau.substack.com

One last time for this: Sunday's blog post. What can we do if it turns out that the Secretary of State for Education doesn’t believe in education? andrewold.substack.com/p/what-can-w...

What can we do if it turns out that the Secretary of State for Education doesn’t believe in education?

Don’t panic.

andrewold.substack.com

Everyone Listens to Everyone. My action step for this year, and my latest blog post for @knowledge-hub.bsky.social theknowledgehubuk.substack.com/p/everyone-l...

This is excellent.

David Didau@didau.bsky.social · 2w ago

Is there a case for copying?

Brilliant, thoughtful response to my @knowledge-hub.bsky.social blog post on copying. Feels like old style edutwitter at its best. More of this here please!

David Didau@didau.bsky.social · 2w ago

Is this useful? daviddidau.substack.com/p/is-there-a...

Is there a case for copying?

David Didau@didau.bsky.social · 2w ago

Is this useful? daviddidau.substack.com/p/is-there-a...

New blog post from me with my @knowledge-hub.bsky.social hat on. Stop Making Them Copy. What should we do when we just need them to get something down? theknowledgehubuk.substack.com/p/stop-makin...

Stop Making Them Copy

As a young teacher, I used copying as a classroom management technique.

theknowledgehubuk.substack.com

This is really interesting from @didau.bsky.social. My instinct is that there are lots of parts that would be great for explaining concepts/ routines to our autistic pupils, particularly the symbolic boundaries section; concept of 'dirt as “matter out of place”' & applying to schools is brilliant.

David Didau@didau.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Seeing schools through the eyes of an anthropologist. What happens when we stop asking whether rituals are effective and try to work out why they evolved daviddidau.substack.com/p/the-anthro...

Seeing schools through the eyes of an anthropologist. What happens when we stop asking whether rituals are effective and try to work out why they evolved daviddidau.substack.com/p/the-anthro...

The anthropology of school rituals

How rituals create belonging, preserve order and, all too often, outlive their purpose

daviddidau.substack.com

This is where I live now

“Primaries are a rare example of an English public policy success. We risk undermining that success by making them compensate for state failures elsewhere.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Could you predict which children will be Neets? No – and it’s unfair to ask that of teachers | Daisy Christodoulou

The idea of government adviser Alan Milburn sounds laudable. But it’s asking too much of a system already struggling to meet society’s demands, says education writer Daisy Christodoulou

theguardian.com

Just got this comment on my Substack 😍 substack.nomoremarking.com/p/the-proble...

Schools are normally thought of as machines to optimise but it might be more helpful to imagine them as ecosystems to cultivate. Healthy schools renew the conditions that make future success possible. open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...

The ecology of schools

An ecological perspective explains why relationships, feedback and adaptation matter more than isolated interventions

open.substack.com

Schools are normally thought of as machines to optimise but it might be more helpful to imagine them as ecosystems to cultivate. Healthy schools renew the conditions that make future success possible. open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...

The ecology of schools

An ecological perspective explains why relationships, feedback and adaptation matter more than isolated interventions

open.substack.com

LAST CHANCE TO ORDER BEFORE SUMMWR CLOSURE. A Year in Willerby. 12 stories and other ephemera from a haunted village. Discounted to £15. Limited edition, locally printed. beautifully illustrated. 150 copies sold. Last 50 remaining. Well reviewed everywhere so far. www.etsy.com/uk/listing/4...

Is Rob Coe’s idea of ‘poor proxies for learning’ “one of the most damaging ideas in education”? Or is it an essential language to help us avoid being seduced by nonsense? Find out below… open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...

The Proxy Trap: how poor are 'poor proxies for learning'?

Why schools can't live with proxies or without them

open.substack.com

Exercise books are so temptingly inspectable. You can flick through & feel you’ve seen learning. But full pages, neat titles, coloured pens and polished paragraphs are, at best, proxies. The more beautiful a book is often the less evidence of learning it provides. open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...

Why I hate 'beautiful books'

Why students' exercise books make for dangerously unstable proxies for learning and poor revision resources

open.substack.com

Exercise books are so temptingly inspectable. You can flick through & feel you’ve seen learning. But full pages, neat titles, coloured pens and polished paragraphs are, at best, proxies. The more beautiful a book is often the less evidence of learning it provides. open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...

Why I hate 'beautiful books'

Why students' exercise books make for dangerously unstable proxies for learning and poor revision resources

open.substack.com

Later this month we have a webinar for teachers in Australia & New Zealand. We will share how our new AI marking system works & explain how schools in Aus & NZ can take part. We will also give you some free credits so you can try it out yourself! Register now. www.nomoremarking.com/events

Retrieval practice is everywhere but is it working? Wax on, wax off only works because Miyagi knows what the movements are for. Retrieval is no different: ritual needs meaning. open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...

Wax On, Wax Off: Three new studies on retrieval practice

Three recent studies show why retrieval practice needs better questions, better timing and better support.

open.substack.com

Retrieval practice is everywhere but is it working? Wax on, wax off only works because Miyagi knows what the movements are for. Retrieval is no different: ritual needs meaning. open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...

Wax On, Wax Off: Three new studies on retrieval practice

Three recent studies show why retrieval practice needs better questions, better timing and better support.

open.substack.com

"Like many ideas in education, retrieval practice has suffered the peculiar fate of being simultaneously overused and underthought" 👇

Mark McCourt@markmccourt.bsky.social · 4mo ago

NEW BLOG: Retrieval Is Not a Starter Activity www.emaths.co.uk/blog/general...

Systems should be judged by what they do, not what they say they’re for. If inspection rewards performance, compliance and fear, schools will learn to perform, comply and fear. The alternative isn’t less accountability, it’s intelligent accountability: open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...

The purpose of school inspection is what it does

Systems designed to raise standards too often teach schools to look good rather than get better

open.substack.com

Systems should be judged by what they do, not what they say they’re for. If inspection rewards performance, compliance and fear, schools will learn to perform, comply and fear. The alternative isn’t less accountability, it’s intelligent accountability: open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...

The purpose of school inspection is what it does

Systems designed to raise standards too often teach schools to look good rather than get better

open.substack.com

Schools don’t just communicate intentions; they shape behaviour. Like a badly designed door or a desire path across grass, environments make some actions feel obvious. Environmental psychology helps us ask better questions open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...

Why we pull when we should push

How schools make some actions easier than others, and why great leadership begins with redesigning the environment

open.substack.com

Schools don’t just communicate intentions; they shape behaviour. Like a badly designed door or a desire path across grass, environments make some actions feel obvious. Environmental psychology helps us ask better questions open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...

Why we pull when we should push

How schools make some actions easier than others, and why great leadership begins with redesigning the environment

open.substack.com

One of the advantages of our assessment model is that it uses AI to reduce workload BUT it also ensures every script is seen twice by a human. We can reduce the time it takes to assess a class set of essays down to about 15 minutes. It's all explained here. help.nomoremarking.com/en/article/h...

Exclusive: An experienced headteacher reduced to tears during a 'harrowing' Ofsted inspection has sounded alarm over the watchdog’s wellbeing protocols and new inspection framework schoolsweek.co.uk/an-inspectio...

'Ofsted reduced me to tears. Its response was inadequate'

Headteacher John Hayes describes January visit as 'the worst experience of my career'

schoolsweek.co.uk