Heather Fearn
@heatherbellaf.bsky.social
Director of curriculum and assessment for MAT.
Such a useful summary.
Daisy Christodoulou@daisychristo.bsky.social · 3w agoI've weighed in on the great vocational education debate. From what we can see of the govt plans, I think they will repeat mistakes of the past. Also, we need to retire the phrase "parity of esteem". It's not helping. substack.nomoremarking.com/p/the-proble...
Spot on from @joshvallance.bsky.social. The direction of travel is very worrying and threatens much progress made in recent years.
Schools Week@schoolsweek.bsky.social · 3w ago'Parity of esteem cannot mean asking poorer children to narrow their horizons earlier. The most progressive education policy remains the simplest: give every child access to powerful knowledge and allow them to decide for themselves what they will become' schoolsweek.co.uk/no-andy-burn...
Developing quality curriculum is incredibly complex. Teachers, school and system leaders are focusing on curriculum reform to improve learning and equity. Heather Fearn offers practical insights in her session at our upcoming conference in Sydney. Join us lnkd.in/dDq-i7v5
Large dataset from chess.com shows much better improvement from deliberate practice than from game play. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
New report on AI in schools from @learning-first.bsky.social finds that students are using AI but ‘as a surrogate to which they can delegate their thinking’. learningfirst.com
Shot to nothing after a late resignation for promotion - but my amazing school are looking for a head of science if anyone in the South West is interested in a move and/or promotion. Deadline is, erm, tomorrow! RT appreciated... www.eteach.com/job/curricul...
Teaching jobs and Recruitment - Eteach
The Eteach Group is an EdTech software and services company, dedicated to providing education recruitment solutions for teachers and support staff to connect directly with schools online and find the ...
eteach.com
This conference is going to be a real treat for Australian curriculum reformers, whether working at systems level or in schools. www.linkedin.com/posts/heathe...
This conference is going to be a real treat for Australian curriculum reformers and I’m excited to be involved. There are speakers from research, policy, and practice, including some of the most… | ...
This conference is going to be a real treat for Australian curriculum reformers and I’m excited to be involved. There are speakers from research, policy, and practice, including some of the most res...
linkedin.com
It’s got to be said. We need to wake up. open.substack.com/pub/mrandrew...
The oldest hatred is back, and I am absolutely done with this shit. Get angry and then get angrier.
If the West cannot stand with its Jews when they are threatened, blamed and smeared with recycled blood libels, then we are dead as societies.
open.substack.com
Either humans learn in the same way or they don’t. If we are going to have a coherent perspective on SEND then those deciding need to decide which position they are taking. It can’t be both.
Is there anything I thought I came up with myself that I won’t one day stumble on in a 2017 @michaelfordham.bsky.social blog? It’s like that Keynes quote. Today its this particular schema depiction.
There have been 1,038,405 unique downloads of @Ofstednews subject research reviews and subject reports. In school, we learn through subjects and we improve the quality of children's education by improving that subject teaching. This is the reality these numbers speak to. Enormous demand!
I’ve used a Freedom of Information request to find out how many unique downloads there have been of the @Ofstednews subject Research Reviews and Subject Reports. How many downloads do you think there have been of these subject docs?
My little spring garden under the oak. Final phase.
Yes, subjects need their own take on CURRICULUM using the 'cogsci revolution' - not just pedagogy. I'm not so keen on the drive to leap just pedagogical, rather than curricular, insights using cog psych which happens even in this article. www.tes.com/magazine/tea...
Why subjects need their own take on the ‘cogsci revolution’
While the use of cognitive science research can aid teaching, it needs to be filtered and combined with the unique demands of individual subjects, argue Mike Hobbiss and Paul Cline
tes.com
Much love in Australia for Ofsted’s research reviews and subject reports. Used by some everywhere I go. I’m thrilled and so proud of our team that put together these seminal documents that enable new discussion of quality edu, by subject, that takes account of what we now know about cognition.
documents.to
I have to be about the luckiest curriculum geek. I’m now in Sydney’s Blue Mountains for Learning First’s Curriculum Implementation Conference with states systems leaders all talking curriculum. It’s a truly exciting time in Australian education.
Yes. First time I’ve read an article on Ofsted that gets what sits behind inspection reliability and validity.
Tim Leunig@timleunig.bsky.social · last yr."A rompingly good read" <<< I will take that, thank you. Do judge for yourself by reading my @schoolsweek.bsky.social column - schoolsweek.co.uk/can-ofsted-l...
A bird with true conceptual understanding of what it means to fly. @oldandrewuk.bsky.social @mayak46.bsky.social @katharinebeals.bsky.social @paulkirschner.bsky.social @carlhendrick.substack.com @paulkirschner.bsky.social @nsachdeva.bsky.social @heatherbellaf.bsky.social @gregashman.bsky.social
I’ve been digging into the quality of EHCPs, plans that parents are dragged through court sometimes to obtain, and that are bankrupting councils What’s actually in them? Are they good quality? Personalised? Include interventions backed by evidence? Are they fully funded? The answer often is no
Schools Week@schoolsweek.bsky.social · last yr.Special investigation: Interventions lacking evidence, copy and paste plans, health and social care missing - Schools Week reveals how EHCPs are failing vulnerable children
The SW investigation might be the most important one they've ever run. It's an incredible piece of work and the results are truly shocking. Everyone should read it.
John Dickens@johndickenssw.bsky.social · last yr.I’ve been digging into the quality of EHCPs, plans that parents are dragged through court sometimes to obtain, and that are bankrupting councils What’s actually in them? Are they good quality? Personalised? Include interventions backed by evidence? Are they fully funded? The answer often is no
New blog! ‘The Teachers’ knowledge that has no name’. What should we call this knowledge? heatherfblog.wordpress.com/2025/02/23/t... With special thanks to @michaelfordham.bsky.social
Your final bit on the importance of co-planning highlights why schools serious about curriculum and T&L need to devote as much time as possible to subject team meetings, and to ensure 90% of the time is spent discussing it (and not ESPO, data, behaviour, and other ephemeral asides)
Why does crucial teacher knowledge have no name? What should we call it? heatherfblog.wordpress.com/2025/02/23/t...
Outstanding blog. Detailed explanation of why so many of the trainees I've met with excellent academic credentials struggle to explain complex/abstract material. They don't know what the students should already know or what they need next.
Heather Fearn@heatherbellaf.bsky.social · last yr.New blog! ‘The Teachers’ knowledge that has no name’. What should we call this knowledge? heatherfblog.wordpress.com/2025/02/23/t... With special thanks to @michaelfordham.bsky.social
New blog! ‘The Teachers’ knowledge that has no name’. What should we call this knowledge? heatherfblog.wordpress.com/2025/02/23/t... With special thanks to @michaelfordham.bsky.social
Thank you to everyone who came to our second Ark Soane History conference yesterday. It was such a joy to see so many history teacher colleagues together. As always, I’m proudest of our pupils who were so keen to help and talk about history. What a lovely day. #Soane25
Brutal takedown of reading policy in Wales and Scotland, as Northern Ireland looks to change course with its new strategy based around phonics. @kathyrastle.bsky.social makes several important (and apparently still necessary) observations about the evidence on reading. www.itv.com/news/2025-02...
So, we don’t need to look at curriculum quality in small primaries. Because inspection in small primaries is harder we realise we need to inspect less well for them.
Tes magazine@tesmagazine.bsky.social · 2y agoHaving announced that it will scrap subject deep dives, Ofsted has now admitted that its inspectors found it more ‘challenging’ to carry them out in small primary schools
