This is an absolute must read. It describes what most teachers see happening in schools. Children given support that is ineffective and is likely going to make their learning experience, and outcomes, much worse There is an SEND crisis in schools, but not in the way many people think.

Ben Newmark@bennewmark.bsky.social · 4w ago

Evidence Informed? My recent speech from ResearchED on why I'm so worried about our direction of travel and why once again we may need to fight for evidence informed education. bennewmark.wordpress.com/2026/07/07/e...

Our July Policy Insights is out now 👇 bit.ly/4foJyGn 💷 Including an objective breakdown of the Teacher Pay Award 2026 ✍️ Featuring blog posts from @joel120193.substack.com @markmccourt.bsky.social @exheadteacher.bsky.social

New Post 📝 My favourite classroom tips are those that take the smallest amount of time to implement. These small changes to how we ask a question build and keep participation high. Here are some of the methods I implemented during Year 6 transition day. open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

I Say, Vasistas and Everyone Speaks: Small Classroom Changes with Big Impacts Part 2

High participation where everyone speaks? Here are some methods I got prospective Year 7s doing straight away.

open.substack.com

New, slightly different style, blog post 📝 The future is today and with increasing costs and the rise of AI, there is reason to be weary of the changes that will happen in education over the next 20 years. What will education look like in 2045? open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

Do Androids Dream of Electric Seating Plans?

Education in 2045: A dystopian tale of algorithms, 250-student classes, and the death of pedagogy.

open.substack.com

A great piece Joel - I don't know whether to be entertained or terrified though!

Joel Kenyon@joel120193.substack.com · last mo.

New, slightly different style, blog post 📝 The future is today and with increasing costs and the rise of AI, there is reason to be weary of the changes that will happen in education over the next 20 years. What will education look like in 2045? open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

New, slightly different style, blog post 📝 The future is today and with increasing costs and the rise of AI, there is reason to be weary of the changes that will happen in education over the next 20 years. What will education look like in 2045? open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

Do Androids Dream of Electric Seating Plans?

Education in 2045: A dystopian tale of algorithms, 250-student classes, and the death of pedagogy.

open.substack.com

New Blog Post 📝 I have been a teacher for some time now and there have been points in my career I have thought about packing it up and moving on. Here I reflect on what has pushed me close to the edge and what may actual tip me over. open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

Last Teacher Standing: What Would It Take to Make Me Quit?

Since qualifying in 2017, I reflect on the points I have wanted to leave teaching and what may push me over the edge.

open.substack.com

The cognitive overload some teachers experience is enough to leave them drained of brain power by the end of the day. That day in day out for years is enough to make anyone leave. open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

New Blog Post 📝 I have been a teacher for some time now and there have been points in my career I have thought about packing it up and moving on. Here I reflect on what has pushed me close to the edge and what may actual tip me over. open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

Last Teacher Standing: What Would It Take to Make Me Quit?

Since qualifying in 2017, I reflect on the points I have wanted to leave teaching and what may push me over the edge.

open.substack.com

New Blog Post 📝 Revision. It is seemingly a thing that every teacher feels like they need to do for their pupils to be successful. But why? If you've taught it well, why do you need to do anything? Surely its now their responsibility? open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

The Three R's: Revise, Revise, Revise

What is revision actually aiming to do?

open.substack.com

New Blog Post📝 For years I have had my PowerPoint and at the start of my career it was my crutch I found it difficult to deviate from. Now, I have changed my planning and found less of a need to stress over a PowerPoint. open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

Goodbye.pptx: Why I've Abandoned PowerPoint

How was PowerPoint impacting my teaching and why I rely on little more than a pen, visualiser and paper.

open.substack.com

New Blog Post 📝 I have relatives of mine who have recently become teachers and the most common questions they ask is how do I plan a lesson and why does planning take so long? It doesn't have to. This is how I do it. open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

The Simple Framework: How to Plan a Lesson

It used to take me hours to plan for a lesson, now it takes me 15 minutes.

open.substack.com

New Blog Post 📝 Science is formed through recall of knowledge of people long since passed. Creating classrooms that allow pupils to deeply 'understand' and discover science does not make a scientist. Allowing them to recall it does. open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

Understanding: Science is Told, Not Found

In my time as a teacher, I have been repeatedly urged to adopt generic one size fits all methods which fundamentally collapse when applied to the rigour of science.

open.substack.com

Are you familiar with the collated _Stories from Physics_ on the IOP Spark website, from Richard Brock at KCL? No registration or paywall. spark.iop.org/stories-phys...

Stories from Physics

The story of physics is intertwined with the stories of people. We are delighted to be able to share this collection of amazing, amusing and enlightening stories from Richard Brock, a former physics t...

spark.iop.org

New Blog Post 📝 Using stories in your science lessons can help build a students understanding of science, even if its not on the curriculum. This is Hinterland. Here I discuss some examples in science and how to implement them into your lessons. open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

Hinterland: Teaching Beyond the Curriculum

Science is more than bunch of dry facts. Using Hinterland can help us to develop understanding, create conversations and build science as a world of creativity, exploration and even deceit.

open.substack.com

First blog post from an amazing colleague on the hard work needed to build the literacy of our pupils. A great read on how implementing a strategy and changing culture takes time and effort. researchschool.org.uk/bradford/new...

Building a Reading Culture: Starting with Why?

How diagnosing the real literacy problem led to a whole-school reading culture at Dixons Croxteth.

researchschool.org.uk

New Blog Post 📝 Did the internet change education? I don't think it did. Will AI change education? I don't think so. The internet and AI do not change the motivation to learn. We have access to more info now than ever before but that doesn't make us smarter. open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

Education and Motivation: Will AI Change Education?

Having access to information does not make us learn more, what matters more is the motivation to learn more. AI will both do absolutely nothing to education and everything to society.

open.substack.com

New Blog Post 📝 Did the internet change education? I don't think it did. Will AI change education? I don't think so. The internet and AI do not change the motivation to learn. We have access to more info now than ever before but that doesn't make us smarter. open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

Education and Motivation: Will AI Change Education?

Having access to information does not make us learn more, what matters more is the motivation to learn more. AI will both do absolutely nothing to education and everything to society.

open.substack.com

New Blog Post 📝 Over the years I have received a lot of terrible teaching advice, but I have also had some brilliant pointers. Some of the best advice I have had has been seemingly insignificant changes to my practice. Here are five examples. open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

Stand Still, Narrate and Stop: Small Classroom Changes with Big Impacts

Forget the lentils and stopwatches. From frontloading to the power of 'we,' here are some tiny, intentional changes that can transform classroom culture.

open.substack.com

New Blog Post 📝 Over the years I have received a lot of terrible teaching advice, but I have also had some brilliant pointers. Some of the best advice I have had has been seemingly insignificant changes to my practice. Here are five examples. open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

Stand Still, Narrate and Stop: Small Classroom Changes with Big Impacts

Forget the lentils and stopwatches. From frontloading to the power of 'we,' here are some tiny, intentional changes that can transform classroom culture.

open.substack.com

Great teaching starts with great subject knowledge - @joel120193.substack.com shares how brushing up on electrolysis made him a better educator and why you should dedicate time to improving your chemistry knowledge 👇 edu.rsc.org/endpoint/kno... #iteachchem #chemed

Really good blog by @joel120193.substack.com on etymology as a tool for learning complex scientific vocabulary in science lessons (not just a one-off photosynthesis filler/explainer). open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

Chlorine is Green, Zoos Have Life and Kings are Killed: Using Etymology in Science

Stop dumbing down vocabulary. When I taught the structure of the ear, I had a choice. I could teach: Hammer, Anvil, and Stirrup. Or I could teach Latin. Not to be pretentious, but to give them a tool.

open.substack.com

I enjoyed writing this post. Subject knowledge is such an important factor into becoming an effective teacher. There should be much more of a focus on this when designing CPD. Take into account your individual departments when planning.

Education in Chemistry@rsc-eic.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Great teaching starts with great subject knowledge - @joel120193.substack.com shares how brushing up on electrolysis made him a better educator and why you should dedicate time to improving your chemistry knowledge 👇 edu.rsc.org/endpoint/kno... #iteachchem #chemed

Sometimes local press isn't always a school's best friend, but this post about our recent Ofsted is such a lovely read. Really goes into the journey we have been on as a school. www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpo...

School threatened with closure now making 'rapid improvements'

Dixons Academies Trust took over De La Salle in Croxteth in 2022

liverpoolecho.co.uk

This is something I am incredibly proud of. Working in a turnaround school is tough and whilst we do not work for Ofsted, it is amazing to have our hard work recognised. Every single member of the school community has worked so hard over the past three years to achieve this.

The AQA specification is currently 200 pages long. English Lang is 26, Maths is 44, Geography 40, Art 42 pages. Yes, these subjects are not the same, but there is a difference in the expectation of knowledge in science when compared with other subjects. joel120193.substack.com/p/science-na...

There is Too Much to Learn in GCSE Science

The National Curriculum in science has become far too large. In order to have a population of those who are scientifically literate, we must reduce the amount of content.

joel120193.substack.com

New Blog Post 📝 With the sheer amount of decisions a teacher has to process in a day, our brain often relies on fallacies. This is a look at 10 educational fallacies that often take place in school, what they manifest into, and what we can do to avoid them. open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

Battleships, Blind Spots and Bandwagons: Educational Fallacies

An exploration of how logical fallacies like sunk costs and tradition shape our schools, plus practical ways to outsmart these biases for better teaching and leadership.

open.substack.com

If you're still inputting QLA data onto a spreadsheet or worse, making your colleagues do it - read this! Excellent from @joel120193.bsky.social

Joel Kenyon@joel120193.substack.com · 6mo ago

New Blog Post 📝 I hate QLA. Originally due to the time it sucked out of my PPA I now know that QLA documents do not provide the information we think they do. I go over the justification for why I ditched QLA and the reasons why you should get rid of it too. open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

The football is so turgid that im sat here laughing at @joel120193.bsky.social blog in what feels like a masochistic manner. Like sorry what is this and why have we all had to do it?

1970s: UK running out money, received a bailout from IMF. UK economic growth rates: -2.4% Student loans: Free 2020s: UK economy 6th largest in the world. UK economic growth rates: 1.1% Student loans: £30,000. Don't tell me we can't afford it.