Great Teaching - 4 Essential Elements

A Model for Great Teaching – 4 Essential Elements

Knowing what makes a good teacher is a lot different to actually being one. So with this in mind, research organisation Evidence Based Education partnered with Cambridge International to produce the Great Teaching Toolkit: Evidence Review.

Contained within is a four-dimensional model that aims to help teachers identify the areas they can work on in their own professional development that will have the most impact on their learners’ outcomes.

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Dealing with Criticism and Abuse

Working In An Online World – Dealing with Criticism and Abuse

The current coronavirus pandemic has meant working remotely is the new norm for many. But does that mean we must simply accept that online criticism is standard practice too?

In a new paper – Harmful Comments on Social Media – published by the University of York (Law), author Kathryn Chick explains why social media has become a breeding ground for malicious, abusive, and offensive communications.

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Special Needs Support

Special Needs Support Post COVID-19

In light of COVID-19, schools and teachers face a number of obstacles to overcome, from maintaining pupil morale to delivering content effectively.

But one of the biggest challenges is supporting students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in order to reduce the disadvantage gap in young people.

Each and every teacher is bound to have their own heartbreaking or heartwarming experience  of working with vulnerable children. But how can education professionals ensure stories of success in the future?

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Education feedback

The Power of Feedback: Which, When and How?

According to a new meta-analysis of empirical research published by Wisniewski, Zierer and Hattie (2020), feedback cannot be understood as a single consistent form of treatment. In fact, the impact of feedback is significantly influenced by the information and content being conveyed.

Also, somewhat surprisingly, feedback has a bigger effect on cognitive and motor skills outcomes than on motivational and behavioural outcomes.

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Remote Learning Education

How to Best Support Remote Learning: The Evidence

In order to help schools better support teaching pupils remotely, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has provided some much-needed resources designed for education leaders.

One rapid evidence assessment in particular examines existing research from 60 systematic reviews and meta-analyses for approaches that schools could use, or are already using, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Abandoning Lesson Observations

3 Reasons Why Schools Are Abandoning Lesson Observations

Despite the fact several school leaders think that lesson observations are a valuable tool for professional development, others believe they’re simply an additional source of stress that does little to improve learning.

Regardless of your opinion, research of more than 200 schools has recently revealed that change is on the horizon. Conducted by CPD tracking specialists BlueSky Education, the survey showed that in the last two years, more than two-thirds of schools have adjusted their approach to lesson observations.

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5 Teaching Trends

5 Teaching Trends and Predictions for 2020

Beyond the logistics of schools themselves, such as government decisions, the following trends and predictions could soon be part of your regular routine.

If any of the following concepts feel somewhat unfamiliar, your school could be falling behind others in terms of its approach to education and support for teachers.

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Pupil Exclusions

Facts About Pupil Exclusions and What They Mean

What has been the reason behind the recent increase in pupil exclusions? Despite the fact several people in the education world have tried to provide an explanation, it’s actually down to a number of contributing factors.

Matters aren’t helped by the fact that almost a quarter of teachers and school leaders (23 per cent) feel they lack confidence when it comes to managing behaviour and exclusions.

With this in mind, here’s six facts about pupil exclusions and what they mean.

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Changing Pedagogy

How Learning by Questions Is Changing Pedagogy

With teacher workloads continuing to increase, how can you expect to improve engagement, feedback and outcomes with the little time you do have to spare?

Well, there is a potential solution… Learning by Questions (LbQ). This innovative app promises:

“Curriculum-aligned Question Sets and immediate feedback to super-charge learning. Reduce your workload with automatic marking and instant insight for effective interventions. It covers all abilities so you can support your students your way.”

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Assessment in the Classroom

To Sit Beside, Not Sit Alone: Mastering Assessment in the Classroom

Many teachers will learn that assessment is either summative or formative. But how many actually know the etymological meaning of the word ‘assessment’?

According to Evangeline Harris Stefanakis (2002), “The word assess comes from the Latin assidere, which means to sit beside. Literally then, to assess means to sit beside the learner.”

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