Small Class Sizes

Do Small Class Sizes Have Any Impact?

In order to control spending and keep costs down, education policymakers often decide to increase class sizes. But what impact does this have on the academic ability and achievements of children?

A 110-page report by Campbell Collaboration attempts to lift the lid on class sizes and their effect on student learnings in both primary and secondary schools.

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Behaviour Management for Early Career Teachers

Behaviour Management for ECTs

Getting to know your students is never easy, especially in the first term of a new school year. But now that you’ve spent some quality time with your class and the distraction of the Christmas holidays has disappeared, this is the perfect opportunity to gain a better understanding of your students both as learners and people.

By doing so, you’ll be able to build strong relationships and a favourable rapport with your class, which in turn can help you become a master of behaviour management. Throughout the rest of your career in education, you’ll soon realise that this is an invaluable and indispensable skill.

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Teacher Role Model

Top Tips For Becoming A Teacher Role Model

It is easy for teachers to feel like the weight of the world is on their shoulders. Not only are teachers trusted with the learning and development of children, they must also act as inspirational and influential ‘role models’.

But in many respects, the attitudes and attributes of good teachers go hand-in-hand with role models…

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Christmas Nativity Play

Who Wins The Christmas Nativity Play?

Now that the festive season has passed, a hot topic over the internet and social media is that of the school Christmas nativity.  Is the tradition still relevant, and who really benefits from maintaining it?

The nativity play remains a long-standing tradition in several schools up and down the country. For many, it’s something to look forward to with great anticipation and excitement. But for others, it is yet another major school project that has the potential to take up a lot of precious time.

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Promote Kindness in The Classroom

5 Ways To Promote Kindness in The Classroom

On a day-to-day basis, most teachers will witness children misbehaving or being somewhat cruel to each other. But thankfully, there’s an innate kindness in everyone, which simply needs a little bit of classroom cultivation.

Famed naturalist and geologist Charles Darwin believed that kindness was one of the strongest instincts in humans stating, “those communities which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members would flourish best and rear the greatest number of offspring.”

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Teacher Marking

Revolutionise Your Marking Workload

Despite the fact that many teachers believe marking is necessary to provide children with valuable feedback and help them improve in the future, Ofsted doesn’t share the same sentiment.

In a myth-busting factsheet, Ofsted said it “does not expect to see any specific frequency, type or volume of marking and feedback; these are for the school to decide through its assessment policy.”

In other words, as long as schools get the required results out of students, marking isn’t absolutely essential.

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Engage Reluctant Readers

How to Engage Reluctant Readers

According to the National Literacy Trust, 3 in 5 children in the UK enjoy reading, which is an all-time-high. This will come as good news for teachers, as the longer children maintain an enjoyment of reading, the greater the benefits are in the classroom.

In fact, 10-year-olds who enjoy reading have a reading age 1.3 years higher than their peers who do not enjoy reading, which rises to 2.1 years for 12-year-olds and 3.3 years for 14-year-olds.

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Creating A Happy Classroom in 10 Steps

According to a report by Public Health England, there is a clear link between health, wellbeing, and educational attainment. Happier children work better, have less time off school, achieve higher grades, and are generally more successful.

Therefore, it is in every teacher’s best interests to create a happy classroom. Student happiness doesn’t detract from ‘serious’ learning either, as evidence shows that those with a greater sense of wellbeing also do better academically and are better behaved.

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Vocabulary

5 Strategies To Boost Vocabulary

According to the Oxford Language Report, which surveyed more than 1,300 teachers across the country, the significant word gap in UK schools is holding back children’s learning.

Over half of those surveyed reported that at least 40 per cent of their pupils lacked the vocabulary needed to access their learning. Worryingly, 69 per cent of primary school teachers and 60 per cent of secondary school teachers believe the gap is increasing.

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Preparing Your Students

Preparing Your Students For Successful Futures

As a teacher, your day-to-day responsibilities include more than just ticking off items on the curriculum. Along with giving your students the tools and techniques to learn effectively, you’ll also be dictating their behaviour, shaping their minds, and influencing future decisions.

In fact, school children who receive words of encouragement from a teacher are significantly more likely to continue their education beyond the age of 16 than those who do not according to a study by the University of Cambridge.

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