Tag Archives: Ideas

How do we develop teaching? A journey from summative to formative feedback

Posted on 22/04/2015 by evidenceintopractice

researchED: Research leads network day, Brighton. April 18th 2015 The beginning of the new term means it’s taken a little while to get around to blogging about the great event on Saturday. This tardiness is additionally poor given that I … Continue reading →

Posted in Research Lead | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Can we teach students effective ‘revision skills’?

Posted on 08/02/2015 by evidenceintopractice

There’s some interesting evidence to suggest that well applied study skills can have an important influence on student outcomes. Indeed, perhaps the key reason that girls tend to academically outperform boys is related to the effective use of study strategies. … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology for teachers | Tagged , , , , , , | 13 Comments

A refreshing lack of certainty: Reflections on researchED 2014

Posted on 07/09/2014 by evidenceintopractice

Yesterday, I had the enormous pleasure of attending researchED 14 and giving a talk (indulging in a rant) about the prevalence of pseudoscientific ideas within education. The talk appeared to be filmed, so if it turns up on the (shiny) … Continue reading →

Posted in Research Lead | Tagged , , | 24 Comments

Great teacher talk

Posted on 20/05/2014 by evidenceintopractice

The ‘war’ on Teacher Talk Time was one of the more depressing developments in my teaching career. Obviously secondary students will rapidly get bored if they are subjected to lectures – no one is advocating that teachers should drone on … Continue reading →

Posted in General teaching | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Can teachers stop believing in nonsense?

Posted on 17/05/2014 by evidenceintopractice

I’ve written before regarding the prevalence of pseudoscientific ideas within education. Whenever I start to become a little optimistic that our profession can move out of the dark ages, something pops up to prove my hopes are premature. Just such a … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology for teachers | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Education research could learn from climate change reporting.

Posted on 06/05/2014 by evidenceintopractice

The causal influences on educational outcomes are complex and uncertain, leading some commentators to exaggerate or dismiss research findings in accordance to their ideological positions. However, education isn’t the only field of science which deals with trying to identify the … Continue reading →

Posted in Research Lead | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Beyond ideology: Can education move beyond the traditionalist vs progressive ‘debate’?

Posted on 23/04/2014 by evidenceintopractice

Education is now in crisis (and in one sense that’s a good thing) Thomas Kuhn proposed that science periodically evolved through dramatic paradigm shifts. All scientific theories are open to refinement / revolution but the process isn’t continuous. When anomalies … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy of education | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Parent presentation on effective revision

Posted on 17/04/2014 by evidenceintopractice

Here’s a short presentation on effective revision intended for parents of Y10 and Y11 students attending an information evening about the GCSE exams this summer. The presentation: What is effective revision and how can parents help? It’s a mixture of … Continue reading →

Posted in General teaching | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Using student surveys to measure the impact of coaching

Posted on 24/03/2014 by evidenceintopractice

Evaluating the impact of professional development is remarkably difficult. Typically it stops at evaluation forms at the end of an INSET session, but it’s difficult to know whether even highly positive ratings equate to any change in teacher practice or … Continue reading →

Posted in Coaching | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Investigating teaching using a student survey

Posted on 20/03/2014 by evidenceintopractice

In October I blogged on how student perception surveys might be used to provide a fairly reliable measure of teaching effectiveness. Since then, I have been piloting a version of the MET survey to investigate my own teaching (along with … Continue reading →

Posted in Coaching | Tagged , , , , , | 20 Comments