10 top teaching and learning tips that all NQTs should remember

by John Winwood  In the chaos of your first year at the helm of a classroom, it's good to take a moment to reflect and remember what supports great teaching and learning. In fact, whether you're a newly qualified teacher (NQT) or have been marking books for decades, it's always beneficial to remind yourself of the basics. So here are my top 10...

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It’s easy to get lost in the anxieties and meaningless goals as a teacher, but the tiny everyday kindnesses make the job

​He was a kid I'd barely noticed. I'd been teaching the class for just a few weeks and, as is always the case, certain heads had raised themselves above the parapet: the defaulters, the jokers, the forgetful and the attention-seekers. But this lad had been quietly going about his own business. He always gets the work done; he rarely forgets to...

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Why won't schools listen to the experts about reducing workload?

It's been more than a year since the Department for Education published reports from three independent review groups addressing issues raised by the Workload Challenge survey. All three reports gave clear recommendations to help reduce teacher marking, planning and data management. But is the message getting through to leaders? To look at scho...

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Dear Justine, it’s not just about school funding and selective education – the way you ignore teachers is the real travesty

In early March, Theresa May articulated her vision for education, ahead of announcement that £320m would be confirmed for 140 new free schools and the expansion of existing selective schools. The prime minister wrote: "Our Schools White Paper…will remove the barriers that prevent more good faith-based free schools from opening, and it will enable t...

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Work hard and smart: four simple ways to help your students improve their revision

Why do some people learn at a faster rate than others? Answering this question has been researcher K. Anders Ericsson's life work. He has studied expert performers in various walks of life, including chess, music, sport and business. He found that experts in these very different areas shared one thing in common: they didn't just work hard, they wor...

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