What makes professional speakers professional? I have been a professional speaker who has worked with more than 1000 speakers to develop their style, delivery and impact. Everyone has something to learn. Below are some of the inner secrets to becoming a more professional INSET deliverer that most people don’t

If you look at the PISA tables, the answer would be ‘yes’. Second biggest fall. If you read the headlines in the Daily Mail, yes. If you listen to the rhetoric of opposition governments, yes. For some reason, instead of uniting behind the country’s youth and teachers, we have chosen to kick them around like a

What did we learn? There is a Model that works The conference made it clear that there is now a distinct model for education with learning at the centre. It is extremely powerful. It builds on what schools are already doing and allows them to scale up. By building an evidence base at the centre, all schools a

Love them or loath them, INSET days remain a perennial part of the education system. Having delivered and evaluated more than 7000 days in a wide range of contexts, we can offer an interesting insight. Here are seven secrets to great INSET days based on our analysis and feedback. 1. Specificity What you think

Behaviours that involves physical harm to others, damage to property or perpetuate bullying need one type of attention. The so called lower order issues quite another. It is to those this article addresses itself. How to manage the soft stuff so behaviour problems dissolve Zero Tolerance doesn’t work. Or at l

The average tenure of an education minister is between 18 months and 23, depending how far back you wish to go. Mick Waters eloquently summed up each’s contribution in Thinking Allowed On Schooling. None have gained more affection than Estelle Morris. She still gamely supports the evidence-based movement, giv

We all seem to be getting quite obsessed about a knowledge-rich curriculum and the efficiency with which it can be taught and caught. A pseudo-scientific cult seems to be elevating methods such as; sequencing, spacing, knowledge organisers, eye tracking, micro practices and assessment rigour into vogue. This

Pedagogy, pedagogy, pedagogy – there I said it! A couple of years ago, when I was about to meet the then education minister, I was advised by one who knew better (they met them all the time) not to use the word pedagogy. Pedagogy doesn’t come up in crosswords The advice made sense. If you met some