If you want to guarantee clicks on an article or to sell a new product, a focus on failure is the last thing you’d do. People want success. Ideally, they want success quick, cheap, and easy. And yet, when it comes to securing success in classrooms, I think it is imperative that we focus more on learning failures and problems.   If we only focus on solutions – be they curriculum planning, oracy, or ‘cold calling’ – a busy teacher won’t be prepared when they inevitably go awry in the classroom. If we better understand the problems we are looking to solve, and the likely failures that ..read more

It is that time when national exams begin and pupils take those final, nervous steps into exam halls and similar. Though it can have some anxiety attached, it is also a time for celebration and the culmination of a massive efforts coming to fruition. A small first from me - this is the first newsletter on my new website platform. I hope you find it as useful as ever! Subscribe to the 3Rs What I am writing… I have told everyone who will listen, so I'll say it again: I have just published my new book! To supplement its release this week, I have also written some blogs to accompany it. They incl ..read more

“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” Henry Ford We can all be quick to celebrate our successes, but we can possess a natural reluctance to share or talk about failure. And yet, given how complex teaching and learning in the classroom proves, it becomes a necessity that teachers learn from failure and respond intelligently to ensure that they secure success. Instead of assuming that failure is bad, or caused by blameworthy personal attributes, we need to recognise that failure is a natural occurrence that attends all new learning, particularly when ..read more

It is a truth universally acknowledged – and bemoaned – that pupils do not learn all that they are taught. They may learn something. They may even learn a lot. But it may not be a lot of what we think we have taught them. If you multiply these learning failures thirty times in the classroom, then you capture the near-infinite challenge – and the unpredictable brilliance – of learning and teaching. The reasons for these learning failures are complex and multifaceted, but if we can better understand why they occur, then we can do a better job of addressing them. When we can more accurately diag ..read more

Every teacher can share ample examples of their students struggling to learn independently. From giving up during an extended piece of writing, to getting stuck and stopping with tricky algebra problems, or forgetting homework and avoiding revision.   A lack of independence is a commonplace issue in education, but less common is an agreed way forward to best address the issue of inadequate independent learning or ‘learned helplessness’.  One issue is that every teacher can have a different idea about independent learning, how to develop it, and what it should look like in their ..read more

The 3Rs is my fortnightly newsletter where I’ll share my reading, new writing, and the research evidence (and resources) that are most interesting in the world of education ..read more

Adaptive teaching may be tricky to define, but we must define it well, and exemplify it, otherwise it will prove an empty buzzword.  I’ve tried to characterise it into broadly two types of adaptations: Microadaptations (Corno, 2008). Sensitive, moment-to-moment adaptations responding to pupils’ learning e.g. deploying flexible grouping in a history lesson to quickly reexplain how they might more effectively plan their essay on Scrooge. Significant adaptations. Pupils with a learning difficulty or disability may require significant adaptations and schools are required to e ..read more

The 3Rs is my fortnightly newsletter where I’ll share my reading, new writing, and the research evidence (and resources) that are most interesting in the world of education ..read more

The 3Rs is my fortnightly newsletter where I’ll share my reading, new writing, and the research evidence (and resources) that are most interesting in the world of education ..read more

Teachers in England spend hours marking pupils’ work and in the final mile run up to national exams teachers are often exhausted by their efforts. A key challenge appears to be how we ensure pupils work just as hard as their teachers and taking responsibility to manage their own learning.  Common issues I hear regularly from teachers: “My pupils make so many mistakes, I don’t know where to start with exam targets.”  “He can give detailed answers, but it is full of issues.” “They just don’t seem to have the motivation to improve their work or revise well.” The emphasis is too often o ..read more