Here’s where I start. All other things being equal (which they obviously aren’t) there is no detriment to learning times tables. How ever you learn them. By continuous practice, by chanting, by using an app. It’s all good. I know mine and I’m glad I do. The more that children know them the better off… Read More Testing Times
You will not have been able to miss the news over the past week or so that tablets are on their way out. The most quotable quote was “Even Apple is acknowledging that the “iPads in education” fad is coming to an end.” which manages to diss the two tech bête noirs of the edu-twitterati,… Read More Lies, damned lies, and the debunking of edtech fads
..any theory of human intelligence which ignores the interdependence of hand and brain function, the historical origins of that relationship, or the impact of that history on developmental dynamics in modern humans, is grossly misleading and sterile. Frank Wilson There has been a recent spate of posts on handwriting, here (from @teachertoolkit), here (from @learningspy) and, the one… Read More The pen is mightier than the keyboard
Not quite on the road to Damascus, but perhaps taking a look at the signpost! As a long time supporter of the benefits of technology in education I feel that the current trends are making me more concerned about its use. My concern is this: what I see is not technology being developed to meet… Read More Standing at the crossroads
Whilst everyone is focusing on the “defeatists” aspect of the Secretary of States latest billet-doux to the education profession a single word in a small paragraph caught my eye. That’s why we’ve accelerated the pace of reform in our schools — setting higher standards in maths and English in our new national curriculum, recruiting more… Read More Keep taking the tablets
There is an interesting paragraph in the speech that Michael Gove made to the National College yesterday. Because all children can succeed in school – and many, many more than we allow for at the moment can secure outstanding exam passes, complete demanding apprenticeships, achieve our new, and aspirational, technical baccalaureate standard or go on… Read More The “and” makes a difference
Distant Ramblings on the Horizon 