How can we give kids over a hundred hours of extra teaching time each year for free?

Katie Ashford is an English teacher in a secondary school in the Midlands. These are her individual views. Lessons begin at ten past the hour. Or that’s when the bell goes, at least. By the time the kids have arrived from their last lesson, have caught up with their friends and faffed about with their…

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world

  Our anonymous blogger is a Teach First teacher in an inner-city school.  These are their individual views and not the views of Edapt. As Mandela made clear, education is everything. Being a first world country, we should be able to proudly declare that our children are benefiting from a first rate education. Sadly, to…

Why do teachers burn out?

Katie Ashford is an English teacher in a secondary school in the Midlands. These are her individual views. Hello everyone. My name is Katie Ashford and I am a workaholic. Giving up working insanely hard was more of a challenge than giving up smoking. The threat of yellow teeth, empty pockets, lung cancer and premature…

6 new term resolutions teachers make & how to actually stick with them

Laura Mcinerney was a teacher for 6 years in London and is the co-founder of Teacher Tapp. These are her individual views. As teachers across the land are heading back to school, the new term resolutions take hold. “From tomorrow I will mark all books, plan well in advance, design my room to be fit…

What can we learn from good and bad school leaders?

  Katie Ashford is an English teacher in a secondary school in the Midlands, these are her individual views. Put your hand up if you have ever moaned about a school leader… Thought so. Standing at the bottom of the hierarchy looking upwards, it’s very easy to point fingers and blame leaders for doing a…

The seven stages of Ofsted preparation

  Katie Ashford is an English teacher in a secondary school in the Midlands, these are her individual views. Schools and teachers have a habit of getting rather panicky when an OFSTED inspection is on the horizon. Staffrooms are abuzz with speculation about when they will come next, the bosses start getting even more obsessed…

Sugar free schools?

Our anonymous blogger is a Teach First teacher in an inner-city school. These are their individual views.  As children, we battled with my mum over certain “brain foods” she deemed vital. Fish was my nemesis, forcing me to think creatively and come up with various strategies that allowed me to get the nasty stuff down…

Misconceptions of a new teacher: you can always rely on ‘science’ to tell you how to teach

As the new school year approaches and over 30,000 new teachers begin their career in the classroom, Katie Ashford gives us the final part in her three part series.  Katie is an English teacher in a secondary school in London. These are her individual views. The last two posts in this series have talked about…

Misconceptions of a new teacher – inspiring kids is easy

As the new school year approaches and over 30,000 new teachers begin their career in the classroom, Katie Ashford gives us the second part in her three part series. Katie is an English teacher in a secondary school in London. These are her individual views. At the end of summer institute, the prospect of entering…