Misconceptions of a new teacher – staying up until midnight makes you a better teacher

  As the new school year approaches and over 30,000 new teachers begin their career in the classroom, Katie Ashford gives us the first part in her three part series. Katie is an English teacher in a secondary school in London. These are her individual views. Every teacher knows that things will never be as…

What did I learn on Teach First?

Katie Ashford is an English teacher in a secondary school in London. These are her individual views. Teach First: the teacher training equivalent of a bungee jump; an exhilarating, frightening, all-or-nothing experience that is not for the faint hearted. The six week training period, known as ‘Summer Institute’ is like standing on the edge of…

It should not be harder to work at McDonald’s than become a teacher

Laura McInerney was a teacher for 6 years and is the co-founder of Teacher Tapp. These are her individual views. To be a McDonald’s floor manager you have to pass 3 exams; to be a teacher, if trends continue, you won’t have to pass anything. How Michael Gove has looked at the problems of our education system…

Is rote learning a bad thing?

Katie Ashford is an English teacher in a secondary school in London. These are her individual views. As we all know, being a teacher is tricky. There are so many plates to keep spinning every lesson that sometimes, when we aren’t looking, they come crashing down around us. Is my learning objective clear and measurable?…

Towards a Royal College of Teaching

As the Royal College of Teaching moves into the next phase of its development, released today is the report in conjunction with the Royal College of Surgeons: Towards a Royal College of Teaching – raising the status of the profession. Below is Edapt’s contribution to the report: Edapt advocates a Royal College of Teaching and…

Why are you just a teacher?

This blog post comes from our anonymous blogger working in a secondary school. The other day one of my Year 8 students said something disconcerting: ‘If you’re so smart why didn’t you become a lawyer or a doctor? Why are you just a teacher?’ This ‘just’ has haunted me for weeks. For that little just…

BBC5 Live: Are teaching unions fully representative of their membership?

Edapt’s CEO John Roberts discusses the proposed strike action with John Dixon from the National Union of Teachers and a host of classroom teachers and parents on BBC 5 Live’s Tony Livesey morning show. Great to hear a teacher commit to subscribing to Edapt live on air. Listen again to the BBC 5 live piece…

Easter conferences: time for teaching unions to resurrect themselves?

Every Easter the education sector holds its collective breath, waiting for the next politically driven diatribe to be launched from the teaching unions’ conferences.  “It’s not our fault”, comes the cry from the unions, responsibility for our actions lies with the Secretary of State and his political meddling. True in part, but such tirades, and…

Differentiation less daunting

Emma is a Science teacher in a secondary school in north London. Her views expressed here do not represent the views of Edapt.   The idea of differentiation can be overwhelming and often seems too much to tackle for every lesson with a full teaching schedule. I went to an after school professional development session…