What are the ideas, theories and research that are, or should be impacting education and teaching?

 

As a primary teacher who constantly reflects on my own teaching philosophies and practices, I find that there are some BIG questions out there that as educationalists we are facing both in our classroom and at higher, government/moral levels. I started this blog in order to provide myself with a space to inquire into these BIG questions. A space to digest academic papers, research, beliefs, theories, ideas and resources into manageable and helpful posts.

Whilst inquiring into these questions, I have found that I increasingly want my philosophies and practices to be evidence-based. After all, in the medical world, every policy that doctors face over what drug or management plan to use for particular ailments are highly scrutinised and rightly so, they are often dealing with life and death situations. But aren’t we to an extent? The educational institutions that we are part of will have an ENORMOUS, LIFE-ALTERING effect on the children that we educate. Shouldn’t we be as careful in the decisions that we make? I believe that too often changes are made in education that have little substantial evidence to support them and yet these changes are costing our institutions a hefty sum, not just in money but also in brainpower and well-ness in our staff.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against change. From the range of resources that I read/watch you will see that I believe that education needs to change away from it’s old, industrial model but I am cautious about running with my eyes closed to the “next best thing” that may only be a “fad” for a few years.

I want to bridge the academia of education to the classroom. What research has found actually works and what you can use in our classroom from tomorrow. Via blog posts,  I want to create a website where you can get to grips with the big, “Smart” questions that matter and are floating around in education, to help you to become a more effective teacher.

Become a ‘smart primary educator’ !

Don’t just be a sheep, we have to advocate for our students to give them the best, most effective and most relevant education.

We might need to turn Primary Ed on it’s head !

 

Where do you stand on the continuum for revolutionising education?

Top-down? Down-up? A balance?