I am planning to write a few posts on the ethics of education. I have already entered this territory before, (for instance in these posts: Values and Professionalism) but I have become more and more convinced that the problems in our schools are philosophical and ethical. The values and the beliefs that shape large parts [...]

For this entry I have turned my blog over to a friend so he can write about his experience of teaching, in the next level of the education system: As a friend of Oldandrew for many years I agreed to write a guest entry for his blog. Unlike Oldandrew, I have not become a school teacher [...]

Continuing the account of a school trip. You will need to read this entry first. I awoke to find the boys from Anna Brown’s form all over their corridor, bags strewn across the floor. I told them that they, and their bags, should be in their rooms, unless they were showering, or alternatively they could sit in [...]

In my first year at the Metropolitan School I was given a year 7 form group. It was a tradition at the school for new form tutors to take their forms on an overnight stay at the Skylark Residential Centre in the first few weeks of term where there would be a chance for us [...]

I know this has been around for a few years, but I only recently saw it for the first time: Apologies again to anybody who can’t access youtube. Authored by oldandrew. Hosted by Edublogs. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Foldandrew.edublogs.org%2F2008%2F09%2F20%2Fguaranteed-to-offend-your-senco%2F'; addthis_title = 'Guaranteed+to+Offend+Your+SENCO'; addthis_pub = '';

There are some writers and advisers out there who give genuinely useful advice about classroom management (see this post for some book suggestions). They focus on concrete ideas about routines, classroom organisation, or language. However, I increasingly encounter behaviour “experts” who try to pass on ideas about the character and personality of the teacher. These [...]

Charlene was at The Metropolitan School long before I was. I met her in my first term here when she was in year 10. She came into my classroom, refused to sit where I asked, swore at me and walked out. I can’t remember what she said exactly as she has done this about fifteen [...]

Dan Willingham, the professor of psychology from the University of Virginia (and poor geographer), who created the video in this blog entry has also produced a video on another fad: Brain-based learning. Again, apologies to those readers who can’t access youtube. Authored by oldandrew. Hosted by Edublogs. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Foldandrew.edublogs.org%2F2008%2F09%2F05%2Fanother-helpful-video%2F'; addthis_title [...]

“Well then I think we are all agreed as to what a teacake is. What’s the next word, Jessop?” “It’s ‘teach’, sir. In our last edition we defined it as `give systematic information to (a person) or about (a subject or skill)’. However, we define a `teacher’ as ‘somebody who teaches, especially in a school’ and, [...]

Just in case you need to provide some INSET at the start of next term about how children learn, you might want to look at this (apologies to those readers who can’t access youtube): Authored by oldandrew. Hosted by Edublogs. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Foldandrew.edublogs.org%2F2008%2F08%2F27%2Fa-helpful-video-on-learning-styles%2F'; addthis_title = 'A+Helpful+Video+On+Learning+Styles'; addthis_pub [...]