Teaching & Learning

There is no doubt that schools in some areas of the country are finding that recruitment and retention of high quality teachers is becoming more difficult. The Government White Paper, “Educational Excellence Everywhere” proposes a number of changes to the…

Recently, The Government White Paper, “Educational Excellence Everywhere” was published, with far reaching implications on a number of issues. It proposes that, in the new academic year, Ofsted will consult on: “removing the separate graded judgements on the quality of…

What to Do About Grading Lessons Judging individual lessons - to grade or not to grade? There has been a degree of publicity about whether Ofsted will be grading individual lessons and/or teachers, and what implications this has for schools in…

The Changed Role of the Teaching/Classroom Assistant “Teachers and other adults authoritatively impart knowledge to ensure pupils are engaged in learning, and generate high levels of commitment to learning across the school.” This extract from the descriptor for ‘Outstanding’ in…

Why should we be observing? What’s the purpose? Recently, Ofsted has been making a real effort to try and rid schools of the misconception that inspectors should be grading individual lesson observations. In light of this, many of us may…

The excellent contribution made by teaching/classroom assistants to raising achievement in schools is recognised by teachers, parents and their children. Over time, there has been an increasing role played by support staff in the direct teaching of groups and individual…