Teachers Archives

Why is so much of teaching filled with fear?

by David Weston | 6 Jan, 2015 | Opinion, Teachers, Uncategorized

No teacher has ever completed a school day with every item on their ‘to do’ list fully ticked off. It’s pretty much impossible to do the job as thoroughly as you’d like to, and there’s a constant feeling of guilt (you know the one I mean,...

Should we stop CPD about teaching techniques?

by David Weston | 4 Jan, 2015 | Advice, Teachers

There is a huge amount of teacher professional development that is concerned with imparting ‘effective techniques’ for teachers. This is based around the idea that if you show or explain a superior technique then teachers will go away and use it in their...

Views sought: how do we balance student and teacher needs?

by David Weston | 24 Jul, 2014 | Leadership, Teachers

At the Teacher Development Trust we have an explicit mission to promote powerful professional development that helps students succeed and teachers thrive. Sometimes there are examples of extraordinarily successful schools, especially in areas of greater deprivation,...

Are there too many ‘quick wins’ in teaching?

by David Weston | 2 Mar, 2014 | Teachers

There are some teachers who talk too much without causing their pupils to think hard enough that they learn anything. What’s the solution? 1) Swiftly limit the teacher’s poor-quality talk to 5 minutes and suggest that students get on with their own work...

10 things you need to know about the teacher workload survey

by David Weston | 28 Feb, 2014 | Research, Teachers

The DfE finally published the 2013 teacher workload diary survey today and it contains a huge range of fascinating findings. At first reading, the following notable findings stood out for me – bear in mind these are all averages: Primary school teachers report...

The Coherence of Scottish Education

by David Weston | 18 Feb, 2014 | Opinion, Teachers

The Scottish education system has sometimes been criticised as being too consensual and lacking in urgency. However, coming from the aggressively partisan, political and relentlessly changing world of English education there were elements of today’s visit to the...