Ideas, Practices & Personal Insights

Is your music curriculum fit for the 21st century?

Music education often doesn’t reflect the reality of how young people are engaging with music in their spare time. 97% of young people listen to music every week; and two-thirds say they’re regularly making music. Despite this, around 93% of students in KS3 don’t choose music as a GCSE. These statistics say that classroom music isn’t resonating with many young musical people. We need to look for new ...

Journey for Social Change with STEAM

I have lived an incredible journey becoming an engineer for Rolls-Royce, street-dancer, and a public speaker. My journey wasn’t always smooth though, and at one point I failed every examination at university because of the problems in my life. That’s when I decided to go totally out of the box and learned to dance.

Eliminate Muda in your school

Teaching is one of the most noble, rewarding and gratifying professions you can choose, with an impact on our society that is immeasurable in its reach; however all of this has come with some small print in recent years.

9 mega maths apps

Technology provides dynamic opportunities for teaching and learning of maths. It can enhance the learning process and make concepts come alive through engaging and interactive media. Edtech tools can also offer additional support to address the needs of all learners and create personalised learning experiences. Here are some edtech tools focused on raising numeracy standards in primary and secondary schools. 1. Maths-Whizz Purchase price varies by single class, whole school ...

Do you understand how hard I work?

If you got the jobs that you needed to get done finished an hour before you were due to complete them... would you just find something else to add to your list?How often have you said, “I don’t have time”? You were lying to yourself! As you are reading this, time is ticking away and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Time exists; how we ...

19 innovative edtech startups

Many say that education is not yet transformed by technology. Well, not to the extent that other industries can claim. But this has a lot more to do with the complexity of schools choosing, adopting and implementing edtech, rather than there being a lack of innovative tech out there, solving problems for teachers and creating opportunities for learners.

A Founder’s Story - Matt Koster-Marcon, Learning Ladders

As with many ex-teachers, my inspiration was my own experience in school, and the desire to scale something we created which was transformational for us, and I knew would be for others.I always say to anyone - look out for the products set up and run by ex-teachers, they’re always the best!

Our Story by the Three Founders of Kide Science

Imagine you are an early years teacher. One day a member of the senior team comes to you and says that you need to teach science, which is becoming mandatory even in early years education. But how an earth should you teach science to 3 year olds?

It’s time to reduce teacher workloads!

Teacher workload. One of the biggest challenges the sector is facing. It’s an ongoing battle with teachers expressing that three of the biggest areas that lead to unnecessary workload are marking, planning and data management.

Our approach to reducing (let’s call it re-focusing) workload

It is curious that with all the talk about teacher workload and the recruitment & retention crisis, taking place at the same time is a new phenomenon; the grassroots CPD movement. In towns and cities across the country, teachers are giving up their Saturdays to attend Teachmeets, ResearchEd, and BrewEd events. This is heartening because it confirms that it isn’t hard work that teachers are complaining about, but unnecessary ...

Reducing Planning and Marking Time

Was there ever a time where teachers worked 35-hour weeks? I doubt it. Whether you’re working 40, 50 or 60 hours a week, we all know, it needs to be reduced, as teachers deserve a positive work-life balance.

7 Apps to Engage Parents

Parents play a crucial role in supporting their children’s learning, and levels of parental engagement are consistently associated with better outcomes. Evidence from the Education Endowment Foundation's Teaching and Learning Toolkit suggests that "effective parental engagement can lead to learning gains of over 3 months over the course of a year". However, it can be a difficult and time consuming job to get parents involved in the right way. Thankfully, ...