One pleasing outcome of Innovate My School’s ‘30 great British education-innovators to follow on Twitter’ article was that it got some of our followers talking about the use of Twitter by educators. Sue Dixon of Thinking Child is particularly interested in the different kind of tweeters that education offers. While it’s a humorous topic, it’s interesting to examine the different characters to whom we’re all now accustomed.

Twitter is a relatively new concept but it is a social media platform that the world of education has massively embraced. And you can see why; there are obvious advantages to being able to connect with so many other people from the same sphere as you; swapping ideas in real time, catching up on latest news and theories etc.

A year after writing an article for our magazine, Sue Dixon of P4C and Thinking Child returns with a piece on how best to teach the art of listening to pupils. After all, a lot of fun can be had...

When I was little and chattered too much, my mum used to say “Susan Ellen! (She always used my ‘Sunday name’ when I was in trouble) You know it’s no accident that you have two ears and only one mouth. Do shush and listen for a moment.”

And then, by no surprise, I became a teacher: traditionally a role perceived as more about talking than listening. Listening isn’t something that is overtly taught in teacher training college, but I believe it should be.

Homework is often an emotive and divisive issue in primary schools. How much is appropriate for a certain year group? What forms should it take? How much parent involvement is required? To what extent should it be tailored to individual children? And so on.