Richard Southward
@gwhitebread.bsky.social
North East Secondary Deputy Head, T and L, CPD lead, Science teacher, music and Vinyl enthusiast
Reposted by Richard Southward
When teachers offer classroom egs, it can be SO valuable. But often there's just a snippet - a ppt slide or piece of writing & it's hard to know the context, intentions & real impact. This, on the power of Talk for Learning, is different. I love it! #oracy www.englishandmedia.co.uk/blog/oracy-i...
Oracy is the glue
How talk-for-learning can transform reading and writing about challenging texts at KS3, using Jane Eyre as an example
www.englishandmedia.co.uk
January 9, 2026 at 9:15 AM
When teachers offer classroom egs, it can be SO valuable. But often there's just a snippet - a ppt slide or piece of writing & it's hard to know the context, intentions & real impact. This, on the power of Talk for Learning, is different. I love it! #oracy www.englishandmedia.co.uk/blog/oracy-i...
Reposted by Richard Southward
Make this go viral.
Labour MP Louise Haigh.
Labour MP Louise Haigh.
I call on my party and my government to remove themselves entirely from X and communicate with the public where they actually participate online and can be protected from such illegality.
January 8, 2026 at 1:00 PM
Make this go viral.
Labour MP Louise Haigh.
Labour MP Louise Haigh.
Reposted by Richard Southward
I call on my party and my government to remove themselves entirely from X and communicate with the public where they actually participate online and can be protected from such illegality.
January 8, 2026 at 12:31 PM
I call on my party and my government to remove themselves entirely from X and communicate with the public where they actually participate online and can be protected from such illegality.
Reposted by Richard Southward
'Trust inspection must build from a clear and focused understanding of the problem it is trying to solve': @steverollett.bsky.social outlines some of the key concerns around the government's MAT inspection plans
Why risks remain in government’s plans for trust inspections
The Confederation of School Trusts’ Steve Rollett questions the overarching strategy behind Labour’s plans for inspecting academy trusts
www.tes.com
January 8, 2026 at 6:05 AM
'Trust inspection must build from a clear and focused understanding of the problem it is trying to solve': @steverollett.bsky.social outlines some of the key concerns around the government's MAT inspection plans
Reposted by Richard Southward
19% of secondary learners in England use EAL: Is your school meeting their needs? Sarah Moodie – @thebellfoundation.bsky.social – explores practical steps for auditing & improving #EAL provision, from CPD to classroom strategies, using structured frameworks: buff.ly/nXCHi4P #Teaching #Edusky
Evaluating your secondary school’s EAL provision - SecEd
With 19% of secondary learners using EAL, discover how schools can audit, evaluate, and improve EAL inclusive provision
buff.ly
January 5, 2026 at 12:51 PM
19% of secondary learners in England use EAL: Is your school meeting their needs? Sarah Moodie – @thebellfoundation.bsky.social – explores practical steps for auditing & improving #EAL provision, from CPD to classroom strategies, using structured frameworks: buff.ly/nXCHi4P #Teaching #Edusky
Reposted by Richard Southward
Deployment and Dialogue: Engaging Teaching Assistants to Improve Practice
How leaders can provide meaningful opportunities for TAs to discuss their perspectives, ideas, and concerns. researchschool.org.uk/bradford/new...
How leaders can provide meaningful opportunities for TAs to discuss their perspectives, ideas, and concerns. researchschool.org.uk/bradford/new...
Deployment and Dialogue: Engaging Teaching Assistants to Improve…
Engaging teaching assistants in the deployment of teaching assistants
researchschool.org.uk
January 5, 2026 at 4:30 PM
Deployment and Dialogue: Engaging Teaching Assistants to Improve Practice
How leaders can provide meaningful opportunities for TAs to discuss their perspectives, ideas, and concerns. researchschool.org.uk/bradford/new...
How leaders can provide meaningful opportunities for TAs to discuss their perspectives, ideas, and concerns. researchschool.org.uk/bradford/new...
Reposted by Richard Southward
Intriguing article from Jill Barshay on mathematical vocabulary use & it’s positive impact on learning:
hechingerreport.org/proof-points...
hechingerreport.org/proof-points...
Talk nerdy to me: Teachers who use math vocabulary help students do better in math
Using words like ‘factors,’ ‘denominators’ and ‘multiples’ may be part of a constellation of good math teaching practices
hechingerreport.org
January 5, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Intriguing article from Jill Barshay on mathematical vocabulary use & it’s positive impact on learning:
hechingerreport.org/proof-points...
hechingerreport.org/proof-points...
Reposted by Richard Southward
Happy New Year's Eve everyone. If you are a teacher (or indeed anyone) still posting on X, I have a suggested New Year's Resolution for you. Stop!
If you agree, please REPOST here and on X if you maintain an account there.
open.substack.com/pub/markgood...
If you agree, please REPOST here and on X if you maintain an account there.
open.substack.com/pub/markgood...
A New Year's Resolution for Teachers: Quit X
The best time to do so was when Musk started poisoning it; the second-best time is now
open.substack.com
December 31, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Happy New Year's Eve everyone. If you are a teacher (or indeed anyone) still posting on X, I have a suggested New Year's Resolution for you. Stop!
If you agree, please REPOST here and on X if you maintain an account there.
open.substack.com/pub/markgood...
If you agree, please REPOST here and on X if you maintain an account there.
open.substack.com/pub/markgood...
Reposted by Richard Southward
Hi #EduSky! I was worried that the Twixmas / early NY period might be a fallow one for blogs but far from it. In fact, some big names have been crazily productive over the holiday period. My #Saturday3 this week follow a theme of education being really hard work.....
January 3, 2026 at 8:20 AM
Hi #EduSky! I was worried that the Twixmas / early NY period might be a fallow one for blogs but far from it. In fact, some big names have been crazily productive over the holiday period. My #Saturday3 this week follow a theme of education being really hard work.....
Reposted by Richard Southward
NEW Herd immunity and the limits of peer influence
Herd immunity works until the system keeps re-infecting itself.
Why a few influential students can tip norms and why no seed group survives adult inconsistency 👇
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
Herd immunity works until the system keeps re-infecting itself.
Why a few influential students can tip norms and why no seed group survives adult inconsistency 👇
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
Herd immunity and the limits of influence
What Elizabeth Paluck’s research reveals about cultural change and why schools have struggled to implement it effectively
open.substack.com
January 3, 2026 at 6:25 AM
NEW Herd immunity and the limits of peer influence
Herd immunity works until the system keeps re-infecting itself.
Why a few influential students can tip norms and why no seed group survives adult inconsistency 👇
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
Herd immunity works until the system keeps re-infecting itself.
Why a few influential students can tip norms and why no seed group survives adult inconsistency 👇
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
Reposted by Richard Southward
Interesting but not surprising
March 15, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Interesting but not surprising
Reposted by Richard Southward
Apart from the fun stuff at work, I don’t celebrate Christmas.
But as a Muslim, I believe that: ‘A person is either your brother in faith or your equal in humanity.’
So Christmas matters to me because it’s celebrated by you ❤️.
Merry Christmas and peace be unto you.
But as a Muslim, I believe that: ‘A person is either your brother in faith or your equal in humanity.’
So Christmas matters to me because it’s celebrated by you ❤️.
Merry Christmas and peace be unto you.
December 25, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Apart from the fun stuff at work, I don’t celebrate Christmas.
But as a Muslim, I believe that: ‘A person is either your brother in faith or your equal in humanity.’
So Christmas matters to me because it’s celebrated by you ❤️.
Merry Christmas and peace be unto you.
But as a Muslim, I believe that: ‘A person is either your brother in faith or your equal in humanity.’
So Christmas matters to me because it’s celebrated by you ❤️.
Merry Christmas and peace be unto you.
Reposted by Richard Southward
Hi #EduSky - it's my last #Saturday3 before Christmas and first up is this fascinating blog on Basil Bernstein by @jonesedu.bsky.social. I have to confess that I had not heard of him but this explains how he anticipated a lot of cogsci and yet was quite different. bsky.app/profile/jone...
Explicit instruction isn’t just a method - it’s a social practice.
What does Basil Bernstein tell us about power, language, and who benefits from 'what works' in education?
A rethink of pedagogy beyond cog sci 👇 #edusju #uked #education #sociology #speech
mrjoneswhiteboard.blog/2025/12/13/b...
What does Basil Bernstein tell us about power, language, and who benefits from 'what works' in education?
A rethink of pedagogy beyond cog sci 👇 #edusju #uked #education #sociology #speech
mrjoneswhiteboard.blog/2025/12/13/b...
Pedagogy, power & clarity: Bernstein’s challenge to explicit instruction
Over the past decade ‘explicit instruction’ has emerged as one of the dominant models of evidence-based teaching and learning. From Barak Rosenshine’s (2012) Principles of Instruction to Greg Ashma…
mrjoneswhiteboard.blog
December 20, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Hi #EduSky - it's my last #Saturday3 before Christmas and first up is this fascinating blog on Basil Bernstein by @jonesedu.bsky.social. I have to confess that I had not heard of him but this explains how he anticipated a lot of cogsci and yet was quite different. bsky.app/profile/jone...
Reposted by Richard Southward
Excellent post from Mary. As @counsellc.bsky.social says, "You cannot Rosenshine your way into a curriculum, and nor can you Rosenshine your way into mediating content in subject sensitive ways."
I don’t think as much attention has been paid to implementing the curriculum as it has to the pedagogy to teach it.
It’s a bit like going into a restaurant where all the effort has gone in to making it look amazing...
open.substack.com/pub/marymyat...
It’s a bit like going into a restaurant where all the effort has gone in to making it look amazing...
open.substack.com/pub/marymyat...
What criteria for implementing the curriculum?
Well hello there, and welcome to update #148!
open.substack.com
December 20, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Excellent post from Mary. As @counsellc.bsky.social says, "You cannot Rosenshine your way into a curriculum, and nor can you Rosenshine your way into mediating content in subject sensitive ways."
Reposted by Richard Southward
I don’t think as much attention has been paid to implementing the curriculum as it has to the pedagogy to teach it.
It’s a bit like going into a restaurant where all the effort has gone in to making it look amazing...
open.substack.com/pub/marymyat...
It’s a bit like going into a restaurant where all the effort has gone in to making it look amazing...
open.substack.com/pub/marymyat...
What criteria for implementing the curriculum?
Well hello there, and welcome to update #148!
open.substack.com
December 20, 2025 at 9:27 AM
I don’t think as much attention has been paid to implementing the curriculum as it has to the pedagogy to teach it.
It’s a bit like going into a restaurant where all the effort has gone in to making it look amazing...
open.substack.com/pub/marymyat...
It’s a bit like going into a restaurant where all the effort has gone in to making it look amazing...
open.substack.com/pub/marymyat...
Reposted by Richard Southward
Got questions about Retrieval Practice? You’re not alone. This blog answers the ones that matter most.
https://www.innerdrive.co.uk/blog/questions-about-retrieval-practice/
https://www.innerdrive.co.uk/blog/questions-about-retrieval-practice/
December 18, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Got questions about Retrieval Practice? You’re not alone. This blog answers the ones that matter most.
https://www.innerdrive.co.uk/blog/questions-about-retrieval-practice/
https://www.innerdrive.co.uk/blog/questions-about-retrieval-practice/
Reposted by Richard Southward
Our final Belonging Effect (formerly Diverse Educators) blog of 2025 is by me.
Creating Psychological Safety in Schools: Building Trust for Pupils, Staff, and Parents
www.thebelongingeffect.co.uk/creating-psy...
#Diversity #Equity #Inclusion #Belonging #DiverseEd
Creating Psychological Safety in Schools: Building Trust for Pupils, Staff, and Parents
www.thebelongingeffect.co.uk/creating-psy...
#Diversity #Equity #Inclusion #Belonging #DiverseEd
Creating Psychological Safety in Schools: Building Trust for Pupils, Staff, and Parents | Belonging Effect
Creating psychological safety is not a luxury - it is the foundation of a thriving school.
www.thebelongingeffect.co.uk
December 18, 2025 at 6:11 AM
Our final Belonging Effect (formerly Diverse Educators) blog of 2025 is by me.
Creating Psychological Safety in Schools: Building Trust for Pupils, Staff, and Parents
www.thebelongingeffect.co.uk/creating-psy...
#Diversity #Equity #Inclusion #Belonging #DiverseEd
Creating Psychological Safety in Schools: Building Trust for Pupils, Staff, and Parents
www.thebelongingeffect.co.uk/creating-psy...
#Diversity #Equity #Inclusion #Belonging #DiverseEd
Reposted by Richard Southward
Feel free to enjoy my Substack on this. The process by which Japanese teachers build this knowledge is often through lesson study (briefly described in the first part).
open.substack.com/pub/markgood...
open.substack.com/pub/markgood...
What Japan can teach us about running schools
It may not be what you think....
open.substack.com
December 17, 2025 at 6:08 AM
Feel free to enjoy my Substack on this. The process by which Japanese teachers build this knowledge is often through lesson study (briefly described in the first part).
open.substack.com/pub/markgood...
open.substack.com/pub/markgood...
Reposted by Richard Southward
Particularly good episode with lots of great thinking on assessment and how it can be effective. Also, I learnt a new Japanese word - kyozaikenkyu - meaning knowledge of instructional materials. If this whetted your appetite for Japanese words in an educational context….
PROFESSOR @dylanwiliam.bsky.social IN THE HOUSE
It was a real honour for me and @amymayforrester.bsky.social to interview Dylan and to talk all things schools, formative assessment, data, effective altruism and teacher improvement.
Not to be missed, please share!
open.spotify.com/episode/3Wcj...
It was a real honour for me and @amymayforrester.bsky.social to interview Dylan and to talk all things schools, formative assessment, data, effective altruism and teacher improvement.
Not to be missed, please share!
open.spotify.com/episode/3Wcj...
What is formative assessment, and why should anybody care? With professor Dylan Wiliam
open.spotify.com
December 17, 2025 at 5:34 AM
Particularly good episode with lots of great thinking on assessment and how it can be effective. Also, I learnt a new Japanese word - kyozaikenkyu - meaning knowledge of instructional materials. If this whetted your appetite for Japanese words in an educational context….
Reposted by Richard Southward
Alex Gingell and I get together and talk culture, modeling, rehearsal, and what makes improvement stick ahead of the NYC @steplab.bsky.social intensive
educationrickshaw.com/2025/12/15/s...
educationrickshaw.com/2025/12/15/s...
S5E11: Alex Gingell on Setting the Culture and Conditions for Effective Instructional Coaching
In this episode, I sit down with Alex Gingell to unpack what it actually takes to make instructional coaching work in a school. Alex explains why his first priority wasn’t improving teaching, but s…
educationrickshaw.com
December 16, 2025 at 3:20 AM
Alex Gingell and I get together and talk culture, modeling, rehearsal, and what makes improvement stick ahead of the NYC @steplab.bsky.social intensive
educationrickshaw.com/2025/12/15/s...
educationrickshaw.com/2025/12/15/s...
Reposted by Richard Southward
The new book from @hannahwilson.bsky.social, ‘How to Cultivate Belonging in Schools’ will be out in January. It's available to pre-order here:
www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Guide...
www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Guide...
A Little Guide for Teachers: Cultivating Belonging in Schools : Wilson, Hannah: Amazon.co.uk: Books
Buy A Little Guide for Teachers: Cultivating Belonging in Schools 1 by Wilson, Hannah (ISBN: 9781036206451) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
www.amazon.co.uk
December 14, 2025 at 3:38 PM
The new book from @hannahwilson.bsky.social, ‘How to Cultivate Belonging in Schools’ will be out in January. It's available to pre-order here:
www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Guide...
www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Guide...
Another fantastic piece. Many thanks.
NEW POST
Schools rightly spend a lot of time thinking about classroom teaching and in-the-moment learning and lesson structure. But without a plan for long-term memory, we are probably wasting our time.
Please do share if you can 🙏🙏
carouselteachlearnlead.substack.com/p/the-long-t...
Schools rightly spend a lot of time thinking about classroom teaching and in-the-moment learning and lesson structure. But without a plan for long-term memory, we are probably wasting our time.
Please do share if you can 🙏🙏
carouselteachlearnlead.substack.com/p/the-long-t...
The Long-Term Memory Problem: Why Teaching and Learning Policies Fail
Schools are very good at writing policies about in-the-moment teaching. They are much worse at strategising for long-term memory and learning.
carouselteachlearnlead.substack.com
December 14, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Another fantastic piece. Many thanks.
Reposted by Richard Southward
An intriguing collection of essays on the idea of ‘knowledge rich’ curricula, teaching & learning.
Essays include Naomi Pilling’s brilliant argument for ‘knowledge rich’ art curricula & @bennewmark.bsky.social on ‘knowledge rich’ for children who struggle most.
www.civitas.org.uk/content/file...
Essays include Naomi Pilling’s brilliant argument for ‘knowledge rich’ art curricula & @bennewmark.bsky.social on ‘knowledge rich’ for children who struggle most.
www.civitas.org.uk/content/file...
December 14, 2025 at 11:40 AM
An intriguing collection of essays on the idea of ‘knowledge rich’ curricula, teaching & learning.
Essays include Naomi Pilling’s brilliant argument for ‘knowledge rich’ art curricula & @bennewmark.bsky.social on ‘knowledge rich’ for children who struggle most.
www.civitas.org.uk/content/file...
Essays include Naomi Pilling’s brilliant argument for ‘knowledge rich’ art curricula & @bennewmark.bsky.social on ‘knowledge rich’ for children who struggle most.
www.civitas.org.uk/content/file...
Reposted by Richard Southward
100% Assessment open.substack.com/pub/100asses...
Creating people
How tests shape the way pupils see themselves
open.substack.com
December 12, 2025 at 3:55 PM
100% Assessment open.substack.com/pub/100asses...
Reposted by Richard Southward
Explicit instruction isn’t just a method - it’s a social practice.
What does Basil Bernstein tell us about power, language, and who benefits from 'what works' in education?
A rethink of pedagogy beyond cog sci 👇 #edusju #uked #education #sociology #speech
mrjoneswhiteboard.blog/2025/12/13/b...
What does Basil Bernstein tell us about power, language, and who benefits from 'what works' in education?
A rethink of pedagogy beyond cog sci 👇 #edusju #uked #education #sociology #speech
mrjoneswhiteboard.blog/2025/12/13/b...
Pedagogy, power & clarity: Bernstein’s challenge to explicit instruction
Over the past decade ‘explicit instruction’ has emerged as one of the dominant models of evidence-based teaching and learning. From Barak Rosenshine’s (2012) Principles of Instruction to Greg Ashma…
mrjoneswhiteboard.blog
December 13, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Explicit instruction isn’t just a method - it’s a social practice.
What does Basil Bernstein tell us about power, language, and who benefits from 'what works' in education?
A rethink of pedagogy beyond cog sci 👇 #edusju #uked #education #sociology #speech
mrjoneswhiteboard.blog/2025/12/13/b...
What does Basil Bernstein tell us about power, language, and who benefits from 'what works' in education?
A rethink of pedagogy beyond cog sci 👇 #edusju #uked #education #sociology #speech
mrjoneswhiteboard.blog/2025/12/13/b...