Carmel O’Hagan
@carmelme.bsky.social
Avid reader. Loves travelling but tends to avoid tourist destinations.
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
A thread from this morning about inflexible systems. 🧵
Something that always strikes me about these reports is that parents withdraw their children when inflexible systems are put in place and they can't cope. So in the end it becomes a way of removing learners with higher levels of needs, whatever the original intention.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Pupils withdrawn from Mossbourne Federation schools in Essex - BBC News
Louise Butcher is one of many parents who say a federation's two schools are too strict with pupils.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 12, 2025 at 3:47 PM
A thread from this morning about inflexible systems. 🧵
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
And don’t forget the privately owned social care providers. Cutting off their gravy trains would certainly help the national budget. @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social
How can a child in care cost £281,000 a year? Ask the wealth funds that have councils over a barrel | George Monbiot
Children crying out for stability are paying the highest price for Britain’s chaotic and exploitative residential care, says the Guardian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
December 12, 2025 at 4:27 PM
And don’t forget the privately owned social care providers. Cutting off their gravy trains would certainly help the national budget. @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
We've always had edu research but it's not really been used by people to impose methods until fairly recent times. It has been turned into a bit of a cudgel by some to push their favoured approach. But teaching isn't just a science, it's also an art and a craft. That focus will come back soon! 3/3
December 2, 2025 at 8:07 AM
We've always had edu research but it's not really been used by people to impose methods until fairly recent times. It has been turned into a bit of a cudgel by some to push their favoured approach. But teaching isn't just a science, it's also an art and a craft. That focus will come back soon! 3/3
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
It's basically like a cycle of methods that spins around once every decade or so. We so often seem to lurch from one side to another. As I say to new teachers, 'know what your values are and stick to them because once every ten years people will say you were doing the right thing all along'. 2/3
December 2, 2025 at 8:07 AM
It's basically like a cycle of methods that spins around once every decade or so. We so often seem to lurch from one side to another. As I say to new teachers, 'know what your values are and stick to them because once every ten years people will say you were doing the right thing all along'. 2/3
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
You know I do sometimes wonder exactly when this 'progressive age' was in education that self-styled 'traditionalists' rail against because surely if it was such a disaster we'd see it in exam results? I've been in education for 30+ years and imo very little has massively changed. 1/3
December 2, 2025 at 8:07 AM
You know I do sometimes wonder exactly when this 'progressive age' was in education that self-styled 'traditionalists' rail against because surely if it was such a disaster we'd see it in exam results? I've been in education for 30+ years and imo very little has massively changed. 1/3
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
One of my abiding impressions of Brexit is the way it slammed doors of opportunity in the faces of young people several rungs below Boris Johnson’s countless children on the ladders of privilege & advantage.
"Negotiators are aiming to finalise a deal by January that would allow the UK to participate in Erasmus from 2027 onwards, according to two UK and EU officials."
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
UK aims to secure agreement to rejoin Erasmus student exchange scheme
Britain quit EU programme after Brexit, when Boris Johnson claimed it did not offer good value for money
www.theguardian.com
December 2, 2025 at 7:46 AM
One of my abiding impressions of Brexit is the way it slammed doors of opportunity in the faces of young people several rungs below Boris Johnson’s countless children on the ladders of privilege & advantage.
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
There’s a wealth of evidence that suggests corporate methods don’t work in education, and are particularly damaging to teenagers. Have a look at my back catalogue on Yorkshire Bylines for some summaries. Or, here’s one longer piece.
Dancing to the Algorithm, by Dr Pam Jarvis - Progressive Education
On the day that an exams algorithm robbed a significant number of working class children of the results they needed to access their university places, I watched Jon Snow’s interview with Nick Gibb on ...
www.progressiveeducation.org
November 26, 2025 at 11:59 AM
There’s a wealth of evidence that suggests corporate methods don’t work in education, and are particularly damaging to teenagers. Have a look at my back catalogue on Yorkshire Bylines for some summaries. Or, here’s one longer piece.
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
We’ve gone around this ‘if you object to zero tolerance you want anarchy’ merry go round too long. Of course children& teenagers need boundaries. But these need to be managed by caring adults. Of course they need to be separated from the main cohort sometimes. But for extra attention, not isolation.
Emotion Matters: Supporting Wellbeing in Children and Young People, at Home and at School, by Dr Pam Jarvis - Progressive Education
Why do some children find it more difficult than others to deal with stress? We tend to think of stress as a ‘bad thing’, but all human lives contain some elements of stress, and difficult problems th...
www.progressiveeducation.org
November 26, 2025 at 12:12 PM
We’ve gone around this ‘if you object to zero tolerance you want anarchy’ merry go round too long. Of course children& teenagers need boundaries. But these need to be managed by caring adults. Of course they need to be separated from the main cohort sometimes. But for extra attention, not isolation.
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
"Gibb’s apparent Pavlovian response to hearing his favourite words and authors led him to swiftly appoint (often highly inexperienced) people to key positions of influence over the education of England’s millions of children"
My review of Nick Gibb's Reforming Lessons is now available on @yorkshirebylines.co.uk:
"This book unavoidably feels like a desperate attempt by a long-standing minister to safeguard his legacy from the reality of the education system he left behind"
yorkshirebylines.co.uk/news/educati...
"This book unavoidably feels like a desperate attempt by a long-standing minister to safeguard his legacy from the reality of the education system he left behind"
yorkshirebylines.co.uk/news/educati...
Gibb it a rest! A review of Nick Gibb’s Reforming Lessons
Nick Gibb’s Reforming Lessons aims to defend his ministerial legacy, but instead reads like a desperate attempt to rewrite England’s education failures
yorkshirebylines.co.uk
October 11, 2025 at 9:28 AM
"Gibb’s apparent Pavlovian response to hearing his favourite words and authors led him to swiftly appoint (often highly inexperienced) people to key positions of influence over the education of England’s millions of children"
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
This is a superb thread that captures and explains the frustrations many of us feel, but did not/could not articulate as well as this. 👏 Bravo.
The 2025 Curriculum and Assessment Review Final Report was meant to “build a world-class curriculum for all.” In reality, it signals something quite different: the closure of curriculum reform in England. 🧵
November 8, 2025 at 3:24 PM
This is a superb thread that captures and explains the frustrations many of us feel, but did not/could not articulate as well as this. 👏 Bravo.
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
How ever since Labour came to power, the British media has started to notice a whole series of problems they spent the previous 14 years completely ignoring
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-great-...
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-great-...
The 'Great Noticing' Era
Ever since Labour came to power, the British media has started to notice a whole series of problems they spent the previous 14 years completely ignoring
www.adambienkov.co.uk
November 8, 2025 at 12:23 PM
How ever since Labour came to power, the British media has started to notice a whole series of problems they spent the previous 14 years completely ignoring
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-great-...
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-great-...
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
It isn’t used by many - luckily- I think NEU research says 3% of schools ? - which begs the Q “why?” (It’s poor) but those who do IME are having it thrust upon them by SLT who think the way to achieve consistency is to get everyone using the same thing.
October 14, 2025 at 7:54 AM
It isn’t used by many - luckily- I think NEU research says 3% of schools ? - which begs the Q “why?” (It’s poor) but those who do IME are having it thrust upon them by SLT who think the way to achieve consistency is to get everyone using the same thing.
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
Exactly have we deskilled teacher so much schools need to buy this? It’s like all the phonic schemes etc when L&S was free and accessible!
October 14, 2025 at 6:45 AM
Exactly have we deskilled teacher so much schools need to buy this? It’s like all the phonic schemes etc when L&S was free and accessible!
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
@warwickmansell.bsky.social
I wondered if you’d like to take a look at this? And maybe @oaknational.bsky.social might explain this ?
I wondered if you’d like to take a look at this? And maybe @oaknational.bsky.social might explain this ?
How do we feel about this? @oaknational.bsky.social receive £43m of public money and yet, wait for it, they are charging via MEI £135 per teacher for a course on how to use their materials: mei.org.uk/event/b935a0...
Event - MEI
mei.org.uk
October 13, 2025 at 7:34 PM
@warwickmansell.bsky.social
I wondered if you’d like to take a look at this? And maybe @oaknational.bsky.social might explain this ?
I wondered if you’d like to take a look at this? And maybe @oaknational.bsky.social might explain this ?
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
The problem now is that so much public I money has been pumped into it the DfE can’t ditch it.
And for the record I was never ‘on’ it.
Extremely poor resources& no willingness to listen to any advice on what needs changing (despite spending much of my unpaid time meeting people to talk about this)
And for the record I was never ‘on’ it.
Extremely poor resources& no willingness to listen to any advice on what needs changing (despite spending much of my unpaid time meeting people to talk about this)
October 13, 2025 at 9:04 PM
The problem now is that so much public I money has been pumped into it the DfE can’t ditch it.
And for the record I was never ‘on’ it.
Extremely poor resources& no willingness to listen to any advice on what needs changing (despite spending much of my unpaid time meeting people to talk about this)
And for the record I was never ‘on’ it.
Extremely poor resources& no willingness to listen to any advice on what needs changing (despite spending much of my unpaid time meeting people to talk about this)
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
I am just completely over Oak. Such a gravy train for some DFE/Gibb favourites that turned into a shocking waste of tax payers money.
October 13, 2025 at 8:20 PM
I am just completely over Oak. Such a gravy train for some DFE/Gibb favourites that turned into a shocking waste of tax payers money.
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
>> how about this, free, advice.
Don’t use them.
Don’t use them.
October 13, 2025 at 3:52 PM
>> how about this, free, advice.
Don’t use them.
Don’t use them.
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
I presume they meant UK office hours. But whatever, this seems a very poor attitude to dealing with others’ money, not grasping that the person on the other end is spending time worrying they’ve been scammed etc, etc. Anyway. Not worth any further attention. I won’t be using their services again!
September 26, 2025 at 1:42 PM
I presume they meant UK office hours. But whatever, this seems a very poor attitude to dealing with others’ money, not grasping that the person on the other end is spending time worrying they’ve been scammed etc, etc. Anyway. Not worth any further attention. I won’t be using their services again!
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
Seeing how they are calling for crimes against humanity, maybe it’s time to proscribe Farage and the Reform Party
September 22, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Seeing how they are calling for crimes against humanity, maybe it’s time to proscribe Farage and the Reform Party
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
Reform is racist.
Let’s just say it.
Loudly and often.
They’re racist.
Don’t take them on on how they plan to fund their nonsense.
They don’t care.
They don’t say it because they’ve worked it out.
They say it for headlines and for voters who want prejudice as policy.
They’re racist.
They’re failure.
Let’s just say it.
Loudly and often.
They’re racist.
Don’t take them on on how they plan to fund their nonsense.
They don’t care.
They don’t say it because they’ve worked it out.
They say it for headlines and for voters who want prejudice as policy.
They’re racist.
They’re failure.
September 22, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Reform is racist.
Let’s just say it.
Loudly and often.
They’re racist.
Don’t take them on on how they plan to fund their nonsense.
They don’t care.
They don’t say it because they’ve worked it out.
They say it for headlines and for voters who want prejudice as policy.
They’re racist.
They’re failure.
Let’s just say it.
Loudly and often.
They’re racist.
Don’t take them on on how they plan to fund their nonsense.
They don’t care.
They don’t say it because they’ve worked it out.
They say it for headlines and for voters who want prejudice as policy.
They’re racist.
They’re failure.
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Theodore Roosevelt
September 22, 2025 at 4:35 AM
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Theodore Roosevelt
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
She jumps on any bandwagon - a lack of critical thinking. Has she thought that he wouldn't send his child to her school simply because he would want a white man as a headmaster?
September 15, 2025 at 6:32 AM
She jumps on any bandwagon - a lack of critical thinking. Has she thought that he wouldn't send his child to her school simply because he would want a white man as a headmaster?
Reposted by Carmel O’Hagan
He certainly was among the worst of us.
I'd say I'm shocked by her saying this but given her past record, I'm not.
I'd say I'm shocked by her saying this but given her past record, I'm not.
September 15, 2025 at 6:24 AM
He certainly was among the worst of us.
I'd say I'm shocked by her saying this but given her past record, I'm not.
I'd say I'm shocked by her saying this but given her past record, I'm not.