Sandy Leaton Gray
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drleatongray.bsky.social
Sandy Leaton Gray
@drleatongray.bsky.social
Professor of Education Futures at UCL. Personal account, posts represent my own opinions and not those of my institution.
www.economist.com/business/202... TL:DR to profile people this way replicates the biometric racism that Galton and Bertillon were so fascinated by, and which ultimately contributed significantly to the holocaust.
Should facial analysis help determine whom companies hire?
A new paper suggests a photo can tell a recruiter much about an applicant’s personality
www.economist.com
November 7, 2025 at 3:07 AM
Reposted by Sandy Leaton Gray
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 5, 2025 at 10:08 PM
A big shout out to the Cambridgeshire Cycling Proficiency teachers out and about in Sawston this week with cohorts of primary schoolchildren, chanting in unison ‘Turning right!’ ‘Turning left!’ ‘Looking for traffic!’ as they rode along. Cuteness itself and a perfect pedagogy for safety drill.
November 6, 2025 at 11:16 AM
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 5, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Don't pay for iCloud, people. A glitch at the Apple end meant that it has permanently wiped a third of my entire iCloud files by accident (n=300), across every single device, and it took me 5 days, 3 online chats and 3 phone calls to learn they are not going to do anything about it. All gone.
November 5, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Sandy Leaton Gray
I wrote a blog post on AI and the need for sapience. Pause. Enjoy.
October 30, 2025 at 1:59 PM
I wrote a blog post on AI and the need for sapience. Pause. Enjoy.
October 30, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by Sandy Leaton Gray
the pièce de résistance in all this, for me, was learning how the alleged heisters allegedly got the ladder:

they requested a demonstration from the Paris-based owner, then stole it during the demonstration
October 24, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Reposted by Sandy Leaton Gray
The interview with the CEO letting slip one of the other ideas they had but ditched, metro.co.uk/video/german...
German crane manufacturer goes viral with Louvre heist advert
Burglars who stole jewels worth an estimated €88m from the Louvre aren't the only ones profiting from the heist. The German manufacturer of the lift used to steal the jewels published an advert featu...
metro.co.uk
October 24, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Reposted by Sandy Leaton Gray
The German company that makes the mechanical ladder used in the Louvre heist has used the image to advertise, with the text 'When you need to move fast'

10/10 response, no notes
October 24, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Reposted by Sandy Leaton Gray
There is no one more fun to read than Caity Weaver

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
In Praise of Jewel Thieves
How nice to read about a heist rather than a massacre
www.theatlantic.com
October 24, 2025 at 11:57 AM
So come join with me in a journey of discovery regarding a painting I inherited from my grandparents. It’s of little financial value but great interest.
October 24, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Parents look for £180,000 tutor to prepare baby for Eton or Harrow. Extraordinary.

www.thetimes.com/article/152b...
Parents look for £180,000 tutor to prepare baby for Eton or Harrow
The ideal candidate would be from a ‘socially appropriate background’ to ready the one-year-old boy for elite schools
www.thetimes.com
October 23, 2025 at 8:51 AM
‘The Georgian-inspired desk costs £11,500 and has satinwood legs … I bought it once I got the advance from my new book, Clodagh’s Happy Cooking.’ (Times). In contrast I spent entire annual royalties for six academic books on a pre-loved John Lewis desk off eBay last year. Questioning life choices.
October 22, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Reposted by Sandy Leaton Gray
My text to a colleague this morning!
October 20, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Have finally persuaded my parents to adopt my old smartphone. They are not untechnological but just didn’t see the point before. The defining moment was probably the window cleaner wanting pictures of the windows in order to quote.
October 16, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Don’t get me wrong, it’s great my husband survived Covid round three and all that, but having him downstairs again of an evening has definitely compromised my binge watching of The White Queen.
October 16, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Reposted by Sandy Leaton Gray
We don’t just have an attendance problem, we have an engagement problem – but we can learn a lot from the way Chicago has turned around its school system, says @vianclark.bsky.social
Curriculum reform must focus on engagement, not just attainment
Looking at how Chicago turned around its struggling schools offers insights into how the curriculum review could unlock transformation here, says trust CEO Becks Boomer-Clark
www.tes.com
October 15, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Reposted by Sandy Leaton Gray
At the other end of the spectrum, when my dad was ~17 he did well in an event for young chemists and the prize was a trip to an asbestos factory.
My 9yo is going on a school trip to Abba Voyage this week for a tenner, which I'm just throwing out there as the best school trip I've ever heard of
Inexplicably, my son’s very standard state school - in a mixed area, not a particularly affluent one - arranged a £4K trip to Kenya last year. I keep meaning to do a story on the astonishing escalation of the school trip.
October 13, 2025 at 12:04 PM
My lad’s house sale has fallen through after the survey revealed extensive asbestos problems. It leaves them £4K down on multiple fees and surveys, after two failed attempts to buy a home fell through.
October 11, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Most academic thing ever
I just keep thinking how very Big Bang Theory this is 😂
One of my favorite moments from Nobel Prize history:

The Nobel Committee couldn’t reach Stanford professor Paul Milgrom to let him know that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics, so his fellow winner, Robert Wilson, went over to his house in the middle of the night to wake him up!
October 10, 2025 at 7:50 PM
What could possibly go wrong?!
Exclusive: Teachers will use 'deepfake' technology to create an AI avatar of themselves to deliver catch-up lessons for pupils who have missed school

Watch one of the school’s ‘deepfake’ teachers in our story below

schoolsweek.co.uk/schools-trus...
'Deepfake' teacher avatars to help pupils catch up
Academy trust staff to use AI generator to introduce resources for pupils returning to school
schoolsweek.co.uk
October 10, 2025 at 8:32 AM
The debate over higher education reform keeps circling back to debt, course quality and the balance between degrees and apprenticeships. The deeper issue is that the system remains fragmented. A thread.
October 10, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Well, the pigeons are back. Sparrowhawk obviously couldn’t deal with that many at once. They are quieter though.
October 10, 2025 at 6:38 AM
DRAMATIC PIGEON UPDATE! Apparently a sparrowhawk has been spotted on a neighbour’s back garden birdcam and has taken out loads of pigeons today! Nature at work!
October 8, 2025 at 8:34 PM