Simon Gort
@sgort100.bsky.social
Asst. Head T&L & CPD, ECT & ITT lead, MCCT (Research Champion), SLE, historian, MA Modern History, ASCL rep for Derbyshire, Man Utd, music obsessive.
Reposted by Simon Gort
How we’ve tried to make professional development more regular and relevant
open.substack.com/pub/shaunall...
open.substack.com/pub/shaunall...
Mind The Gap
How can we support a more regular and relevant approach to teacher development?
open.substack.com
May 12, 2025 at 8:23 PM
How we’ve tried to make professional development more regular and relevant
open.substack.com/pub/shaunall...
open.substack.com/pub/shaunall...
Reposted by Simon Gort
"..the proposed changes to the #Ofsted framework feel like a kick in the teeth. We're already under enormous pressure, balancing the needs of our students with increasingly limited resources. More accountability, more high-stakes scrutiny won’t solve the recruitment and retention crisis."
#ASCL2025
#ASCL2025
March 14, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Reposted by Simon Gort
Agree with this. We need to help teachers make better decisions not make the decisions for them. This isn't just being nice. Prescription usually doesn't work beyond basic agreed stuff around procedural routines. Even these will be subverted if people don't understand the reasons.
Evidence-informed teaching has to be built around each teacher's personality and desire for autonomy; let's celebrate that. @walkthrus.bsky.social teacherhead.com/2024/01/07/e...
Evidence-informed teaching has to be built around each teacher’s personality and desire for autonomy; let’s celebrate that.
A theme I find myself exploring a lot is the need for teachers to feel that they can be themselves in their own classrooms, expressing their personality and enjoying teaching, doing things they fee…
teacherhead.com
January 4, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Agree with this. We need to help teachers make better decisions not make the decisions for them. This isn't just being nice. Prescription usually doesn't work beyond basic agreed stuff around procedural routines. Even these will be subverted if people don't understand the reasons.
Woefully inadequate. @ascl-uk.bsky.social’s reaction to today’s news - www.ascl.org.uk/News/Our-new...
December 11, 2024 at 12:16 AM
Woefully inadequate. @ascl-uk.bsky.social’s reaction to today’s news - www.ascl.org.uk/News/Our-new...
Wouldn’t disagree with much said here but I do think the experience of the GCSE lit curriculum is also a significant factor. English teachers often speak of the sheer volume of content and challenge of embedding knowledge that leaves students exhausted and less disposed to study further.
A lot of discussion lately about the reasons for the decline of Eng Lit A-level.
Are the Gove curriculum & exam reforms to blame?
I don't think so, because the decline of Eng Lit / the humanities more broadly is a global trend.
More here.
Are the Gove curriculum & exam reforms to blame?
I don't think so, because the decline of Eng Lit / the humanities more broadly is a global trend.
More here.
The fall of Eng Lit
What is the cause, is it a problem - and if so, what can we do about it?
buff.ly
November 17, 2024 at 12:58 PM
Wouldn’t disagree with much said here but I do think the experience of the GCSE lit curriculum is also a significant factor. English teachers often speak of the sheer volume of content and challenge of embedding knowledge that leaves students exhausted and less disposed to study further.
Excellent thread. What intrigues me is that @ofstednews.bsky.social will be well aware of this evidence yet are continuing in a direction that ignores this. One can only conclude that this is wilful denialism to suit an entrenched ideology. 🤷♂️
The new Ofsted proposals being discussed at the moment are concerning, particularly the separation of curriculum and instruction. Here are some thoughts 🧵⬇️
November 17, 2024 at 12:48 PM
Excellent thread. What intrigues me is that @ofstednews.bsky.social will be well aware of this evidence yet are continuing in a direction that ignores this. One can only conclude that this is wilful denialism to suit an entrenched ideology. 🤷♂️
The flawed concept of grading schools remains hardwired into Ofsted; it’s in their DNA. A report card system clearly isn’t going to change things. They can’t be reformed so must be replaced. But I don’t think the political will to start that conversation exists.
Ofsted grading a school’s attendance is one of the most crap-weasely things a government has ever done to education.
#edusky
#edusky
October 29, 2024 at 8:34 AM
The flawed concept of grading schools remains hardwired into Ofsted; it’s in their DNA. A report card system clearly isn’t going to change things. They can’t be reformed so must be replaced. But I don’t think the political will to start that conversation exists.
So many concerns about this, not sure where to begin. The lure of ‘flexibility’ is myth. Unless schools in the trust are geographically very close to each other, this would be highly detrimental to staff workload and wellbeing. It doesn’t address the fundamentals of poor recruitment and retention.
💡 What if the individual school timetable did not exist, and teachers were timetabled across trusts instead?
Jennese Alozie looks at the potential benefits for teachers, pupils and outcomes in our latest 'What if…’ article
www.tes.com/magazine/lea...
Jennese Alozie looks at the potential benefits for teachers, pupils and outcomes in our latest 'What if…’ article
www.tes.com/magazine/lea...
What if...teachers were timetabled across trusts, not single schools
As part of Tes’ ‘What if...’ series, Jennese Alozie imagines education without school timetables and with teachers timetabled across a trust or groups of schools instead
www.tes.com
October 2, 2024 at 12:41 AM
So many concerns about this, not sure where to begin. The lure of ‘flexibility’ is myth. Unless schools in the trust are geographically very close to each other, this would be highly detrimental to staff workload and wellbeing. It doesn’t address the fundamentals of poor recruitment and retention.
Looking for classroom teaching strategies to respond to the challenge of students who are absent on an intermittent basis. I found this useful teacherhead.com/2023/01/08/t... but has anyone got any other suggestions? #EduSky
TPS1: Knowledge Gaps.
#1 in the Teaching Problem –> Solution Series. The Problem: How do I deal with knowledge gaps? This problem has been posed in two categories: a) Where students are absent: here they may ha…
teacherhead.com
September 28, 2024 at 7:22 AM
Looking for classroom teaching strategies to respond to the challenge of students who are absent on an intermittent basis. I found this useful teacherhead.com/2023/01/08/t... but has anyone got any other suggestions? #EduSky
‘If we put things in we have to take things out’, says @BeckyFrancis.bsky.social ‘evolution not revolution’ on the curriculum review: schoolsweek.co.uk/if-we-put-th...
Curriculum review may 'have to take things out' says chair
Professor Becky Francis acknowledges complaints of a 'very overstuffed curriculum'
schoolsweek.co.uk
September 21, 2024 at 6:50 AM
Reposted by Simon Gort
This clip from the classroom on mathematical problem solving from @BlackpoolRS helpfully unpicks the ingredients of manageable, step-by-step approaches, such as 'thinking aloud', prompt questions, 'debriefs', and more.
researchschool.org.uk/clips-from-t...
researchschool.org.uk/clips-from-t...
September 15, 2024 at 9:55 AM
This clip from the classroom on mathematical problem solving from @BlackpoolRS helpfully unpicks the ingredients of manageable, step-by-step approaches, such as 'thinking aloud', prompt questions, 'debriefs', and more.
researchschool.org.uk/clips-from-t...
researchschool.org.uk/clips-from-t...
Food for thought… thanks Mary.
New post
Humans first, professionals second
As we think about how we treat one another at the start of the new year
open.substack.com/pub/marymyat...
Humans first, professionals second
As we think about how we treat one another at the start of the new year
open.substack.com/pub/marymyat...
Humans first, professionals second
Well hello there, and welcome to update #089!
open.substack.com
August 29, 2024 at 5:54 AM
Food for thought… thanks Mary.
Agreed - there is a difference between students who are quiet but focused & thinking about the learning & those who are quiet because they’re disengaged. Experience helps teachers to identity this. However, it’s usually well-intentioned to want students to develop oracy and verbalise their thinking.
I agree with this and also think telling a quiet child to do something like "put your hand up more often" isn't helpful. It's fine to be quiet as long as you're not unhappy being quiet.
Parents evening advice: DO NOT say a child is quiet. Say focused, hard working , self reflective or well behaved. The last thing a child or parent needs to hear is a negative connotation about not being disruptive or being focused on their own learning.
August 21, 2024 at 12:28 AM
Agreed - there is a difference between students who are quiet but focused & thinking about the learning & those who are quiet because they’re disengaged. Experience helps teachers to identity this. However, it’s usually well-intentioned to want students to develop oracy and verbalise their thinking.
Reposted by Simon Gort
Excellent blog on reading a complex text (using a geography example) to exemplify a helpful disciplinary literacy approach by @jdurran.bsky.social
jamesdurran.blog/2024/08/19/d...
jamesdurran.blog/2024/08/19/d...
Disciplinary literacy: reading a challenging text in the classroom
This post unpacks a typical approach to reading a challenging text, in this case in a geography lesson. It also describes a number of practices associated with strong ‘adaptive teaching’. Reading chal...
jamesdurran.blog
August 20, 2024 at 2:39 PM
Excellent blog on reading a complex text (using a geography example) to exemplify a helpful disciplinary literacy approach by @jdurran.bsky.social
jamesdurran.blog/2024/08/19/d...
jamesdurran.blog/2024/08/19/d...