@head-teach
Educationalist, author of Leaders With Substance, co-author of The Next Big Thing in School Improvement, blogger, everything mountains. https://educontrarianblog.com/ https://open.substack.com/pub/100assessment
“High standards and inclusion are two sides of the same coin.”
After reading the white paper carefully and discussing it during a SENCo forum this week, I’ve written on the shift in language, and what some of this might mean for schools in practice.
moderncassie.blogspot.com/2026/03/a-sh...
www.tes.com/magazine/tea... “One thing I would say is that teachers often intuitively know what a child needs, even without a diagnosis. Together with parents, they can work out what the needs are and act on them straight away, rather than waiting for an assessment.”
This is an important part of the reforms, not just getting expertise where it is needed more easily, but also from the point of view of building collective responsibility, with specialist settings & mainstream working in partnership as a community of schools serving a community of children.
New on Substack: New post: Why does dividing curriculum into knowledge components feel so unstable? Because we're imposing localist structure on a distributed system. The brain doesn't store knowledge in pieces. profbeckyallen.substack.com/p/curriculum...
NEW BLOG: Three routes to trust consolidation
Writing in @cstvoice.bsky.social today, I make the case for three distinct ways in which our education system might become more coherent, impactful and better value for money.
cstuk.org.uk/news-and-blo...
'Now is the time to step forward together and seize this moment to create one system with high ambition for all children'
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/well-fail-a-generation-if-we-say-send-reform-is-too-difficult/
NEW EPISODE with @head-teach.bsky.social exploring all things leadership:
How has being a school leader changed over time?
What unique pressures are school leaders facing at the moment?
Fascinating episode from a genuine expert
Tune in and share 🙏🙏
open.spotify.com/episode/4rko...
I declare this book finished.
It's been intense. So much editing. This is the most important work I've written.
As far as I'm aware, the first book for general teachers that's deeply rooted in *enactive* cognitive science.
Teaching Meaning: What Works When Telling Isn't Enough
Out soon!
What’s the best one to start with?
Cheers 🍻
NEW BLOG: The classroom as a cultural ratchet
www.emaths.co.uk/blog/general...
New for me for Insight Inform: The Data Wave Returns?
The data wave has been receding. Are there signs that it may be about to return?
www.insightinform.co.uk/2026/01/30/t...
Please read, comment and repost!
As you wish.
I read this from @head-teach.bsky.social and @profbeckyallen.bsky.social as a suggestion to ditch whole school K3 Assessment as inherently unreliable. Their individual substacks are well worth reading but a bit like John and Paul, they may be even better as a duo! substack.com/inbox/post/1...
Ha! @profbeckyallen.bsky.social is definitely Lennon.
New Blog Post 📝
I hate QLA.
Originally due to the time it sucked out of my PPA I now know that QLA documents do not provide the information we think they do.
I go over the justification for why I ditched QLA and the reasons why you should get rid of it too.
open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...
Are you going back to the drawing board with KS3 assessment? Why?
NEW POST from 100% Assessment. @profbeckyallen.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/100asses...
Professional scepticism is the disciplined habit of slowing down unscrupulous optimism before it does damage.
Before rolling out the next shiny policy, ask:
- What problem are we solving?
- What would show this is wrong?
- What will we stop doing if it fails?
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
Thanks Nick 🙏
A great piece of research. Thank you.
This is excellent and a great follow on from dialogue yesterday: schoolsweek.co.uk/the-real-sen...
