English Teacher | Reading Lead | NPQLL | studying MA Education (Keele) Exploring education through research, reflection and thoughtful questions.
Leicester
Joined August 2013
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The Sirens’ song was worth hearing. The danger was letting it change the ship’s course.
Does PISA pose a similar problem to education?
The Siren Song of PISA
theeducationground.co.uk/hom…
🤖 Made with AI
My son was swinging on his chair when waiting for me in my classroom. I asked him to stop.
Him: “Four legs bad, two legs good.”
We’ve read Animal Farm and seen it at the Minack.
Merit for adapting Orwell. Demerit for safety. Net zero behaviour points. Strong cultural capital.
When did a question become a complaint? And when does safeguarding become censorship?
A thought-provoking piece in the latest ‘Educate’ on book challenges and the pressures facing school librarians.
But it left me thinking about something broader… 🧵
Yet we’re concerned about declining reading.
At school, I devoured Sweet Valley High, much to some teachers’ disgust. Later, I raided Mum’s shelves: Mills & Boon, Danielle Steel, Catherine Cookson.
Nobody curated that reading diet.
I read: voraciously and voluntarily.
If “Could somebody object to this?” starts replacing “Should young people have access to this?”, professional judgement changes.
Choices become safer. Collections become narrower.
We begin censoring ourselves — perhaps before anybody has actually asked us to.
Heidi Jones | The Education Ground retweeted
🆕 #OECDPISA results, released today, show that student performance has declined across all three core subjects over the past decade. ⤵️
Positive results and worth celebrating. But rankings invite questions too: reading and maths remain below 2018 levels, while science has improved. How much of England’s rising position reflects improvement and how much reflects decline elsewhere? oecd.org/en/publications/pis…
Mentors, ECTs & recently trained teachers: I’d love your wisdom.
After 23 years teaching and mentoring many trainees, I know experience does not automatically mean expertise.
What’s one practical tip you wish every ITT mentor knew?
Heidi Jones | The Education Ground retweeted
First up, webinars. Every year, thousands of teachers join our webinars on behaviour, questioning, leadership and more. Each one takes days to put together and is delivered in our signature interactive style.
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Heidi Jones | The Education Ground retweeted
First two English re-marks are back. Increased by 12 and 16 marks. A difference of two grades from 3 to 5. How on earth are we supposed to know which grades to get checked? Report says clerical error. Why doesn’t that trigger a recall of all marks by that marker? Not good enough
As a teacher with 23 years’ experience and parent of a child with SEND (EHCP), this third pitfall resonates.
There’s a distinction between removing barriers to learning and removing challenge.
Are we adapting access to ambitious learning, or adapting our expectations?
Heidi Jones | The Education Ground retweeted
As with all initiatives, value only comes as a result of adequate funding and robust implementation.
Schools will not receive dedicated funding for enrichment benchmarks, Tes can reveal, despite the expectation that revamped extracurricular activities must be provided from September
tes.com/magazine/news/genera…
Another reading test. Another score. But what will we actually learn?
Taking a closer look at the new statutory Year 8 reading assessment — what it is for, what it might tell us, and what happens next.
Putting Reading to the Test.
theeducationground.co.uk/hom…
Heidi Jones | The Education Ground retweeted
In a recent newsletter poll, 92 teachers told me what stops them using mini-whiteboards consistently…
41% already use them regularly.
40% blamed logistics. Dried-out pens, boards going missing.
Only 13% cited routines or not knowing what to ask.
Barely anyone is stuck on the pedagogy. They’re stuck on the stationery cupboard.
Read the post here: newsletter.jamieleeclark.com…
![Mini-Whiteboards Revisited: More Than a Checking Tool. A Participation System [FREE HANDBOOK!]](https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/2118556540034519040/GI6JaGf6?format=png&name=800x419)
A reading culture isn’t built through tokenistic DEAR or an annual World Book Day events. Both have value, but reading must be embedded in the fabric of school life.
The goal? Not a day, a year or even a decade of reading — but fostering readers for life.
🗣️ The National Year of Reading should extend to a decade, inquiry says.
Today's Education Select Committee report sets out a bold vision for reading, including a National Reading Guarantee, universal school libraries and a lasting reading legacy.
More: theguardian.com/books/2026/j…
ALT Headline from The Guardian reading: National Year of Reading should extend to a decade, inquiry says. Subheading: The education select committee also proposed a National Reading Guarantee, ensuring all children have frequent opportunities to enjoy reading. Photo shows a secondary school pupil reading in a library.
Daisy Christodoulou argues that more pupils should reach the Grade 4 literacy and numeracy standard.
But @teacherhead asks what really distinguishes a 3 from a 4. How much weight should we attach to that boundary?
Raising standards AND scrutinising the threshold can coexist.
There are now quite a few schools in England achieving remarkable GCSE results.
The big next question: is their success replicable?
substack.nomoremarking.com/p…
AQA English grade boundaries rose in 2026 — by up to 6 raw marks.
Meanwhile, AQA Maths boundaries were broadly unchanged - or fell considerably.
When a handful of marks can shift headline percentages, how meaningful are simple yearly comparisons?
Context matters.
