iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Dr Becky Wood @thewoodbug.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

Fantastic to see that our article on the experiences of autistic teachers in Poland has been published open access in the International Journal of Inclusive Education 🙌https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13603116.2025.2518393#abstract #AutismResearch

tandfonline.com

‘We are here and we deserve it’: being an autistic teacher in Poland

Despite an increasing focus on autism, neurodiversity and inclusion in the education sector, there remains limited awareness of the experiences, needs and strengths of autistic educators. This gap ...

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Dr Lucy Foulkes @lucyfoulkes.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

I’m in the Guardian today, arguing that we should stop them all-class mental health lessons in schools I've thought very carefully about ‘going public’ with this, because it's a sensitive argument to make, especially in the face of so many young people struggling. (cont 🧵) tinyurl.com/vun92cz7

theguardian.com

Mental-health lessons in schools sound like a great idea. The trouble is, they don’t work | Lucy Foulkes

All-class therapy sessions don’t help, and may even make matters worse. The evidence shows we need different solutions, says Dr Lucy Foulkes, an academic psychologist at Oxford University

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Barbara Bleiman @barbarableiman.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

This is a superb piece. It simultaneously made me want to jump for joy and sit with my head in my hands and weep. Pretty much everything Sam Gibbs argues for is what I've been on about for the last decade or more - losses that I've witnessed that have transformed www.tes.com/magazine/tea... 1/

tes.com

How we dumbed down teaching - and what we must do to fix it

Over the past decade, teaching has been pushed towards a prescriptive model that reduces intellectual curiosity and overlooks essential classroom engagement, argues Sam Gibbs

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Christian Moore-Anderson @cmooreanderson.eurosky.social · 29/04/2025

Worth reading: NEU's research into: The impact of standardised curricula on teacher professionalism #UKEd neu.org.uk/latest/libra...

Workload

A poor perception of workload was a common issue across all respondents, and was not determined by use, or non-use, of standardised curricula. There were no significant differences between the workload perceptions of non-standardised curriculum users and standardised curriculum users. This finding applied to both primary and secondary teachers, and to both full and part-time teachers.

Workload’ emerged from the study as a highly complex issue that cannot be reduced to a simplistic notion of ‘hours worked’. Curriculum design and lesson planning are clearly activities that require time. However, if these are activities that teachers value, then trying to remove these activities from teachers to tackle workload issues does not necessarily tackle the ‘work strain’ that teachers experience.
It may also be the case that standardised curricula have not reduced teacher workload, but have simply changed its nature. Instead of spending time researching material and selecting resources, teachers are spending time interpreting and adapting generic materials to meet the needs of their pupils.
The interviews suggested that teachers saw standardised curricula as having positive uses that were limited and precise: to cover for absence, to compensate for a lack of specialist knowledge, to reduce aspects of workload, and to mitigate the problems of high teacher turnover. Beyond discussion of these uses, respondents repeatedly expressed concerns about a range of issues related to autonomy, self- efficacy and workload:
standardised curricula embodied a lack of trust in teacher expertise;
teachers lacked the freedom to adapt standardised curricula to meet the particular needs of their pupils;
standardised curricula functioned as a control mechanism to monitor teachers’ work;
practices of collaborative and flexible planning were being replaced by standardised commercial or in-house curriculum packages ‘imposed from above’;

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Barbara Bleiman @barbarableiman.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

I just LOVE this from @emmaturner75.bsky.social's recent blog. It gives me such confidence in the amazing practitioners out there like her & it's great to see that there's such an appetite for the kind of English teaching I've spent my whole career doing, arguing for & trying to offer support for!

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Barbara Bleiman @barbarableiman.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

There's some debate about my piece on X & a blog by David Didau agreeing with much of what I say but warning against a return to 'some mythical version of the past'. I've written a response to this idea of a 'myth' of a different kind of English on my own blog: www.barbarableiman.com/post/a-respo...

barbarableiman.com

A Response to David Didau’s Response to my TES Piece April 2025

Thank you for responding to my TES piece in an open and thoughtful way. I'm glad you agree with so much of what I say. It is a bit of a surprise, as you suggest in your piece, but it’s a very welcome ...

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Christian Moore-Anderson @cmooreanderson.eurosky.social · 16/04/2025

"It would recognise that good teaching often involves navigating tensions between competing aims – freedom and structure, tradition and innovation, care and rigour. And it would treat evidence not as a mandate, but as a resource for deliberation and reflection."

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Elaine Long @elainelong.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

“truthfully, we've got to change the culture that they're consuming and the means by which our technology is facilitating this culture.”

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Christian Moore-Anderson @cmooreanderson.eurosky.social · 09/03/2025

The key, for me, is to ensure that teaching is "recursive", as in, it is a back-and-forth endeavour in which students and teacher converse to ensure each party understands the other. These feedback loops need to be frequent, but are removed in the current Taylorist movement which linearises teaching

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Elaine Long @elainelong.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Greenwich looking glorious in the sunshine

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Students from working class backgrounds still make up only 5% of entrants to medical schools across the UK. This is what happens when widening participation is an activity rather than a central guiding mission. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

theguardian.com

Only 5% of UK medical school entrants are working class, data shows

Sutton Trust says underrepresentation of poorer students is ‘outrageous’ but number has doubled in 10 years to 2022

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Steve Most @sbmost.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

Seriously! Why do so many scientific, educational, and media outlets still include an X/Twitter "share" button with no corresponding one for Bluesky? Read the room, folks.

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Sam Sims @drsamsims.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

This is the most clear-eyed thing I have read on the intent and likely consequences of what is happening in the US federal govt

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Mark Quinn @markquinn1968.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

This is one of our most provocative episodes of ECF Staffroom, dispelling some #EdNeuroSci myths. @elainelong.bsky.social with Dr Rebecca Gordon youtube.com/watch?v=__zw...

youtube.com

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Christian Moore-Anderson @cmooreanderson.eurosky.social · 08/12/2024

Unstable situation: A leader of a complex adaptive system, such as a school, that believes in linear cause-effect control of that system. Schools respond & adapt to new policies. You can't precisely predict the effect of introducing a new policy and SLT must reciprocate the adaptive dance. #UKEd

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Elaine Long @elainelong.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

What happens to the ‘could have beens’? Emily tells us we should really think more about this if we want to improve teacher recruitment. A must listen for anyone wanting to broaden their knowledge of teacher recruitment

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Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Sort of a bit tired of seeing posts that takes for granted that science is entirely value free. What question did you choose to study? Did you pick it at random? Thought not. What do you measure? Why that and not something else?

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Elaine Long @elainelong.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Entirely agree…the problem is not the mutation as such, but the fact that we assume research can or should be implemented with fidelity in the first place

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Elaine Long @elainelong.bsky.social · 13/09/2024

Step out your bubble and listen to the amazing Raf Alleyne talk about his approach to leading equality, diversity and inclusion.

open.spotify.com

Thinking about life through all of their eyes | ECF Staffroom

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Adam Vasco @vascoadam.bsky.social · 25/08/2024

Back to School is nearly upon us and make no mistake the aftermath of race riots will be felt in schools across 🇬🇧 This by @pennyrabiger.bsky.social hits so many nails on the head, it is essential reading. There is also essential action to take! tenpencemore.wordpress.com/2024/08/17/p...

tenpencemore.wordpress.com

People don’t ‘opt in’ to racism, they need to opt out

Source: Class 13 website https://www.class13.org My PhD research looks at the experiences of antiracism leaders in schools during the four years following the Post-George-Floyd-Moment. I also work fre...

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Dr Gareth Bates @drgarethbates.bsky.social · 21/08/2024

The term "Daily Review" is from this study yes. The program provided students with daily Maths lessons, with homework assigned after each one. The daily review would be related to the homework, expect when they did the weekly/monthly test. I fear "Daily Review" is a lethal mutation now! #UKEd

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Kayleigh @kayleighxsewell.bsky.social · 20/08/2024

Really valuable read for all. I cannot stress how important it is for more recognition & training on autism in girls. It is still going unnoticed, leaving many girls alone, suffering & failing to thrive unnecessarily autisticgirlsnetwork.org/keeping-it-a... #EduSKy #TeacherEducation

autisticgirlsnetwork.org

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Elaine Long @elainelong.bsky.social · 20/08/2024

Really enjoyed reading this! We can learn a lot from philosophical approaches!

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Elaine Long @elainelong.bsky.social · 20/08/2024

A great way to make a difference to a new starter 👇

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Andrew Morrish @andrewdmorrish.bsky.social · 19/08/2024

If you’re new to this platform, then you might want to follow this list of more than 100 headteachers, principals, CEOs etc. (Heads: If you’re not on it and want to be, let me know.) #HeadteachersUK #EduSky bsky.app/profile/did:...

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Dr Gareth Bates @drgarethbates.bsky.social · 19/08/2024

If we think about effect size here. If an intervention has no effect, then the mean and SD of the groups would be similar, if not the same. Therefore, if I gave you 100 test scores and asked which group they came from, you'd have a 50/50 chance of getting it right. But....🧵 #UKEd #SciTeachUK

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Charlotte B.Richardson أم علي @cbr1984charlieb.bsky.social · 17/08/2024

It’s that time of year again… if you’re wondering how to support #autistic students with the #transition to #secondary sch in Sept then read my blog on the Autism Education Trust (AET) website. A few yrs old now (written at the height of Covid boredom) www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk/blog/support...

autismeducationtrust.org.uk

Autism Education Trust

Helping you support autistic children and young people since 2007

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Elaine Long @elainelong.bsky.social · 18/08/2024

Nothing better than a dog walk and a beautiful sun set

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