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Heather Fearn

@heatherbellaf.bsky.social
738 followers 254 following 62 posts

Director of curriculum and assessment for MAT.

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Reposted by Heather Fearn
Stuart Farmer @stuartphysics.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Another excellent post by @ensermark.bsky.social on the also excellent Curriculum Reform Handbook from Learning First’s Ben Jensen and @heatherbellaf.bsky.social. Good advice for curriculum-makers at all levels from classrooms to government agencies.
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This is a super summary of some of the most practical messages, for any curriculum writer, in our new Learning First, Curriculum Reform, Education Leader’s Handbook. Thanks @ensermark.bsky.social
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Today, we launched our Education Leader's Handbook for curriculum reform. The report draws on evidence and experience working across systems to provide something new and hopefully very practically useful for those wanting to implement a knowledge rich curriculum. learningfirst.com
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I’m so pleased to see published our Learning First report: Curriculum Reform: An Education Leader’s Handbook Some sections are highly practical, to support curriculum writers. Whether at systems level or in schools. learningfirst.com/research/cur...
learningfirst.com
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Such a useful summary.
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Jonathan Mountstevens @mrmountstevens.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Spot on from @joshvallance.bsky.social. The direction of travel is very worrying and threatens much progress made in recent years.
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Learning First @learning-first.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Developing quality curriculum is incredibly complex. Teachers, school and system leaders are focusing on curriculum reform to improve learning and equity. Heather Fearn offers practical insights in her session at our upcoming conference in Sydney. Join us lnkd.in/dDq-i7v5
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Dan Willingham @dtwuva.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Large dataset from chess.com shows much better improvement from deliberate practice than from game play. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
New report on AI in schools from @learning-first.bsky.social finds that students are using AI but ‘as a surrogate to which they can delegate their thinking’. learningfirst.com
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Bill Wilkinson @drwilkinsonsci.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Shot to nothing after a late resignation for promotion - but my amazing school are looking for a head of science if anyone in the South West is interested in a move and/or promotion. Deadline is, erm, tomorrow! RT appreciated... www.eteach.com/job/curricul...
eteach.com
Teaching jobs and Recruitment - Eteach
The Eteach Group is an EdTech software and services company, dedicated to providing education recruitment solutions for teachers and support staff to connect directly with schools online and find the ...
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
This conference is going to be a real treat for Australian curriculum reformers, whether working at systems level or in schools. www.linkedin.com/posts/heathe...
linkedin.com
This conference is going to be a real treat for Australian curriculum reformers and I’m excited to be involved. There are speakers from research, policy, and practice, including some of the most… | ...
This conference is going to be a real treat for Australian curriculum reformers and I’m excited to be involved. There are speakers from research, policy, and practice, including some of the most res...
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
It’s got to be said. We need to wake up. open.substack.com/pub/mrandrew...
open.substack.com
The oldest hatred is back, and I am absolutely done with this shit. Get angry and then get angrier.
If the West cannot stand with its Jews when they are threatened, blamed and smeared with recycled blood libels, then we are dead as societies.
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
I’ll be @researchedbrum.bsky.social sharing international curriculum insights. See you there!
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Stuart Lock @stulock.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Either humans learn in the same way or they don’t. If we are going to have a coherent perspective on SEND then those deciding need to decide which position they are taking. It can’t be both.
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
Is there anything I thought I came up with myself that I won’t one day stumble on in a 2017 @michaelfordham.bsky.social blog? It’s like that Keynes quote. Today its this particular schema depiction.
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Isaac @isaacmoore7.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
These are big numbers. Subjects come first, expectedly.
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
There have been 1,038,405 unique downloads of @Ofstednews subject research reviews and subject reports. In school, we learn through subjects and we improve the quality of children's education by improving that subject teaching. This is the reality these numbers speak to. Enormous demand!
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
I’ve used a Freedom of Information request to find out how many unique downloads there have been of the @Ofstednews subject Research Reviews and Subject Reports. How many downloads do you think there have been of these subject docs?
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
My little spring garden under the oak. Final phase.
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Yes, subjects need their own take on CURRICULUM using the 'cogsci revolution' - not just pedagogy. I'm not so keen on the drive to leap just pedagogical, rather than curricular, insights using cog psych which happens even in this article. www.tes.com/magazine/tea...
tes.com
Why subjects need their own take on the ‘cogsci revolution’
While the use of cognitive science research can aid teaching, it needs to be filtered and combined with the unique demands of individual subjects, argue Mike Hobbiss and Paul Cline
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
Much love in Australia for Ofsted’s research reviews and subject reports. Used by some everywhere I go. I’m thrilled and so proud of our team that put together these seminal documents that enable new discussion of quality edu, by subject, that takes account of what we now know about cognition.
documents.to
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
I have to be about the luckiest curriculum geek. I’m now in Sydney’s Blue Mountains for Learning First’s Curriculum Implementation Conference with states systems leaders all talking curriculum. It’s a truly exciting time in Australian education.
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Yes. First time I’ve read an article on Ofsted that gets what sits behind inspection reliability and validity.
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Barry Garelick @bg987.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
A bird with true conceptual understanding of what it means to fly. @oldandrewuk.bsky.social @mayak46.bsky.social @katharinebeals.bsky.social @paulkirschner.bsky.social @carlhendrick.substack.com @paulkirschner.bsky.social @nsachdeva.bsky.social @heatherbellaf.bsky.social @gregashman.bsky.social
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John Dickens @johndickenssw.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
I’ve been digging into the quality of EHCPs, plans that parents are dragged through court sometimes to obtain, and that are bankrupting councils What’s actually in them? Are they good quality? Personalised? Include interventions backed by evidence? Are they fully funded? The answer often is no
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Ben Newmark @bennewmark.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
The SW investigation might be the most important one they've ever run. It's an incredible piece of work and the results are truly shocking. Everyone should read it.
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
New blog! ‘The Teachers’ knowledge that has no name’. What should we call this knowledge? heatherfblog.wordpress.com/2025/02/23/t... With special thanks to @michaelfordham.bsky.social
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D H @iawngont.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
Your final bit on the importance of co-planning highlights why schools serious about curriculum and T&L need to devote as much time as possible to subject team meetings, and to ensure 90% of the time is spent discussing it (and not ESPO, data, behaviour, and other ephemeral asides)
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
Why does crucial teacher knowledge have no name? What should we call it? heatherfblog.wordpress.com/2025/02/23/t...
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MrGreenw00d @mrgreenw00d.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
Outstanding blog. Detailed explanation of why so many of the trainees I've met with excellent academic credentials struggle to explain complex/abstract material. They don't know what the students should already know or what they need next.
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
New blog! ‘The Teachers’ knowledge that has no name’. What should we call this knowledge? heatherfblog.wordpress.com/2025/02/23/t... With special thanks to @michaelfordham.bsky.social
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Mike Hill @michaeldoron.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Thank you to everyone who came to our second Ark Soane History conference yesterday. It was such a joy to see so many history teacher colleagues together. As always, I’m proudest of our pupils who were so keen to help and talk about history. What a lovely day. #Soane25
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Tom Richmond @tom-richmond.com · 08/02/2025
Brutal takedown of reading policy in Wales and Scotland, as Northern Ireland looks to change course with its new strategy based around phonics. @kathyrastle.bsky.social makes several important (and apparently still necessary) observations about the evidence on reading. www.itv.com/news/2025-02...
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
So, we don’t need to look at curriculum quality in small primaries. Because inspection in small primaries is harder we realise we need to inspect less well for them.
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Daisy Christodoulou @daisychristo.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
I first wrote about this problem 10+ years ago (in fact it's part of the reason Michael & I became friends!) @counsellc.bsky.social spotted the exact same problem 30 years ago. Here's a more recent article from me, with a link to Christine's work. substack.nomoremarking.com/p/the-tyrann...
substack.nomoremarking.com
The tyranny of the progression statement
The assessment approach that never dies
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School Data Updates @jpembroke.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Great stuff from @michaelt1979.bsky.social on proposed Ofsted framework. I’m now pondering if it’s possible to make well-judged adaptations that aren’t appropriate. www.tes.com/magazine/ana...
tes.com
Ofsted inspection proposals conjure up a spectre of the past
Michael Tidd wonders why no one at Ofsted recalled the headaches caused by the assessment levels system when drawing up new inspection framework proposals
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Daisy Christodoulou @daisychristo.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
It really is like magic! Lengthy written comments generated from lots of snippets of teacher audio...
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
I’ve seen a demo of the audio feedback feature and loved it. AI being used to rephrase *the teacher’s* quick, audio feedback on written work, into organised, clear and positively framed sentences for the pupil or teacher. Magic!
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Daisy Christodoulou @daisychristo.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
We've been running a series of online CPD events on oracy this year. The next is an in-person event at the new Ed City offices. I will talk to Heather Fearn & Madeleine Roberts from Ark Schools about how to use Comparative Judgement to assess oracy. Tues 28 Jan, 4-5pm.
buff.ly
Assessing and improving oracy with comparative judgement
Join Daisy Christodoulou as she explains how Comparative Judgement can be used to assess oracy.
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Heather Fearn @heatherbellaf.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
My copy is preordered and hopefully very soon on its way.
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Andrew Old @oldandrewuk.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
"...it was understood that nobody went to school in order to enjoy the sort of happiness he might get from lying in the sun" Michael Oakeshott's brilliant essay "A place of learning" can be found here.
stephenhicks.org
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
This is why you don't design curricula around "jobs of the future". We can't predict the future but we do know what general skills and knowledge will be valuable whatever job you do.
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Nikki McGee @re-mcgee.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Great advice for #TeamRE from @thewayofkueh.bsky.social at #StrictlyRE @natre-update.bsky.social
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Carl Hendrick @carlhendrick.substack.com · 24/01/2025
In Sonnet 59 Shakespeare makes the argument that creativity is nothing really to do with the romanticised idea of conjuring up something new ex-nihilo, but rather something recombinative; in other words the reorganisation, adaptation, and integration of pre-existing knowledge and experiences.
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Carl Hendrick @carlhendrick.substack.com · 24/01/2025
How did Shakespeare know so much about the mind? Started 2025 trying to read a sonnet/scene every day and I'm consistently amazed at how he anticipated so many findings from cognitive science on memory, learning and behaviour. Made some notes🧵⬇️
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Mike Hill @michaeldoron.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
HISTORY TEACHER ROLE! Our pupils love History at Ark Soane – from Year 7 all the way up to our first Year 10 cohort, 80% of whom do History GCSE. We’re expanding and looking for another History teacher to join us next September. Could this be you? Details below! 🙂
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Dan Willingham @dtwuva.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
If you're curious to know more about the role of knowledge in learning and curriculum, download this free e-book, a collaborative effort by an international team of eight experts. link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
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Stuart Lock @stulock.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
This is innumerate nonsense from whoever it was. Unacceptable.
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Christine Counsell @counsellc.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
But there is this very good piece by @heatherbellaf.bsky.social which took up the theme in a most interesting way: www.history.org.uk/publications...
history.org.uk
Acquainted or intimate? Background knowledge and subsequent learning
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