iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Jim Lauder

Daisy Christodoulou @daisychristo.bsky.social · 14h

There's a lot of talk about whether we can trust PISA scores or not. PISA is not the only international test. TIMSS & PIRLS test reading, maths, science too. England is the only country outside East Asia to come in the top 10 on them. More here. substack.nomoremarking.com/p/what-is-go...

substack.nomoremarking.com

What is going on in education in England?

Always count on the English to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

0102

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 15h

Of course what the department will come up with in practice on this is another story entirely.

000

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 15h

You could have a system where eg the report says 'Given the context, this school needs to be an epic machine, and it is/isn't' Or 'Given the context they just need to phone it in, and by and large they do' (Obvs with more diplomatic wording) We could make clear schools have different challenges

100

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 15h

I like a lot of the points in Ben's thread, but I don't think taking context into account needs to mean lower standards. It could even mean higher standards for complex schools. I don't have a perfect answer but I think a lot of the current fwork is superficial box ticking (esp. on inclusion).

110

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I swear they just need to abolish it out of embarrassment

000

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Every intro conversation I have with a schools sector person: 'wow, you used to work at [school which was nationally notoriously bad and is now really excellent], huh' 'yeah it got way better when I left'

030

Reposted by Jim Lauder

Resolution Foundation @resolutionfoundation.org · 01/10/2026

The evidence is clear: countries with lower NEET rates than the UK get there almost entirely through higher rates of post-18 education. In these countries, more young people stay in education for longer and often combine it with work.

Comparison of OECD countries’ differences from the UK in 2024 for 18–24‑year‑old participation in education or work

5147

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Would shape parental behaviour massively. Would probably need to be a universal 'everyone's needs are different' thing, which takes us towards learning styles. I dunno. I'm just hating the whole way we think about SEND right now. Let's just be nice to all kids and teach them really well.

1100

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Britain can learn lots of how not to do things from Germany, especially in education.

010

Reposted by Jim Lauder

Mark McCourt @markmccourt.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Our search for ATT’s Chief Education Officer is now live. We are looking for an exceptional educationalist to help us build something genuinely special at ATT. If you are curious, please take a look. And if it makes you think, “perhaps…”, I would love to hear from you.

223

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

There's also no Judge Sirica figure (and in turn he was only able to do what he did because of prevailing norms that are now eroded)

110

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Am still very hopeful we can get to place-based public service reform following greater devolution. This is the big prize from a Burnham govt.

010

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Reflecting on this, in light of 'Rewiring the State' it is a bit strange that the govt isn't looking to, you know, rewire the state when it comes to supporting young people and families. Instead we're in the comfort zone of curriculum changes.

110

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I guess govt are picking battles and see the vocational routes as more of a priority. IMV properly joining up local systems, and rooting trusts in communities as Dan describes would get more bang for buck than curriculum reform. But curriculum reform is easier and is a DfE-only thing.

040

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Best TV show of the century. Only Andor comes close.

010

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Also a certain Australian dog who should be on top

120

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Friday evening thoughts. Butter paneer >>> butter chicken

030

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I hope not. The evidence suggests that grammar schools are antithetical to social mobility. When you create grammars, you create secondary moderns. In Germany, working class and migrant heritage kids overwhelmingly go to Hauptschule. I really hope Labour's ideas don't lead us here in England.

121

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Birkenhead rightly taking its place in the sun. Or Mirror, rather. Not mentioned in here, but a vital part of the Birkenhead renaissance, is Right to Succeed's flagship Cradle to Career programme that is supporting children and families to be successful www.righttosucceed.org.uk/cradle-to-ca...

000

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Am minded of Blair's 3 second/30 second/3 minute conversation distinction with all this

010

Reposted by Jim Lauder

Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Has it occured to him that someone saying "school wasn't for me" went to a crap school? Or wasn't taught to read properly at primary?

2434325

Reposted by Jim Lauder

Jonathan Simons @jonathansimons.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Sigh indeed. jonathansimons.substack.com/p/making-the...

293

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

All of this could be anywhere on a spectrum from 'good' to 'fine, meh' to 'total disaster'. As Jonathan says, a lot depends on how it fits into accountability frameworks. But honestly it's not a priority for the system. Much better to focus on school improvement, and most of all, FE.

120

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Hard to escape the impression govt's policy thinking on education is undercooked and mostly vibes based.

150

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Govt's announcement on vocational GCSEs is a bit hard to judge. They've not said how many of what kids will take. SoS says today that this isn't about different routes for different kids... But that was the explicit rationale earlier in the summer, and for the MBacc?

230

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

As in, move away from the current system of LA and trust schools, and towards one type of school

111

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Sure - but it's mind blowing that teacher education institutions (in this case from the US) are pushing the LHS as unproductive.

010

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Left hand side: England Right hand side: Scotland, Wales and a bunch of other places Suprisingly, the 'teach them maths' approach is more successful at teaching them maths

130

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

My impression is BOS wasn't particularly in 2015 (when I knew it very well) but might be now as I think more city worker types have moved in

010

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Yeah I'm not going to pretend there aren't places that have overcooked the pudding. I think it's always better to think in terms of culture, values and community, and what are the norms that follow, rather than lists of rules and sanctions.

020

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Nah. Having been in and around these situations, that's pretty par for the course tbh, especially as it's a big school. I'm not close to this one so there might be other red flags I'm not aware of, but this is often how these things go initially. Worth seeing where things are at in a year.

000

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Lots of behaviour discourse is abstract, but in practice this is the sort of situation we need to consider. It's sad and not the kids' fault if that's the prevailing culture, but that culture has to be changed.

220

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Well MCS is an outlier in many respects. Sadly more common, and more worthy of study, are situations where culture has deteriorated in a school, and re-establishment of norms is needed. It's fairly inevitable there's then a spike in suspensions, as students aren't used to reasonable requests.

120

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Excellent article in the Sunday Times by the parent of an autistic child at Frome College, defending the new behaviour approach that has been maligned in the press and online. Where was the outrage when this child was being beaten and bruised at the school? www.thetimes.com/article/fbd8...

Description of how an autistic child experiences a rowdy classroom

1121

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Yes I think it's safe to say old Bram had some stuff going on there. It might have been a repressed era but it made for some cracking literature.

100

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

There's a lot going on in that book. Lots of it I'm sure unintentional.

100

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Agree with your point, and would just add the recurrent cry into the void for proper reform of police and children's social care so that professionals get a grip of these situations before they get to this point

070

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I've wasted large chunks of my life

210

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Have spent several years now watching all of Doctor Who. And it was almost all worth it last night for the biggest shock return of the Capaldi era - the 1970s sentient bin with the giant eyeball for a head. Superb niche fan service. God bless you, catty sentient eyeball bin.

110

Reposted by Jim Lauder

Ben Newmark @bennewmark.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

#FridayFive new starts. 1. Start Me Up. The Rollings Stones. 2. Don't Stop Me Now. Queen 3. Something Changed. Pulp. 4. Yes. McCalmont and Butler. 5. Back to Livin' Again. Curtis Mayfield.

19185

Reposted by Jim Lauder

The Sutton Trust @suttontrust.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

📣 Announcing the Sutton Trust Regional Ambassadors! We've developed an exciting new scheme to ensure our programmes reach the young people who need them most. Our ambassadors share our passion for social mobility and breaking down barriers for disadvantaged young people ⬇️

271

Reposted by Jim Lauder

Tom Richmond @tom-richmond.com · 17/09/2026

"More than one in four Finnish pupils now perform below the basic proficiency level in reading....Nearly one in three Finnish pupils now fall into the low-performing group in mathematics." Does anyone still think England should be more like Finland? I hope not. www.helsinkitimes.fi/themes/theme...

helsinkitimes.fi

Finland’s PISA scores fall again in reading and maths

Finland’s 2025 PISA results show further declines in reading and mathematics, while science performance remains above the OECD average. More than one in four Finnish pupils now fall below the basic re...

221

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

What's that thing about a system's function is its purpose or whatever?

010

Jim Lauder @mrjlauder.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

My initial response to this was to laugh uncontrollably then I remembered I needed to be using this time to ring those people to chase up that thing so that other guy can do his thing so I can get my bank account cleared out so my kid can get some treatment

120