Category: Teacher Education

  • Flexible working in teaching: what’s good for the goose is good for the gander

    Flexible working in teaching: what’s good for the goose is good for the gander

    ‘ Teacher supply in England remains in a perilous state.’ (NFER, 2023) Whilst effective flexible working in schools has traditionally been a part-time working pattern associated with women teachers with caring responsibilities, this can be stigmatising. But, new legislation means a request to work flexibly is now an option for all, and from the first […]

  • Teachers of the world, we salute you!

    Teachers of the world, we salute you!

    To celebrate World Teachers’ Day 2023, colleagues at the Sheffield Institute of Education recall the teachers that meant the world to us.  Mr Eskdale, Gosforth East Middle School, Newcastle Upon-Tyne, 1976-1979Mr Eskdale understood, as I look back at it now, that if you take an interest in a child, they will be motivated to do […]

  • The poetry of reflection

    The poetry of reflection

    We love poetry and we love teaching. But is it possible to combine the two? We came across an article in the Times Higher Education (Illingworth, 2022) that did just that, and decided to try it. This post describes our experiences of using poetry to widen the horizons of our trainees, showing them how they […]

  • Covid has put wellbeing in schools front and centre

    Covid has put wellbeing in schools front and centre

    Covid has put wellbeing in schools front and centre The school shutdowns during the Covid pandemic may feel like a distant memory. But the effects of this period are still being felt in schools today — and pupil wellbeing is one of the biggest casualties, as explored recently by Dr Caron Carter on this SIOE […]

  • Issues and Answers: Teacher Recruitment and Retention

    Issues and Answers: Teacher Recruitment and Retention

    COVID 19 showed us more clearly than ever the importance of education and why we need to protect it. We have not only seen how hard it is when teachers and their pupils cannot be together but also how much it matters that we address the disruption to learning this has created. We have also […]

  • Why we need to look after new teachers: now more than ever

    In the Doncaster Opportunity Area, of which I am deputy chair, we have seen large numbers  of people losing their jobs because of Covid-19. This is having a huge impact on lives, communities and, of course, children. So what has been the effect of this on new teachers starting this year? As you would expect, […]

  • Building A Culture of Mentoring: How We Are Doing It

    “I feel that this year more than ever, the mentor has a crucial role in supporting the students through their placements.  Schools are just not the same as ‘usual’ and I feel it is the role of the mentor to support the students even more during these strange times.” Hallam Mentor Recently we have been […]

  • Uniformed or Uninformed?

    Uniformed or Uninformed?

    Before Christmas I watched the short BBC 2 series “School” (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0brj5df ). Of course TV programmes are made to grab headlines and increase ratings, so it’s not surprising that most of what was shown depicted “problems”, but even so, I was routinely horrified in at least 4 out of the 6 episodes to see the […]

  • Evidence-Informed Teacher Professional Development

    Evidence-Informed Teacher Professional Development

    Ahead of the Improving Standards of Teaching Through Continuing Professional Development forum taking place in London on Wednesday 3rd October, Dr Emily Perry, who will be chairing the event, shares her thoughts on how the ‘evidence-informed’ agenda, present across the education system, can be extended to also influence CPD models. In teaching we have an ongoing move towards […]

  • The Perilous Praise Burger (Or ‘In search of the Artisan Praise Burger’)

    The Perilous Praise Burger (Or ‘In search of the Artisan Praise Burger’)

    In a world of over-reliance upon pre-packaged off the peg solutions, where convenience food is pervasive due to the time-poverty phenomenon of modern life, convenience is often seen as the number one priority in everything. In this world, are over-worked teachers (NEU, 2018) (also recently reported in The Guardian, 2017), reliant upon the fast-food model […]