But there is a basic problem comparing your comprehensive experience of a generation ago with a recent grammar experience. Your anecdote about some classes taking no exams at all would be almost unhe… (View Post)

Exactly. I think part of the problem is that so many schools have survived in the last decade on the basis of teachers filling in the gaps in provision out of goodwill (eg covering for colleagues or … (View Post)

Problem is, by the time I get a Y11 class sitting their GCSEs, much of the value added (or not) is baked in. VA is great at measuring the effectiveness of schools, or departments, but not (always) in… (View Post)

Nigel dissembling is always less effective when what you actually wrote is in a quote chain. I don’t have much issue with you asking whether it is all the government’s fault (except that your questio… (View Post)

In one of my six back-to-back lessons yesterday I taught non-homogenous second-order differential equations to Y13. Rather worrying, given your remarkable insight into both my intellectual abilities … (View Post)