Icing on the Cake on Tour
I'm speaking at two conferences in the Autumn Term, ResearchEd and the Battle of Ideas. ResearchEd, for those yet to be beamed into the wonderful world of teacher-led conferences, is a gathering of teachers, researchers, academics, policy wonks and commentators united in a common pursuit of sanity in education. The Battle of Ideas is organised by the Institute of Ideas, and has been one of the most glorious mashups of iconoclasts and free thinkers in the past decade.
I've called my session at ResearchEd 'Looking for Atlantis - the search for great Teachers and Teaching. A critical look at the research.' In it, I'll be looking at the way in which academics and policy makers have tried to isolate and identify great teaching and teachers, and the implication this search has had for those of us in the teaching profession.
The Battle of Ideas is panel-based, and I'm part of a session with the title, ‘Goodbye Mr Chips: can research tell teachers how to teach?’. I spoke at the Battle of Ideas last year, and I found it both nerve-wracking and thought-provoking. It’s a weekend of wide-ranging and stimulating discussions featuring lots of excellent panellists and plenty of time for audience debate.
ResearchEd is at South Hampstead High School on Saturday 5th September, and my session is at 2:50pm. Tickets are available here.
Battle of Ideas is on the weekend of 17/18 October at the Barbican, and my session is on Sunday 18 October at 10.00am. Tickets are available here.
Off to Ofsted Towers
As well as these events, I’ve pulled together a group of data wonks for a meeting with Ofsted to discuss data. We’ll be looking at Progress 8, Value Added comparisons of schools, Schools' assessment flexibility and the future development of RAISE. We’re meeting on Friday 4th September, the day before ResearchEd.
Everyone has a book in them
I’ve been discussing a book about data for teachers with a major publisher and we’ve now had the green light. It’s due in early 2017 and I’m tremendously excited – not to say somewhat daunted – by the project. Given the requests I’ve had to cast light on the often murky world of data and numbers, it’ll be lot of fun to write a book length text on using data properly.
In the meantime, I'm still Twittering regularly and, whilst all these other projects mean I'm blogging much less, I'm always available via email and Twitter. Do get in touch.