Teaching and learning

In my book, Are You Dropping the Baton, I painted a positive picture of what schools can achieve when they work closely together. However, it is with great sadness that I can see the gap has not narrowed over the past decades. Indeed, there are many signs indicating that it has, in fact, widened. We are now staring into not a gap but a chasm, and it is one that claims more victims every year.

How can we help MFL students to move beyond comprehensible input and tackle more challenging texts?

Head of Geography and Fawcett Fellow Fiona Sheriff shares suggestions for marking World Environment Day 2025 in the classroom and outdoors, across the subjects and key stages.

Why does classroom management matter? Classroom management is essential for successful teaching and learning because it helps create a learning environment where students can focus without distractions, interventions or disruptions. It also means that students avoid cognitive overload as they don't have to think about what to do when: certain tasks becomes routine. A well-managed classroom also fosters a sense of trust between teacher and student, leading to higher levels of engagement from both parties. Ultimately, effective classroom management results in improved academic performance, stronger relationships and greater wellbeing for the whole class.

Classroom management is crucial to learning. We can plan a brilliant curriculum, utilise evidence-informed teaching strategies and have the most in-depth subject knowledge, but if pupil behaviour is poor, learning is unlikely to occur. Here we discuss aspects of classroom management that can help teachers ensure effective learning in their classrooms.

National Poetry Day takes place on 5 October. But why teach poetry to children? The reasons are many and diverse, including, of course, developing their reading skills, but in short, poetry allows children the freedom to express themselves. There is no 'right' way to write (or to interpret) a poem; children don't have to adhere to sentence structures or complex English grammar or punctuation rules, and so writing poetry can be an opportunity to build confidence and play with language. Indeed, research conducted by the CLPE in March reported that 88% of teachers say that children enjoy engaging with poetry and 89% reported that children enjoyed listening to it being read or performed. However, despite the importance of poetry in the |English National Curriculum, 61% of teachers have never had CPD on teaching poetry and 79% of classroom book corners have fewer than ten poetry books in their book selection.