As we hurtle towards the finish line of our two-year Embedding Formative Assessment (EFA) journey, it felt like a good time to step back and reflect upon what has been a truly transformational process in terms of how we effectively use formative assessment in our classrooms and the passionate and reflective staff and student conversations around teaching and learning happening regularly at Erdington Academy.
This blog demonstrates the value of coaching and reflection not only for student teachers but also for mentors. By fostering growth through structured CPD and collaborative practice, these initiatives highlight how empowering educators at all levels can create lasting improvement in teaching and learning.
There was a time when teaching was the best job to do as a working parent. Some people who don’t work in schools or are not married to teachers still view it as a job that fits around the family. You get the holidays, of course. Except you don’t.
I look around the education landscape with sadness and concern as the word “inclusion” has been diluted, misappropriated, and sometimes airbrushed out of everyday professional parlance.
After 33 years of teaching, following many different trains of thought, always amending my approach and trying earnestly to keep myself ahead of the game, I have found myself curiously captivated by what really is good feedback?
In the face of underlying issues that extend far beyond the school gates it’s easy to feel powerless, helpless. But, even amidst the everyday demands of teaching and school life, there are powerful (and empowering) things we can do. And one of the most powerful is to change the conversation – a conversation about the way we relate to young people, a conversation rooted in listening, support and boundaries.
I can confidently say that Embedding Formative Assessment (EFA) programme has completely changed our school for the better. This is evident not only in improvements in attainment, but in the powerful insights our teachers have about how this programme reshaped their work.
There is a crackle of ‘expectation’ or ‘frustration’ around where this government will take SEND provision in England, following increasing media reports of children who are unable to find placements in schools they want to go to, funding for the level of support they require, or schools who ‘do not meet the needs’ of specific children.
My passion for teaching and learning was re-inspired firstly by TEEP, an evidence-informed teaching and learning framework and training programme. This helped me improve the quality of teaching and student focused learning within my own practice.
As school leaders we like to think we are in control; a safe hand at the tiller steering the ship, a wise farmer tending to our crops. All the metaphors for school leadership persuade us that there is order; patterns to follow and interpret.
