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michaelfordham.bsky.social
Headteacher of Thetford Academy (UK). Trustee of Diocese of Ely MAT. Interested in history, school music, and educational philosophy. All views my own.
411 posts 2,648 followers 1,578 following
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Posts 16 Comments 34

5 different emails from recruitment agencies today, offering me ECTs - PLEASE don’t come via agencies, just come and drop in - we welcome visitors. We aren’t the polished, slick school yet but we’re great to work for, full of heart and keen to get better. I won’t waste public money on finders fees!

submitted 2 days ago • 3 comments

New blog! ‘The Teachers’ knowledge that has no name’. What should we call this knowledge? heatherfblog.wordpress.com/2025/02/23/t... With special thanks to @michaelfordham.bsky.social

submitted 3 days ago • 9 comments

I strode confidently into this thinking that I was a well-versed decipherer of edu-mumbo-jumbo but I scored just 2/5. The Ofsted reforms really are comically bad.

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

Well done to Schools Week for digging in to what might look like a technical issue, but in reality will be what makes this framework fall apart.

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment

These are the examples that Ofsted need to be bombarded with over the consultation. Anyone with half an ounce of sense will see that it is a nonsense that one of these is better than the other.

submitted 22 days ago • 2 comments

I recently said that the current Ofsted framework is the most intellectually rigorous one we’ve had and several people disagreed, but looking at what’s come out today I’m all the more convinced that it’s true. You don’t have to like it, but it’s intelligent. The new one? Don’t know where to start.

submitted 22 days ago • 3 comments

We're gonna need a Bigger Listen.

submitted 23 days ago • 3 comments

Final thought on Ofsted for now: the section on Developing Teaching is predictably a dog's breakfast. I can't even work out what it's about. More importantly, it will have dire consequences in schools.

submitted 23 days ago • 11 comments

Already amusing myself with the "guess which of the descriptors is meant to be better" game for the new Ofsted toolkits.

submitted 23 days ago • 12 comments

The idea you need more subject knowledge to teach children who find learning easier just isn't true. To prioritise the most important material for those who find it harder teachers usually need to know the content even better.

submitted 30 days ago • 3 comments

This is why you don't design curricula around "jobs of the future". We can't predict the future but we do know what general skills and knowledge will be valuable whatever job you do.

submitted 31 days ago • 94 comments

A few years ago it was pointed out you ‘can’t see learning’, yet now we see videos of performative class teaching as if we can now see learning… it’s still the case that we can’t… so proxies for learning now are…?

submitted 32 days ago • 4 comments

Took students this evening to see Jacob Collier with the Britten Sinfonia. Quite a remarkable eclectic performance.

submitted 33 days ago • 2 comments

Sure, there's still lots of nonsense out there, but my opinion is that we are living in an education golden age. Exciting and evidence based approaches to T&L, groundbreaking resourcing, innovative approaches to CPD. What more could you want? We are blessed.

submitted 34 days ago • 4 comments

The impact of the “PowerPoint-ification” of teaching is even more notable in subjects like history, geography or psychology. Reading actual texts survives in English, but in many other subjects there are plenty who don’t see point in reading when you could stick a few bullets on a slide.

submitted 39 days ago • 2 comments

"PowerPoint slides have been used to erase more complex reading from textbooks or worksheets in many subjects." Alex is spot on here. @michaeldoron.bsky.social and his team expertly tackle this. PPs images only, pupils read challenging texts

submitted 39 days ago • 2 comments