stuartrowntree.bsky.social
Proud father and husband. Almost 40. Primary Assistant Headteacher specialising in Literacy, Data & Assessment, Quality of Teaching & Curriculum. Passionate about evidence-informed practice, cognitive psychology and SEND. Advocate for AI in Education.
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• My Hometown - Bruce Springsteen
• Waiting for Wild Horses - Arlo McKinley
• Over Yonder - Charles Wesley Godwin
• Dying Breed - Colby Acuff
• Something in the Orange - Zach Bryan
#FridayFive
#CountryMusic
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Happy to help if I can...?
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And not having those attributes?
It can mean people are technically qualified but practically lost.
Without the ability to think critically, communicate, or reflect, they might land a job — but they won’t keep it, grow in it, or find meaning in it.
That’s not education, in my opinion...
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Plenty of people struggle to stay employable not because they lack qualifications, but because they were never taught to think, relate or adapt.
A job’s important, yes - but without the deeper skills, it’s a short-lived outcome, not a lasting purpose.
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Getting a job is a valuable outcome, but it’s the result of deeper aims — not the purpose itself. Education must shape thinkers, citizens and humans first. Reduce it to employment alone, and we neglect the very qualities that make someone truly employable.
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To pay a lot of freeloading public sector workers a hefty golden pension!!!!!
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Ultimately, what I value most is the humility here — the idea that ‘the best’ is not fixed, but forged in community.
My role is not to gatekeep the canon but to help pupils enter it, question it, and in time, contribute to it.
That’s real legacy.
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Andy Clark’s point resonates powerfully. Thought isn’t confined to the mind; it is extended through artefacts, books, classrooms, routines. As a leader, I must treat school not just as a place of teaching, but as a living system that supports cognition.
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I often wrestle with how to balance rigour and accessibility. But this piece reframes the issue: accessibility is not about lowering the ceiling but building a longer staircase. We don’t simplify content — we scaffold thought.
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I’m moved by the rejection of the isolated self — the myth that children will simply ‘discover’ their passions. We are shaped by the narratives we inherit. Our task as educators is to widen the lens, stretch the roots, deepen the soil.
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In my own curriculum work, I’ve come to see books not just as texts but as thresholds — portals into other minds, cultures and eras. To offer only ‘easy’ choices is, in some sense, to bar the door to the room where that deeper conversation is happening.
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What strikes me most is the deep truth in how curriculum is a conversation — not a script. I’ve long felt education shouldn’t dictate thought, but cultivate it. We prepare children to join a dialogue that began long before them and, with care, will outlast them.
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AI can analyse data, model curricula, draft policies, write reports, create exemplars, shape CPD, reduce admin, and generate training scenarios.
When guided with precision, it saves time and deepens impact without replacing professional judgement.
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People say AI is too broad or impersonal. It is, unless you anchor it. Bring subject knowledge, pedagogy, and precision, and it becomes something far more reliable - a scaffold that knows why it’s there.
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AI feels hollow when misused. If you drop in a vague prompt, you’ll get vague answers. But use it like you would a colleague - clear, focused, purposeful - and it adds real value, not just speed.
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AI won’t replace teachers. It extends what we can do. But it only works if we guide it properly. The quality of the prompt, the clarity of the outcome - that’s our responsibility. It’s not magic. It’s craft.
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Using AI isn’t lazy. No one says a calculator makes you bad at maths. It’s not cheating - it’s refining. With clear input and intent, it becomes a sharp, responsive support that fits your teaching, not replaces it.
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Absolutely – I completely agree.
I should have clarified: I meant knowledge without depth, context or application.
Truly embedded, meaningful knowledge is the foundation on which all else is built. It's the priority and the precursor.
We're very much aligned on that!
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Education should shape the whole person – morally, socially and intellectually.
It’s about legacy, not just labour. Skills, values and wisdom matter more than jobs or facts alone.
We prepare children for life, not just work, and that demands more than surface knowledge.
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1. Receive the best of that which had been thought and said
2. Develop social and interpersonal skills
3. Learn transferable academic skills
4. Find your passion
5. Get a job
6. Know lots of things
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Make the ends non-negotiable; set a clear moral & strategic compass - pupils must be safe, teaching must be evidence-informed, all learners deserve equity.
These are values-driven, and they create conditions for moral clarity.
By loosening grip, we invite staff to bring themselves into process
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Absolutely. And this poses a dilemma, because leaders are often expected to secure improvement, yet the most effective routes to that improvement - trust, professional curiosity, reflective enquiry - are cultivated, not compelled.
After all, trust is slow but pressure is immediate.
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Without revisiting, re-engaging, and reflecting, feedback becomes disconnected from growth. It feels like judgement, not collaboration.
When it's circular and invitational, it fosters curiosity.
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The problem is we often assume transmission equals transformation.
Simply telling someone what to do better, or differently, does not necessarily result in change.
Feedback must be integrated into practice and that rarely happens on a one-way street.
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Very, very respectfully disagreeing.
Prompting AI may not look like traditional creativity, but it still demands vision, precision and intent.
Like directing or curating, it's a modern form of shaping ideas.
Dismissing it outright risks missing how creativity evolves with new tools.
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A better society puts people before profit: local services, universal access to essentials, fairer workplaces, shorter work weeks, education for life, and progress measured by wellbeing, not wealth. Use value, not exchange value, must lead the way.
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"Socialism hasn't been done properly yet" is often dismissed as it's perceived as post-hoc rationalisation for failure. It's no more vacuous than claiming liberal democracy has "worked" simply because it persists.
Procedural legitimacy doesn't guarantee moral, social or epistemic soundness.
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This isn’t about erasing women’s rights. It’s about asking if there’s a better, fairer way. If recognition means nothing, what’s the point of the Gender Recognition Act? We need nuance — not rules that punish people for being who they are...
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Most trans people aren’t a threat. They're just trying to live with dignity. Blanket exclusions based on fear or biology feel like poor policy. We can safeguard properly without resorting to one-size-fits-all rules that hurt vulnerable people.
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Identify 3 core challenges. Strip away fluff. Define a clear aim for each, backed by evidence. Set 2–3 key actions per aim with named leads and milestones. Review termly. Communicate simply. Focus relentlessly. Adapt only if impact demands it.
Solve the problem, above all else.
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When professionals are left to subsidise the system, it’s a clear sign that rhetoric about valuing education hasn’t been matched by meaningful, sustained financial commitment.
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It speaks volumes about the chronic underinvestment in education by successive governments. This isn’t about going the extra mile – it’s about plugging gaps that should never have existed.
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Honestly don't understand it. Starting fresh on Bluesky feels like moving to a new town without all the fuss and superficial nonsense. No algorithm chaos, no noise. A chance to start again, properly.
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It's abysmal.
A joyless, try-hard mess, stripped of soul, saturated in dull CGI and starring a lead with all the presence of a wet sock.
Jury still out for me.