The merits of the academic disciplines
Following discussions last week and over the weekend, I’ve decided to write a few posts setting out in more detail the philosophy that underpins my approach to the [...]
Articles by Michael Fordham
A response to Debra regarding traditional subjects
The following is my comment on Debra Kidd’s blog (Hey you. Poor person. We’re here to make you just like us.) I have avoided copying comments from one blog into a [...]
Truth about and knowledge of the world: a fundamental right for children
Children, I would argue, have a right to know about the world in which they live. They have a right to be taught about the structures of reality at both cosmic and atomic [...]
Edu-babble: the language of the generic
I have argued in several posts now that teaching ought not to be understood in generic terms. I want to use this post to examine a little further some of the problems generic [...]
Ofsted: the problem of the ignorant inspector
My argument in this post is that Ofsted inspectors who are not specialists in a subject are poorly placed to make judgements about whether progress is being made by pupils in [...]
What does an expert teacher need to know?
In my last post I suggested that teaching needs to be understood as being derivative of a particular subject specialism. I argued that ‘teaching’ – like ‘research’ [...]
Teaching and subject expertise: let’s not fall for genericism again
I have a great deal of respect for those currently pushing ‘grass-root’ teacher movements, such as ResearchEd and the College of Teaching. I’m very excited to have [...]
“The students were engaged” – a meaningless phrase
I have frequently on this blog commented on the fact that genericism is one of the biggest problems we face in education (http://viewrz.com/video/genricism). Being generic [...]
Assessment after levels: don’t reinvent a square wheel
Schools – particularly senior managers – are obsessed by pupil progress, not least because Ofsted inspectors are also obsessed by pupil progress. How many times have [...]
My beef with Bloom’s
I recently had a comment on an old post asking why I have an issue with Bloom’s Taxonomy, and it’s something I’ve been asked about before. The common criticisms that [...]
Doing a Masters in Education Part 2: getting your disciplinary framing clear
In my last post I wrote about how I think the terms ‘qualitative’ and ‘quantitative’ are fairly useless for describing research: at best, they might describe methods [...]
Doing a Masters in Education Part 1: ditching the terms ‘qualitative’ and ‘quantitative’
Although I failed to make it to ResearchED for a second year in a row (next year, I hope…) I did enjoy following the sessions online. One session I found a bit troubling, [...]
90% of teacher training should be subject-specific
Initial teacher training (or education) is currently under review, and one of the issues being raised is the extent to which teacher training does enough to develop teacher [...]
Making History Stick Part 3: using the question effectively
In this sequence of blog posts I am taking some of the principles with which Brown, Roediger and McDaniel concluded their book Make It Stick and asking how these might apply [...]
Making History Stick Part 2: Switching the scale between overview and depth
Brown, Roediger and McDaniel clearly state that, even once some knowledge is mastered, it needs to be recalled periodically (every few weeks or months) under the ‘use it or [...]
Make History Stick Part 1: principles
This is a small adventure for me. My knowledge of cognitive psychology is weak, and I make no claims to having any expertise in the field: when it comes to disciplines, I am [...]
Teach Now! History: a review
It is always exciting when a new book comes out on history teaching, and I was therefore keen to get my hands on a copy of Mike Gershon’s new book Teach Now! History, part [...]
Clio et cetera 