Subject knowledge and ITT
The relationship between subject knowledge and initial teacher training is currently up for consideration once again. In the spirit of sharing, Christine Counsell – who [...]
Developing teachers
One of my main interests is teacher education and continuing professional development, particularly the role played by teacher knowledge within that. I am interested in teacher subject knowledge, and in particular the way in which a teacher uses their academic discipline. I have written a wide variety of posts on this topic addressing the knowledge-base of expert teachers (including mentors) as well as the kinds of knowledge that new entrants to the profession might be expected to learn.
Why Hitler and Henry, and not Wallenstein and Anne?
For many years now, politicians, the media and plenty of teachers have complained about the narrow scope of GCSE and (to a lesser extent) A-Level exams in history. In [...]
Identifying knowledge deficits: mentor training for June 2014
Mentor training day is always a highlight of the calendar in the Cambridge partnership. Twice a year, history mentors from schools across the region gather in the Faculty of [...]
A reading list for the new history curriculum
The summer holiday is coming into sight, and, no doubt, history teachers across the land are beginning to think about their reading lists. I thought I’d take this [...]
What does a teacher need to know?
I filled out a reference recently for someone applying for a Head of History post. As anyone who has filled out references knows, you tend to get a list of criteria and then [...]
Why should we research the subject and not just the child?
A great deal is written about research in education and the problems it faces. I rather think that we are passing something of a threshold at the moment in terms of the [...]
Lesson observations as a mentor
So far I have not written much on this blog about mentoring. This is an oversight on my part, as mentoring trainee teachers was one of the most satisfying parts of my job. I [...]
What if?
What if, in teacher training, we had the same amount of time and funding available as for the training of new doctors? Okay, I know that comparisons between medicine and [...]
David Carr, teacher training and evidence-based practice
My reading recently led me to a now rather old article by David Carr in the Oxford Review of Education. I have not read as much Carr as I ought to have done, though this is [...]
Scepticism not cynicism: what made my teacher training so good?
Having poked my head into the world of blogs and Twitter over this last year the thing that has surprised me most is how negative many teachers are about their initial [...]
Twenty ways to improve CPD
Two years ago I arrived back from my Easter break to find that our training day would be led by an external consultant who would be training us on ‘critical thinking, [...]
Clio et cetera 