The following article appears in this week’s copy of TES Scotland (8th December) Do I have to spell it out? Synthetic phonics works Last month I gave evidence at the Scottish Parliament on my petition to improve literacy standards in
Preparing for Battle: This is my Fight Song
Next week (Thursday 9th November) I will be giving evidence at a hearing in the Scottish Parliament on the petition that I submitted over the summer. Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to i) provide national
The Winner Takes It All
As 2016 drew to a close, Strictly Come Dancing, X Factor and The Apprentice all crowned new champions, as the losers clapped to hide their misery in the side-lines. In PISA, the biggest education tournament of them all, Scotland recorded
Scotland’s Standardised Testing: How did we get here?
A simplified timeline of events: 2010: Curriculum for Excellence (forward-thinking, aspirational and inspirational) begins full implementation. 2010: Standardised testing is abolished. BUT: HMI start asking to see our standardised testing. (But, erm, we just got rid of it… ) THEN: Schools
Dear Ms Constance: An Open Letter
Dear Ms Constance I wrote to you in March 2015, although I realise that you probably don’t actually get to read every email you receive, given the demands of your job. I also wrote to my MSP Alasdair Allan back
Closing the Gap: Get a New Plan, Stan
It has been a busy few weeks in the education world in Scotland, with what has felt like hunners of literacy reports and results being published. Having read them all, I am disappointed to find a lack of specific advice as
It’s time to wake up and smell the /k/ /o/ /f/ /ee/
On 29th April the latest SSLN results were published, revealing the performance of our children in reading, writing, talking and listening. You would hope, that given the fact that almost all of our teachers now feel confident in delivering the