Latest articles

Seeing school through the lens of your learners

After highlighting Empathy Week in the last SEND Update, I was reminded about some of the most impactful training I undertook during my 30 years within the classroom. Early on in my career I attended a course at Nottingham University which focussed on teaching science to SEN learners.
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Teachers are the best curriculum designers

The DfE does not think that teachers are good curriculum designers, so have provided Oak Academy with £43 million over three years to provide curriculum materials to schools. Oak’s purpose is to “improve pupil outcomes and close the disadvantage gap by supporting teachers to teach, and pupils to access a high-quality curriculum.” This is another example for me of the DfE not having due regard for the professionalism of teachers.
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Social media: friend or foe?

by Louisa Rose, CEO of Beyond As the CEO of youth mental health charity, Beyond, and an ex social media consultant, I’m particularly interested in the intersection of tech and mental health. It might seem like a pivot but let’s
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Adaptive teaching – what are we adapting to, and why?

It seems that everyone is talking about adaptive teaching at the moment. With inclusion at the heart of the new Ofsted framework and the emphasis on ‘inclusive mainstream’, it is not surprising that there is a lot of discussion about how we might meet the varying needs of learners. However, does adaptive teaching offer fresh insights into this challenge or a repositioning of previous thinking?

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