Blatchford’s A Practical Guide to the National Standards of Excellence for Headteachers: A Chapter by Chapter Review, Chapter 5 Domain Two, Excellent Headteachers: pupils and staff

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Chapter 5 moves on to Domain 2: Excellent Pupils and Staff. The six characteristics that make up this domain of the National Standards of Excellence for Head teachers are as follows: Demand ambitious standards for all pupils and staff overcoming disadvantage and advancing equality, instilling a strong sense of accountability in staff for the impact …

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Blatchford’s A Practical Guide to the National Standards of Excellence for Headteachers: A Chapter by Chapter Review, Chapter 4 Preface to the Domains

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The preface to the discussion of the domains is Chapter 4 of Blatchford’s guide. While it might seem confusing to have a preface follow a preamble, Blatchford’s purpose is to describe the methodology with which he will take you through the National Standards of Excellence. There will be six exemplars, one for each characteristic in …

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Blatchford’s A Practical Guide to the National Standards of Excellence for Headteachers: A Chapter by Chapter Review, Chapter 3 Preamble

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Chapter 3 begins with a restatement of the preamble on the role of the headteacher “Headteachers occupy an influential position in society and shape the teaching profession. They are lead professionals and significant role models within the communities they serve. The values and ambitions of headteachers determine the achievements of schools. They are accountable for …

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Blatchford’s A Practical Guide to the National Standards of Excellence for Headteachers: A Chapter by Chapter Review, Chapter 2 Purpose

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After faulting Blatchford for a somewhat truncated international perspective in Chapter 1, I am delighted to say that Chapter 2 was a clear and forceful explanation of the purpose of the National Standards of Excellence. Blatchford begins with the stated aims of the standards which are worth reproducing: To inspire public confidence in headteachers To …

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Blatchford’s A Practical Guide to the National Standards of Excellence for Headteachers: A Chapter by Chapter Review, Chapter 1 International Perspective

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As a new Head, I know that I need to understand better what is expected of me. It is surprisingly hard to get an accurate impression of this from teachers or other school leaders, or even from being a teacher previously. There are always a lot of positives and there are usually people who will …

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BYOD Bring Your Own Devices in Practice from Future Learn and Impact from the Chartered College of Teaching

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At school we are currently working on a BYOD (Bring your own devices) policy for our Secondary School and I am managing a team of extremely dedicated professionals in bringing this about. Our IT director and I have drafted the outline of a policy, which has been distributed to our Heads of Departments and Housemasters …

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Every Minute Counts by Michael Papworth: Book Review

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I want to start this blog with a post about a book that helped me greatly at the start of my teaching career and that I am returning to now as I move into a headship and my toughest challenge to date. The book is an excellent restatement of timeless values, skills and reasoning. It …

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How can teachers and schools exercise a constructive control over negative features of the unintended hidden curriculum?

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The phrase ‘unintended hidden curriculum’ comes directly from the work of Paechter (1999). She does not directly define it, but cites examples of it in practice and suggests where it may be seen. She also asserts that it may be controlled by ‘society’ and because of its unintentional nature be very hard to ‘resist’. Drawing …

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The Desirability of ‘Positive Education’

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Positive education’s focus on happiness is valuable and should not be forgotten in the ideal classroom. Techniques from or endorsed by positive education should be part of the ideal classroom. Nevertheless, positive education is not an appropriate theory for school’s to systematically pursue. It is inappropriate because of its subjectivity, its vulnerability to misunderstanding due …

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