Curriculum development – impact and influence
For many of us, our first awareness of the intended curriculum or in other words, what students are expected to learn, is when we bump up against something at school we really aren’t interested in or...
View ArticleUnderstanding the teenage learner
Nicola Morgan highlights a selection of points from her Big Ideas talk at the Cambridge Schools Conference. She has also provided a handout which she created for that talk so you can investigate the...
View ArticleOur top 10 education blogs in 2016
We’ve had over 26,000 visitors to this site in 2016 (so far). Thank you! Of all the education blogs we’ve published, the ones below have been the most popular. We hope you enjoy these posts and...
View ArticleCreating the conditions for learning to take place
Ready The other day I was looking through some of my old school exercise books from the 1980s. I’d remembered how my teachers had insisted on neatness and order, titles and dates but I hadn’t...
View ArticleWhat classroom culture are we creating?
In our UK offices we have recently introduced ”Dress Down Fridays” My experiences of ”dress-down” days are all within the UK school system where uniforms are the norm. About once a term, usually to...
View ArticleCan creativity help learners to do better in exams?
I was recently asked a tricky question in a workshop I was running: ”Surely you can’t be really advocating creativity? You work at an exam board!” Creativity and high stakes examinations are not topics...
View ArticleEmpowering students: Safely using the internet for learning
Cambridge is designing curricula and assessments for an increasingly digitalised world. Uppermost in my mind at the moment is the role we have to play in ensuring that the positive aspects of online...
View ArticleSome advantages of online learning
For many of us, a new year is an opportunity for reflection – a time to evaluate and identify areas for improvement. It is no coincidence that this is also one of the times of year when our inboxes...
View ArticleHow to learn from failure
When you’re editing a magazine, things go wrong. People who you’ve arranged to interview are suddenly unavailable; a contributor wildly overshoots the word limit; a spelling mistake isn’t spotted. We...
View ArticleChanging mindsets: Teacher professional development
If it’s not broken, why fix it? I recently attended a parent orientation for a primary school in Delhi. One parent asked me: ‘Why should we change our education system when our children are successful...
View ArticleGood questions are the answer at EWF and beyond
Our Chief Executive, Michael O’Sullivan, used his keynote speech at this year’s Education World Forum to deliver a simple message. He talked about the value of good quality questions – something we...
View ArticleNeurodiversity – celebrating being different
Being seen The city of Cambridge is full of interesting characters. There’s a man with a white beard who dresses from head to toe all in red or blue, there’s another who strides purposefully around the...
View ArticleActive learning – planning for the active classroom
The joy of planning As a teacher I loved planning for classes. I loved the possibilities the new academic year held but most of all I loved inventing and planning schemes of work that I hoped would...
View ArticleVocational education reform in Egypt
As Head of Technical and Vocational Pathways at Cambridge, earlier this year I had the pleasure of attending the kick-off meeting of a large EU funded project for vocational education reform in Egypt....
View ArticleTips for effective exam preparation
In some parts of the world, it’s a time of year when both teachers and students are thinking about exam preparation. Even the most relaxed students decide it’s time to study hard, and teachers are...
View ArticleReflecting on our learning
In March 2017 I had the pleasure of attending our third annual Pakistan Schools Conference in Karachi. Over 200 educators from almost 180 Cambridge schools were there and the atmosphere at the event...
View ArticleTo praise or not to praise, that is the question
When I was new to working in Higher Education, I was taken aback by a colleague’s surprise when I mentioned a comment made to me regularly when I was at school: ‘What’s the point of telling you when...
View ArticleSome people make being creative look easy
When you’re reading a book you can’t put down, watching a famous actor in your favourite film, listening to a moving piece of music, or admiring an artist’s painting it can appear as if some people...
View ArticleSix strategies for using chat apps as part of a blended program of...
A persistent challenge for education authorities is providing equity of professional development opportunities amongst diverse teaching populations. There are significant logistical and cost...
View ArticleCambridge International A Levels get students ‘college ready’: New US research
We know that Cambridge International AS & A Levels are well respected by college admissions staff in the US, but the latest research I have been involved in shows Cambridge qualifications are also...
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