Our top 5 blog posts
We’ve had over 10,000 visitors to our blog since we launched it in September 2015. Thank you! Of the 25 blog posts we’ve published so far, the following have been the most popular. We hope you enjoy...
View ArticleSelf-determination theory in teaching and learning
Working as a trainer for Cambridge International Examinations is a privilege. I’ve learnt a huge amount from working with teachers around the world and I always return refreshed with new ideas to...
View ArticleWhat skills do students need to succeed?
I recently had the pleasure of speaking at the Schools Now! Conference in Abu Dhabi. The conference focused on the challenges that schools face in meeting the expectations of students, parents,...
View ArticleDon’t let feelings of inadequacy get in the way of great teaching
When Harry Potter actress, Emma Watson, claimed that she suffered from ‘Imposter Syndrome’, she was ridiculed by many. Yet feelings of inadequacy are very real and suffered by many professionals,...
View ArticleHow to avoid ambiguity in setting questions for your students
My favourite Christmas gift this year was from my Father-in-Law. Knowing my professional interest in assessment, he bought me the ‘F in Exams’ desk calendar. For those not familiar with the concept,...
View ArticleReflections on the Cambridge Schools Conference, South Africa
I look forward to our Cambridge Schools Conferences. Bringing together principals and teachers from our global community of schools always makes for a stimulating few days of educational debate and...
View ArticleDigital distraction
A few years ago, I was at an event run by a UK training provider when I found myself reflecting on digital use around the room. Almost every delegate had one or two electronic devices (such as a...
View ArticleUnlocking potential in learners with dyslexia
A colleague and I were recently discussing my twin daughters’ development and I mentioned how fascinating it was to watch them grow and learn. I explained that they had very different learning styles....
View ArticleCan you define intelligence?
The first entry in the Oxford English Dictionary defines intelligence as; ”The faculty of understanding; intellect. Also as a count noun: a mental manifestation of this faculty, a capacity to...
View ArticleA revolution in Chinese education?
In early June 2016, I accompanied a delegation of eight Members of Parliament from the UK, representing the All Party Parliamentary Group on China, when they visited a Cambridge curriculum programme...
View ArticleThe dawn of digital
In my role at Cambridge International Examinations, I give advice on the ‘digitalisation’ of assessment. I’ve been in post for over a year now, and I’m still not quite sure what ‘digitalisation’ means....
View ArticlePokémon Go – could teaching learn a few things from gaming?
We live in a world where video games manage to engage millions of people across the globe for many hours a week. As Jane McGonigal notes in her Ted Talk, ‘Gaming can make a better world’, the mechanics...
View ArticleReflections on the 100th year anniversary of John Dewey’s ‘Democracy and...
John Dewey [1859-1952] an influential philosopher, psychologist and educational thinker, published his book on Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education in 1916. One...
View ArticleMaking it count
Calculating the problem When I run workshops with teachers around the world I regularly ask them as an icebreaker what their least favourite subject was at school. Based on a straw poll of the 400 or...
View ArticleWhat is active learning?
At Cambridge we support the development of learners and teachers who are confident, responsible, reflective, innovative and engaged: the Cambridge Learner and Teacher Attributes. One way we do this is...
View ArticleEducational research – where to start?
In recent years there has been greater emphasis on the use of educational research to inform policy as well as classroom practice. One challenge for teachers is that some academic work is not that...
View Article”Learning as a Journey”– ESSARP Conference
Every year, during the first weekend in September, the ESSARP Conference takes place in Buenos Aires, Argentina. ESSARP (English Speaking Scholastic Association of the River Plate) is our Associate in...
View ArticleCambridge Outlook – sometimes it’s worth taking your eye off the clock
Behind every article in Cambridge Outlook, there are dozens of emails, phone calls, meetings and interviews. Much like the lessons going on in schools around the world every day, each issue of the...
View ArticleThe challenges of teaching A Level English
When I took up teaching Cambridge International AS & A Level English six years ago, I knew it was going to be a challenge. I had already taught Cambridge IGCSE but I still had a lot of work to do...
View ArticleOutstanding lessons begin in an outstanding way
The beginning of a lesson must be perfect and precise. I have never observed a lesson that began badly or even began OK, which ended in an outstanding way, with progress being made by all students. To...
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