Joseph Oak

@XpatEducator @fidsta77 Gutted I’ve missed out on this - didn’t check in for a few days so missed the next set of instructions!

@XpatEducator @fidsta77 Rosenshine

🎁 FREE GIFT: FULL ROSENSHINE CPD PACK! To celebrate 50 consecutive weeks of ⚗️DistillED, I’ve put together something quite cool… Over the past year, Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction has been one of the most requested topics from teachers and school leaders. So I’ve put together a complete, ready-to-run CPD pack to help schools explore and implement all 10 principles. The download includes: → 10 CPD PowerPoints (ready for 30–45 min sessions) → 10 strategy checklists (practical classroom actions) → 10 planning templates (put principles into action ) → Covers all 10 of Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction Everything you need to run ten focused CPD sessions — one for each principle. 👉 REPOST and comment ROSENSHINE and I’ll DM you the link. Cheers! ⏰ Available until Sunday 22 March!

Reading education blogs changed my practice, so I always want to try take the opportunity to share the love. Here are a few free blogs I've read recently that I thought were super, please share if you can! I work at a school that doesn't have merit points or rewards or anything like that, so this piece by @msrebeccabirch on intrinsic motivation really appealed to me: rebeccabirch.substack.com/p/on-chasing-t… We are in the midst of an SEND crisis, and part of the problem is outlined by @head_teach: that some schools have astonishingly higher numbers of students with SEND than others: matthewevanseducation.substack.com/p/magnetic-sch… @joel120193 is smashing out hit after hit on his blog, and this piece on the sheer amount of things teachers have to do resonated: joel120193.substack.com/p/the-60-minut… @mpershan wrote a typically scholarly, wide-ranging and sophisticated piece on implicit vs explicit learning, the memorisation of maths facts and much more. pershmail.substack.com/p/understandin… Next up are two posts on AI: @alex_crossman has written an excellent piece on the risks of AI to education. Our job is to get students' thinking hard, and AI's job is to get people thinking less hard. These aren't compatible, and we need to pull the brakes hard. powerfulknowledge.substack.com/p/its-time-to-… Whilst not strictly about education, Gary Marcus's entry here about the security risks of OpenClaw and other weird things is vital if we are to take internet and AI security seriously. garymarcus.substack.com/p/openclaw-aka… Of course, I've been blogging too, and you can check out my entries here: carouselteachlearnlead.substack.com As stated at the outset, please share if you can!

This angle of Mbeumo’s goal is cinema man, vintage Manchester United

I think a subtle but very real element of a teacher’s behaviour management craft is the capacity to maintain boundaries by noticing issues and communicating botheredness: a firm/kind/adult tone of voice; body language, facial expressions that say, with conviction, ‘no’, ‘that’s unacceptable’. It’s calm, deliberate, assertive. Can be warm or a bit stern or even cross if needed. But you need it, whatever the backup system is. Students should know that you’re going to be bothered about boundaries. Your personal disapproval should matter to them / it nearly always does! When kids say ‘you don’t mess with Ms Smith’ it’s because she’ll notice, she’s bothered and makes that absolutely clear - in the nicest possible way. I think this needs more explicit discussion and modelling in PD so it’s not seen as an ephemeral magic beans thing. I have met many ECTs who have this sorted already - but others need a ton of support. Sometimes it’s the noticing; sometimes it’s communicating the botheredness. It should be normal to discuss these things.

Most school leaders are not chasing perfection. They are chasing progress. Quietly. Relentlessly. Under pressure. That is why Better by Atul Gawande resonates so deeply with leadership in schools. It is not about brilliance. It is about systems, habits and the discipline of improvement. In surgery, failure costs lives. In education, it costs opportunity. The lesson is the same in both fields: Care is not enough. Systems matter. That simple truth sits at the heart of Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande. Although written through the lens of medicine, it may be one of the most quietly powerful leadership books a leader can read. Because it strips performance back to its essentials. Not vision statements. Not slogans. But habits, systems, humility and the relentless pursuit of improvement. In schools, as in surgery, we often celebrate individual excellence. The outstanding teacher. The inspirational leader. The charismatic head. Gawande dismantles this myth with precision. He shows that even the most talented professionals fail without: •Clear systems •Consistent routines •Feedback that is acted upon •A culture that allows challenge and learning The lesson is uncomfortable but necessary. Performance does not improve because people care more. It improves because systems make the right actions more likely and the wrong ones harder to repeat. One of Gawande’s central arguments is that improvement rarely comes from dramatic breakthroughs. It comes from marginal gains applied consistently. This is profoundly relevant to school leadership. Better attendance rarely comes from one assembly. Better behaviour rarely comes from one policy rewrite. Better teaching rarely comes from one INSET day. It comes from leaders who: •Clarify expectations •Remove ambiguity •Build routines that survive pressure •Accept that good intentions are not enough In Gawande’s world, checklists save lives. In ours, systems save learning time. Perhaps the most striking section of Better is Gawande’s exploration of coaching. Even elite surgeons, at the top of their profession, actively seek feedback from others who can see what they cannot. This is where leadership in schools is often tested. Senior leaders are expected to have answers. Yet the most effective leaders are those who remain open to scrutiny. The parallel is clear. Schools improve fastest when leaders: Invite challenge rather than defend practice Use evidence to refine decisions Model learning rather than certainty Leadership is not diminished by coaching. It is strengthened by it. What makes Better resonate so strongly with education is its realism. Gawande does not argue that failure can be eliminated. He argues that it can be reduced. He does not promise excellence overnight. He commits to progress, relentlessly pursued. This mirrors the reality of schools. We work in complex systems, serving diverse communities, under constant pressure. Improvement is rarely neat. But it is possible. The leaders who make the biggest difference are those who ask, repeatedly: What worked today? What did not? What one thing can we do better tomorrow? That mindset is not glamorous. It is transformative. Better is not a book about medicine. It is a book about responsibility. Responsibility to design systems that protect people. Responsibility to reflect honestly on performance. Responsibility to keep improving even when progress feels slow. For school leaders, that message could not be more relevant. Because the work is not about being flawless. It is about being better. Every day.

SIP visit recently trying to tell me that data isn’t cohort driven and that small class sizes aren’t a reason for anonomolies…

Pupil leadership team interviews yesterday. I was blown over by the love which the kids had for our school. Selecting head boy and head girl genuinely could go to any one of the 15 who applied. They were so passionate and it meant something to all of them

@PrimaryCoHead I’ll be honest, I’d never heard of it when she spoke with me and said as much. Told her to complete a leave of absence request form, which would be unauthorised and then expect a fine from the LA.

@JosephOak35 I don’t think that can happen without a new school name given. We aren’t allowed to take off roll unless new school, even if the new school is in another country, in that case we have to report to CME (even though they aren’t missing) and they confirm with parents.

Parent came to me today to discuss taking their pupil off roll because they are going away for 3 weeks. This is what happened last year as advised by the school so it didn’t impact in attendance figures. No fine. Not reported to LA. They’d like this again 😳

@kateowbridge @RLuzmore Out of catchment as well…

@RLuzmore @JosephOak35 And then run the risk, if your school is full, of losing their places when they return.

@ThwaitesJill @ballater6 I know right. 3 weeks off roll. They are out of catchment as well 😳😳

@ballater6 @JosephOak35 Exactly that - place offered from waiting list, new application received etc

@llewelyn20 My previous school was exactly this. So many of them needed specialist provision. We sent several to alternative provision last year and this failed because of the behaviours they demonstrated.

Visited a great special school today, and it was a valuable use of my time. One thing that struck me, however, was that there are about 20 children in our school who would not be out of place in that setting. Many of our children are, in fact, in greater need.

@UnofficialOA @HelpfulTeacher_ The book that people now cite as fact. I’ve seen schools implement this approach and it really isn’t pretty.

@HelpfulTeacher_ This was the book that started it all. The bandwagon was then jumped upon. theunofficialteachersmanual.blog/2019/11/30/whe…

A discussion over a hot chocolate is not a consequence for poor behaviour. Yet another school where staff have walked out because sanctions have been replaced by farcical alternatives: #edutwitter dailypost.co.uk/news/news-opin…

- Creating a culture of openness and challenge - Supporting staff with behaviour - Being a constant, visible presence in and around the school 3 weeks in and these are my key principles as a new Head of School.

@NorthernTeacha @secretHT1 It’s no more specific in teaching than any other industry for me. I don’t know anybody who is sat on their sofa on a Sunday night genuinely itching to go to work. The majority of the working population would stay at home if they could. Teachers being no different.

@secretHT1 I think we both know it’s the exact right word; it’s the word teachers always use. And yes, the idea of not wanting to go back to work is obviously found widely elsewhere, but it’s undoubtedly a specific “thing” in teaching.

If you’ve got a case of the Sunday dreads… 1) it’s normal, it’s not just you. Everyone feels it sometimes. 2) it’ll be OK, fear of the wolf is almost always worse than the wolf itself 3) the kids will be thrilled to see you Now, do something to enjoy your evening!

@lifeatthenest That’s lovely. They are going to get an opportunity to say goodbye. Explaining the whole situation in a tweet is a tricky one. Not as cut and dry as some of the responses make out.

@JosephOak35 We had a child who was in this situation. However, another child in the class knew they were being moved on and told her so she got to have her last day. We abandoned lessons and all went for a walk by the river and ice cream. They deserve to say goodbye to their friends.

We have a LAC at school. It’s his last day today. He has absolutely no idea. His world is going to change this weekend and it’s heartbreaking. 💔

@wildandhigh @nourishworkplce As in what’s the difference behind their behaviour? Or what’s the difference to the well being as per the original post?

@JosephOak35 @nourishworkplce So what is the big difference down to? It's probably not one obvious thing though.

I honestly can’t put into words the difference between working in a school with few behaviour issues and one with significant behaviour problems. The impact on your well-being is enormous and it’s difficult to listen to the advise of those who haven’t walked this walk.