Robert Coe

@RajEcon @adamboxer1 @HCFEprincipal The 84% figure is just a partitioning of variance in a ‘base’ model, ie with no covariates. So it doesn’t really tell you what people are interpreting it to mean. It is purely a measure of the amount of clustering of (raw) attainment at school level

@adamboxer1 @HCFEprincipal Also should definitely add, I'm not great with multi-level modelling. I'm kicking it around now with Claude, I'd love to know what @ProfCoe makes of it

Milburn (2026) "A study for the DfE found that 84% of the variation in GCSE attainment is explained by individual pupil factors or factors outside the school gates. Schools matter enormously. But they operate on only a minority of the factors that shape outcomes."

Sept 5th is the researchED national conference 2026 in London. A galaxy of brilliant minds :) Would be great to see you there.

I know it is bad timing (!) but if any KS2 teachers could answer this survey about your history curriculum, it would help a friend: eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%…

What happens when teachers focus deliberately on improvement? This summer, we set out to explore what might happen if teachers were given the opportunity to focus on just one aspect of great teaching. The result was the Summer ’26 Great Teaching Questioning Challenge. Over six weeks, 558 teachers from 80 schools – the majority experiencing the Great Teaching Toolkit for the first time – took part in a structured programme focused on improving classroom questioning. Teachers selected a goal, explored evidence-informed techniques, applied them in their classrooms and reflected on the impact on their pupils. The findings have been encouraging. Read more here hubs.la/Q04pLR500

@Yorkshire_Steve @adamboxer1 I agree. Would be nice to hear their explanation though

@ProfCoe @adamboxer1 Unless I am missing something?

This doesn't bode well. Selective schools getting Exceptionals for achievement is the precise opposite of what the system is supposed to be about. Back in the day, when we had 5A*-C, the top spots were dominated by leafy suburban schools (often faith schools) with stealth-selected intakes and very low levels of free school meals. Progress 8 came along, and started the good work of levelling the field. I'm not convinced it does enough, but it's a great start. If Ofsted continue to disproportionately give selective schools Exceptional for achievement, then they will lose whatever small support they have left, as well as undoing the direction of travel set by Progress 8.

@adamboxer1 @Yorkshire_Steve Does Ofsted explicitly say B? Can you point to where @Yorkshire_Steve ?

@Yorkshire_Steve it's definitely a good chunk of A if you are in an advantaged context, everything is in place for you. it's much easier to do a "far better job"

This pod was right up there! @ProfCoe was excellent (obvs) and the conversations around school improvement, both good and bad, have landed at a perfect time and made me re-think the angle of one of our SDPs for next year - cheers, Rob! Tune into They Behave for Me if you don't already - great whilst commuting to school and lots of relevant content for Primaries too! Always a pleasure @adamboxer1 and @amymayforrester. Happy Sunny Sunday, Cass

Because I was at a conference on Friday we didn't get this out till later than normal. If you can, please do share it with your chums - Rob's voice is so wise and sane that it deserves as big an audience as we can get 🙏🙏

The EEF's new guidance on inclusive teaching is a very interesting piece of work. There is much to like, some bits to criticise, and one absolutely HUGE statement that should be getting a lot of attention. Here are my thoughts: - There is a lot there. Most won't read it. - There is a heavy emphasis on explicit instruction, and the creation of simple routines and "calm classroom environments." This is what "trad" teachers have been banging on about for years, so is most welcome. - There is very little that I can see about specific conditions/neurodevelopmental issues. If you want to know about how to support specific needs, the information isn't directly in this guide. - This makes sense, because "While targeted interventions can help, they are most effective when they supplement – rather than replace – effective everyday teaching." - This line is buried in one of the "myths" but is absolutely MEGA: "Strong universal provision reduces the number of pupils who require additional support..." I mean, let that sink in. I've said stuff like this before and been pilloried for it. It's a huge claim, and from what I've seen actually the most significant thing in the whole report. - This is an important line: "Teachers should not be making assumptions about pupils’ learning rates based on their socio-economic background or SEND status." I have this conversation with people quite a lot. They say things to me like "how do your students with SEND respond to Name at End questioning?" or "how do your pupil premium students respond to your expectation that every student answers a question every lesson?" I always say the same thing, which is that the label tells me nothing, and that we need to reframe the relationship between label and issue. There is nothing causative there, it is all correlational. - There aren't many concrete examples of good "inclusive practice" in the report itself. There is a link to other supporting resources, but you need a login for that. You can only log in with a school email account (odd choice for a research organisation), but I couldn't get it to work so 🤷 - Without concrete examples, it is almost guaranteed that people will do weird things, and cite the EEF in support. educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evid…

What does @ProfCoe think about the current turn towards instructional coaching in schools as a vehicle to teacher improvement? Tune in to full episode here: open.spotify.com/episode/7cdWbp…

That's a wrap on the 16th UK @EducationFest and it's been awesome! Thank you to the hundreds of people that joined us each day in our big orange tent for the Great Teaching Strand. Thank you to our speakers, the amazing Ed W., Elle G., @adamboxer1, @mradamkohlbeck, Linzi Smithies, Judith Copeland, @MrMetacognition Nathan Burns, @ValentinaDevid, @Mr_Stammers and EBE's @ProfKime Robert Coe and CJ Rauch Well done to everyone that used their golfing skills to 'Putt for post-its'! ⛳ See you next year. #EducationFest @EducationScape

NEW EPISODE with the legend that is @ProfCoe! Tune in for chats on all things education: teacher quality, grade inflation and instructional coaching. Not to be missed, please share if you can! open.spotify.com/episode/7cdWbp…

NEW!! 2/4. The second one-pager in the series is on GTT Dimension 1, Element 2 – Curriculum Sequencing. It focuses on designing a sequenced and coherent curriculum so that students develop secure knowledge, build fluency over time, and can transfer their learning in different contexts. The essential ingredients of curriculum design are: ✅ Sequencing – identify the essential concepts, knowledge and skills of each subject. ✅ Knowledge – build on prior knowledge by linking new content to what students already know. ✅ Retention – strengthen long-term memory over time. ✅ Fluency – ensure that knowledge becomes automatic and secure. ✅ Expertise – develop secure subject and curriculum knowledge. ✅ Transfer – help students apply knowledge in new contexts. This one-pager draws on wider evidence-informed thinking on a knowledge-rich curriculum, including the Curriculum and Assessment Review Final Report (2025), and on Shulman’s work on pedagogical content knowledge. Interested? Please repost for a copy. @EvidenceInEdu @ProfKime @ProfCoe

Interview 4: @ProfCoe of @EvidenceInEdu and the @EducEndowFoundn: - Grade inflation in English exams - Why school improvement is elusive - Scaling effective professional development - How the EEF made a difference x.com/HFletcherWood/…

Great Leadership Conference today with @ProfCoe at @NTCouncilTeam

FREE 11+ tuition taster lessons - might be suitable for your school? bit.ly/3ZR3OrT #ad

Where did the Education Endowment Foundation toolkit come from?

This is what evidence-informed teaching looks like in real classrooms. We’ve added a new collection of classroom technique videos to the Great Teaching Toolkit, to exemplify what these might look like in real classroom contexts. You’ll find 50 techniques brought to life by a teacher, showing not just what happens in the classroom, but why particular decisions are made. Each video follows the same deliberate structure to support professional learning: ✍️ The Approach: the evidence-informed rationale behind the technique ✍️ In Action: the technique used with primary pupils ✍️ Noticing questions: prompts to guide professional attention ✍️ The Breakdown: the teacher explains the decisions behind the moment Together, the videos are designed to help you understand why the techniques work and reflect on what this approach might look like in your own context. Here’s a short clip of @mradamkohlbeck who you’ll meet in the videos, explaining what this looks like in practice.

Book your place now at our headteacher conference "Eyes on the Horizon". The amazing @ProfCoe and @theaieducatorx are keynotes. Book here educationservices.org.uk/Event/283803

@andrew_fulker img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/ede1…

@ProfCoe Can you provide a link to 'mistaking school improvement' please.

Nice blog - I agree with all of this. IC certainly can work, but often doesn’t in practice. In the original version of ‘mistaking school improvement’ I had ‘faking school improvement’ but was advised to soften it!