Simon Gort

He is out of his fucking mind.

Systematic inclusion: Is literally everyone thinking, talking, practising, learning? How much does it matter to you? teacherhead.com/2025/06/25/sys… via @teacherhead

You're a school senior leader. Your teaching load has doubled. You're on before-school duty, break duty, lunch duty, after-school duty. Meetings most evenings. Working until late at night, one full weekend day catching up. Going all day without eating. Sleep suffering. Sound familiar? Deborah Allen, ASCL Deputy Director of Member Support and Head of Hotline’s Leader Magazine article shares the case of a senior leader in exactly this situation, and how her and her team can help. Here's what she learned: Working time protections apply to senior leaders too. You generally can't be required to work weekends. You're entitled to PPA time and time for leadership responsibilities. You're entitled to a reasonable break during the day. Most importantly: employers have a duty of care. This isn't "just how it is." Worth a read if this resonates: leadermagazine.co.uk/articles/suppo…

@DavidDidau @teacherhead I’ve done that for colleagues in the past too who have been struggling but hadn’t really considered that as a more structured T&L improvement model. Food for thought. Thanks David.

@sgort100 @teacherhead What I’d do is either cover the class of the best maths in the school so they could teach your class, or cover your class so you could watch them.

I don’t have data for this but my belief is that the person who gets most out a lesson observation is the observer. And, as this who observe the most lessons tend to teach least, this is probably a bit of a mistake

@DavidDidau @teacherhead Fair point.

@sgort100 @teacherhead True. This is a serious weakness. However, just because it can’t work in every case doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to do it where we can

This is where the teacher cost of living pay rise needs to be reconsidered & fully funded. I know of teachers who go to food banks & some with 2nd jobs - that’s how well paid some teachers are! Schools won’t be exempt from inflationary rises for the services they use either.

@DavidDidau @teacherhead Or are you simply arguing the most effective teachers should teach the lessons of othersin the same subject team? If so, what about small departments with just one or two teachers? I think your idea has potential in theory but wouldn’t work practically in most secondary schools.

@DavidDidau @teacherhead Intriguing. How does that work if you teach a lesson outside of your English subject specialism? Would you have the disciplinary literacy and pedagogical content knowledge to show subject specialists how to teach Maths to higher attaining GCSE or A Level students for example?

@Samstricko181 Lots of feedback absolutely but would caution against ‘detailed marking’ in the traditional sense as the research shows that impact is questionable.

It’s funny how for children in exam years the things some push as “research” & suggest we should avoid are actually the things pupils need to really succeed. Homework & detailed marking / feedback are two areas that come to mind & make a big difference.

@SiobhanParker11 This is sad but inevitable given how high stakes inspections are and the pressures the new framework places on school leaders. It’s nonsense, as Martyn Oliver claims, that schools ‘don’t have to do anything extra’ prior to inspection. Fail to prepare and reap the consequences.

Heard of a MAT practising the Ofsted planning call (on teams!) as part of a ‘review’, rehearsing the pre inspection. This feels like a shift to constant readiness, Raises real q’s about pressure, performativity, and whether we’re prioritising compliance over school improvement.

We all know that workload and behaviour are big factors affecting recruitment and retention, but still find it astonishing that some in the teaching profession continue to state they are ‘well paid’ and are dismissive of the evidence staring them in the face.

In 2010, a starting teacher earned 87% more than the minimum wage (£21,600 vs £11,600). Now, it’s 38% more (£32,900 vs £23,000). Do we need to restore teacher pay to recruit the strongest teachers?

Former Prince Andrew has been arrested…but he’s not the first royal to have been taken into custody. @holland_tom revisits the many occasions royals discovered they weren’t above the law…

@adamboxer1 Common parlance now, similar to ‘cold-calling’ which is another term I don’t really like. Most understand it to mean making pre-adaptions for SEND or potential misconceptions prior to the lesson and being responsive following effective CFU during the lesson. It is what it is.

I actually think "adaptive teaching" is a worse term than "differentiation" It's certainly no better

I wish our edumedia was just as keen to discuss the impact of 16 years of underfunding the sector by various governments as they are the pay of 26 people

@terrychristian @JSWC1995 Most fans would agree with you that Rashford at his peak was better than Mbeumo and Cunha but that ship has sailed unfortunately. His attitude and work rate towards the end showed he wanted out.

So that's one night/2 nights - so basically you're defaming him based on zero evidence . Application ? Again he wouldn't have been picked . Common knowledge ? I know people who work at Carrington - none have ever had a single bad thing to say about him - also if he was a bad or poor trainer . Where did this 'common knowledge' come from ?

Still waiting for proof of 'Shenanigans ' and 'indulgent' ? Good job you never heard about Best Lee Sharp - Bryan Robson, Whiteside, Early Roy Keane , George Best - I want Rashford back because at his best he is better than Cunha and Mbeumo

Brunoooooooo

Maybe the best advert for reading of the decade.

The dangerous erasure of Jews from the Holocaust My piece ⁦@JewishChron⁩ ⁦@HolocaustUK⁩ thejc.com/opinion/the-da…

@hinakoomori @egpkpioneer @avonhausswolff Hi Hinako. I was also there at the Manchester gig. Beautiful music. Any chance you could share the setlist?

@egpkpioneer @avonhausswolff thank you so much San :) it was lovely talking to you too! ✧

i’m very excited and honoured to share i’ll be opening for @avonhausswolff on tour, starting tomorrow in hamburg - thank you so much for having me Anna ♥︎