CGS Research/Read/Reflect #31
A regular round-up of the most interesting research, blogs and podcasts, shared by Mark Roberts, Director of Research at Carrickfergus Grammar School.
Research:
A new paper by Peps Mccrea and Dr Jen Barker investigates common SEN interventions that the evidence suggests are, in reality, ‘less effective than we initially think’. Scrutinising these (mis)interventions, the authors review the evidence in an ‘attempt to raise the visibility of the best available evidence around several commonly used SEN interventions’.
Read:
Alex Quigley’s latest excellent blog digs deep into disciplinary literacy at KS3. As Alex notes, ‘success in geography, biology, mathematics, history or design technology depends not simply on subject knowledge, but on the ability to access increasingly complex texts, instructions, explanations and sophisticated subject vocabulary’. This piece offers a very helpful overview of key literacy challenges and solutions.
Reflect:
A new episode of Anna Stokke’s ‘Chalk and Talk’ podcast interviews Robert Peal, Head of the highly successful West London Free School.
In the episode, Peal discusses the school’s success, touching upon behaviour, school culture, high expectations, explicit instruction and a knowledge-rich curriculum. Alongside the interesting strategic overview, there are really practical pieces of pedagogical advice about things like the effective use of mini-whiteboards.
Thanks for reading,
Mark
Thank you for sharing my podcast episode with Robert Peal! It was an honor to visit West London Free School and I was happy to share some of that with listeners.