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Sunday, 31 May 2026

AI will kill your children and abandon their Granny. Don't use it.

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 The worst thing AI has done for me is this: I was testing its problem solving skills by asking it how to cut a cheesecake into 5 equal piec...
Friday, 29 May 2026

Challenging the System Part 3: Transition from KS2 to KS3

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 Sorting out unfair grading at GCSE, with its immediate impact on pupil motivation to take a language, incentivisation for schools, and on t...
Tuesday, 19 May 2026

Challenging the System. Part 2: A Vision of a System that Works

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 In an earlier post , I looked at how the system could hardly be worse for encouraging people to continue learning languages: Disjointed Tra...
Saturday, 16 May 2026

Challenging the System: Part 1 Do you need a degree in philology to teach languages in school?

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 In a previous post , I looked at how we appear to have a system designed to stop people learning languages in school. So we need to challen...

Could you design a worse system for making sure people don't study languages?

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 If you wanted to design a system for making sure as few people as possible learn a language, our school system is perfect: "Transition...
Sunday, 10 May 2026

GCSE Options, Take-up, Ebacc? Pupil survey.

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  Year 9 Survey April 2026 We have surveyed our Year 9 pupils after they picked their GCSE options, to see if we can find useful information...
Monday, 23 March 2026

Tiering Decisions. Pupils suffer. Teachers get the blame.

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 The situation we find ourselves in with regard to Tier decisions for the new GCSE is unconscionable. Deciding whether to enter a pupil for ...
Sunday, 8 March 2026

Language World 2026

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 Really enjoyed Language World 2026. Meeting old friends and online friends and new friends. It's always about recharging batteries and ...
Tuesday, 17 February 2026

Can I find examples to explain why step one of the knowledge approach is flawed?

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 In a post on the knowledge theory of learning called "S pherical Children in a Vacuum ", I made this quick characterisation of Di...
Sunday, 15 February 2026

Spherical Children in a Vacuum.

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 I do like the adage that, "There's nothing so practical as a good theory." In CPD, an insightful understanding that equips yo...

Oracy - Pupil Voice KS3 French

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 French is a lesson where taking part and speaking is going to be important. We have done a "pupil voice" survey of Key Stage 3 pu...
Saturday, 14 February 2026

Reflecting with Pupils on Beliefs about Language Learning. Is there a right answer?

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 In a recent post , I shared some work my Year 9s wrote in their writing assessment after the first half term's work. I enjoyed the con...