Sam Sims
@drsamsims.bsky.social
November 25, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Do you like the kind of research that we do at @cepeo-ucl.bsky.social? 📈
Do you want to learn more about education policy and analysis? 🏫
Then why not come and do our new MSc this September? 🧑🎓
Be warned - the module on teachers and teaching will be taught by me!
www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...
Do you want to learn more about education policy and analysis? 🏫
Then why not come and do our new MSc this September? 🧑🎓
Be warned - the module on teachers and teaching will be taught by me!
www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...
Social Policy (Quantitative Education Analysis) MSc
The Social Policy (Quantitative Education Analysis) MSc is designed to help students understand and conduct rigorous research addressing challenges relating to education policy and educational inequalities in a wide variety of professional contexts. The relationship between robust research and evidence-based policy is a key course theme.
www.ucl.ac.uk
November 20, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Do you like the kind of research that we do at @cepeo-ucl.bsky.social? 📈
Do you want to learn more about education policy and analysis? 🏫
Then why not come and do our new MSc this September? 🧑🎓
Be warned - the module on teachers and teaching will be taught by me!
www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...
Do you want to learn more about education policy and analysis? 🏫
Then why not come and do our new MSc this September? 🧑🎓
Be warned - the module on teachers and teaching will be taught by me!
www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...
Reposted by Sam Sims
We broadly welcome the recommendations of the Curriculum and Assessment Review, in particular citing CEPEO’s briefing note on the value of GCSEs (econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucl:ce...) and...
EconPapers: Should we abolish GCSEs?
By Gill Wyness; Abstract: The Covid-19 pandemic and resulting disruption to schooling led to the Government cancelling GCSE and A level exams in
econpapers.repec.org
November 6, 2025 at 2:49 PM
We broadly welcome the recommendations of the Curriculum and Assessment Review, in particular citing CEPEO’s briefing note on the value of GCSEs (econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucl:ce...) and...
More large-scale survey evidence that many students are becoming disengaged from education when they enter secondary school. This time from collaborators of mine at @liftschools.org
www.liftschools.org/ks3-engagement
www.liftschools.org/ks3-engagement
KS3 Engagement Report - Lift Schools
Our survey of 21,000 pupils found a stark drop in belonging from Year 6 to Year 9. We explore why student engagement dips in Key Stage 3. Read our full report.
www.liftschools.org
November 4, 2025 at 9:36 AM
More large-scale survey evidence that many students are becoming disengaged from education when they enter secondary school. This time from collaborators of mine at @liftschools.org
www.liftschools.org/ks3-engagement
www.liftschools.org/ks3-engagement
Reposted by Sam Sims
Elon Musk's involvement in politics really hurt Tesla sales.
"Without the Musk partisan effect, Tesla sales between October 2022 and April 2025 would have been 67-83% higher, equivalent to 1-1.26 million more vehicles."
"Without the Musk partisan effect, Tesla sales between October 2022 and April 2025 would have been 67-83% higher, equivalent to 1-1.26 million more vehicles."
October 27, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Elon Musk's involvement in politics really hurt Tesla sales.
"Without the Musk partisan effect, Tesla sales between October 2022 and April 2025 would have been 67-83% higher, equivalent to 1-1.26 million more vehicles."
"Without the Musk partisan effect, Tesla sales between October 2022 and April 2025 would have been 67-83% higher, equivalent to 1-1.26 million more vehicles."
Reposted by Sam Sims
Finally read the paper and it's worth the buzz.
mRNA vaccines saved 20 million lives in a global pandemic and the technology is opening up new avenues for the treatment of deadly cancers. This is really one of the most impactful scientific developments of our time.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
mRNA vaccines saved 20 million lives in a global pandemic and the technology is opening up new avenues for the treatment of deadly cancers. This is really one of the most impactful scientific developments of our time.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines sensitize tumours to immune checkpoint blockade - Nature
mRNA vaccines targeting SARS-CoV-2 also sensitize tumours to immune checkpoint inhibitors.
www.nature.com
October 25, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Finally read the paper and it's worth the buzz.
mRNA vaccines saved 20 million lives in a global pandemic and the technology is opening up new avenues for the treatment of deadly cancers. This is really one of the most impactful scientific developments of our time.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
mRNA vaccines saved 20 million lives in a global pandemic and the technology is opening up new avenues for the treatment of deadly cancers. This is really one of the most impactful scientific developments of our time.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Sam Sims
To be clear: deportations to increase cultural homogeneity is the text book definition of ethnic cleansing. Demands that come even close to this are so far outside any democratic norm and the rule of law. What has happened to a country when this is not condemned in the strongest possible terms?
October 21, 2025 at 10:47 AM
To be clear: deportations to increase cultural homogeneity is the text book definition of ethnic cleansing. Demands that come even close to this are so far outside any democratic norm and the rule of law. What has happened to a country when this is not condemned in the strongest possible terms?
Very sensible. Indeed it would be mad if the government didn’t do it the way Daisy proposes.
The government are said to be planning a new Year 8 reading test.
Do we need it?
Some thoughts here.
substack.nomoremarking.com/p/does-engla...
Do we need it?
Some thoughts here.
substack.nomoremarking.com/p/does-engla...
Does England need a new Year 8 reading test?
And if so, what can we learn from America?
substack.nomoremarking.com
October 14, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Very sensible. Indeed it would be mad if the government didn’t do it the way Daisy proposes.
Joel Mokyr won the Nobel prize today
Here is what I think he can teach us about improving schools:
samsims.education/2022/06/08/e...
Here is what I think he can teach us about improving schools:
samsims.education/2022/06/08/e...
Evidence, expertise, and the self-improving school system
(9 minute read) Rob Coe used his 2013 inaugural lecture at Durham to survey the evidence on long-run change in the performance of the English school system. He concluded that standards had not impr…
samsims.education
October 13, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Joel Mokyr won the Nobel prize today
Here is what I think he can teach us about improving schools:
samsims.education/2022/06/08/e...
Here is what I think he can teach us about improving schools:
samsims.education/2022/06/08/e...
All teacher training ultimately aims to support transfer of learning to new and varied classroom situations.
In this (recently published) paper we provide some of the first experimental evidence on how teacher educators can help achieve this goal:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
In this (recently published) paper we provide some of the first experimental evidence on how teacher educators can help achieve this goal:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Decomposition and recomposition: effects on early-career teachers’ enactment and adaptive transfer of behaviour management practices
Breaking down sequences of teaching into constituent practices is thought to make learning to teach more manageable. However, it also divorces teaching practices from context, which risks leaving t...
www.tandfonline.com
September 24, 2025 at 8:44 AM
All teacher training ultimately aims to support transfer of learning to new and varied classroom situations.
In this (recently published) paper we provide some of the first experimental evidence on how teacher educators can help achieve this goal:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
In this (recently published) paper we provide some of the first experimental evidence on how teacher educators can help achieve this goal:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Sam Sims
Works in Progress is now available as a print magazine. I think it's the most beautiful and readable magazine I've ever seen.
Subscribe today for $100/£75 to receive six beautiful, 120-page issues a year.
worksinprogress.co/print
Subscribe today for $100/£75 to receive six beautiful, 120-page issues a year.
worksinprogress.co/print
Print - Works in Progress Magazine
worksinprogress.co
September 17, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Works in Progress is now available as a print magazine. I think it's the most beautiful and readable magazine I've ever seen.
Subscribe today for $100/£75 to receive six beautiful, 120-page issues a year.
worksinprogress.co/print
Subscribe today for $100/£75 to receive six beautiful, 120-page issues a year.
worksinprogress.co/print
How can democrats justify continuing to fund an authoritarian takeover of the federal government?
open.spotify.com/episode/5kpn...
open.spotify.com/episode/5kpn...
If Democrats Have a Better Plan, I’d Like to Hear It
open.spotify.com
September 10, 2025 at 1:39 PM
How can democrats justify continuing to fund an authoritarian takeover of the federal government?
open.spotify.com/episode/5kpn...
open.spotify.com/episode/5kpn...
Reposted by Sam Sims
Radical right accommodation really does not work.
New paper out with this exceptionally talented team
@katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk
doi.org/10.31235/osf...
New paper out with this exceptionally talented team
@katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk
doi.org/10.31235/osf...
September 5, 2025 at 6:50 AM
Radical right accommodation really does not work.
New paper out with this exceptionally talented team
@katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk
doi.org/10.31235/osf...
New paper out with this exceptionally talented team
@katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk
doi.org/10.31235/osf...
Reposted by Sam Sims
A huge moment -- Melvyn Bragg steps down from In Our Time after over a quarter of a century. What a programme and what a legacy! Just a model for how to make great, clever, engaging radio, and a twenty-seven-year experiment that proves there's a huge global audience for smart, scholarly programming.
Melvyn Bragg decides to step down from presenting In Our Time
After 26 years on the programme, the legendary presenter bids farewell to the series
www.bbc.co.uk
September 3, 2025 at 10:48 AM
A huge moment -- Melvyn Bragg steps down from In Our Time after over a quarter of a century. What a programme and what a legacy! Just a model for how to make great, clever, engaging radio, and a twenty-seven-year experiment that proves there's a huge global audience for smart, scholarly programming.
Are you interested in teacher coaching, simulation, transfer of training?
Join us at 11am (online) for this talk on Thursday. Sign up using the link below:
ucl.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Join us at 11am (online) for this talk on Thursday. Sign up using the link below:
ucl.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
September 1, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Are you interested in teacher coaching, simulation, transfer of training?
Join us at 11am (online) for this talk on Thursday. Sign up using the link below:
ucl.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Join us at 11am (online) for this talk on Thursday. Sign up using the link below:
ucl.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Reposted by Sam Sims
Across subjects and grades (6th-college) prequestions improve learning--new evidence from real classrooms (open) psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...
August 29, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Across subjects and grades (6th-college) prequestions improve learning--new evidence from real classrooms (open) psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...
The @theeef.bsky.social recommends schools use teaching assistants (TAs) to deliver evidence-based interventions
This research, led by my colleague Briony Banks, sets out the options and provides advice for school leaders on how to choose between them
www.ambition.org.uk/teaching-ass...
This research, led by my colleague Briony Banks, sets out the options and provides advice for school leaders on how to choose between them
www.ambition.org.uk/teaching-ass...
A review of evidence-based teaching-assistant-led interventions
Our latest research helps you to improve the impact that teaching assistants have on pupils’ academic outcomes. Download to discover the most effective teaching-assistant-led interventions.
www.ambition.org.uk
August 29, 2025 at 5:18 PM
The @theeef.bsky.social recommends schools use teaching assistants (TAs) to deliver evidence-based interventions
This research, led by my colleague Briony Banks, sets out the options and provides advice for school leaders on how to choose between them
www.ambition.org.uk/teaching-ass...
This research, led by my colleague Briony Banks, sets out the options and provides advice for school leaders on how to choose between them
www.ambition.org.uk/teaching-ass...
Teachers who made more/better use of classroom routines had students with measurably higher (indicators of) attention in their lesson
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Why do students exhibit different attention-related behavior during instruction? Investigating effects of individual and context-dependent determinants
To determine the success of their instruction, teachers need to rely on observable cues in students' behavior. However, students exhibit different att…
www.sciencedirect.com
August 28, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Teachers who made more/better use of classroom routines had students with measurably higher (indicators of) attention in their lesson
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Sam Sims
Climate models since the 1970s nailed it—most predicted global warming almost exactly as it happened.
August 18, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Climate models since the 1970s nailed it—most predicted global warming almost exactly as it happened.
New meta-analysis of expertise reversal effect: lower prior knowledge learn more from higher instructional guidance; higher prior knowledge learn less
Differences in effects of guidance for low-high knowledge groups (60 studies) supports theory:
Tetzlaff et al www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Differences in effects of guidance for low-high knowledge groups (60 studies) supports theory:
Tetzlaff et al www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
August 12, 2025 at 9:16 AM
New meta-analysis of expertise reversal effect: lower prior knowledge learn more from higher instructional guidance; higher prior knowledge learn less
Differences in effects of guidance for low-high knowledge groups (60 studies) supports theory:
Tetzlaff et al www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Differences in effects of guidance for low-high knowledge groups (60 studies) supports theory:
Tetzlaff et al www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Sam Sims
I am generally a big fan of the BBC - but this is a truly terrible 'both sides' *push notification* to send out to people in this country about this news event
August 6, 2025 at 11:16 PM
I am generally a big fan of the BBC - but this is a truly terrible 'both sides' *push notification* to send out to people in this country about this news event
Reposted by Sam Sims
How should we train new teachers?
New research from @drsamsims.bsky.social suggests breaking teaching sequences into parts, then recomposing them in new contexts, helps teachers adapt better than learning whole sequences from the start.
Read more here: 👇
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
New research from @drsamsims.bsky.social suggests breaking teaching sequences into parts, then recomposing them in new contexts, helps teachers adapt better than learning whole sequences from the start.
Read more here: 👇
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Decomposition and recomposition: effects on early-career teachers’ enactment and adaptive transfer of behaviour management practices
Breaking down sequences of teaching into constituent practices is thought to make learning to teach more manageable. However, it also divorces teaching practices from context, which risks leaving t...
www.tandfonline.com
July 31, 2025 at 9:13 AM
How should we train new teachers?
New research from @drsamsims.bsky.social suggests breaking teaching sequences into parts, then recomposing them in new contexts, helps teachers adapt better than learning whole sequences from the start.
Read more here: 👇
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
New research from @drsamsims.bsky.social suggests breaking teaching sequences into parts, then recomposing them in new contexts, helps teachers adapt better than learning whole sequences from the start.
Read more here: 👇
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Hi Bluesky 👋🏻
Is there anyone out there who a) knows how to write basic C++ scripts and b) might be interested in joining a research project looking at behaviour/attention in the classroom?
Estimated two days of work in total. You would be a coauthor on the paper.
Please do get in touch!
Is there anyone out there who a) knows how to write basic C++ scripts and b) might be interested in joining a research project looking at behaviour/attention in the classroom?
Estimated two days of work in total. You would be a coauthor on the paper.
Please do get in touch!
July 25, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Hi Bluesky 👋🏻
Is there anyone out there who a) knows how to write basic C++ scripts and b) might be interested in joining a research project looking at behaviour/attention in the classroom?
Estimated two days of work in total. You would be a coauthor on the paper.
Please do get in touch!
Is there anyone out there who a) knows how to write basic C++ scripts and b) might be interested in joining a research project looking at behaviour/attention in the classroom?
Estimated two days of work in total. You would be a coauthor on the paper.
Please do get in touch!
“Flooding the zone” is designed to overwhelm the ability of traditional media and citizens to keep track of the intentional slide into authoritarianism. This website uses data to track it all:
🧵Introducing the Trump Action Tracker website!
Today I’m launching www.trumpactiontracker.info - a live, searchable list of authoritarian‑style actions from Trump’s second term (over 740 actions so far). 1/14
Today I’m launching www.trumpactiontracker.info - a live, searchable list of authoritarian‑style actions from Trump’s second term (over 740 actions so far). 1/14
July 22, 2025 at 6:57 AM
“Flooding the zone” is designed to overwhelm the ability of traditional media and citizens to keep track of the intentional slide into authoritarianism. This website uses data to track it all: