Jonathan Mountstevens
@mrmountstevens.bsky.social
Deputy Head, History Teacher and Chartered Teacher Programme Lead. Mostly here to discuss curriculum, assessment, school leadership and history. Views my own.
Blog: https://occamshairdryer.wordpress.com
Blog: https://occamshairdryer.wordpress.com
My students did an essay plan and some of them have structured paragraphs around PEEJ when I haven’t taught them that once. What even is evaluation in this context? Why are people so addicted to a formula even when it’s obviously crap? Why can’t bad ideas go away and die quietly somewhere?
February 10, 2026 at 9:48 PM
My students did an essay plan and some of them have structured paragraphs around PEEJ when I haven’t taught them that once. What even is evaluation in this context? Why are people so addicted to a formula even when it’s obviously crap? Why can’t bad ideas go away and die quietly somewhere?
Another superb day of history teacher geekery and camaraderie from @michaeldoron.bsky.social and the #soane26 team! Excellent talks from @sam-jones.bsky.social, Fin Shenton, @citoyenneclaire.bsky.social, @egcarr.bsky.social. I will get to grow old having spoken at the same event as Richard Evans!
February 7, 2026 at 7:10 PM
Another superb day of history teacher geekery and camaraderie from @michaeldoron.bsky.social and the #soane26 team! Excellent talks from @sam-jones.bsky.social, Fin Shenton, @citoyenneclaire.bsky.social, @egcarr.bsky.social. I will get to grow old having spoken at the same event as Richard Evans!
Who are these senior leaders who have time to be reading everyone’s emails?
February 3, 2026 at 5:31 PM
Who are these senior leaders who have time to be reading everyone’s emails?
Reposted by Jonathan Mountstevens
I saw today a student-facing behaviour policy that lists as one of its reasons for immediate removal from class “Public refusal to follow rules” and I think this is rather good - that it encapsulates (far better than “low level disruption”) the main reason for sanctions in schools🧵#UkEd #EduSky
February 3, 2026 at 8:08 AM
I saw today a student-facing behaviour policy that lists as one of its reasons for immediate removal from class “Public refusal to follow rules” and I think this is rather good - that it encapsulates (far better than “low level disruption”) the main reason for sanctions in schools🧵#UkEd #EduSky
Lizardman Constant?
February 1, 2026 at 3:41 PM
Lizardman Constant?
Reposted by Jonathan Mountstevens
1. Been thinking about this more overnight.
Years back I worked at a school where the MAT told us to reduce suspensions by "finding other strategies."
They gave no guidance on what these should be. They sort of "challenged" us to find them.
I'm sure the aim was noble but it was bad..
Years back I worked at a school where the MAT told us to reduce suspensions by "finding other strategies."
They gave no guidance on what these should be. They sort of "challenged" us to find them.
I'm sure the aim was noble but it was bad..
January 30, 2026 at 6:22 AM
1. Been thinking about this more overnight.
Years back I worked at a school where the MAT told us to reduce suspensions by "finding other strategies."
They gave no guidance on what these should be. They sort of "challenged" us to find them.
I'm sure the aim was noble but it was bad..
Years back I worked at a school where the MAT told us to reduce suspensions by "finding other strategies."
They gave no guidance on what these should be. They sort of "challenged" us to find them.
I'm sure the aim was noble but it was bad..
Reposted by Jonathan Mountstevens
This whole debate prompted a re-read of @stulock.bsky.social’s superb blog, ‘Kevin’
mrlock.wordpress.com/2018/07/14/k...
There are consequences to reducing consequences. And we do need to recognise them.
mrlock.wordpress.com/2018/07/14/k...
There are consequences to reducing consequences. And we do need to recognise them.
I find it wild that if you’re verbally abusive to a police officer or a nurse you can be prosecuted, but we are saying that when it happens to teachers it’s not even appropriate to send a child home.
January 31, 2026 at 10:00 AM
This whole debate prompted a re-read of @stulock.bsky.social’s superb blog, ‘Kevin’
mrlock.wordpress.com/2018/07/14/k...
There are consequences to reducing consequences. And we do need to recognise them.
mrlock.wordpress.com/2018/07/14/k...
There are consequences to reducing consequences. And we do need to recognise them.
Have spent the last two weeks doing jury service. Glad to have done it but hope I never have to again. Amount of wasted time means I will think twice before ever saying anything in schools is inefficient or frustrating again. On the plus side I’m much better prepared for Ark Soane than last year!
January 30, 2026 at 4:08 PM
Have spent the last two weeks doing jury service. Glad to have done it but hope I never have to again. Amount of wasted time means I will think twice before ever saying anything in schools is inefficient or frustrating again. On the plus side I’m much better prepared for Ark Soane than last year!
Reposted by Jonathan Mountstevens
I find it wild that if you’re verbally abusive to a police officer or a nurse you can be prosecuted, but we are saying that when it happens to teachers it’s not even appropriate to send a child home.
January 29, 2026 at 4:33 PM
I find it wild that if you’re verbally abusive to a police officer or a nurse you can be prosecuted, but we are saying that when it happens to teachers it’s not even appropriate to send a child home.
Reposted by Jonathan Mountstevens
I am with a group of people who seem nice but have started to talk about all the life skills schools ought to teach but don’t. Please send help urgently.
January 29, 2026 at 2:28 PM
I am with a group of people who seem nice but have started to talk about all the life skills schools ought to teach but don’t. Please send help urgently.
I totally get the concerns about what students who are suspended do during that time, but schools don’t have capacity for this. If ministers are worried, why not provide resources for suspended students to be supervised out of school, not put more burden on leaders? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Do not always send suspended students home, government tells schools
Changes to England's school system say on-site suspensions should be used for non-violent behaviour.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 29, 2026 at 6:10 AM
I totally get the concerns about what students who are suspended do during that time, but schools don’t have capacity for this. If ministers are worried, why not provide resources for suspended students to be supervised out of school, not put more burden on leaders? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Fascinating piece and the point about memory alone being insufficient is crucial. Also v strongly agree that this isn’t something that schools can fix on their own. I teach my students all the things listed here but I wouldn’t bet they’ll all remember them in the future. That’s not how memory works.
January 27, 2026 at 11:48 AM
Fascinating piece and the point about memory alone being insufficient is crucial. Also v strongly agree that this isn’t something that schools can fix on their own. I teach my students all the things listed here but I wouldn’t bet they’ll all remember them in the future. That’s not how memory works.
DfE: Schools should be mobile phone- free environments.
Also DfE: We’d like students to have an education records app and they’ll need to bring their phones into school to get it set up.
Also DfE: We’d like students to have an education records app and they’ll need to bring their phones into school to get it set up.
January 26, 2026 at 8:17 PM
DfE: Schools should be mobile phone- free environments.
Also DfE: We’d like students to have an education records app and they’ll need to bring their phones into school to get it set up.
Also DfE: We’d like students to have an education records app and they’ll need to bring their phones into school to get it set up.
She, too, pursues her ends,
Brutal as the stars of this month,
Her pale head heavy as metal.
Brutal as the stars of this month,
Her pale head heavy as metal.
January 24, 2026 at 1:52 PM
She, too, pursues her ends,
Brutal as the stars of this month,
Her pale head heavy as metal.
Brutal as the stars of this month,
Her pale head heavy as metal.
Having reached the bit in @cjfaraday.bsky.social’s book about Richard Walweyn and his prosecution for wearing ‘a very monsterous and outraygous greate payre of hose’ in 1565, I now have a desperate desire to build an inquiry around these inappropriate trousers.
January 21, 2026 at 8:06 PM
Having reached the bit in @cjfaraday.bsky.social’s book about Richard Walweyn and his prosecution for wearing ‘a very monsterous and outraygous greate payre of hose’ in 1565, I now have a desperate desire to build an inquiry around these inappropriate trousers.
Lost track of the number of time I've corrected kids in the classroom who've said that without the Battle of Britain or whatever 'we'd all be speaking German'. But no, I was wrong. It's official.
"Without us you'd all be speaking German", Donald Trump tells an audience in Davos, in Switzerland. Where the most common language is German.
January 21, 2026 at 2:17 PM
Lost track of the number of time I've corrected kids in the classroom who've said that without the Battle of Britain or whatever 'we'd all be speaking German'. But no, I was wrong. It's official.
Reposted by Jonathan Mountstevens
*** NEW POST ***
Quality assurance often creates workload without clarity. In my latest Substack, I explore why common QA approaches fall short and how schools can design QA that is purposeful, subject-led and genuinely improves teaching.
open.substack.com/pub/enserm/p...
Quality assurance often creates workload without clarity. In my latest Substack, I explore why common QA approaches fall short and how schools can design QA that is purposeful, subject-led and genuinely improves teaching.
open.substack.com/pub/enserm/p...
The problem of quality assurance and how to solve it
Quality assurance remains one of the most persistent sources of frustration in schools.
open.substack.com
January 19, 2026 at 2:26 PM
*** NEW POST ***
Quality assurance often creates workload without clarity. In my latest Substack, I explore why common QA approaches fall short and how schools can design QA that is purposeful, subject-led and genuinely improves teaching.
open.substack.com/pub/enserm/p...
Quality assurance often creates workload without clarity. In my latest Substack, I explore why common QA approaches fall short and how schools can design QA that is purposeful, subject-led and genuinely improves teaching.
open.substack.com/pub/enserm/p...
Pleased to see this feature in latest TH. The textbook’s insistence on using ‘High Stalinism’ to describe 1945-53 when that conflicts with scholarship I’m getting them to read elsewhere has irritated me for ages.
January 19, 2026 at 11:33 AM
Pleased to see this feature in latest TH. The textbook’s insistence on using ‘High Stalinism’ to describe 1945-53 when that conflicts with scholarship I’m getting them to read elsewhere has irritated me for ages.
Reposted by Jonathan Mountstevens
🚨 NEW POST 🚨
‘The challenge of belonging’
“We are left with the question: what can schools do that is both meaningful and manageable to build belonging?”
alexquigley.co.uk/the-challeng...
‘The challenge of belonging’
“We are left with the question: what can schools do that is both meaningful and manageable to build belonging?”
alexquigley.co.uk/the-challeng...
The challenge of belonging
There appears to be a problem with a lack of belonging from children in education. It makes sense then for schools and settings to prioritise belonging in their work.
Belonging may be a valuable and ...
alexquigley.co.uk
January 17, 2026 at 9:40 AM
🚨 NEW POST 🚨
‘The challenge of belonging’
“We are left with the question: what can schools do that is both meaningful and manageable to build belonging?”
alexquigley.co.uk/the-challeng...
‘The challenge of belonging’
“We are left with the question: what can schools do that is both meaningful and manageable to build belonging?”
alexquigley.co.uk/the-challeng...
Reposted by Jonathan Mountstevens
*** NEW POST ***
Is the curriculum turn turning back again? Is curriculum still a priority in education? @greeborunner.bsky.social takes a look.
teachreal.wordpress.com/2026/01/19/s...
Is the curriculum turn turning back again? Is curriculum still a priority in education? @greeborunner.bsky.social takes a look.
teachreal.wordpress.com/2026/01/19/s...
Should we still care about curriculum?
Should we still care about curriculum? This is a question I am hearing more and more over the last few months. And it concerns me. Prior to the Ofsted focus on curriculum very few conversations wer…
teachreal.wordpress.com
January 19, 2026 at 9:52 AM
*** NEW POST ***
Is the curriculum turn turning back again? Is curriculum still a priority in education? @greeborunner.bsky.social takes a look.
teachreal.wordpress.com/2026/01/19/s...
Is the curriculum turn turning back again? Is curriculum still a priority in education? @greeborunner.bsky.social takes a look.
teachreal.wordpress.com/2026/01/19/s...
I have to stand in for the Head tomorrow by giving the main speech at 6th Form Open Evening and I’m wondering how many different combinations of suits/shirts/ties/shoes I’ll end up taking to school, because this is obviously what people will be basing their decisions on.
January 14, 2026 at 7:57 PM
I have to stand in for the Head tomorrow by giving the main speech at 6th Form Open Evening and I’m wondering how many different combinations of suits/shirts/ties/shoes I’ll end up taking to school, because this is obviously what people will be basing their decisions on.
The Mimram if it’s where I live now. The Great Ouse if it’s where I grew up.
My favorite Twitter prompt was "RT this with your home river," so reskeet this with your home river.
Mine is the Patuxent.
Mine is the Patuxent.
January 12, 2026 at 10:09 PM
The Mimram if it’s where I live now. The Great Ouse if it’s where I grew up.
My TWSBI Diamond 580 was one of the two first fountain pens I bought when I got back into using them as an adult. It’s been a bit eclipsed by other, fancier pens I’ve got since, but whenever I use it I remember how much of a joy it is to write with. It’s my standard marking pen these days.
January 12, 2026 at 9:53 PM
My TWSBI Diamond 580 was one of the two first fountain pens I bought when I got back into using them as an adult. It’s been a bit eclipsed by other, fancier pens I’ve got since, but whenever I use it I remember how much of a joy it is to write with. It’s my standard marking pen these days.
Delighted to see the excellent people responsible for History.
January 12, 2026 at 6:53 AM
Delighted to see the excellent people responsible for History.