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englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea
@englishspecial.bsky.social
1.9K followers 1.9K following 150 posts
Principal Lecturer Teacher Education | ITE UG & PG Portfolio Leader | Trustee The Pyramid Schools Trust | Author | Editor http://peerreviewededucationblog.com
peerreviewededucationblog.com
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englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Sep 10
It would be interesting to see the original version before tracked changes were accepted
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englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Jun 26
Please repost 🙏

Older teachers are at the bottom of the list when waiting to find out their pension details. Please sign this petition to help raise awareness!

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/72...
Petition: Issue new guidance on teachers’ early retirement rights
The state pension age will change to 67 in 2028 and therefore minimum early retirement age will change to 57. Teachers with final salary pensions who started teaching before the pension changed to car...
petition.parliament.uk
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englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Jun 19
Lower or upper sixth in key stage 5?
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Reposted by Dr James Shea
englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Jun 15
Have you ever heard of academic press?

New blog!

peerreviewededucationblog.com/2025/06/14/t...
The big idea that’s affected how nearly all schools in England are led and run
In 1996, Roger Shouse sat down to pen an article for the journal, The Social Psychology of Education. He wanted to examine tensions between two visions of schooling. One stresses social cohesion (i…
peerreviewededucationblog.com
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Reposted by Dr James Shea
abbyaug.bsky.social
Jenny M @abbyaug.bsky.social · Jun 16
How great to see it said that there is no ‘right’ answer for all schools, teachers and pupils but - to quote- “As always, the right answer is not in tribalism, in all of one idea and none of another, but a sophisticated blend of both worlds.”
englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Jun 15
Have you ever heard of academic press?

New blog!

peerreviewededucationblog.com/2025/06/14/t...
The big idea that’s affected how nearly all schools in England are led and run
In 1996, Roger Shouse sat down to pen an article for the journal, The Social Psychology of Education. He wanted to examine tensions between two visions of schooling. One stresses social cohesion (i…
peerreviewededucationblog.com
3 10
englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Jun 15
Have you ever heard of academic press?

New blog!

peerreviewededucationblog.com/2025/06/14/t...
The big idea that’s affected how nearly all schools in England are led and run
In 1996, Roger Shouse sat down to pen an article for the journal, The Social Psychology of Education. He wanted to examine tensions between two visions of schooling. One stresses social cohesion (i…
peerreviewededucationblog.com
5 9
englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Jun 13
No evidence - subjective observations
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englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Jun 11
Interesting to read Ofsted inspectors clearly favouring purchased schemes of work over those developed by a school.
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Reposted by Dr James Shea
kirstiemurray.bsky.social
Kirstie Murray @kirstiemurray.bsky.social · May 29
Predictions yes. But also pupils viewing ‘how to do questions’ videos where they’d be better revising content, revising using generic sites like Seneca which don’t cover our exact syllabus but sound plausible, study skills YouTubers… surprised this year how much kids want to rely on online not me
englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · May 28
TikTokTipsters profiteering on the high stakes gambling nature of GCSE exams is where we are now in 2025.
Read my comments in The Observer.
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englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · May 28
I suppose some of my issues are around the nature of endless exam question practice and 'prediction' of questions. The purpose of the assessment is to test transfer - both near transfer and far. Treating it like a horse race means the focus isn't on life long transfer but more like gambling.
englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · May 28
I suppose some of my issues are around the nature of endless exam question practice and 'prediction' of questions. The purpose of the assessment is to test transfer - both near transfer and far. Treating it like a horse race means the focus isn't on life long transfer but more like gambling.
1
englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · May 28
TikTokTipsters profiteering on the high stakes gambling nature of GCSE exams is where we are now in 2025.
Read my comments in The Observer.
3 14 22
englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · May 10
An extra push for our fascinating survey into how Year 11s have revised for their exams. Early results are truly astounding. If you could share, we would most appreciate it. 🙏
englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Apr 14
👀We have an ethically approved survey for Year 11s who are revising for GCSEs doing the rounds.👀

If you have a Year 11 or would like to share with your revision class please pass the link on. The early results are already quite staggering.

Retweets 🙏

forms.office.com/pages/respon...
Microsoft Forms
forms.office.com
4 2
Reposted by Dr James Shea
englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Apr 14
👀We have an ethically approved survey for Year 11s who are revising for GCSEs doing the rounds.👀

If you have a Year 11 or would like to share with your revision class please pass the link on. The early results are already quite staggering.

Retweets 🙏

forms.office.com/pages/respon...
Microsoft Forms
forms.office.com
13 9
englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Apr 18
Some very good points. It made me reflect on the National Curriculum documents and just how much we’ve moved away from them in search of positivist metrical outcomes.
3
Reposted by Dr James Shea
cmooreanderson.bsky.social
Christian Moore-Anderson @cmooreanderson.bsky.social · Apr 18
New post⤵️

▸The fad's purpose is what it does◂
...and not what its authors thought it would do

Educational fads seen through systems theory (AKA cybernetics).

Please share (tough for bloggers recently)
#UKEd #EduSky #EruditePedagogy #Cybernetics

cmooreanderson.wixsite.com/teachingbiol...
An (edu) fad's purpose is what it does
Not long ago a drive emerged against "fun" lessons. The push was to rid the focus on fun and return it to subject knowledge itself. Soon followed the argument that students had to accept boring lesson...
cmooreanderson.wixsite.com
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Reposted by Dr James Shea
anotherjules.bsky.social
Julie Davis @anotherjules.bsky.social · Apr 14
For my secondary school crew…
englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Apr 14
👀We have an ethically approved survey for Year 11s who are revising for GCSEs doing the rounds.👀

If you have a Year 11 or would like to share with your revision class please pass the link on. The early results are already quite staggering.

Retweets 🙏

forms.office.com/pages/respon...
Microsoft Forms
forms.office.com
1 2
englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Apr 14
👀We have an ethically approved survey for Year 11s who are revising for GCSEs doing the rounds.👀

If you have a Year 11 or would like to share with your revision class please pass the link on. The early results are already quite staggering.

Retweets 🙏

forms.office.com/pages/respon...
Microsoft Forms
forms.office.com
13 9
englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Apr 4
If you are trying to elicit the testing effect but then spend extra time every lesson reteaching then you wipe out the gained time. AFL is very good teaching but it’s not RP.
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englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Apr 4
🔥80% of teachers reteach content if pupils don't know the answers during a cycle of retrieval practice.🔥

Why bother using retrieval practice to elicit the testing effect if you then waste the gained time reteaching the answers?

Read more here
👇

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
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englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Apr 3
Bridget Phillipson speech to set out need for more male teachers in school.

Will she announce sweeping reform of the bursary system & allow primary, & subjects like drama, to access funds that enable more deprived/career changers to become teachers?

www.tes.com/magazine/new...
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englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Mar 29
Primary tests in the future will be replaced by AI, NHS-style, 'screening' which checks for dyslexia, discalcula & other difficulties as part of evaluation of their reading & maths.

Will we still over prep for these screening checks?

Check lexplore.com/en-gb/ for starters.
Reposted by Dr James Shea
learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social
Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · Mar 4
I’ve taken my children through 16 different GCSE specs so far and every one of them needs a slightly different interpretation and focus. And my experience suggests that how well you understand each one can be a bigger factor in grading than subject understanding.
englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Mar 4
Having to learning ten GCSE exam cultures is inefficient use of curriculum time. Homogenize the individual exam systems and drive more learning of new content.
Let's be brutally honest: each GCSE subject has evolved its own distinct assessment culture. It's not a unified system of assessment; it's a collection of individual ecosystems, each with its own set of rules, expectations, and unspoken 'secrets'. The way examiners interpret mark schemes, weightings, the very language of the questions themselves; all varies significantly between subjects. We're asking students to navigate ten different cultural landscapes, to decipher ten different codes, and then we're surprised when they struggle to do this without specialist teachers and tutors to teach them these codes.
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Reposted by Dr James Shea
mikehobbiss.bsky.social
Mike Hobbiss @mikehobbiss.bsky.social · Mar 4
I have a colleague who teaches 4 subjects across GCSE and A-Level, and told me recently how the word 'evaluate' means something slightly different in each of those contexts...
englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Mar 4
Having to learning ten GCSE exam cultures is inefficient use of curriculum time. Homogenize the individual exam systems and drive more learning of new content.
Let's be brutally honest: each GCSE subject has evolved its own distinct assessment culture. It's not a unified system of assessment; it's a collection of individual ecosystems, each with its own set of rules, expectations, and unspoken 'secrets'. The way examiners interpret mark schemes, weightings, the very language of the questions themselves; all varies significantly between subjects. We're asking students to navigate ten different cultural landscapes, to decipher ten different codes, and then we're surprised when they struggle to do this without specialist teachers and tutors to teach them these codes.
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englishspecial.bsky.social
Dr James Shea @englishspecial.bsky.social · Mar 4
Having to learning ten GCSE exam cultures is inefficient use of curriculum time. Homogenize the individual exam systems and drive more learning of new content.
Let's be brutally honest: each GCSE subject has evolved its own distinct assessment culture. It's not a unified system of assessment; it's a collection of individual ecosystems, each with its own set of rules, expectations, and unspoken 'secrets'. The way examiners interpret mark schemes, weightings, the very language of the questions themselves; all varies significantly between subjects. We're asking students to navigate ten different cultural landscapes, to decipher ten different codes, and then we're surprised when they struggle to do this without specialist teachers and tutors to teach them these codes.
2 7