“A hallmark of wisdom is knowing when it’s time to abandon some of your most treasured tools — and some of the most cherished parts of your identity.” Adam Grant, Think Again, 2021. In today’s information-overloaded world, it’s so easy for us to scan research and drag-and-drop it into our educational contexts. But, let’s be real; there are no silver bullets in education. This is beautifully illustrated by the following story:

Earlier this year, in a rugby union match between South Africa and Australia, Koroibete blind-sighted Mapimpi with a try-saving tackle. It had everyone asking, how could this happen to the Springbok’s so-called “try-machine”? 1. False Assurance Makazole Mapimpi received a pass on the wing, and despite closing defenders it felt academic —…

It’s a strange life when a stint in retail teaches you more about growth and progress that a 4-year university degree. For a short time, mid-way through my education career, I took a hiatus and ended up working in retail. My, albeit short, retail path began as a casual Christmas…

..from faculty spaces. — Years ago, the leaders went to all of the faculty areas in our school and removed the kettles and microwaves citing WHS issues. I always wondered if there was a hidden reason though. Recently, a former colleague from that same school, Anne Knock, published her PhD that focussed on factors…

Data Literacy is the ability to read and make sense of data. With data being ubiquitous, this is a fundamental skill for our times. The emergence of cloud technologies, real-time dashboards and the expectation of making data-driven decisions is something that affects most professions. Forbes, 2020. In education, we can…

When I was consulting for NoTosh, I noticed that many early years teachers found it challenging to envisage how Design Thinking might look for their age group. I often had questions such as, ‘But, how do we know it works?’ It does work. And, although I would model various strategies…

The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules but by people following the rules. BANKSY Something has become apparent lately. There are a lot of “rules” in education. No. I’m not writing about the Ten Rules of the Classroom — that’s a totally different…

I’ve been in the education profession now for 20 years. Most of that time, I taught in semi-open-plan or fully open-plan schools. In fact, I went to an open-plan school for my own primary school education. I find the debate about open-plan schooling laughable. For much of my life, ‘open-plan…

What is it? Recently, there was an interesting conversation on Twitter instigated by @MrCrawfordEng about how we might know our curriculum has an impact. What a brilliant provocation! As I read through the responses, I felt… unsatisfied. I’m not convinced that anyone quite captured what makes 12 years of learning…