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⭐New post⭐ Should management impose precise activities on teachers? Probably not. Here's why according to enactive cogsci. #EduSky #UKEd #Cogscisci cmooreanderson.wixsite.com/teachingbiol...

Really interesting read. What do you think the implications are for MATs?

MATs do seem to currently favour "an MAT model", don't they. If they want to move towards cohesion, I think the best you can do is a "viable principles" model. I think @isaacmoore7.bsky.social and @musingsofadr.bsky.social do this. E.g. "Retrieval Practice" as principle but not precise activity.

Yes, we have a framework based on GTT (amongst other things). We would expect to see subject appropriate use of strategies/principles from the framework. Depts get to decide their uniformity/cohesion in line with their SoW etc..

And for what it’s worth, I’m not fully against cohesive policies, but I do think the reasoning behind them should be clear, and might have a negative impact in places. I wrote about the autonomy-cohesion tension here. musingsofadr.wordpress.com/2023/07/28/t...

Thanks for sharing, Dan. Will have a read. Great to hear that subject leadership has choice and input here. How much time do subject departments have to spend on this and co-planning / intellectual preparation?

One difficulty can be that there is MAT level CPD, whole school CPD and subject specific CPD for teachers. Often the latter, including invaluable department time, gets squeezed out. How do we protect this?

It’s difficult, especially with busy staff. I think the answer to this has to be centred on school priorities to meet the needs of their context. But…. Then there’s less alignment. Which is why I think having a framework with choice is a reasonable balance.

We have whole school CPD every other Tuesday. That’s decide by SLT to meet the needs of all staff. Safeguarding, extended essay - things that apply to everyone. The other Tuesday is lesson study or PLC. Then departments have at least one collaboration time every week. That’s determined by HoD.