Testing Times: Are the Professional Skills Tests Necessary?
Paul argues that the professional skills test are a necessary requirement for entering teaching. Continue reading Testing Times: Are the Professional Skills Tests Necessary?
Tag: skills
Would You Pass a Memory Test?
It’s a disturbing irony that the idea for this blog post originally came to me on the way to work and I’d contrived to forget it by home time! I had to rack my brain to dredge it back up. The same thing sometimes happens with words, which is not a good look for an English teacher. The most embarrassing memory lapse to date was forgetting the word ‘syllable’ in front of Y8. Fast approaching my fifth decade, I accept it as a sad fact of life that the memory slowly deteriorates. Then again, were my youthful powers of recollection … Continue reading Would You Pass a Memory Test?
Whole-School Literacy: A-B-C, Easy as 1-2-3!
“I can already speak English; why do I need to carry on learning it?” It’s the battle-cry of pupils still confused by commas and semi-colons and fearful that our demanding exam system might label them failures in their native language. Little do they realise, this sentiment is probably not far removed from the apprehension with which many of their teachers approached the QTS skills tests. A quick glance at most Twitter feeds is enough to prove that you don’t need to be a stickler for SPaG to become successful or influential, yet at the same time making such an error … Continue reading Whole-School Literacy: A-B-C, Easy as 1-2-3!