Tony Davis Blog · Centre for Creative Quality Improvement - Part 4

The other day, I was speaking at a college’s new years’ conference, for which the principal provided a great introduction. But towards the end of the presentation, the principal attempted to “rally the troops” for what they feel is an imminent visit from Ofsted. You could tell staff had been ‘rallied’ many times before… too many times, perhaps. When I was a full-time inspector, first with the wonderful ALI, then with Ofsted, one of my substantive roles was to run […]

Tomorrow, we’ll be looking at one of the quickest ‘wins’ for teachers. In fact, it’s not just about teachers, it’s fundamentally about anyone planning any project. When designing a lesson or a project, we can be overwhelmed, without us knowing, by the desire to ‘crack on’ – to jump straight to the actions: “What I’m going to do is…” We often see this when teachers know their subject very well – they know how to do their stuff. But this […]

I’m curious where the motivation to hang on to custom-and-practice comes from when it doesn’t make the difference we ideally want. I’m sure you all know Einstein’s neat quote on this one.. In an education setting, is it because of the culture of an organisation, or more specifically the proclivities of a particular senior leader? Or could it be laziness? Or do we just blame someone else? Do you know what I mean? For instance, blaming learners if something doesn’t […]

Bear with me here, I promise this isn’t trumpet-blowing: ‘Today has been fantastic in igniting that fire in my belly.’ Bryson Futureskills ‘It was a simmering pot of ideas.’ East Coast College ‘Like peering through the curtain to a brave new world.’ JTL Training ‘An eye opening insight into what should have been done years ago.’ Newcastle Sixth Form College ‘Like being released from prison!’ Nottingham College ‘Blown my mind. An awakening.’ Stoke College ‘Stratospheric. Inspirational. Thank you for reigniting […]

There’s a big difference between ‘gamification’ and ‘game-based learning’. An example of gamification is the introduction of fun and friendly competition to check on learning, such as Kahoot. While this can significantly improve learning momentum in a lesson, it isn’t without it’s issues, which I’ll say more about in a moment. Game-based learning is very different. It doesn’t simply check on learning, it produces the learning. Imagine that – all of the learning in the lesson comes from the playing […]