David James
@drdavidajames
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I write about schools; Co-editor: 'The State of Independence' | The Critic | CapX | The Oldie | The Idler | TES. 'Schools of Thought' (Bloomsbury) out now.
London
Joined July 2014
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Pinned Tweet
Great review of Schools of Thought in
@SchoolsWeek
by
@Strickomaster
Buy the book now from
@BloomsburyEd
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Wouldn’t it be exciting if, in under a year, we had
@jessphillips
as leader of the Labour Party and
@RoryStewartUK
as leader of the Conservatives? We could almost be optimistic about having principled politicians in charge again.
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Emma keeping it real on the gritty streets of West Hampstead.
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Those tweets by teachers showing how many books on teaching they are going to read over the Summer are a bit sad. Forget about the job for a bit: read fiction, poetry, anything but books about pedagogy.
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How reductive and lazy it is to refer to two of the greatest writers to have ever lived as ‘dead white males’.
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English teachers (often anonymously) virtue signalling about which books they think should no longer be taught are among the most depressing I’ve seen for a while. They seem like activists first and English teachers last.
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This is such an important book by
@HJoyceGender
Challenging, provocative and hugely readable. Everyone involved in schools today should read it.
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It would be interesting to know if the
@NEUnion
and other teaching unions backed the mass protests in support of Black Lives Matter but opposed school openings because of fear of spreading C19. Can’t see any public statements.
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When I ran the
@EducationFest
I booked
#AAGill
twice. This text exchange shows how much fun he could be. RIP.
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Amazing how persistent this false dichotomy is: discipline and rules are anathema to individuality and creativity. We might dismiss it because it’s often made by people who don’t teach but it is corrosive and draining.
I don't want schools to teach children discipline and order. I want them to teach children how to think for themselves.
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I hope when this is all over, and after a period of mourning, the UK has a huge party and invites as VIPs NHS staff, teachers, and also shop workers, and supermarket managers, waste collectors and other national heroes. The Chancellor can pick up the tab.
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Many people would welcome being given ‘sweeping powers’...but I don’t know a single teacher who will welcome this ‘vote of confidence’. It looks, instead, like ‘passing the buck’.
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An excellent - and important - piece by
@tomowolade
in
@thetimes
Our obsession with race is pushing us apart
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Dear
@ofqual
If you could publish the long-anticipated bank of questions (and anything else that would be helpful for teachers planning next term) then could you do it BEFORE the Easter holiday?
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Excellent leader in today's
@thetimes
; the worry is that ideology will prevail in the fourthcoming curriculum review, and what has happened in Scotland and Wales will happen in England.
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New from me! The teaching unions are a national disgrace
@cyclingkev
@MaryBoustedNEU
@GavinWilliamson
...a reckoning is coming to those who have contributed to a national tragedy in
@TheCriticMag
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One of the most sensible contributions to the
#abolisheton
debate, from David Benson, a state school head, in today’s
@thetimes
let’s build on what is there, not destroy it.
@HMC_Org
@ISC_schools
@JulieR_isc
@HMCExecDirector
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Did
@ofqual
just announce that all the assessment material for the mini-tests will be published to everyone, not just to schools, on exam boards public websites? Really?! to students as well?! Unbelievable if true.
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For The Guardian teaching children to have 'ambitious vocabulary and punctuation' is incompatible with enjoying reading, when of course the opposite is true.
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‘Women in literature’ topic may be erased as exam boards order diversity shake-up…the possible erasing of ‘women’ from A level English Literature
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This is a truly terrible - and narcissistic- piece in the
@observer
Man has bad experience at school and then projects that on to entire sector and, inevitably, concludes it has damaged others because it damaged him. 1/2
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Emma Duncan,social policy editor of The Economist, probably has a different set of expectations of working beyond 70 than, say, a cleaner, a supermarket worker, a labourer...
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@nytdavidbrooks
Given that this is 2020 you're going have to be a little more specific about which nightmare scenario you're referring to.
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After five years working at the fantastic school that is
@BryanstonSchool
I am moving on to be Deputy Head at another wonderful school:
@LEHSchool
. Looking forward to the challenges ahead.
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Really useful summary. A must read for teachers, irrespective of experience. Behaviour Management: A Bill Rogers Top 10 via
@teacherhead
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This is very good, by
@GeorgeTrefgarne
: Keir Starmer faces a profound humiliation over Labour’s private school tax raid
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@Ed_Dorrell
I love the fact that her 'unassailable context' has clearly failed in it's stated aim.
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@bphillipsonMP
Does that include insuring SEND pupils in independent schools? What happens if their schools close because of your policy to levy VAT on fees?
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There aren’t enough maths teachers for every pupil to study maths to 18. Or have I missed plans to reverse the fall in ITT numbers? The numbers don’t add up.
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Twitter is becoming increasingly intolerant, especially when you criticise certain professions. New, from me, in
@CapX
Treating public sector workers like saints does us all a disservice
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RIP the print edition of the
@tes
. I know this is probably inevitable for a lot of publications but I, for one, will miss it appearing every Friday. Staffrooms won’t be the same without it.
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The letter's page in today's
@guardian
shows how much the debate has moved on around independent schools and VAT. It's becoming more nuanced as it comes under more scrutiny, it's damaging consequences more exposed.
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Ucas scraps personal statements for university applicants
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I think, in the style of our SoS, I shall leave it until 11.58pm on New Year's Eve to announce that I am re-evaluating Dry January, and it will be pushed back to a date to be confirmed, pending more information.
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@VictoriaPeckham
I’m shocked that (a)
@OwenJones84
is making so much money from his Patreon account and (b) the
@guardian
is scared of losing him
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I'm beginning to really like the Lib Dems: Lib Dems opposed to Labour's private school VAT hike 'as a point of principle'
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Another cliche in today’s
@thetimes
: that exams kill curiosity and creativity. THEY DO NOT. Poor teaching can do this, dull specifications can contribute to it, but good teachers inspire, and exams can motivate (just go into a school now to see what it’s like without exams).
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The
@nytimes
coverage of the funeral is as pinsharp as the rest of their coverage of the UK.
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@Telegraph
@Craig_Simpson_
The country didn’t have any colonies when Shakespeare was writing so quite difficult to decolonise.
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Why does the
@guardian
keep publishing articles by Simon Jenkins? More flatulance from someone who benefited from exams saying that they should be scrapped. Covid has shown that England's schools are desperate for reform | Simon Jenkins
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Many of Tony Sewell's critics won't have done anything as much as he has with Generating Genius in raising achievement among black boys. He's long been an inspiration to many, and his work has changed thousands of lives for the better.
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Queuing to vote in London elections. Either this is a sign of a robust democracy in action or there just isn’t enough staff to deal with social distancing. I suspect latter.
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New, by me, on IGCSE and the IB and the urgent need for leadership, and decisions to support our students:
@CambridgeInt
@PearsonEdexcel
@iborganization
@tes
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The forgotten health story in the UK must surely be that this year’s
#hayfever
is the worst for a long, long time. Or am I alone in suffering? Bloody awful.
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David Blunkett writing in today’s
@Telegraph
about the decision to remove Larkin and Owen from GCSE English Literature.
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Revealing insight about the closure of schools in today’s
@thetimes
. Williamson literally not in the room when the decision was made.
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Excellent letter in today’s
@thetimes
by
@markd_mortimer
Children’s education is not an optional extra.
My letter in today’s
@thetimes
about the urgent need to get schools reopened. Like so many other independent & state schools, we have offered our services as a vaccination centre.
@hmc
@BSAboarding
@ISC_schools
@Simon4NDorset
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I didn't know
@baddiel
and the others were so old. Or is it the wrong photograph?
In birthday news: Mary Whitehouse* was born today in 1910.
(*file photo)
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Because of the outstanding leadership shown by
@RealGeoffBarton
and the work the
@ASCL_UK
have done throughout this pandemic I decided to join them...in contrast other teaching unions, on a number of issues, have been absent, timid, or lacking imagination.
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I might regret acquiring Stanley (named after Kubrick not Boris’s father), but at the moment he is quite cute.
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@sarahditum
Hearing a writer endorse censorship, and adopting that familiar, oh-so-tired and entirely reasonable tone that defenders of this side of the culture wars adopt, is as depressing as the actions of the publishers.
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Characteristically searching questions about the on-going muddle around school openings by
@rgsheadmaster
in today’s
@thetimes
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Anyone who thinks that in work you don’t have to spend sometimes two and a half hours to get from A to B probably isn’t the best person to talk about the future of schools and work.
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Seeing pupils back in school, talking to their teachers and friends, thinking about things other than you-know-what, is actually pretty emotional. I missed their noise and energy. It’s good to be getting back to normality.
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When the diversity and inclusion officers are checking on the texts being taught by a teacher the bravest choices now would be to teach OMAM, The Crucible and Orwell. Watch them all, slowly, be cancelled.
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@jessphillips
I mean, it would be weird for an MP to not tweet under their real name. That's not courage that's just what's expected of a public representative.
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Hi
@ocrexams
There are rumours that you are going to delete the word 'Woman' from your A level English Literature course and replace it with 'gender'. Is this true?
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It is staggering. The differences WITHIN schools about how they run mocks should mean they can’t be taken to determine university places, let alone across schools and sectors.
I'm sitting here open-mouthed in horror. In twenty years of following ed policy in England I can't think of a worse decision handled in a worse way.
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New from me in, and a very personal column today: saying goodbye to my mother...At the centre of teaching should be love
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@alysdenby
So hard for her. Imagine how crushing it would have been to discover you are so well off.
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Leaving aside A levels...a question: why not give Y11 students the CAG grades their teachers gave them as their GCSE results? Schools can’t complain and any unevenness would be addressed by the end of Y13 (if they do AL,IB). What are the arguments against?
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This, by
@daisychristo
from
@mrianleslie
new Flashpoints, is key. I don’t understand why those who are calling for the abolition of exams, and who would no doubt describe themselves as progressive, can’t see this. Mandatory reading for the
@TimesEducation
Commission
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This, by
@Roger_Scruton
in this week’s
@spectator
is beautifully written and very moving. The final sentiment - of gratitude- so true.
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This is incredibly powerful. Tragic that it’s needed at all.
#FiLiA2021
At the end of day one of
#FiLiA2021
women gather for a vigil outside the Guildhall to remember and honour all the women killed by men
#femicide
@FiLiA_charity
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Dear
@thetimes
There are independent schools other than Eton, and some of them are not quite so affluent.
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I know I'm biased but this week's
@tes
magazine on one year of Covid is absolutely excellent; it will be kept by many as a record of an astonishing year for schools. Well done
@jon_severs
and his team.
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Not a single teacher quoted and everything here would make things worse. England’s curriculum review: what education experts want to see | National curriculum | The Guardian
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7
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New by me in the
@tes
on the the latest resurrected policy from Labour on independent schools: The truth about taxing private schools | Tes News
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GCSE and A-level exams unlikely to return in their normal form in 2022, says Ofqual chief
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Is there any communication known to man more empty than a total stranger congratulating you via Linkedin on a meaningless work anniversary?
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@shashj
He personified the left wing intellectuals who hated their country that Orwell identified in The Lion and the Unicorn
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Abolishing private schools would not improve education, excellent article by
@barnabylenon
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Any advocates of online exams should have been in schools today running ELAT and MAT exams: absolute shambles, and so many schools and students left confused by the lack of support from
@UniofOxford
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Unbelievable if true. It takes a weird sort of genius to devise something worse than last year but they may well have done it.
@thesundaytimes
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I can absolutely guarantee that not only will everything not be different when schools return but it is important that they fundamentally remain the same.
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Authors around the country are today quietly celebrating the wonderful work that
@ALCS_UK
does on their behalf every year. We should all raise a glass to them in thanks.
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The audience is warned that real cigarettes are smoked on stage. Macbeth audience told to call Samaritans if play triggers trauma
10
8
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New from me for
@CapX
on a national tragedy unfolding in Wales: Welsh GCSE reforms amount to educational vandalism on an epic scale
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RIP
#kenrobinson
- he was always a gentleman, a pleasure to work with, and he inspired so many teachers. Here he is with me,
@CarolDweckDSU
&
@GuyClaxton
at the
@EducationFest
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This crisis has produced some brilliant writing, and some columnists have responded with pieces that are consistently outstanding. I can’t remember
@matthewsyed
writing so powerfully every week. This final paragraph is so strong: how did we once sit there and believe?
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Eton bans smartphones for new pupils
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Was any half term ever needed so much? Perhaps a one-off public applause for teachers wouldn’t go amiss.
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