The last few years in education have been one of change and planning for the future. With new GCSEs, AS/A2 curriculum changes it has made reflective of my time as a teacher.

I am currently working at my third school and Head of Department for the second time. I have been very lucky to work with supportive and motivated colleagues who always want to improve the department. For a successful department I believe you must not look at too many areas to change, focus, innovate or tweak. The key is to recognise and highlight the areas that need most attention. Geoff Barton, headteacher of the King Edward VI School in Suffolk, likened managing a large department to plate spinning! You have to be able to manage each of the areas you start to change – too many and the plates start crashing around you. Making sure your strategies are manageable and flexible, you are able to keep a good grasp and move the strategies forward.

Recently, I have been thinking back to the days as a young fresh-faced NQT, where I had no management responsibilities and was starting out on my road as a teacher. Teaching in my opinion is the best job in the world. To actually see the look of wonder and understanding on someone’s face is something that cannot be bought. To pass on knowledge and see where it takes a young person in life is amazing.

To continue to develop as a teacher I have found blogs a great source to further understand and new learn skills as a teacher. I have always said that a teacher never stops learning. Just like the students, we as teachers are constantly learning new techniques to improve the methods we use in the classroom. This is part of the reason why I love teaching; it is never dull and is a challenge.

Out on the blogosphere are some brilliant writers who share their teaching experiences, daily routines, ideas, schemes of work, lessons – you name and teachers are writing about it! Reading about someone else’s experience can create and add to your armoury of activities for the classroom.

Teaching can sometimes be a lonely job, with yourself up against 30 students challenging you. It can sometimes feel like you are the Lone Ranger but that is not so. Using people around you can make your life mush easier, especially when you need help or guidance. For a young teacher this possibly the best tip I can pass on – talk to those around you.

I have worked in some great departments where working together and sharing ideas/workloads makes everybody feel important and better about themselves. The success of a Department should improve too with more minds working together. The work/life balance is very important and should never be forgotten.

Being innovative and brave within a classroom can bring enjoyment, success and respect. I admit not every idea I have tried has worked but those that do can enhance the student’s experience of the subject. Trialling new ideas improve your lessons and enjoyment as a teacher. It is not always easy trying out new ideas. It is very easy to stay in the comfort zone but without trying out new ideas we do develop ourselves as teachers and will not improve.

Idris Mootee, of the Innovation Playground blog, has said; ‘innovation is hard, it is not about getting the ideas at all, it is about managing ideas. So you have a few great ideas, so what? The future is never about the future but now.’

As teachers we work long hours and spend many lessons preparing and planning work. We have the aim of teaching and working with our students on achieving their personal best and gaining the grades they deserve. But we must enjoy our working life. There are many pressures in the education industry and targets to achieve. As I have said, teaching is the best job in the world. To actually help young people in life choose a path in their life with your encouragement and guidance is amazing, but with all the politics involved a sense of humour is needed. I sometimes refer to teaching as stand-up comedy. You must think fast on your feet and be quick-witted where possible. We are working with some tough, intelligent and emotional young people who will test us all at some point. It can feel on occasions like walking onto stage at There is much to enjoy from teaching, just don’t forget the positives.

As teachers we are sometimes too controlling and we must put the onus back on the students for them to achieve. Investigating methods and ways of implementing this into schemes of work must be a priority. This will only encourage student learning and raise achievement across all year groups.

Finally, teaching must become more reflective throughout our practice. We must use our strengths and work on our areas of development. This should therefore improve our own teaching and benefit the students. Teaching is great – don’t forget it!

I have always been using documentaries and footage from DVDs and videos in my lessons. It got my mind racing on different aspects of films that could be shown to pupils within different subject areas. I soon realised that films could enhance and develop a pupils learning and encourage them to be life long learners.

Films can enhance a lesson and excite a young mind with their powerful and thought-provoking subject matter. My good friend from my Southampton University days, Dr. Pietari Kaapa of the University of Stirling, has stated that, ‘cinema as both a popular form of entertainment and a means of artistic and political expression, is a crucial area of classroom teaching. The pedagogical potential of film provides an immediate and invigorating addition to established lesson plans, while the history of the medium and its contextual socio-cultural relevance function as sources of study in their own right.’

As a Geography Teacher I have used a wide variety of different films to help show and back up key terminology or sometimes complex geographical features. The world today has created a generation of young people with very active minds. The days of a teacher in a classroom talking for 50 minutes are long gone and would not generate much enthusiasm from today’s young learners. Interaction and variety is what is needed to engage learners and film is one medium that can grip a young person’s attention. Film can enthuse and generate much debate and help a learner.

Pupils are requested to use and take part in different types of media within their learning from the National Curriculum. Films like music should be encouraged to be used within the classroom. My good friend and former flatmate, Nick Hargreaves, of Radipole Primary School in Weymouth, Dorset, believes that ‘films are a really valid text as much as books. With the National Curriculum we have to look at various types of media within a child’s learning and film is one way.’

‘Films are not always easy to understand and it does take time sometimes for a young learner to fully understand the complexities of a film like the music changing in relation to the mood of the film.’ As we are aware there are three types of learners; visual, auditory and kinesthetic. A film is one medium that incorporates all three learning styles and can hold the attention and pass on knowledge and understanding to all three main learning styles. Nick Hargreaves says ‘film takes into account how a learner learns…it attracts the three main types of learners and engages all of them in one sitting. It reaches out to all target levels especially boys’.

I remember reading Great Expectations at school and found watching the David Lean adaption a much-needed guiding hand when it came to revising for the GCSE. A film may not always be true or correct, but in the right hands, us as teachers, we can filter out the bad and use the great pieces of film there is out there waiting to be used. I would really like to know what films you use in the classroom – do you have a ‘Top Ten Movie List’? Please send in your comments or by twitter @tiddtalk – I look forward to reading your choices!

Bowie. David Bowie. Yes, that’s right, the chameleon of pop music. What would Bowie do if he was in charge of the education system? This is a question I have been coming back to over the last few months. With all the educational changes, upheaval and strikes, I have been thinking more and more about what would happen and change if Bowie was in charge.

I’ve been a massive fan of Bowie all my life, from the highs of Ziggy Stardust, Soul Man and The Thin White Duke, to the lows where he attempted dance music and tried to get down with the kids at late night raves. Bowie attempted all types of musical styles, even if it didn’t work out and his fans and critics were appalled with the outcome. Bowie didn’t care. He wanted change. He wanted to take risks. He wanted the challenge.

When Michael Gove was replaced with Nicky Morgan, to me, this was an opportunity for change, a positive change. I kept this thought with me as I organised TeachMeet Dorset (#TMDorset) back in October 2014. I presented my thoughts that night on how David Bowie would make a difference as Education Minister. It was soon afterwards that Innovate My School got in contact as they had noticed a lot of interest about the talk via twitter. Innovate My School invited me to write an article on this very topic. The full article can be viewed here which was published in November 2014. Thank you to James Cain, Innovate My School editor, for his interest and publishing it.

When it was published I was attending TeachMeet Taunton (#TMTaunton) with my polished version of ‘What would Bowie do?’ presentation. I was lucky to be chosen as the final speaker ending a great evening with ‘Rebel Rebel’ blaring out loudly to the crowd. The evening was recorded and my performance can be viewed below:

Finally, the message from Bowie is, as teachers we mustn’t be afraid of taking risks and challenging ourselves. This would ultimately be raising the bar and could only improve teaching. If Bowie was running the Department of Education, change would definitely be on the agenda. It might not all work, but imagine the fun we would have. Think like Bowie next time you are planning and teaching. What would Bowie do?

I have been reading John Hattie’s ‘Visible Learning for Teachers’ (a book I am sure many of you have read). It is looking at fifteen years of research involving millions of students and gives evidence into what actually works in schools to improve learning. It really is an enlightening book to read and does get you thinking. It has certainly made me think!

One particular reference point focuses on Michael Jordan – probably the greatest basketball player of all time. Now I am a massive fan of Michael Jordan, one of the greatest sportsman ever in my humble opinion. John Hattie refers to the YouTube clip seen below, where Michael talks about his failures in basketball; ‘I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.’

It is a great clip and is something all teachers should perhaps think about. I have never been afraid of trying out something new. I have always seen teaching as an opportunity to trial new ideas. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t – but I’m not afraid to take a chance as long as it improves the student learning and experience. Without the risk factor and trying something different I would never of progressed as a teacher.

We are under enormous pressure from the never-ending educational changes and the results driven route our system has taken. This has been a detriment to teachers. We should be allowed to develop and implement new innovative ideas, improving our lessons. In teaching it’s too easy (and boring!) to do the same thing – I dare you to try something new tomorrow! Go on, do it! It might work…if not try again the next day and see what happens! I would be really interested to hear your experiences @tiddtalk

‘It isn’t what you say that defines you but what you do’

These are the wise words of Batman that every aspirational teacher should know.

Teaching is a popular profession for many graduates. Last year over 16, 000 people completed a secondary PGCE. The number of graduates completing PGCE’s has steadily risen over the last few years until recently. It is a role that people find exciting, challenging and extremely stimulating. It is a profession where we are able to move people forward in their aspirations and assist their learning.

Unfortunately, I was sad to read that the number of teacher training places at universities and colleges is to be cut by one fifth. The government wants more teachers to learn their skills on the job in schools rather than in training colleges. Now I agree that we should have more on the job training – it’s where I learnt my skills and it was where I did most of my learning– but fewer teachers and training opportunities? Universities and teaching colleges offer fantastic teaching expertise and facilities that should be further funded. This maybe in response to subject demand but I am sure we will need teachers in the future and these cuts maybe putting off hundreds of potential brilliant teachers.

Nicholas Hargreaves of Radipole School, Weymouth says, ‘teaching is a wonderful career choice for anyone. From a young age several teachers and friends helped and encouraged me to aspire to become a teacher. To provide young minds with the knowledge, skills and passion to take control of their lives and become the experts of tomorrow. Personally it has given me the chance to inspire young people with my knowledge and expertise. Working with a group of like-minded teachers and young people is extremely inspirational. It is a role I have always been determined to succeed in and work hard for.’

The role teachers’ play in their local community is also central to a student’s development. Schools’ and communities must work collaboratively together for an area to benefit. Economic investment is a necessity with schools. Schools are the training ground for our future generations and they need to be at the forefront of technology for our young learners with the very best facilities for them to achieve their potential. The local community and schools’ must be incorporated into working together to create an ethos of self belief and to achieving their personal best. The community must be involved in their local schools creating community centres, so local people can benefit from the facilities and technology a school has. A community that sees the benefit of an education can help generate our leaders of tomorrow but they must work in partnership with the local schools. We as teachers are the facilitator of this role and can help enrich a wide variety of lives in the process. Working with the local community to enhance the school ethos and help an area develop.

Russell Wait, Leader of Achievement at Broadwater School, Surrey; ‘I was inspired by my secondary school Headteacher who encouraged me from the tender age of 12 to reach my aspirations and goals. I find that teaching is an ever-changing occupation that keeps you on your toes. To teach the future generation of Britain with a passionate voice can create change and can only be a benefit for the country’.

Many professionals from industry are turning to a career in teaching because of the many benefits the role brings. They bring with them a vast range of experiences from industry that can only enhance the profession. Experience from outside the classroom and shared with the students is vital. Young people do need to have role models and even though they sometimes might not want to admit it, teachers are a very important one. It is very clear that many people want to train as teachers but cannot afford to take a whole year off for training. With the recent credit crisis it is understandable, but it does show that people do want to be teachers.

With this in mind, young people choosing to become a teacher may not get a job at the end of their training. If the government get their way we will all be working till at least sixty-eight – where is the opportunity for the young, fresh and talented teachers? We need teachers, inspirational teachers with new ideas and outlooks. Choose teaching – be a teacher!