Chief Executive, Advantage Schools
Joined February 2009
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The New York Times suggests that Alpha is an experiment on fewer kids than one of the schools we run, with quite pathetic results, unethical offrolling, and apps that aren’t ready, with claims not matching reality.
Not worth the attention.
Stuart Lock retweeted
Suspensions and exclusions are a necessary part of a functioning system. Their elevated use can indicate a healthy system responding to increased or high challenge, or attempting to improve standards that are low. There is no correct rate of exclusion. The only question that needs to be answered is, 'Was this exclusion necessary, given the behaviour that preceded it?'
If this can be honestly answered 'yes' then the rate is simply a by-product of that circumstance.
Criticising a school for having a higher than average rate is like criticising a hospital for having a greater mortality rate than the cinema next door.
Schools cannot be sensibly asked to tailor individual suspension or exclusion decisions to a hypothetical 'right' level described by other circumstances.
Stuart Lock retweeted
Very disappointing to see education folks burning their credibility like this. Notable, too, how many of them were sharply critical of virtual during COVID but now think a AI education is the future.
Stuart Lock retweeted
If you feel the need to start your argument by claiming that what you are advocating in education is not dumbing down, then it's probably dumbing down.
Stuart Lock retweeted
Reducing inequality in education outcomes by…no longer measuring it
This policy would be utterly laughable were it not so harmful
📚 | NEW REPORT: Disadvantaged children are nearly three times less likely to achieve the highest marks in Year 6 SATs.
We call for a rethink of primary school assessments to reduce inequality, ease pressure on teachers and create a fairer system for all pupils.
Read here 👇
ippr.org/articles/what-comes…
Stuart Lock retweeted
Years ago I was chatting with a friend who taught year 4. It was the time that the times tables check was coming in. She said she was worried about it. I said why, surely you've been doing the times tables for years and its not a big deal
She looked at me and was like "yeah kind of but not really"
I was reminded of Ofsted's research into KS2 science SATS. Once they went, science in primary declined.
Similar pattern in secondaries with removal of KS3 assessments. Its a normal and uncontroversial area of educational policy theory:
Standardised external assessments drive behaviour. Same in primary, same in secondary. Removing them lowers the stakes, lowers focus and reduces standards.
Stuart Lock retweeted
If you're worried that the Government's plan to offer technical pathways from age 14 could mean the end of a 'broad and balanced' curriculum, you might want to look away now....
🫣
My new post on LinkedIn: lnkd.in/p/eBgaXGv2
Stuart Lock retweeted
Year 9 girls were on rugby this morning & Year 9 boys were on basketball. Great to see both groups showcasing excellent sportsmanship 👏
@PeHoustone
Stuart Lock retweeted
I found the Children's Commissioner's Childhood Lottery a frustrating read. I have no doubt more children have difficult childhoods in Middlesbrough than Surrey. But excluding obvious confounding factors and selecting on dependent variables is not a good way to make that case.🧵
This would be obviously gameable and gamed, and hence lack validity or usefulness.
Key Stage 2 exams have been necessary and desirable to help drive up standards. I can think of no good reason to remove them.
What would life be like without KS2 Sats? @IPPR is recommending the DfE replace them with random sampling from Year 3 onwards
tes.com/magazine/news/genera…
Stuart Lock retweeted
England is forgetting that education policy should be based on evidence and informed by experience - my first Substack piece
amvspielman.substack.com/p/g…
For over a year, I have engaged in some form of exercise on almost literally every day - usually the gym, five a side with a bunch of dads, and training for a marathon.
And yet it is impossible to lose weight because bread exists.
Stuart Lock retweeted
Shot / Chaser
This stuff isn't about "children talking in lessons". It's about whether or not politicians understand what improves outcomes for students. Pushing schools to groovy but nebulous ideas leads to worse results.
@LucyMPowell
h/t @StuartLock @Trivium21c
Any chance of engaging with those of us who have seen this cause education standards to decline in our long careers?
So many of us would be happy to help, free, because we want things to work for those who are most vulnerable.
Great to see more and more people getting behind our plans to put speaking back at the heart of the curriculum.
Read the full article here 👇🏻
theguardian.com/commentisfre…
I also read this today from 2019:
‘Following the Oracy Cambridge publication Oracy Across the Welsh Curriculum, Wales has a new curriculum that gives oracy equal status with reading and writing as a means of learning across the curriculum’
h/t: @Trivium21c