Here is a selection of Teaching Ideas to bin:

If only certain ideas that proliferate in education were to be consigned to the educational ‘Room 101’, the scrapheap and the bin forever.

Data collections

Sometimes called ‘data drops’ as if the cunning use of alliteration somehow makes them sound more important and relevant. Ultimately, they are pointless. Data collection is an endless, vicious circle/cycle for teachers. Of course, there is a place for data in schools. It should be analysed at times and it can be useful in identifying trends or issues. But not every 6 weeks!

In its current form, data collection is purely designed to inform school leaders of student progress – or to beat teachers with a big stick. However, at best, data presents an erratic picture of what is actually going on.

Everybody knows that the very last thing that an exam board decides in any subject in any year is what the grade boundaries are. Often this can be as late as the last week of July or the first week in August – just weeks before results are published. So, how can schools give an accurate ‘grade’ in October of Year 10?

Data collection is built on quicksand! It is one of the Teaching idea to bin.

Pre-mocks, pre-pre mocks and MockSTEDs

One of the unfortunate (but entirely predictable) consequences of the government’s focus on core subjects, the new 9-1 GCSE reform, and the return to assessment primarily by terminal examinations,  is that many schools are timetabling more formal exam practice for students.

Most would accept that mock exams have a justified place on the school calendar. But now we have pre-mocks and even pre-pre mocks.

This trend places a massive burden on both teachers and students. Not only that, it causes considerable disruption to teachers of other curriculum areas and is bound to harm pupils’ chances of achieving their potential in other subjects.

Similarly, the omnipresent threat of Ofsted has created another worrying trend that should definitely be thrown in the bin – the MockSTED inspection.

It only increases pressure for staff that are undoubtedly buckling under the weight of other pressures anyway.

You would hope that more schools would share the view of headteacher, Jarlath O’ Brien, who has a forthright opinion of the school inspectorate! It is another one of the teaching ideas to bin.

Starters and plenaries

This is a contentious one! Starters and plenaries have become embedded into classroom practice for the best part of two decades. You could argue that there is good reason for that. Indeed, few would argue against the notion of ‘warming students up’ or drawing them into a lesson and the learning.

Similarly, few would disagree that wrapping things up and rounding off the learning at the end of a lesson is a bad idea.

However, the idea that this needs to happen in every single lesson is, frankly, a nonsense.

Starters and plenaries should not be consigned to the scrapheap forever, but teachers should be prepared to toss them into the bin occasionally.

Sometimes, a starter of ‘Get your books out and be quiet’ and a plenary of ‘Pack away and stand behind your chairs’ will do! It is another one of the teaching ideas to bin.

Teaching is a wonderful profession. It is the most rewarding job there is… or at least it should and could be.