Freedom to Teach

Exploring childhood in Hard Times

Exploring childhood in Hard Times

‘If we can only preserve ourselves from growing up, we shall never grow old and the young may love us to the last,’ declared Dickens.  This call to protect the magic and wonder of childhood concluded his New Year’s...

5 min

Considering Dracula and the supernatural: teaching tips

Considering Dracula and the supernatural: teaching tips

Gothic literary texts can take so many different forms, but they share a preoccupation with the crossing of boundaries: between life and death, the past and the present, ancient and modern, good and evil or more generally, between what...

5 min

How to smooth the transition from Year 6 to 7 maths

  It’s never easy for students to move from Year 6 to Year 7.  For the vast majority, they move from being the biggest...

4 min

Mapping a more diverse English curriculum

Mapping a more diverse English curriculum

Quite rightly, schools are taking steps to ensure that their English curriculums are more representative of the diverse country that we live in. Many students, regardless of their background, still feel isolated from what they have been learning in...

4 min

Tips for digging deeper into George Orwell’s Animal Farm

Tips for digging deeper into George Orwell’s Animal Farm

The allegory of Animal Farm draws students in, like a puzzle to be ‘solved’: who are Mr Jones, Squealer and Moses ‘really’; what is the Windmill? Understanding the historical context for Orwell’s writing...

4 min

How self-reflection can help you deliver an emotional education

Recommendations for how to get back to ‘the new normal’ seem to be everywhere you look nowadays. They roll in like crashing waves: mental health, wellbeing, catch-up programmes, behaviour, discipline.So, where to begin? How can we as teachers...

5 min

Tips for digging deeper into George Orwell’s Animal Farm

The allegory of Animal Farm draws students in, like a puzzle to be ‘solved’: who are Mr Jones, Squealer and Moses ‘really’; what is the Windmill? Understanding the historical context...

4 min

Why closing the word gap is more important than ever

Why closing the word gap is more important than ever

In recent years, there has been much debate surrounding the best way to support our most disadvantaged students to catch up with their peers. Despite teachers’ best efforts, some pupils still struggle to meet the demands of the new...

5 min

Running a research methods project with your A-level Sociology students

Research methods is not the most glamorous or popular topic within the A-level Sociology specification, and sociology teachers strive to make it engaging for their students. Amongst the other ‘more exciting’ topics, students...

8 min

Improving student writing for Extended Response Questions in AQA GCSE Sciences

The last twelve months or so have affected many people in many different ways.  Apart from the appalling death toll and the long-term effects on the health of many others, the control measures...

5 min

Chris Callaghan – From reluctant reader to published author

A few years ago, when I became a published author, I was thrust into a world of writers, readers and of generally charming people who love books.

4 min

Shinoy and The Chaos Crew – The new Big Cat series for reluctant readers

Shinoy and The Chaos Crew – The new Big Cat series for reluctant readers

Reluctant readers are a small group of children who can read but choose not to. Meeting their needs can be extremely challenging, but now Big Cat has a series of books to help this special group...

5 min