PREMIUM: The last ten years have transformed the teaching profession in England. Except for me.

I used to be a very effective teacher. Then everybody else started teaching the same way.

I’ve just finished reading Don’t Change the Light Bulbs.¹

It was published in 2014 as a compendium of short pieces by people best known for their Twitter presence, with proceeds going to charity. I probably should have read it when it came out, since I was one of the contributors.² Reading it now is a testament to what was popular in the classroom when it was written. Many of the contributors recommended iPads, SOLO taxonomy, and Pose, Pause, Bounce, Pounce,³ all of which I had largely forgotten were ever popular in schools.

My contribution, however, is outdated for a different reason. It was entitled “Ten things Ofsted⁴ won’t like” and it outlined my teaching philosophy and practices. It is out of date for two reasons.

1. These days, Ofsted isn’t known to be against any of “the ten things”.

2. Almost everything I argued for is close to being orthodoxy in secondary schools.

It’s worth looking over “the ten things” to see how much has changed.