New Publications

  • The UK's missing carbon footprint

    Everyone reading this will know that the UK has made a legally binding commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2050.  Green-tinged government supporters make a lot of noise about this.  But did you know that this target excludes emissions associated...

  • My TES bookends

    It's 48 years ago this month that I had a letter published in the Times Educational Supplement.  I was a PGCE student at the time and on school placement (teaching practice), and I hoped that no one at my comprehensive...

  • Can Tomlinson replace GCSEs?

     Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders [ @RealGeoffBarton ] thinks so.  What follows is the beginning of his article in the TES late last year: "In Bristol this week, at the annual conference of...

  • Resurrection Trust

    Resurrection Trust is a book of “funny, dark, mad, bad, upbeat, downbeat and fantastical short stories about living sustainably”. They arose from the University of Southampton's Green Stories writing competition.   The editor, Amanda Saint, says that the stories “showcase a...

  • Is this why residential experiences for pupils are so popular?

    I’ve been reading The impact of residential experiences on pupil progress and attainment in year six (10 – 11 year olds) in England.   This is a report on behalf of the Learning Away Consortium by Jane Dudman, Carrie Hodges and...

  • Two hours max for wellbeing

    Research by the universities of Exeter and Uppsala, published in Scientific Reports, found that people who spend at least 2 hours a week in natural settings such as town parks, woodlands, country parks and beaches are more likely to report good health...

  • Powerful geographical knowledge

    I've been reading John Huckle's recent paper – that is, his latest re-write of his perennial plea for more critical realism in geography teaching and life more generally.  The latest iteration of the paper will be familiar to those of...

  • Ofsted's Education Inspection Framework

    Despite what I said the other day, I've been reading Ofsted's Education Inspection Framework and a riveting read it is.  You might be surprised to hear that the words environment/environmental occur in it as many as 24 times; but you'll...

  • An everyday story of coerced proletarianisation

    There was an (inadvertently) entertaining article in the Guardian the other week from a woke bloke in a UK university complaining about how poverty stats are manipulated and misinterpreted.  There were lots of sloping graphs to grab our attention but...

  • The lifecycle of a supermarket bag policy

    I wrote recently about the dismal failure of the much-vaunted plastic bag policy that the government forced on supermarkets, noting research which showed that people were using so-called bags for life in much the same way as the thinner alternatives...