Teach Secondary Issue 14.3

Essential reading: On board this issue: Deborah Hayden is a head of history FROM THE EDITOR “Welcome… KEEP IN TOUCH! Sign up for the weekly TS newsletter at teachwire.net/ newsletter It’s not hard to see why the scope, content and priorities of the National Curriculum can illicit strong feelings fromprettymuch everyone within the teaching profession. It’s statement of educational intent from the government of the day – a breakdown in black and white of what it wants to see teachers across all phases and subject areas striving for. As TobyMarshall is at pains to point out on page 12, however, it wasn’t always like this. The idea of putting in place a centralised framework for what should be taught in schools was discussed and debated for a good long while before the introduction of England’s National Curriculum in 1988 – and ever since then, there’s been no turning back. At the time of writing, the profession is waiting to see what the first major shake-up of the National Curriculumand assessment system in a decade will deliver. Early indications seem to suggest that steps will be taken to address educational inequalities, challenges in specific subjects and the changing technological landscape (including, yes, AI – see page 38 for more). We may yet be in for some surprises – but so far, at least, there doesn’t appear to be much desire to dramatically reinvent things at a systemic level.We can probably expect GCSE examinations to continue in their current form, potential coursework adjustments notwithstanding – but should they? As Amy Sayer notes on page 28, the sheer intensity of exams season continues to take a toll on students’ mental health and wellbeing. Nervousness ahead of entering the exam room is one thing. Seeing a jobs market that’s more competitive and precarious by the year, and knowing that your place within it may hinge upon your headspace and composure during a handful of days inMay and June is quite another. Education policymakers can’t domuch about the ratcheting up of economic pressures across wider society – but at a time when endless pressures to ‘succeed’, to ‘deliver’, to somehow ‘domore with less’ seem to keep piling on everywhere you look – perhaps there’s a case for making the on-ramp to further study, gainful employment and adulthood a little less overwhelming. Enjoy the issue, CallumFauser callum.fauser@theteachco.com Phil Mathe is a PE teacher, researcher, speaker and author Hilary Goldsmith is a school business leader and consultant Aaron Swan is an English teacher Sam Pope is a primary and secondary tutor in Spanish Toby Marshall is an A Level film studies teacher 58 Play by the rules How tomanage the behavioural challenges unique to PE lessons In absentia What schools can do to better engage rarely seen parents 50 Panic stations! Show students how to keep those pre-exam stresses at bay 32 03 teachwire.net/secondary