Teach Secondary - Issue 14.6

+ L essons in adulthood for teens with autism + Why every teacher should see themselves as a behaviour management practitioner + Does AI have the potential to make educational inequality even worse than it already is? + What teachers who do tutoring on the side should know about their tax liabilities + How the Lords is urging schools and policymakers to reassess the importance of media literacy education + The Trust using live radio broadcasts to bring its pupils and local community together + The precipitous decline in teens writing for pleasure CONTRIBUTORS JOSE SALA DIAZ Head of media STEPHANIE SMITH Head of School, The Cavendish School ROBIN LAUNDER Behaviour management consultant and speaker MATT WATKINS Tax Disputes and Disclosures Director, Menzies JONATHAN KENNEDY Student Voice Co-Ordinator, Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust LEARNING LAB IN THIS ISSUE JOURNALING ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jose Sala Diaz is head of media at The Priory School, Hitchin Thinking about … T he first time I asked one of my students to write about herself, she said ‘ Whaaaat...? ’ When I asked her again, she rolled her eyes and added, ‘ Anyway, I don’t know how to do that... ’ This student (a high-achiever underachieving) had learnt PEE structures, as well as mark schemes readings. She even used ChatGPT to proofread her essays, though she didn’t bother to push herself further: ‘ I have learnt the structure and the quotes, I don’t need the writing for anything else in my life ’. Was she right?Writing is, after all, thinking – or rather, the tool that teaches us how to think . But then some – like my student – come to realise that learners aren’t actually required to write well, but rather to regurgitate well enough . The reason why some colleagues become so mesmerised by AI is because it produces exactly what they’re asking their pupils to recreate; structured model texts detached from real experience, but sufficiently capable of passing an external standardisation process. Teenagers today have more sophisticated tools than ever to support their learning, and yet the rates of mental health issues across secondary schools are growing, in tandemwith rises in alienation and disbelonging. While researching this contradiction, I discovered that physical journals were trending among teenagers (alongside point-and-shoot cameras and Y2K aesthetics, though that’s a different story). As all old things come back around, Gen Z is starting to feel nostalgia for a pre-internet past they never lived through. The analogue possibilities afforded by a journal – writing about themselves, without having to share its content on Instagram– feel almost countercultural. Intrigued, I selected a group of 40 students spanning different year groups and academic backgrounds (top, mixed and low sets). I gave them each a notebook and pen, on the condition that they would write for 10 minutes every day before bed for two months, reflecting on a series of prompts – ‘emotions’, ‘mistakes’, ‘school’, ‘friends’ and ‘future’. I then asked them to complete a regular fortnightly survey and share a video of themselves flipping through the pages, to prove that they were writing. I would never read what they wrote, as the exercise was solely for them. Parents were also informed of the project and its aims. Initially, I’d expected half the students to toss their notebooks in the nearest bin on their way home, but they all embraced the experiment, with 70% consistently writing across the two months about their emotions, plans, mistakes and fears. When exam season arrived, I asked them to look back and review their entries, with the aim of promoting resilience – track your notes , identify , act , change , reflect . Most shared that they felt better after writing everything down, as it was a relief to leave their problems in their journals. 10 participants stated that they slept better after writing. For the 2025/26 academic year, my goal is to incorporate these reflective tasks around resilience into the classroom, while fostering further personal connections through writing. So far, all of the KS3 participants moving into KS4 have agreed to continue the project, and have asked for new journals. Not bad going for a generation apparently unable to write about themselves! 85 teachwire.net/secondary L E A R N I N G L A B