I have recently moved back to my native Northern Ireland after teaching in England since qualifying in 2007.
My principal (headteacher) has decided to introduce really long learning intentions as a means of promoting purpose and relevance at the beginning of a lesson. He has shown us a video of a very uninspiring lesson in America with the teacher unpicking a three line learning intention in the first 5 minutes. He is obsessed that the first 5 minutes is the most important part.
I was appalled at the idea thst you would front load a lesson like that, saying there's no room for discovery or making connections during the course of the lesson as you've covered everything in the abstract at the beginning. I think purpose and relevance is important in a lesson but this is not the way to go about it. It is so at odds with everything I have been doing for 18 yrs. I think he's clutching at straws because teachers in NI are highly skilled but don't have the same pressures as regards structuring a lesson and he's looking for a quick cohesive fix.
Anyway, he's said he doesn't have to listen to me as England's education system is one of the worst and it is not what he's striving for.
However, didn't England introduce longer learning intentions in their revised curriculum in 2014? My memory is a blur because obviouslly there has been a million initiatives in my 18 years. Wernt rhey then done away with for more concise learning intentions? Can anyone remember why? For someone who thinks we're all rubbish, isn't he destined to repeat some mistakes?