There is currently no shortage of opinions on AI in education. What remains scarce, however, is solid evidence. That makes the recent report, The Evidence Base on AI in K-12: A 2026 Review, interesting. Not because it brings spectacular conclusions, but precisely because it does not. It exposes just how thin the real knowledge base still is,… Read More AI in education: what 800 studies do (and don’t) tell us
We hear it all the time: we have to work longer. This leads to tensions, strikes, and demonstrations. Just this week, among the pilots in the country where I live. But… are there also personal benefits to working longer? It is perhaps a question that some might find offensive, but it is one that Noah Arman… Read More Does working longer keep your brain sharp? The answer is nuanced
When I talk to people about demographics, after a while we quickly run into *the* question: why are we having fewer children? A popular explanation is that more education for women means marrying later, having children later, and ultimately having fewer children. That narrative is so deeply ingrained in how we think about education and demographics… Read More Doesn’t education lead to fewer children after all?
*Update*: Daniël Muijs sent me this link. I’ve added this to this blog! This blog exists because of the almighty RSS feeds. When I checked my Old Reader today, I couldn’t believe my eyes. This is what I saw: I haven’t clicked on every single article, but this is an example of one of the… Read More This morning’s RSS feed: a wave of BERA retractions (and what it says about academic publishing)
This is one of those studies where your first thought is: yes, we already know that. And yet, it is worth taking a moment to read more slowly. Guixia Wang and her colleagues analysed PISA data from more than 400,000 students in 53 countries. Their question was simple: how does achievement motivation relate to school-related anxiety?… Read More More motivation at school, more anxiety?
Every reason to quote Dolly is a good one! Check here for more Funny on Sunday.
For many children, PE class is one of the most enjoyable moments of the week, unless your name is Pedro De Bruyckere. A bit of movement, play, and laughter with classmates. In primary school, that feeling tends to dominate. Fun, variety, doing something together. Not coincidentally, there is less emphasis on performance and more room… Read More Why PE changes from fun to stress in secondary school
We have known for some time that feedback can help improve teaching. From students and colleagues. The idea is simple: if you gain insight into what is happening in your classroom, you can make more targeted adjustments. And yet, it happens remarkably rarely. Why is this? And we do not know this merely anecdotally. In… Read More Why teachers rarely ask for feedback (and why that’s not an individual problem)
A new OECD study was published yesterday, examining what teachers know about teaching. This report does not provide “the answer” to what constitutes good teaching, but attempts, for the first time on a larger scale, to measure what teachers actually know about teaching and more. You will likely read little about it in the media,… Read More What Do Teachers Know About Teaching? A New OECD Study
We remain remarkably stubborn in our belief that learning and development can be improved by adding something “on the side.” An intervention, a programme, a training. Something psychological, something cognitive, something layered on top of regular education. Think of self-efficacy, executive functions, or motivation programmes. Somewhere in all of this sits an implicit promise: if… Read More Stop adding interventions. Start improving teaching.