The Real Simon Baddeley! Owner of @LiteracyEngine | English Teacher | Teaching and Learning Geek | Visualiser Master Practitioner | Lego Super Fan
Joined January 2026
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As you may know, I was hacked last week and lost access to the @SimBadd64 account. Can I ask you to please block that account and follow me here instead? Reposts appreciated.
Simon Baddeley retweeted
I grew up with a working class east Midlands accent and dialect, let's not allow all this "everything is equally valid" progwaffle to obscure an important fact: if you speak like that, people out there in the world will think you're a bit thick. Students ought to know that.
A pupil says “we was” instead of “we were” - Do you correct them? 🗣️
And what message does that send if it’s how their family speaks?
Amy Gaunt argues that teaching Standard English matters but so does how we teach it. Can we help pupils adapt their language for different situations without telling them their home dialect is wrong?
Do you agree with Amy? Where would you draw the line? 👇
From our discussion on Creating an Oracy Curriculum, in partnership with Hachette Learning.
#Oracy #Teaching #teacherlife #teachertok #teachersoftiktok
Simon Baddeley retweeted
As the national policy shifts towards "oracy", this video illustrates the massive problems we will have.
It's almost impossible to correct regional dialect things like "we was" into standard English without appearing to be a massive snob.
It's also *categorically impossible* to do it consistently. For example, in this video, I think Amy speaks clearly and persuasively. However, she uses the word "like" a lot, and says "you know" and "um" very often.
I personally do not care. I do the same. I am horrified when I read transcripts from the podcast or videos I've produced. But, critically, I think that's a *normal way to talk*. It's natural, and most people neither notice it nor care.
But if you tell me I now need to *assess* someone's spoken language, I *have* to start thinking about things like that, and policing the way people speak and turning into something which feels unnatural, forced and desiccated.
Hurdles ahead!
A pupil says “we was” instead of “we were” - Do you correct them? 🗣️
And what message does that send if it’s how their family speaks?
Amy Gaunt argues that teaching Standard English matters but so does how we teach it. Can we help pupils adapt their language for different situations without telling them their home dialect is wrong?
Do you agree with Amy? Where would you draw the line? 👇
From our discussion on Creating an Oracy Curriculum, in partnership with Hachette Learning.
#Oracy #Teaching #teacherlife #teachertok #teachersoftiktok
Once more for those at the back: you don't improve behaviour by lowering suspensions. You reduce suspensions by improving behaviour.
Pleased to release our latest report by our very own @ZickZaggurat on the drive to lower suspensions in English schools. Whitehall’s target of pre-pandemic suspension levels is not only fanciful, but the data show that there is hardly any correlation between reduced suspension rates and better attainment. Link to full paper below.
Simon Baddeley retweeted
Interesting take! - I mean, I’m from the north and my mum spent years correcting me on was/were and them/those and continually saying ‘like’ all the time and I actually appreciate this now whilst not realising it at the time!
A pupil says “we was” instead of “we were” - Do you correct them? 🗣️
And what message does that send if it’s how their family speaks?
Amy Gaunt argues that teaching Standard English matters but so does how we teach it. Can we help pupils adapt their language for different situations without telling them their home dialect is wrong?
Do you agree with Amy? Where would you draw the line? 👇
From our discussion on Creating an Oracy Curriculum, in partnership with Hachette Learning.
#Oracy #Teaching #teacherlife #teachertok #teachersoftiktok
This is exactly why we need a proper substantive knowledge framework for Speaking & Listening.
The irony of someone with Standard English pronunciation and grammar talking about how those things are unimportant is staggering. Why does nobody with strong dialect ever debate this?
A pupil says “we was” instead of “we were” - Do you correct them? 🗣️
And what message does that send if it’s how their family speaks?
Amy Gaunt argues that teaching Standard English matters but so does how we teach it. Can we help pupils adapt their language for different situations without telling them their home dialect is wrong?
Do you agree with Amy? Where would you draw the line? 👇
From our discussion on Creating an Oracy Curriculum, in partnership with Hachette Learning.
#Oracy #Teaching #teacherlife #teachertok #teachersoftiktok
Simon Baddeley retweeted
When a child uses incorrect grammar, it should be corrected. To do otherwise is to deprive that child of the opportunity to learn to speak and write in standard English.
You do not occupy the moral high ground by expecting your own children to speak and write in standard English while denying other people’s children the same standards and expectations.
Children attend school to be educated, not to have their entitlement to knowledge and mastery of language sacrificed at the altar of ideology.
A pupil says “we was” instead of “we were” - Do you correct them? 🗣️
And what message does that send if it’s how their family speaks?
Amy Gaunt argues that teaching Standard English matters but so does how we teach it. Can we help pupils adapt their language for different situations without telling them their home dialect is wrong?
Do you agree with Amy? Where would you draw the line? 👇
From our discussion on Creating an Oracy Curriculum, in partnership with Hachette Learning.
#Oracy #Teaching #teacherlife #teachertok #teachersoftiktok
Simon Baddeley retweeted
This video is doing the rounds again because a critic has questioned whether the pupils here are really learning anything. The quality of this class’s questions can reveal a lot here. So, strap in for a thread! 🧵 1/9
Simon Baddeley retweeted
Oracy, literacy, di, reading, writing none of this is new/unlocking the secrets of the universe. What’s key is being armed with a toolkit of approaches, grounded in rich subject knowledge & subject specific strategies, that allow us to engage the children we teach in learning
Simon Baddeley retweeted
Blast from the past: do you remember levels and sublevels?
The great debate over whether a child was a 3a or a 4c. Does anyone miss them?
Simon Baddeley retweeted
Want to settle all of twitter in one go. Which will have the greatest impact on students outcomes in next 5 years, if you select something else, write your answer below
21%AI for student use
11%Scripted lessons
13%Oracy
54%Something else
135 votes • 21 hours Simon Baddeley retweeted
💡 NEW POST💡
‘The challenge of oral assessment’
“The most important question about the oral assessment challenge we must linger on: is it going to be fair and equitable for the children who already find learning hardest?”
alexquigley.co.uk/the-challe…
Simon Baddeley retweeted
This is a must read for anyone who has even a passing interest in the current education debate. It frames perfectly what the current govn is trying to achieved and how it might best do this, and the trade offs to get there. To me, it appears that standards are being traded off.
What impact will the government's new education policies have on standards?
substack.nomoremarking.com/p…
Apparently this thread is not about schools and assessments. And I'm an actual gamer! I need some time off EduTwitter 🤦♂️
Simon Baddeley retweeted
What impact will the government's new education policies have on standards?
substack.nomoremarking.com/p…
Simon Baddeley retweeted
A lot is being said about oracy (no pun intended). It’s not as simple as just get kids to speak more. It requires careful planning & for that it needs strong subject knowledge. There are some best bet approaches but we need to be careful of being generic. Subject fidelity is key.
Simon Baddeley retweeted
ICYMI What to teach, not how to teach.
Why we desperately need a substantive knowledge framework for Speaking and Listening before "#oracy" spirals us into a pedagogical time warp back to the 2010.
literacyengine.co.uk/index.p…
ICYMI What to teach, not how to teach.
Why we desperately need a substantive knowledge framework for Speaking and Listening before "#oracy" spirals us into a pedagogical time warp back to the 2010.
literacyengine.co.uk/index.p…