The best of SecEd

This article was first published in SecEd Magazine on 9 July 2025

Matt Bromley has been writing for SecEd Magazine since 2012 and is their most prolific and popular contributor. Here, he looks back over their best practice archive and counts down the top 10 most-read articles…

Recently, the award-winning SecEd Podcast clocked up its 100th episode and to celebrate, editor Pete Henshaw and I got together to chat about the 10 most listened to episodes from that hundred-strong archive.

The hit parade included episodes on quality first teaching, metacognition, and marking and feedback. You can still take a listen if you’d like to discover our most popular episode.

As Pete and I reminisced, I got to thinking: What are the most-read pieces on the SecEd website? What do teachers and school leaders click on most often? Well, curiosity got the better of me and so we’ve crunched the numbers from the last 12 months and here is another top 10 countdown. The top 10 articles span the last eight years, showing just how useful the SecEd best practice archive remains. For each article, I offer a four-point summary.

Number 10: How to be a good form tutor

This article offers practical advice on how to take on the role of form tutor with success and was published in 2017. There has also been a podcast episode on the same theme (find this here). Here’s my five-point summary:

1. Master the morning routine: The daily rituals – taking the register, checking uniforms, and disseminating notices – are more than administrative tasks; rather, they set the tone for the whole day, providing consistency and a sense of security for learners.
2. The first line of support: As a form tutor, you’re often the first adult a learner encounters each day. This position places you at the forefront of their pastoral care. By being approachable and attentive, you can identify and address issues early, from missing equipment to emotional distress.
3. Create a sense of belonging: Your tutor room should be a sanctuary – a second home where learners feel they belong. By cultivating a positive and inclusive atmosphere, you help learners develop a strong connection to their school community, which is vital for their overall wellbeing.
4. Engage with the wider school community: Effective form tutors act as liaisons between learners, staff, and parents. By maintaining open lines of communication, you ensure that learners’ needs are met holistically.

Number 9: How to tackle low-level disruption in the classroom

This article from 2021 offers practical pointers for managing low-level behaviour in the classroom. Here’s my five-point summary:

1. Know your learners by name: Establishing a personal connection begins with something as simple as knowing and using your learners’ names. This not only fosters mutual respect but also makes it easier to address behaviour effectively.
2. Plan for potential disruptions: Anticipate which learners might present behavioural challenges and have strategies in place. This proactive approach allows you to address issues swiftly and maintain the flow of your lesson.
3. Maintain a calm and consistent presence: Your demeanour sets the tone for the classroom. By remaining calm and consistent, you model the behaviour you expect. Establishing and reinforcing clear routines helps learners understand what is expected.
4. Address disruptions discreetly: When low-level disruptions occur, address them quietly and privately when possible. This approach maintains the learner’s dignity and prevents escalating the situation, keeping the focus on learning.

Number 8: How to create a questioning classroom

This article appeared in November 2023 and was the precursor for a podcast episode on great teacher questioning (for this, click here). It formed the first in a five-part series of articles on effective classroom questioning. This piece offered 13 techniques but here are my top four tips to give you a flavour.

1. Implement Think-Pair-Share: Encourage learners to first contemplate a question individually (think), then discuss their thoughts with a partner (pair), and share their conclusions with the class (share). This strategy promotes active engagement, peer learning, and confidence in articulating ideas.
2. Incorporate Socratic questioning: Adopt the Socratic method by posing a series of probing questions that challenge assumptions and require justification. This approach fosters critical thinking and helps learners develop a deeper understanding of the subject matter.
3. Use visual stimuli to spark inquiry: Introduce images, videos, or real-world objects as prompts to generate questions and discussions. Visual aids can make abstract concepts more tangible and stimulate curiosity, leading to enriched classroom dialogue.
4. Encourage learner-generated questions: Empower learners to formulate their own questions about the material. This practice not only enhances engagement but also develops their ability to think independently and take ownership of their learning journey.

Number 7: Effective teacher modelling

This piece was published in April 2019 and looked at practical tips for modelling learning and tasks in the classroom:

1. Live model to verbalise your thinking: Demonstrate tasks in real-time, articulating your thought process as you go. This approach helps learners understand not just the how but also the why behind each step, making learning more transparent and accessible.
2. Clarify what success looks like: Provide clear, high-quality examples that align with your learning objectives. Use exam board exemplars where appropriate to ensure learners have a concrete understanding of expected outcomes.
3. Anticipate and address misconceptions: Plan your modelling to pre-empt common misunderstandings. By highlighting potential pitfalls and demonstrating how to navigate them, you can prevent errors before they occur.
4. Showcase successes and failures: Don’t shy away from modelling mistakes. Demonstrating incorrect approaches and discussing why they don’t work can be a powerful tool in helping learners to recognise and avoid similar errors in their own work.

Number 6: Hinge questions

Hinge questions are in every teacher’s teaching toolbox and this 2017 article – which was part of a 10-part series on teaching practice – sought to offer some useful ways of putting them into action:

1. Ask to inform action: Pose questions to find out whether learners are ready to move on. If most aren’t, adjust your teaching before progressing.
2. Focus on key concepts: Use hinge questions at critical points in a lesson – where grasping an idea is essential for future understanding.
3. Keep it multiple-choice: Design well-crafted multiple-choice questions that diagnose understanding and misconceptions quickly and efficiently.
4. Ensure immediate answers: Gather responses from every learner at once – via whiteboards or hand signals – to get a true picture of learning. The answers should shape your next step – whether it be re-teaching or moving on.

Number 5: Challenge in the classroom

This 2017 article looked at stretch and challenge in practice with practical strategies to raise the bar in your classroom:

1. High expectations for all learners: Avoid differentiated learning outcomes that may limit learners’ aspirations. Instead, use enquiry questions to anchor learning, ensuring every learner is encouraged to think deeply and aim for excellence.
2. Enhance classroom discussions: Move beyond the traditional initiation-response-feedback model. Encourage all learners to participate in discussions by posing challenging questions, allowing ample time for thought, and teaching them how to formulate their own questions to stimulate peer dialogue.
3. Design tasks that challenge: Shift away from extension tasks reserved for early finishers. Instead, create tasks that require all learners to engage in higher-order thinking. Use scaffolding, such as worked examples and graphic organisers, to support access to complex tasks, and promote effective group work where collaboration enhances learning.
4. Integrate academic vocabulary instruction: Explicitly teach subject-specific vocabulary using strategies like learner-generated definitions, visual aids, and regular practice through discussions and games. This approach enhances learners’ ability to articulate their understanding with precision and confidence.

Number 4: Feedback

This 2016 article was part of a five-part series on effective pupil feedback and looked at specific feedback statements that can be used in conjunction with comment banks:

1. Employ targeted comment banks: Utilise pre-prepared comment banks to deliver specific and personalised feedback efficiently. This approach ensures consistency in quality while significantly reducing marking workload.
2. Align feedback with learning objectives: Ensure that feedback statements are directly linked to the lesson’s learning objectives. This alignment helps learners understand the purpose of their tasks and how to achieve success.
3. Encourage reflective thinking: Incorporate prompts that encourage learners to reflect on their learning process. Questions like “What strategy did you use here?” or “How might you approach this differently?” promote deeper understanding.
4. Provide clear next steps: Offer specific guidance on how learners can improve their work. Clear, actionable suggestions empower learners to take ownership of their learning journey.

Number 3: A graduated approach to SEND

This article from October 2017 dissected the graduated approach to SEND including the assess-plan-do-review cycle:

1. Implement high-quality inclusive teaching: Ensure that your teaching practices are inclusive and of high quality, forming the first step in responding to learners with SEN. This includes differentiating instruction and providing appropriate support to meet diverse learning needs.
2. Apply the assess-plan-do-review cycle: Utilise the graduated approach by systematically assessing learners’ needs, planning targeted interventions, implementing those strategies, and reviewing their effectiveness to inform future teaching.
3. Collaborate with support staff: Work closely with teaching assistants and specialist staff to ensure that support is effectively integrated into classroom activities, enhancing learning outcomes for learners with SEN.
4. Reflect and adapt your practice: Continuously reflect on the impact of your teaching strategies and be prepared to adapt your approach based on the outcomes of the assess-plan-do-review cycle, ensuring that all learners make progress.

Number 2: Adaptive teaching

This piece in December 2021 was all about task-scaffolding techniques for the classroom:

1. Understand adaptive teaching as responsive practice: Recognise that adaptive teaching involves adjusting your instruction to meet the diverse strengths and needs of all learners. It’s about being responsive to learners’ progress and providing the necessary support to ensure everyone can access the curriculum.
2. Prioritise high-quality teaching over differentiation: Focus on delivering high-quality teaching that benefits all learners, rather than creating multiple differentiated tasks. This approach emphasises strong subject knowledge, effective explanations, and scaffolding to support learners.
3. Use formative assessment to inform instruction: Employ regular formative assessments to gauge learners’ understanding and inform your teaching decisions. This continuous feedback loop allows you to identify misconceptions and adjust your instruction accordingly.
4. Scaffold learning to support all learners: Provide appropriate scaffolding to help learners access complex concepts and tasks. This might include modelling, guided practice, or breaking down tasks into manageable steps, gradually removing support as learners gain confidence. Maintain high expectations for every learner.

Number 1: The five key roles of the teacher

This January 2023 article was the third in a nine-part series inspired by my experience of teaching an ITT course. Here’s what it’s all about:

1. Be a planner: Effective teaching begins with meticulous planning. Design lessons that are ambitious, broad, and balanced, ensuring they cater to the diverse needs of all learners.
2. Be a diagnostician: Utilise initial and diagnostic assessments to identify learners’ starting points. This information is crucial for tailoring instruction to address gaps in knowledge and to build on existing strengths.
3. Be an assessor: Implement on-going formative assessments to monitor learner learning. Use this data to inform your teaching, provide timely feedback, and adjust instruction to meet learners’ evolving needs.
4. Be a leader: Take responsibility for leading learning in your classroom. Foster a culture of high expectations, encourage collaboration, and model a commitment to continuous improvement and professional development.

Access Matt’s full SecEd archive at https://www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/matt-bromley/