PrimaryEssentials Profile: Chris Youles

ETIH asks the PrimaryEssentials speakers for their thoughts on the education and EdTech sector, and throws in a random question to keep them on their toes.

This time around, our five questions go to Chris Youles, author of Sentence Models for Creative Writing.

What do you think are the biggest challenges facing primary education today?

I've been teaching long enough to remember the days of school's having relatively healthy budgets and there being a teaching assistant in every classroom. Over the last fourteen years, I have seen school's being provided with less and less, but expected to do more with it. If we truly believe that education is important then it should be properly funded. 

How has EdTech transformed the way we teach primary school subjects?

I think we stand on the cusp of education being transformed by AI. Despite the worries this might bring in some areas, I can see huge benefits in terms of resource making, report writing and a multitude of other areas that we probably barely understand yet. 

What are some effective ways to integrate technology into the classroom without it being a distraction?

Technology should be used to enhance the learning, rather than deliver it. I worry that I am little bit old fashioned in this regard in that I believe that it is the teacher in the classroom that should be the students best resource rather than a popular search engine. However, when done well, I can see technology (in small doses) creating exciting learning opportunities.

How has Edutwitter influenced professional development for educators?

Personally speaking, it has helped transform my thinking in so many areas of teaching and learning. Hidden amongst the squabbling, you can find principled educators who strive every day to make a difference to students lives. Their collective shared wisdom is what keeps me on Twitter (I know it's called X now,  but meh to that).

If you could host a dinner party and invite any five educators from Edutwitter, who would make your guest list and why?

If I invite Lee Braganza five times, does this mean he will bring five times the samosas?

PrimaryEssentials

Chris will be delivering his session on Suporting Creative Writing Using Sentence Models at the #PrimaryEssentials online conference on the 4th May 2024.