Daisy Christodoulou

Daisy Christodoulou is Director of Education at No More Marking and the author of I Can’t Stop Thinking About VAR.

Saturday

Daisy Christodoulou

How to fix VAR

From our UK edition

Will football fans ever be happy, or are they addicted to outrage? In April, Coventry City played Manchester United in the semi-final of the FA Cup. Coventry was denied a dramatic winner in the last few minutes of extra time by the decision of the video assistant referee (VAR). It was a wildly controversial moment that focussed yet more attention on VAR, football’s attempt to provide referees with some technological support. For some, it proved that VAR is a disaster. The decision to disallow the goal for offside took away a moment of joyful spontaneity in favour of lengthy scrutiny of a TV replay that may not have had enough frames per second to be accurate.

Monday

Daisy Christodoulou

The fall of English Literature

From our UK edition

On the edges of the City of London, a couple of miles from where I grew up, there’s a very famous cemetery: Bunhill Fields. When I was growing up, it was pretty clear who the three most famous tombs belonged to: John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe and William Blake. However, I am not sure any of these men are the most famous inhabitant any more. Instead, I think it’s Thomas Bayes. He was quite obscure in his lifetime. He was so obscure that we’re not even sure there is a correct picture of him. In the 1st edition of the Dictionary of National Biography, his father, a non-conformist preacher, featured, but he did not. But today his most famous work is studied in universities around the world. His name has become an adjective (‘Bayesian’).

Thursday

Daisy Christodoulou

Teacher training’s war on science

From our UK edition

When I trained as a teacher, seven years ago, these are some of the things I was taught: it’s better for pupils to discover a fact than to be told it. Children learn best working on authentic, real-world projects. Schools and traditional subject boundaries are silos which stifle the natural creativity we all have within us. And this last fact especially: there is no point teaching a body of knowledge, because within a few years it will be outdated and useless. Don’t teach the what, teach the how. ‘Drill and kill’ and ‘chalk and talk’ will lead to passive and unhappy pupils. This, to a large degree, is still what most teachers are taught. So it’s unfortunate that these ideas are deeply flawed.