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The clamour for reducing ‘teaching to the test’ in schools has finally reached a crescendo in the release of the Cambridge Primary Review – the largest such study of primary education in 40 years.

The report concludes that a focus on national tests has “squeezed out” other subjects, such as science, history, geography, and music. Both time pressures on teachers and micromanagement from central government are preventing children from getting more engaging lessons.

Schools that blend basic skills into wider lessons, and develop creative ways of doing so get the best results: unsurprisingly, boring, formulaic lessons are very ineffectual.

We believe many classroom teachers know how to produce more creative lessons, but are restricted by other demands on their time. Teachers are expected to do more and more, but the use of our online resources can really help them deliver.

The Primary Review acknowledges that fixing the current curriculum is a big task and will require “capacity-building in schools … to achieve the necessary re-invigoration”. Teachable.net is a practical and effective way to get this happening quickly, and help consign boring lessons to the bin.

You might have the current furore about a teaching pack distributed (and since withdrawn) by Teachernet, which encouraged pupils to think about the London bombings of 2005 from the point of view of the terrorists.

The pack was developed in West Yorkshire, where many of the bombers lived, and so you can see the logic of trying to ‘see things from the other side’. In most cases this would be laudable, but in the case of radicalised Islamic terrorists, even their families agree that they were mentally deranged. Putting across ‘their point of view’ is no more justified that encouraging a perspective from the point of view of Ian Brady, a notorious child killer.

You can’t rationalise the motives of a mad-man: that is extremist relativism.

Actually, we were nearly as incensed by the price DCSF were charging – £200 for the lesson pack! We’ve got some more wholesome ways of teaching the Diversity and Communities strand, as well as a range over 50 other files for Citizenship teaching. On our site, £200 would buy you the entire syllabus worth of content, not just a controversial lesson!

It’s not all bad news for those stuck at home today in the UK today.  Extra snowball fights for pupils means extra lie-ins for teachers.  If your school’s not closed, there’s still a chance it will be by the end of the week.

Why not get out and enjoy it?  Think of all the savings you’re making by having the snow come to you rather than jetting off skiing this year. With a coffee costing £12 in the alps currently (and a chalet in Portes du Soleil even more!), you can get a bargain version by pouring yourself a cup, gazing out the window and imagining the Alpine air!

And if you do want to save up for that bonanza ski trip, you can boost your teacher earnings by contributing to Teachable…