Hey there Teacher Tappers!
It’s a busy education week for some, with A level results released to schools and colleges on Wednesday and to students on Thursday (expect lots of photographs of students leaping in the air holding pieces of paper – somehow an over-the-shoulder shot of them looking at UCAS isn’t quite as appealing, although it would certainly be more realistic).
Congratulations to Dr Seddon, who recently passed his PHD viva. A little while ago he got in touch to ask if we could share some results for our findings on teachers who use cognitive science to inform their teaching. We were really happy to help, and if any other Tappers are working on research projects and would like some Tapp data, please do get in touch England@teachertapp.co.uk.
The new prize draw!
New season, new style? If you’re hankering after a wardrobe refresh, then this month’s prize draw will look GREAT on you! One lucky Tapper who answers questions between 7 August 2026 and 31 August 2026 is in with a chance to win a £500 gift card to a clothes shop of their choice. Read the full Ts and Cs here, and good luck to all you Tappers!
Report writing in numbers
End-of-year reports are a huge administrative undertaking for a school; but how typical is your offering compared to other schools? Here is the Teacher Tapp report on your reports!
Not everyone produces an end-of-year report: 9% of secondary leaders and 1% of primary leaders told us that their school doesn’t produce one for parents.
The contents of the reports vary. For secondary school reports of KS3 students, 81% told us their report included a grade or mark, 36% had comments teachers wrote themselves, and 22% had comments from a pre-written bank.
Primary school reports differed again. 57% had grades for every subject, and 31% kept grades for only some subjects. Only 17% wrote a comment about every subject, and 62% kept comments only for some subjects. Comment banks were less common, with 71% telling us that the teacher wrote the comments themselves, and just 1% used only a comment bank; 21% had a mixture of comment bank and written comments. And the classic ‘comment from the headteacher’ appeared in only 45%.
We have a few last questions about your reports coming up this week – so keep your eyes peeled 👀.
New slang terms
Last year, we tracked the 6-7 trend as it rose and then fell in popularity. But what new slang words have teachers reported? Just over 1,000 of you wrote in to tell us about the new words you had heard students using. Here are some of the terms that were new this year, but might become more common over the next twelve months…
- Glazing Means excessively praising or flattering someone.
- Unc Short for “uncle”; used to call someone, often a teacher, old or out of touch.
- Zesty Used to describe someone as flamboyant or effeminate.
- Good boy Said sarcastically with the vowels drawn out, used as an insult rather than praise.
- Send them to Dagestan An insult implying someone would lose badly, referencing MMA fighters from the Dagestan region.
- Scuba / Scubaaa Related to viral TikTok dances mimicking scuba diving.
- Aura farming Refers to actions taken to boost a person’s perceived coolness or charisma, which can also be lost.
- Mogging Means outshining or dominating someone else physically or socially.
- Looksmaxxing Means trying to maximise your physical attractiveness.
- Kweng Someone who smells
A Teacher Tapper asked…misogyny in school
Once again, misogyny in schools was in the headlines after a group of female students from Tyneside made a film about the language they endured at school and online.
A Teacher Tapper heard a BBC News interview where our findings were discussed, and they got in touch to ask about how these figures had changed over time.
Compared to January 2024, the number of female secondary teachers concerned that online content was causing an increase in the use of misogynistic language and behaviour is relatively unchanged (96% in 2024, 95% in 2026), but the number of male secondary teachers expressing the same opinion has dropped (93% in 2024, 89% in 2026).
A similar pattern can be found when looking at the results to the question about the impact misogyny and discrimination has upon girls and their studies. The number of female secondary teachers who agree there is an impact has remained at a similar level compared to 2024 (86% in 2024, 83% in 2026), but there has been a drop in the number of male secondary teachers who agree (85% in 2024, 76% in 2026).
If you have a question you would like Teacher Tapp to check, get in touch and let us know! England@teachertapp.co.uk 📧.
Teachers best loved tea and biscuits
About a quarter of teachers told us they don’t like tea, but for those that do, Yorkshire Tea was the number one tea of choice in every region of the country, but particularly in Yorkshire and the North East, where 69% of teachers picked it as their favourite.
PG Tips was the not-close-at-all second, with on average 13% picking it as their tea of choice, and then Twinnings coming in third with 10% choosing their English Breakfast version.
But what about a biscuit to go with that tea? When asked what biscuit would be bought for the entire staffroom (not necessarily your own favourite), the clear winner was chocolate digestives (38%), followed by custard creams in second place (15%) and chocolate bourbons and chocolate chip cookies in joint third (12%).
Would you like Tapp data for your INSET?
Teacher Tapp offered its findings to those teachers delivering INSET next academic year, and over the last fortnight hundreds of slides have been sent out to help teachers tasked with presenting to their peers. If you missed the question in the app and would like some help with your presentations, just drop us a message and we will try to assist! England@teachertapp.co.uk 📧.
Daily Reads
The most-read tip was from Tes and all about the “ecology” of reading. Check it out here.
There are so many great blogs out there and we love featuring them on Teacher Tapp. If you have a blog you think we should feature, then please email us at england@teachertapp.co.uk and we will check it out!
