Why do 10,500 teachers answer questions on Teacher Tapp every day? We get asked this a lot. And the answer – beyond the fact people like to see the answers and get the daily read – is that the data helps to make a difference.
So how have we done that in 2023? In total we have:
- Featured your voices in over 150 media stories (more below!)
- Published a major report into teacher recruitment and retention
- Given evidence in parliament about flexible workload (and why it’s harder than it may seem for leaders)
- Participated in over 20 education conferences – sharing insights to leaders and policymakers so they make better decisions
We have also:
- Sent out over £15,000 worth of books and prizes to lucky tappers!
- Won a global edtech competition
- Introduced the ability to save Daily Reads in the app🤘
Give us more! Give us more! Want more on the successes of this year? Here you go…
January
In January, the PM announced an ‘ambition’ to have all young people study maths in some form to 18 so we sent a 6-point summary of your thoughts on the plan to Number 10 (see the full list of responses here).
In addition, Teacher Tapp co-founder and CEO, Laura McInerney featured on LBC talking about school funding and Teacher Tapp data was included in Schools Week, TES, Conservative Home, The HeadTeacher, The Guardian, Nursery World, The Express, and iNews.
February
The first wave of school strikes took place in February and Teacher Tapp played an important role in making sure your voices were heard and the proportion of striking teachers was accurately reported.
Did you spot Teacher Tapp on the front page of The Times or The Evening Standard? Or maybe you saw Teacher Tapp’s Laura McInerney on Newsnight (worth a watch for the comedy of Lord Baker’s endlessly ringing phone!)
March
In March, Teacher Tapp was mentioned in a range of media from nationals to niche!
Data on strikes was included in the Evening Standard (again) and The AI Educator (Dan Fitzpatrick) was the one of the first people to write about how teachers are using ChatGPT, citing Teacher Tapp data. An article in Schools Week also highlighted how surveys like Teacher Tapp can positively contribute to teacher wellbeing – you heard it here first 😜
Survey apps – previously seen as adding to teacher workloads, have become a crucial part in making sure teachers are heard. Platforms such as Teacher Tapp, allow educators to respond each day to issues that are shaping the future of teaching. From questions about learning programs, teacher wellbeing, wages, education policy and a whole host of other insights, teachers can share their opinions directly, providing decision makers with a clear picture of what’s happening in U.K schools.
Compass Education, for SchoolsWeek
April
A huge milestone was achieved in April: for the first time ever Teacher Tapp had 10,000 responses in one day🥳
There was also lots of media coverage as strikes rumbled on, with Teacher Tapp CEO Laura McInerney sharing findings with the BBC, LBC, and Vanessa, amongst others.
May
In May Teacher Tapp data was used in a BBC Radio 4 documentary. File on 4 investigated claims that children are being taught graphic and age-inappropriate material as part of their Relationship and Sex Education.
Also in May, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan pointed out in a letter to unions that more Teacher Tappers said they’d vote for her proposed pay deal if it was fully funded. It was good to see her taking account of your views. The only issue was that she seems to believe the deal was fully funded, whereas the unions (and many of you) felt differently.
June
In June, we published our latest research into teacher recruitment. In partnership with SchoolDash and The Gatsby Foundation. The report was covered by both Schools Week and TES (£).
July
Throughought July, the Teacher Tapp team were out and about at our biggest ever year of conferences.
Did you see us on the road?
August
It may have been the summer holidays, but YOU kept Tapping, and WE kept telling everyone what you were saying!
Laura McInerney, was interviewed on LBC (again) about the teacher pay settlement and on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme about new Teacher Tapp school uniform findings .
Also in August, The Lionesses competeted in the World Cup final. They may not have won 😥 but 46% of primary teachers told us they’d seen girls playing football in the playground; a 12 percentage point increase on the previous year. The increase was included in various news stories, such as this one in the iNews. And the DfE even tweeted about it!
September
In September, we introduced the ability to save the Teacher Tapp Daily Reads.
So far, over 20,000 articles have been saved.
Also in September, we were delighted to announce that Teacher Tapp was a winner in the 2023 Learning Tools Competition! The competition is one of the largest edtech competitions in the world and is highly competitive: over 1,000 teams from around the world entered, and Teacher Tapp is 1 of only 10 companies to receive the top award. Here’s Laura explaining more:
October
In October, the government announced it was going going to “ban” phones in schools. Which is to say, the government planed to issue non-statutory guidance to recommend heads ban phones.
Teacher Tapp CEO Laura McInerney took to the airwaves to share the facts. In a whirlwind media tour, she was on The Today Programme, LBC, Talk TV, AND Times Radio all in one day!
The data was also featured in Schools Week, TES(£), and was discussed by education influencer Mr P ICT.
November
In November, Teacher Tapp Co-Founder Becky Allen gave evidence to the Education Select Committee on the critical issue of teacher retention. Her testimony incorporated the perspectives of YOU… our 10,000 Teacher Tappers!
The weekly blog highlighted the data that Becky shared with Members of Parliament, using your valuable data points, including new results that show how few school leaders are aware of the DfE workload reduction initiatives. Here she is making one of the key points about how tricky it is to measure teacher workload:
December
You’re still making an impact by answering Teacher Tapp questions in December!
We couldn’t do what we do without you. Thank you for Tapping through 2023, and keep your eyes peeled for big Teacher Tapp developments in 2024 👀
And finally…
If you’re looking for the list of daily reads for the week, you can find them here
