Welcome to CTRL+ALT+Teach!
Who I am and what I'm about.
Hi and thanks for reading my blog. I’m Matt, Upper Key Stage 2, Digital and Computing Lead. I’ve been teaching for 5 years, prior to which I had a 13 year career in marketing within a variety of industries. For the past few years, I’ve been heavily involved in researching effective classroom practice, the impact of technology, as well as the ethics and potential impact of AI - crucially, without impacting on effective teaching and learning,
My aim with this blog is to shine more of a spotlight of these issues within primary education - so much of what I see online isn’t really talking about these issues within the primary sector and that’s something I’m hoping to change. As well as this, I also want to showcase the teaching and learning strategies I use within my classroom and how I’ve adapated them to work at the primary level.
I also want to provide some balance. I use digital tools in my teaching when they serve learning better than alternatives. I’m skeptical of the idea that newer automatically means better but also that technology will harm learning if used too much in the classroom. I believe in being child-centered first, evidence-informed second, and tech-savvy third—in that order.
This won’t be a space for quick fixes or definitive answers. Teaching is complex, children are diverse, and contexts vary enormously. What I can offer is careful thinking, honest reflection, and a commitment to looking at what the evidence actually tells us.
I also won’t pretend to have it all figured out. I’m learning as I go, questioning my own practice, and changing my mind when the evidence warrants it.
I hope this becomes a space for genuine conversation. Whether you’re a teacher wrestling with similar questions, a researcher wanting to connect your work to classroom practice, or a parent trying to make sense of your child’s digital learning, I’d love to hear from you.
So welcome. Let’s think critically about teaching, learning, and technology together.
What questions about edtech in primary classrooms are you grappling with right now?