Joe Kirby is a British school teacher and deputy head at Jane Austen College, who writes on translating research into the classroom. In 2013, he published How To Start on Teach First and his blogs, frequently citing American educator E. D. Hirsch, have become popular, resulting in his increasing influence on the debate on education in the UK. When he looked at the problem of teacher burnout and work overload, he published his widely read 2015 blog post "Marking is a Hornet", calling for the reduction in the task of marking homework, and advocating instead that pupils quiz themselves on their work using checklists or oral feedback. He created and made popular the use of knowledge organisers, a template used by teachers and their students to clarify what is essential to learn. He is a co-founder of Michaela Community School, where he was one of the 20 teaching staff that contributed to the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Teachers, published in 2016.
Kirby is an English teacher and deputy head who writes on translating research into the classroom. Prior to becoming vice principal at Jane Austen College, part of the Inspiration Trust, Norwich, he was at Dunraven School in Streatham, and then was one of four deputy heads at Michaela Community School in Wembley, a school he helped establish. He is an active blogger on education, with his widely-read blog titled "Pragmatic Education". Like a number of other younger British teachers including Tom Bennett and Daisy Christodoulou, Kirby has been inspired by American educator E. D. Hirsch. This has been reflected in his references to Hirsch in a large number of his blogs, popular messages that resulted in promoting Hirsch's's ideas, and increasing Kirby's influence on the debate on education in the UK. In 2013 he was name checked by Michael Gove, British Secretary of State for Education at the time, and the education watchdog Ofsted, and has since been frequently cited and consulted by Gove and politician Nick Gibb.
Teaching methods
Kirby has written on teaching methods with maximum impact and minimum effort. He has advised that hundreds of words can be taught by explaining how words are formed. At Michaela, he explained that methods were adapted to reduce teacher burnout because "common practices result in heavy workload, high burnout, and very, very high levels of teacher turnover". He rewrote Year 7's study of the Odyssey, removing the parts he felt were less important to read. His 2015 blog post "Marking is a Hornet", which described teachers' marking of homework as "high-effort" and "low-impact" like a hornet, and recommended saving time by asking pupils to self-assess and quiz themselves using checklists or oral feedback. The responsibility, he explains, lies in self-improvement and a collective sense of working for better outcomes. He was one of the 20 members of Michaela's staff that contributed to the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Teachers, published in 2016 by John Catt Educational, edited by Michaela's head Katharine Birbalsingh and endorsed by Roger Scruton. In the book, Kirby explains the curriculum design and how eleven-year olds are prepared for school in boot camp prior to the beginning of the school year, how the students are taught that "silence in lessons is golden, that it helps us listen and helps us learn", how teaching of factual knowledge is prioritised, and how consistency and simplicity in a "centralised system" allow students to complete homework with the aim of not overloading teachers with marking, thereby reducing burnout. Kirby created the knowledge organiser, a template on a single A4 sheet used by teachers and their pupils to clarify what is essential to learn. He calls the knowledge organiser “the most powerful tool in the arsenal of the curriculum designer”.
