Schools Week features three of our books: 'Becoming a Teacher', 'The Four Pillars of Parental Engagement' and 'The CPD Curriculum' in their article '12 books to look forward to this summer and beyond'.

​Read the article in full here.

Accessible, readable and engaging, Becoming a Teacher draws on Alan Newland’s decades of professional work and academic study in education to set out the key principles for developing and understanding the professional values essential to becoming a good teacher. Find out more here.

In The Four Pillars of Parental Engagement, Justin Robbins and Karen Dempster offer a unique approach to the holy grail of parental engagement for the 21st century. Rather than setting it as a separate activity, they consider parental engagement as a planned, sustained and integral part of the whole-school approach: an approach which starts with the school vision and positions parents and schools equally as fundamental to student learning. Find out more here.

Co-authored by Zoe Enser and Mark Enser, The CPD Curriculum: Creating conditions for growth shares expert and practical guidance for schools on designing and delivering continuing professional development (CPD) that truly lives up to its name. Zoe and Mark explain how schools can overcome issues with CPD that can leave teachers plateauing in their development after just a few years, and share a variety of case studies that illustrate the key components of an effective CPD programme that builds on teachers’ prior knowledge. Find out more here.

"The book offers a fantastic range of real-world school stories, showing how individual teachers have positively impacted on young people they taught." Read UKEdChat's great review of Gary Toward and Chris Henley's new book 'Celebrating Teachers', which has been given a rating of 9.2/10!

PROS

• The book offers a fantastic range of real-world school stories, showing how individual teachers have positively impacted on young people they taught.
• Gary & Chris reflect on each of the 19 stories shared, highlighting the difference each individual made, and how the reader can change their practice to make a difference to individuals.
• A top-ten collection of traits is highlighted within the conclusion, showcasing behaviours that teachers can adopt to ensure all students become active learners.
• Is it nice to view how other teachers work, and this book does spotlight what happens in various school settings at different phases and in different parts of the UK.
• The book celebrates the fantastic brilliance of 19 individual teachers, and although you may not be included, be assured that you are likely to be included within the narrative of young people who you have taught. This book also salutes you.

Read the full review here.

Gary Toward and Chris Henley believe that teaching is the best and most important profession. Now, you might argue that it would be medicine that should take that accolade – as medics save lives and mend people. But teachers create lives and ‘make’ people. They, in fact, create medics!

This book celebrates the superhero of the classroom: the teacher.

Teachers make a difference, and often that difference is life-changing. In this book, Gary and Chris look at some of the many cases where such a difference has been made and examine exactly what it was that made such an impact on the life of the young person – and they also highlight the key approaches that teachers might want to try out in their own classroom, with their own pupils.

Find out more about the book here.

Richard Evans, author of Independent Thinking on Emotional Literacy, will be speaking at the Pupil Mental Health conference organised by SecEd and Headteacher Update. Richard's session will discuss why emotional literacy is so vital to pupil outcomes.

​Find out more and register here.

"This is an ideal book for any school, or school-leader, who is struggling on how to best improve CPD practices across the school, offering tips, signposts and case-studies that can be easily adapted." Read UKEdChat's review of The CPD Curriculum by Zoe Enser and Mark Enser.

​Read the full review here.

Co-authored by Zoe Enser and Mark Enser, The CPD Curriculum: Creating conditions for growth shares expert and practical guidance for schools on designing and delivering continuing professional development (CPD) that truly lives up to its name.

There is a wealth of research available on professional learning, from both within and outside the education sphere, and in this book Zoe and Mark pull it all together to help school leaders optimise teachers’ ongoing learning and growth.

Zoe and Mark explain how schools can overcome issues with CPD that can leave teachers plateauing in their development after just a few years, and share a variety of case studies that illustrate the key components of an effective CPD programme that builds on teachers’ prior knowledge.

Discover the book here.

Erik Blair – author of Independent Thinking on Teaching in Higher Education – has been interviewed on the Think UDL Podcast.

Listen to the episode here.

Dr Erik Blair’s Independent Thinking on Teaching in Higher Education: From theory to practice is a refreshing and invigorating exploration of what really matters and what really works in higher education teaching.

This book offers an insight into an area of higher education that has become more significant of late: the art of teaching. It focuses on the actual work of teaching and gives thought-provoking and perceptive guidance on how to teach in a meaningful and engaging manner.

Find out more about the book here.

"You walk into the staff room to get a fresh cup of tea and find a colleague hunched over. “Are you okay?” you ask, knowing full well they are not. As they look up with red eyes full of tears you begin to hear what has caused the crisis in a broken sobbing voice." Adam Robbins' article explains how you can best support a staff member in crisis.

​Read the full article here.

Instead of relying on generic leadership theories, Adam’s new book Middle Leadership Mastery gathers perspectives from psychology and cognitive science to share evidence-informed guidance on a wide range of topics – from supporting staff and students in crisis and managing wellbeing, to quality-assuring teaching and curriculum design. It also sets out a holistic view of the role of middle leaders – covering people management, teacher development, teaching and learning, decision making and pastoral issues. Discover the book here.