Product reviews for Dare to be Different

Will continues to inspire us to be different: to play by the rules but to make the rules fit to what we want. Ever the coach, he recognises teachers' gifts and - in the most skilful way - draws out the very best ideas from deep within them. These then become an unstoppable force as ideas become topics, and topics become a way of school life.

For too long, possibly due to the fear imposed by Ofsted and ruthless heads, teachers have stuck rigidly to schemes and objectives which have been thought up in Whitehall. Will's take on twenty-first century learning, however, is inspirational:  -˜Dare to be different!' Simple in some ways but always with the child's engagement at the centre, he can take the most boring topic and - with a few tweaks - bring it to life. Will gives you the confidence to not be bound by whether an objective is from the national curriculum, but to ask instead: -˜What value will this idea add to a child's life? Nothing from a textbook; just planning from the heart, for the children.

These are the three-generational lessons - lessons which children will be talking about to their grandchildren. These are lessons which impact children not just in terms of their learning but also their feelings, their take on life, their future. These lessons do not get a grade in the Ofsted handbook, but if there was to be a grade it ought to be called -˜life-changing'!