Product reviews for Never Mind the Inspectors

Although I suppose the publishers of this book were expecting something that is purely educationally based, the spirit behind Punk Learning goes far beyond this. Tait not only challenges the reader to consider what they do within the classroom, he delves much deeper than this by demanding more of you as an individual within the grander scheme of things. References to artists, lyricists, philosophers and musicians lead to you questioning the very things that you stand for: those values and principles that sometimes lie dormant due to the pursuit of those levels of progress.
When criticising the system that so-called educationists have created, however, Tait makes it clear that he's not interested in simply making it better. Instead, he wants to smash it up and replace it with something of true substance. Yet he wants us to create whatever that may be by using our own thinking, our own understanding of what works, and our own sense of authenticity. Throughout the book, Tait presents us with alternative ways to the much maligned 20 minutes for progress, and these are accompanied by practical classroom methods and examples. Far from being a conceptual notion that some bloggers on Twitter bang on about, punk learning is alive and breathing and it's being played out with his students in Bradford, UK.
Tait Coles has produced a remarkable book. Anything that results in personally wanting to tear up, rewrite and rethink your own educational practice after reading a little over 150 pages is a remarkable thing. And this is how I justify such a statement: Never Mind the Inspectors Here's Punk Learning is actually more than just a book - it is a philosophy, a manifesto, a paradigm shifter and a great big two-fingered salute to the existing status quo. Tait's so-called 'staffroom corner huggers' and the -˜outstanding' glam teachers who wear 'aluminium foil and make up' better watch out!