Product reviews for Never Mind the Inspectors

Ever since I first met Tait, he has been a self-professed learning geek. This book charts his journey through a frustrating time in modern education, when school leaders and teachers have been encouraged to jump through hoops (visible and invisible) in order to prove their worth.

In his book, Tait gives practical examples on how to bring learning, and his students' desire to learn, back to the fore. Tait speaks with passion about his musical role models which were, and are still, prominent in the punk movement. Punk is not a fashion it's a state of mind, just as learning should be the state of mind in today's classrooms rather than repetitive, inspection-driven pedagogies. Tait develops the idea of students taking ownership of the things they want to learn about, rather than the things they are told they should -” this is a big idea and, at its heart, challenges the status quo of modern society.

To summarise, Tait manages to balance the role of a twenty-first century school leader with a refreshingly revolutionary approach to putting learning first. This book should divide opinion; it will empower and inspire some, whilst others will find it unfathomable and unrealistic.