To kick off this “Tom & Emma” episode of Mind the Gap, Emma Turner discusses what’s been on her mind: Culture (0:45). She refers to a diverse sampling of recent reading on leadership and culture, from John Tomsett and Jonny Uttley’s Putting Staff First, to a Teacher Development Trust working paper on school culture, to Anthony Quinn’s Klopp. Tom and Emma discuss the factors that contribute to a strong culture, the actions that can be taken to build such a culture, as well as some of the “don’ts.”

In the next segment (10:45), Tom discusses assessment, a topic that’s been on his mind recently. He refers to recent discourse around the purpose of exams and the proper ways to validate children’s learning. He shares some of the recently proposed assessment alternatives and why they’ve come up short, as well as the many factors we value in children’s well-rounded development, which we can appreciate better without attempting to measure them.

Next, we get to Emma’s Reading List (20:45). She recommends Bennie Kara’s A Little Guide for Teachers: Diversity in Schools, and both she and Tom discuss the importance of the subject matter. Kara will be a guest on an upcoming episode of Mind the Gap.

On Tom’s Reading List (26:55), he recommends a trio of books from John Catt’s “In Action” series: Generative Learning in Action, Cognitive Apprenticeship in Action, and Cognitive Load Theory in Action. He also recommends the free paper What Should Schools Teach?: Disciplines, subjects and the pursuit of truth, available from University College London.

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Mind the Gap is produced by Mind Rocket Media Group and presented by John Catt Educational, a leading independent publisher that has supported teachers and school leaders with research-based, easy to use professional development publications since 1959. Learn more about books from Tom, Emma, and many other world-class authors at us.johncattbookshop.com (US) or johncattbookshop.com (International).