Naylor's Natter

Building Culture navigates the complex educational landscape and provides a look at school culture, highlighting key aspects of cultivating culture that leads to great pupil outcomes.
Rooted in her own experience as a senior leader, Lekha Sharma knows that leaders need not only the what of curriculum, assessment and pedagogy but also the how. How can school leaders bring together the theoretical knowledge they possess and mobilise it on the ground so that they can have a positive and tangible impact on pupil outcomes? Teachers are increasingly equipped with the awareness and knowledge of cognitive psychology but what other areas of psychology could support those that lead those very teachers? And what elements of human nature can we harness to build the kind of school cultures that are conducive to improving outcomes for pupils? Building Culture provides a great start to answering all those questions.

Written by Graham Chatterley, Changing Perceptions: Deciphering the language of behaviour provides everyone working with children a better understanding of the causes of challenging behaviour and what motivates it.

This timely book moves the dial on the perception of challenging behaviour in schools. De-escalation is important but it is only part of the process: if we really want to change behaviour, we have to understand it.

The causes of poor behaviour are many and varied: fear, stress, anxiety and the feeling of being overwhelmed can all take their toll. Changing Perceptions examines the motives behind challenging behaviour and the consequences that come with it, detailing ways in which these situations can be managed calmly and consistently. Better understanding and empathy can make children feel safer, build their trust, develop belonging and consequently create more effective learners in the classroom.

Empathy is the master key to unlocking the most challenging pupils. When we consistently respond to children with empathy and compassion, we don’t just put a sticking plaster over a problem, we change their experiences: how they feel and how they behave long term. Importantly, this approach also greatly improves staff wellbeing by increasing understanding of challenging behaviour and how it is perceived.

In this book, Graham sets out why it is so important to teach behaviour and provides practical ways to deal with the most challenging situations in the classroom and stop the conflict spiral. He also covers the importance of validating feelings, building self-esteem, improving emotional resilience, raising expectations, fostering positive values and much more.

Essential reading for teachers, school leaders and everyone working with challenging behaviour.

Contents include:

This timely book examines what a meaningful school accountability system could look like in England. The book starts with a deep dive into our current inspection model, discussing some of the current pressures within the system, and comparing our inspection approach to that of other countries and sectors. It moves on to show how Ofsted and school inspections are perceived and portrayed - using first-hand accounts, academic papers, government publications, and media reports - and pulls together some of the current thinking on how the model could be improved. The author ends with her own proposals for a more meaningful and humane school accountability system. She suggests we rethink what we do, and how we do it, with a call for wide-ranging consultation leading to evidence-informed reform of the school inspection process.

This exciting new book from the bestselling authors of The Science of Learning takes complex ideas around teaching and learning and makes them easy to understand and apply through beautifully illustrated graphics. Each concept is covered over a double-page spread, with a full-page graphic on one page and supportive text on the other. This unique combination of accessible images and clear explanations helps teachers navigate the key principles and understand how to best implement them in the classroom.

Distilling key findings and ideas for great evidence-based teaching from a broad range of contemporary studies, the book covers the research findings, ideas and applications from the most important and fundamental areas of teaching and learning including:

Written to support, inspire and inform teaching staff and those involved in leadership and CPD, Teaching & Learning Illuminated will transform readers' understanding of teaching and learning research.

If you're in education, then you know that while there are many positives to the profession, it is also facing many challenges. This easy-to-use, accessible, and entertaining book shows us how diary-keeping can help us gain insight into our wellbeing needs and move forward in our lives, personally and professionally.
This book is the perfect starting point to explore what reflective practice means to you. From an overview of diary-keeping and why it's important for educator wellbeing, to plenty of practical tips, strategies, and activities for you to try out yourself, it is filled with simple pragmatic guidance to help make diary-keeping a sustainable part of your practice.
Reimagining the diary - to include writing, drawing, audio recordings, photographs, scrapbooking, and other approaches - is not only fun and creative, but essential when it comes to understanding yourself and your own complex needs.
By adopting small changes in a way that suits you, you can start to address your individual wellbeing needs and rebalance your work and, more importantly, your life.

Fearless Leadership aims to improve leadership and personal effectiveness in any workplace. Drawing on over 10 years of research and work on leadership, Richard M Varey has cultivated a model, 'The Fearless Approach', which urges leaders to create a fear-free culture and atmosphere within their organisations to allow individuals to flourish. He explains how a fearless approach can be used to raise the capacity of others, and also why it achieves this. Supported by evolutionary biology, neuro-psychology theories and a wealth of case studies of successful businesses and leaders, Richard argues that the key to developing fearlessness in the workplace has three dimensions; relationships, resilience and excellence which are represented by the fearless cube. Those three dimensions are in turn dependent on 20 separate business and leadership skills. The book explores each of the 20 individual skills and allows readers to evaluate their existing behavioural traits against these using diagnostic tools, thus identifying areas needing improvement and offers practical methods to better these skills. Fearless Leadership is littered with anecdotes from the worlds of sport and the armed forces, and will appeal to readers of Steve Peters, Carol Dweck and Malcolm Gladwell and to those interested in business management, leadership and popular psychology.

When the original Visible Learning® was published in 2008, it instantly became a publishing sensation. Interest in the book was unparalleled; it sold out in days and was described by the TES as revealing "teaching’s Holy Grail". Now John Hattie returns to this ground-breaking work. The research underlying this book is now informed by more than 2,100 meta-analyses (more than double that of the original), drawn from more than 130,000 studies, and has involved more than 400 million students from all around the world.

But this is more than just a new edition. This book is a sequel that highlights the major story, taking in the big picture to reflect on the implementation in schools of Visible Learning, how it has been understood – and at times misunderstood – and what future directions research should take.

Visible Learning: The Sequel reiterates the author’s desire to move beyond claiming what works to what works best by asking crucial questions such as: Why is the current grammar of schooling so embedded in so many classrooms, and can we improve it? Why is the learning curve for teachers after the first few years so flat? How can we develop teacher mind-frames to focus more on learning and listening? How can we incorporate research evidence as part of the discussions within schools?

Areas covered include:

Building upon the success of the original, this highly anticipated sequel expands Hattie’s model of teaching and learning based on evidence of impact and is essential reading for anyone involved in the field of education either as a researcher, teacher, student, school leader, teacher trainer, or policy maker.

"What is expert teaching? How might research help teachers improve their practice? And, crucially, how can schools ensure that teachers have a clear understanding of what great teaching looks like? In The Teaching and Learning Playbook, Feely and Karlin provide persuasive answers to these very tricky questions.

In simple terms, this is a comprehensive, highly-practical manual for excellent teaching. Alongside helpful explanations of each pedagogical technique, the book also provides compelling and convincing video footage of what this might look like in the cut and thrust of a real classroom.

With its exemplification of key teaching concepts, in one fascinating and cohesive volume, The Teaching and Learning Playbook is a game-changer for both school leaders and classroom teachers."

Mark Roberts, Author, English Teacher, and Director of Research at Carrickfergus Grammar School

"A superb directory of carefully chosen and categorised classroom techniques that every classroom teacher will be better for using. Simple to follow steps, along with video explanations makes this a bible of 'go to' strategies for every teacher, irrespective of their age or stage. I only wish I'd had access to this playbook of experience and expertise when I first started teaching!"

Jon Tait, Education Author, Leader, and Speaker

"Effective PD thrives when we have clarity and consensus around 'what good looks like'. The Playbook is the most comprehensive attempt to codify great teaching in the UK to date."

Peps Mccrea, Dean, Ambition Institute

"The Teaching and Learning Playbook is a great guide for those who want to get better, or who want to help others do the same. It is as useful for teacher educators as it is for classroom teachers. The seven barriers is a concise summary of the best available evidence on why getting better is tough, and what we can do about it. The playbook contains a precise, clear guide for what teachers can productively focus their efforts on, and the right ways to implement teaching techniques."

Josh Goodrich, Founder Steplab, Teacher and Educator

"The Teaching and Learning Playbook is essential reading for school leaders looking to ensure the highest outcomes for their pupils. What we know about most successful schools in the county is they have a high level of organisational clarity. The Playbook provides evidence and research based approaches to support school leaders in the implementation of dozens of proven school improvement strategies. This is all done with a level of detail that prevents them from transforming into ‘lethal mutations’ or less effective versions of the strategy. I will recommend the Playbook to my colleagues and use it in all the leadership coaching and training I undertake."

Dr James Lane, Executive Headteacher and Leadership Coach

Michael Feely is an experienced teacher and school leader. He is passionate about the transformative impact that education can have on children’s lives and those in their community. Michael is currently Principal of Dixons City Academy in Bradford.

Ben Karlin has worked as a teacher and school leader in disadvantaged communities since 2010, as well as roles in the business and charity sectors. He is currently Fellow, Learning Design at Ambition Institute.