Perhaps one of my most shared, and quoted, books. You only really need it for Chapter 1. Advocates for the power of ‘focus’ by “reducing til it hurts”. Written from a US perspective, but relevant everywhere.

A clear-eyed look at the complexity of school systems. Something to restore your sanity when it all seems too much. Written from a UK perspective, but relevant everywhere.

A modern classic. A look at a range of cognitive science principles that teachers can use to make learning stick. Insightful, practical and highly recommended.

One of the first books that challenged the way I thought about learning & teaching. An accessible and teacher-oriented book that unpacks a lot of cognitive science.

Another book that was early onto the scene at the start of my induction into the “traditional vs progessive” debate. An unapologetic defence of knowledge, facts and direct instruction from someone who has been at the sharp end.

A handy introductory guide that unpacks a wide range of psychological findings relevant to teachers.

A very short, neat and tidy unpacking of Barak Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction, enhanced by Oliver Caviglioli’s strong graphics. Handy if you don’t particularly like reading or just don’t have much time.

A modern classic. Articulates, with clear prose, concrete steps, and a very handy bank of online clips, a powerful range of teacher techniques. The revelation is not that they are necessarily original or innovative moves, but that Lemov has catalogued, exemplified, and named them in a way that allows us to meaningfully talk about, and train on, teaching practice.

An excellent book for understanding the intricacies of (mostly summative) assessment. Chapter 1, titled “If only it were so simple” sums it up. More helpful at a leadership rather than teacher level.

Another excellent book for understanding the intricacies of assessment, this time with a split focus on summative and formative assessment; and with a more practical, teacher-centered perspective- though there is immense value here for leaders.

A reasonably technical look at the intricacies of assessment. Great if you want to go deeper into this world of validity and reliability (e.g. if you lead assessment or are in charge of making big assessment decisions). Ultimately, quite scary if you first came across this, like me, as a relative novice and gradually came to realise that you’ve been inferring far too much from those end of unit tests that you created.

A book about…

A book about…

A solid articulation of core principles relating to implementation in an education context. Though the book is written from the perspective of implementing policy at a governmental scale (Barber was previously head of Tony Blair’s ‘Delivery Unit’), it’s just as relevant at a school or organisational level. His ‘four questions’ are stupendously simple and yet surprisingly difficult to answer, for many.

Using Haidt’s ‘elephant and rider’ analogy at it’s core (see below), this accessible and practical book exemplifies some important psychological insights into how to instigate and manage behaviour change.

For education leaders who are looking to embrace that new innovative idea or just want to turn to the research to ask ‘what works?’. This is a guide to navigating claims about what is effective in education and learning. Outlines some incredibly important principles relating to validity, reliability and how some people (and organisations) are able to use our psychological biases against us.

Why are some conversations difficult and what can we do to make them a bit less difficult? An intelligent guide to handling the awkward moments that we know we SHOULD embrace, but too often avoid. Handy for leaders who want to manage these situations with more care and effectiveness.

A rich unpacking of the scarily large number of cognitive biases that we fall prey to. Kahneman gives us a tour of his findings from a hugely successful career in behavioral economics and cognitive psychology. Very helpful for understanding adults, children, parents, leaders…ourselves.

First in a Sapolsky trilogy that is really worth engaging with. This is all about how our bodies and brains respond to stress. If you want to understand what it feels like to be a struggling learner (or a struggling anyone) this is your book. Very detailed and thorough.

Why do humans behave the way they do? The answer is a complicated mix of biological and sociological interactions that occured milliseconds, minutes, hours, days, years, and centuries ago. A very deep dive into the brain.

A book about moral psychology that has a lot of insight for why people (and groups) believe and behave the way they do. Though a lot of the book is through the lens of left/right politics, there’s a huge amount of relevance here for understanding ‘culture’ and ‘individuals’ more broadly. The ‘elephant/rider’ analogy is a powerful metaphor that I use A LOT when talking about culture (of an organisation, of a school).

The opening chapters align well with both Sapolsky and Switch.