Seven Summer Must-Reads to Inspire Educators

Blog written by Alps Education Consultant, Dr. John Roe. 

The summer term is often the perfect time for educators to reflect on the past academic year, evaluate what has worked well, and to identify areas for improvement. Reading widely can not only spark creativity but also be an excellent way for teachers and leaders to stay up to date with new ideas, theories, and research that can enhance their knowledge of educational trends as well as their teaching and leadership skills.

In this blog, I discuss some of my favourite educational books, each one jam-packed with innovative ideas and practical approaches to support teachers and leaders as they prepare for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

1. ‘What Every Teacher Needs to Know: How to embed evidence-informed teaching and learning in your school’ by Jade Pearce

This book is a fantastic resource for anyone leading on teaching and learning within a school or college, or for any teachers who want to develop their practice by utilising the latest evidence-based research. The first part of the book provides a summary of twenty prominent research papers on effective teaching and learning, including key takeaways for classroom practice. The second part of this book brings the findings from this research together and explores key areas such as retrieval practice, questioning, explicit instruction, feedback and managing cognitive load. The book is clear, concise and accessible and is a must-read for anyone keen to apply the findings from evidence-based research to enhance their teaching and student outcomes.

2. ‘Time to Think: The things that stop us and how to deal with them’ by Rachel Johnson.

Whether you are new to leadership or an experienced middle or senior leader, this book offers a wealth of practical strategies to support you with different challenges you may face. Covering issues such as having crucial conversations with colleagues to overcoming people pleasing tendencies, this book offers advice, support and approaches that you can implement both individually and within teams you lead. Throughout the book, the reader is encouraged to reflect and consider their values, vision, purpose, achievements, failures and characteristics as a leader. This brilliant book is a must-read for anyone keen to develop their leadership skills.

3. ‘The Power of Teams: How to create and lead thriving school teams’ by Sam Crome.

Creating, managing and motivating teams are essential elements of leadership. The Power of Teams draws on evidence from a range of sectors, including education, to explore not only the key characteristics many high-performing teams share, but also effective teamwork strategies that can be applied within a school context. If you are an aspiring or current leader working in education, this book will not only help you to develop your leadership skills, but also support you in building a team culture and dynamic where colleagues can thrive.

4. ‘The Revision Revolution: How to build a culture of effective study in your school,’ by Helen Wilson and Ross Morrison McGill.

This engaging book is based on the latest educational research and cognitive psychology and provides extensive guidance on how to embed revision into both the curriculum and everyday classroom practice. The importance of effective curriculum design and sequencing alongside the use of carefully planned and focussed assessment strategies is also discussed. The book also emphasises the importance of sharing the science behind different revision strategies with staff and offers a wealth of practical approaches that can be used within staff training sessions.

5. ‘The VESPA Handbook: 40 new activities to boost student commitment, motivation and productivity’ by Steve Oakes and Martin Griffin.

The VESPA Handbook is a fantastic resource for both teachers and students and an excellent addition to the VESPA series. Like their previous books, it’s jam-packed with fantastic strategies and activities that teachers can use directly with students to raise aspirations and to develop their motivation, confidence, and study skills.

6. ‘The Homework Conundrum: How to stop the dog from eating homework’ by Jovita M. Castelino.

The Homework Conundrum utilises both cognitive science principles and extensive research to explore how homework activities can be designed effectively to build confidence, develop study skills and improve attainment. The book offers a range of practical strategies that teachers can use within their schools and colleges to develop a successful homework culture, where homework is both valued and an integral part of teaching and learning.

7. ‘Feedback: Strategies to support teacher workload and improve pupil progress’ by Kate Jones

In her latest book, Kate Jones focusses on how feedback can be used effectively by teachers to help pupils make progress. Within the book there are separate chapters devoted to written feedback, verbal feedback, whole-class feedback, self-assessment and peer assessment, with each offering practical advice and research-based strategies to help teachers make feedback both manageable and impactful. This exceptional book also contains a range of interesting case studies across primary and secondary sectors and is a must-read for teachers and leaders who are looking to enhance the quality of pupil feedback without adding to teacher workload.

I hope that you have found this blog informative and discovered new books that can support you and your colleagues to refine teaching practices, strengthen leadership skills and inspire both staff and students.

About the author, John Roe:

John has worked in education for 22 years as a science teacher, head of department and pastoral lead.  John is passionate about creating an aspirational culture and supporting students to achieve their full potential. Prior to joining Alps, John was Director of Radyr Sixth Form in Cardiff for 10 years, where he lead the transformation of the sixth form with student outcomes consistently matching the performance of the top 2% nationally.