Peps Mccrea, Dean of Learning Design at Ambition Institute and author of books such as Motivated Teaching and Memorable Teaching, is the guest on this episode. Visit edCircuit.com to watch this episode. With hosts Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner, Peps discusses his work as a professional teacher educator and what drove him to enter this role relatively early in his career. He talks about his approach to training educators, the priorities he sets for delivering impact, and more important considerations about ensuring each student is taught by an excellent teacher. Peps also discusses the challenges and benefits of writing “ultraconcise” books for educators, the influence of social norms on teachers’ behaviours, the frameworks for reliably developing teacher expertise, and more. Mind the Gap is 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). About the participants: Peps Mccrea is Dean of Learning Design at Ambition Institute, where he oversee the design of programmes for teachers and teacher educators. In the past, he has been a senior lecturer in teacher education, teacher, and school leader. Peps also writes ultraconcise books for teachers including Motivated Teaching and Memorable Teaching. Learn more on his website https://pepsmccrea.com and connect with him on Twitter @pepsmccrea Tom Sherrington has worked in schools as a teacher and leader for 30 years and is now a consultant specializing in teacher development and curriculum & assessment planning. His books include Teaching WalkThrus, Rosenshine’s Principles in Action and The Learning Rainforest Fieldbook. Follow Tom on Twitter @teacherhead Emma Turner joined Discovery Schools Academy Trust as the Research and CPD lead after 20 years in primary teaching. Turner is author of Be More Toddler: A Leadership Education From Our Little Learners and Let’s Talk About Flex: Flipping the flexible working narrative for education. Follow Emma on Twitter @emma_turner75

Acclaimed educators, authors and advisers John Tomsett and Mary Myatt join Mind the Gap to discuss their new co-authored book, Huh: Curriculum conversations between subject and senior leaders. Visit edCircuit.com to watch this episode. With hosts Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner, Tomsett and Myatt talk about the conversations that need to take place in schools regarding the rationale behind the curriculum, what they are intending to achieve with it, how well it is planned and enacted in classrooms and how they know whether it’s successful. They also discuss a variety of other critical education and teaching topics. Mind the Gap is 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). About the guests: John Tomsett has been a teacher for 27 years and a head teacher for 12. He is head teacher at Huntington School, York. He co-founded The Headteachers’ Roundtable think tank and is a popular speaker on school leadership. Follow John on Twitter @johntomsett Mary Myatt is an education adviser, writer and speaker. She has written extensively about leadership, school improvement and the curriculum in her books Back on Track, High Challenge, Low Threat, Hopeful Schools and The Curriculum: Gallimaufry to Coherence.  Mary has been a governor in three schools, and a trustee for a multi academy trust. She co-founded the RE Quality Mark, is chair of the board for the Centre for Education and Youth and a member of the curriculum advisory group for Oak National Academy. Follow Mary on Twitter @marymyatt Follow Tom and Emma on Twitter: @teacherhead @emma_turner75

On the 30th episode of Mind the Gap, Tom and Emma speak with educator, blogger, and author Alex Quigley. Visit edCircuit.com to watch this episode. The conversation begins with a reflection on the way Tom and Alex met one another many years ago, as they were both beginning to blog and find that readers were interested in their work. Alex talks about his introduction to blogging, social media, and eventually his book writing process. Tom, Emma, and Alex also discuss some of the topics Alex speaks and writes about, including intentionality in one’s teaching practice; how educators determine instructional priorities across grade levels; goals for teaching reading and writing; and more. Mind the Gap is 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). About the participants: Alex Quigley is a former English teacher and school leader, of over 15 years' standing, who now works for the Education Endowment Foundation, supporting teachers to access research evidence. He blogs at www.theconfidentteacher.com his books include Closing the Reading Gap, Closing the Vocabulary Gap, and The Confident Teacher. Follow him on Twitter @AlexJQuigley Tom Sherrington has worked in schools as a teacher and leader for 30 years and is now a consultant specializing in teacher development and curriculum & assessment planning. His books include Teaching WalkThrus, Rosenshine’s Principles in Action and The Learning Rainforest Fieldbook. Follow Tom on Twitter @teacherhead Emma Turner joined Discovery Schools Academy Trust as the Research and CPD lead after 20 years in primary teaching. Turner is author of Be More Toddler: A Leadership Education From Our Little Learners and Let’s Talk About Flex: Flipping the flexible working narrative for education. Follow Emma on Twitter @emma_turner75

On this episode, Tom and Emma catch up on a variety of topics that have been prominent in the education discourse. Visit edCircuit.com to watch this episode. The episode begins with Emma’s overview of the latest work on the Early Career Framework in the UK. Tom and Emma discuss professional learning, instructional coaching, needs for Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs), mentorship, and more. They also chat about the need to learn both the theory and practice of classroom instruction. Other topics include the EduGive online conference Tom and his daughter Daisy organised to raise money for charity, including some of the brilliant ideas shared in the conference; and what curriculum should look like in schools. Mind the Gap is 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). About the participants: Tom Sherrington has worked in schools as a teacher and leader for 30 years and is now a consultant specializing in teacher development and curriculum & assessment planning. His books include Teaching WalkThrus, Rosenshine’s Principles in Action and The Learning Rainforest Fieldbook. He regularly contributes to conferences and CPD sessions locally and nationally and is busy working in schools and colleges across the UK and around the world. Follow Tom on Twitter @teacherhead Emma Turner joined Discovery Schools Academy Trust as the Research and CPD lead after 20 years in primary teaching. She is the founder of ‘NewEd – Joyful CPD for early career teachers’, a not-for-profit approach to CPD to encourage positivity amongst the profession and help to retain teachers in post. Turner is author of Be More Toddler: A Leadership Education From Our Little Learners and Let’s Talk About Flex: Flipping the flexible working narrative for education. Follow Emma on Twitter @emma_turner75

Professor Sam Twiselton, OBE is the special guest for this episode of Mind the Gap. Sam is Director of Sheffield Institute of Education at Sheffield Hallam University and one of the UK’s most recognised leaders in the areas of Initial and Continuing Teacher Development. Visit edCircuit.com to watch this episode. Among other topics, Sam discusses her desire to see a change in the narrative around early career teachers, her thoughts on what should be included in teacher training and initial teacher education, and how she views her role and responsibility as a national education leader. Mind the Gap is 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). About the participants: Professor Samantha Twiselton, OBE is the Director of Sheffield Institute of Education at Sheffield Hallam University - a national centre of education research and practice, recognised for its excellence and innovation in teaching and learning. In this role she uses her research and practice in the development of teacher expertise to develop a range of innovative workplace embedded approaches to Initial and Continuing Teacher development. With experience in teacher education, curriculum development and language and literacy, Sam has been heavily involved in influencing Government policy on teacher education. In June 2018 she was named in the Queen's birthday honours as a recipient of an OBE for services to Higher Education. You can find her on Twitter @SamTwiselton Tom Sherrington has worked in schools as a teacher and leader for 30 years and is now a consultant specializing in teacher development and curriculum & assessment planning. His books include Teaching WalkThrus, Rosenshine’s Principles in Action and The Learning Rainforest Fieldbook. Follow Tom on Twitter @teacherhead Emma Turner joined Discovery Schools Academy Trust as the Research and CPD lead after 20 years in primary teaching. Turner is author of Be More Toddler: A Leadership Education From Our Little Learners and Let’s Talk About Flex: Flipping the flexible working narrative for education. Follow Emma on Twitter @emma_turner75

Haili Hughes, an English teacher, Head of Department, teacher mentor, and author of the new book, Mentoring in Schools: How to become an expert colleague, is Tom and Emma’s guest on this episode. Visit edCircuit.com to watch this episode. To start off the episode, Haili describes what inspired her to write the book. She noticed there wasn’t much literature on mentoring as a practice; nothing that bridged the theory and practice. She decided to write a book that educators could reference again and again. She also describes how she used focus groups to get teachers’ voices directly involved in developing the content. Haili also talks about the Early Career Framework, addressing the concerns some educators feel with the framework and giving her perspective on how it can be used properly. Tom also shares a story from early in his career, describing the lack of mentoring he received , which leads into a practical discussion about how to set up mentoring in schools. How often should teachers meet with their mentors and what should they discuss? Later, Emma discusses the many hats educators wear and how trying out different roles is the best way to determine your own unique strengths. Tom, Emma and Haili also discuss the challenges educators face, their own work with schools nationwide, and much more. Haili Hughes is an English teacher, former Head of Department and Senior Leader who has mentored new teachers and ITT students for over 10 years. Haili is author of the book Mentoring in Schools: How to become an expert colleague. You can find her on Twitter @HughesHaili Tom Sherrington has worked in schools as a teacher and leader for 30 years and is now a consultant specializing in teacher development and curriculum & assessment planning. His books include Teaching WalkThrus, Rosenshine’s Principles in Action and The Learning Rainforest Fieldbook. Follow Tom on Twitter @teacherhead Emma Turner joined Discovery Schools Academy Trust as the Research and CPD lead after 20 years in primary teaching. Turner is author of Be More Toddler: A Leadership Education From Our Little Learners and Let’s Talk About Flex: Flipping the flexible working narrative for education. Follow Emma on Twitter @emma_turner75

This episode is the season two premiere of Mind the Gap, and we’re pleased to welcome Nimish Lad as this season’s first guest. Nimish is Curriculum and Research Lead at the Creative Education Trust, a Vice Principal, and author of the new book, Shimamura’s MARGE Model of Learning in Action published by John Catt. Visit edCircuit.com to watch this episode. Nimish discusses the MARGE (Motivate, Attend, Relate, Generate and Evaluate) Model, which he writes about in detail in his new book. The model is a whole-brain learning approach for teachers and students that links neuroscience and cognitive science. One of the ideas that impressed Nimish the most is the way MARGE can provide a framework to refine the quality of learning aids that educators use. Tom, Emma, and Nimish also describe why teachers are like museum curators in the way they need to carefully and strategically select the artifacts that will illustrate the necessary story; the things teachers should we wary of when implementing new ideas; the power of the use of “non-examples” (“it is this, but it isn’t that…”); and much more. About the participants: Nimish Lad is Curriculum and Research Lead at the Creative Education Trust, and Vice Principal at Wrenn School in Wellingborough. As a teacher of science, he has always been drawn to evidence-informed practice and contextualising research to use within the classroom. You can find Nimish on twitter at @nlad84 Tom Sherrington has worked in schools as a teacher and leader for 30 years and is now a consultant specializing in teacher development and curriculum & assessment planning. His books include Teaching WalkThrus, Rosenshine’s Principles in Action and The Learning Rainforest Fieldbook. He regularly contributes to conferences and CPD sessions locally and nationally and is busy working in schools and colleges across the UK and around the world. Follow Tom on Twitter @teacherhead Emma Turner joined Discovery Schools Academy Trust as the Research and CPD lead after 20 years in primary teaching. She is the founder of ‘NewEd – Joyful CPD for early career teachers,’ a not-for-profit approach to CPD to encourage positivity amongst the profession and help to retain teachers in post. Turner is author of Be More Toddler: A Leadership Education From Our Little Learners and Let’s Talk About Flex: Flipping the flexible working narrative for education. Follow Emma on Twitter @emma_turner75

Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner welcome best-selling author, award-winning blogger, and international speaker Tom Bennett to the show. Bennett is founder of researchED and author of several books, including Running the Room: The Teacher’s Guide to Behaviour. Visit edCircuit.com to watch this episode. The episode begins with a conversation about what’s next for researchED. With in-person events returning, the organisation is seeing increased demand for its content and conferences. Bennett explains what he’s seeing, and why educators are so eager to convene and discuss education research. Other topics of discussion include early childhood education and, in particular, what educators should know about classroom culture and behaviour in these early years; Bennett’s observations about trends in behaviour and classroom management; how the culture and positive momentum in schools can be self-sustaining; and much more. Mind the Gap is 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). Tom Bennett is the founder of researchED, a grass-roots organisation that raises research literacy in education and campaigns for better evidence awareness worldwide. In 2015 he became the UK government’s school ‘Behaviour Czar,’ advising on behavior policy, as well as chairing the Mental Health in Schools panel. Tom’s latest books are Running the Room: The Teacher’s Guide to Behaviour and The Running the Room Companion. Follow him on Twitter @tombennett71. Tom Sherrington's books include Teaching WalkThrus and The Learning Rainforest Fieldbook. Follow Tom on Twitter @teacherhead Emma Turner is author of Be More Toddler: A Leadership Education From Our Little Learners and Let’s Talk About Flex: Flipping the flexible working narrative for education. Follow Emma on Twitter @emma_turner75

On this episode, Tom and Emma celebrate one year of Mind the Gap. The hosts reflect on some of the guests they’ve had the opportunity to interview over the course of the year. Everyone involved with the show sends a special thank you to our listeners for helping us grow! Visit edCircuit.com to watch this episode. Next (1:55), the hosts have an extended discussion about feedback. Specifically, the instances when it isn’t helpful or useful. They dive deep into a number of perspectives to figure out the differences between written and verbal feedback, and what educators should consider about each type. Tom and Emma then reflect on their most recent interview with Abby Bayford (20:45), as well as Episode 20 with John Tomsett and Jonny Uttley. This leads into a discussion on the dynamism of the teaching community (28:00), as Tom remarks on how he’s been blown away by some of the amazing educators he’s encountered who maintain their enthusiasm despite the challenges of the past year and more. He and Emma take time to chat about the gathering of momentum around professional learning, the passion present across the profession, and more. In the final part of the discussion (36:25), the hosts discuss their latest project, in which Emma matched up the Teaching WalkThrus books with the eight standards in the Early Career Framework. Tune in to learn more! Mind the Gap is 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). Tom Sherrington has worked in schools as a teacher and leader for 30 years and is now a consultant specializing in teacher development and curriculum & assessment planning. His books include Teaching WalkThrus, Rosenshine’s Principles in Action and The Learning Rainforest Fieldbook. He regularly contributes to conferences and CPD sessions locally and nationally and is busy working in schools and colleges across the UK and around the world. Follow Tom on Twitter @teacherhead Emma Turner joined Discovery Schools Academy Trust as the Research and CPD lead after 20 years in primary teaching. She is the founder of ‘NewEd – Joyful CPD for early career teachers’, a not-for-profit approach to CPD to encourage positivity amongst the profession and help to retain teachers in post. Turner is author of Be More Toddler: A Leadership Education From Our Little Learners and Let’s Talk About Flex: Flipping the flexible working narrative for education. Follow Emma on Twitter @emma_turner75

In this Mind the Gap episode, Tom and Emma speak with Abby Bayford, editor and contributor to Letter to My NQT Self. Written by the Academy Transformation Trust family and friends, the book is a collection of retrospective letters by various teachers to themselves as newly qualified teachers (NQT). Visit edCircuit.com to watch this episode. Tom, Emma, and Abby dive into the details and importance of the book, whose proceeds are going to the charitable efforts of Education Support. Abby describes how it started as a roundtable discussion on induction experiences and guidelines for early career teachers and eventually grew into a John Catt book raising money to provide educators with mental health and wellness services. Abby wanted the book to be “a heated blanket” of support for teachers to take in on their own time, reading the letters and absorbing useful, helpful experiences. When organizing the writers for the book, Abby made deliberate requests for concrete strategies to be woven into the letter experiences. The discussion moves along with takeaways from the letters reflecting on teacher experience from authenticity to colleague collaboration, generosity, and community spirit. Mentorship and instructional coaching are examined as a more elaborate and necessary element compared to early education models. As Tom suggests, there is no reason that Letters to My NQT Self shouldn’t be available for all early educators in every school. To find full video episodes, subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MindtheGapwithTomEmma/ Mind the Gap is 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 at us.johncattbookshop.com (US) or johncattbookshop.com (International). Abby Bayford is the editor of Letter to My NQT Self. Follow her on Twitter @ATT_Institute Tom Sherrington's books include Teaching WalkThrus, Rosenshine’s Principles in Action and The Learning Rainforest Fieldbook. Follow Tom on Twitter @teacherhead Emma Turner is author of Be More Toddler: A Leadership Education From Our Little Learners and Let's Talk About Flex: Flipping the flexible working narrative for education. Follow Emma on Twitter @emma_turner75