In an age of artificial intelligence, standardised testing and information overload, the ability to truly think has never been more important or more neglected. Dare to Think! is a passionate, practical inquiry into what thinking actually is, why it matters and how educators can deliberately create the conditions for it in their classrooms. Drawing on nearly three decades in the classroom and a rich tradition of philosophical inquiry from Aristotle to Wittgenstein, Andrew Rogers argues that too many students have been trained to remember and reproduce rather than question, wonder and reason, and that this is a problem educators have both the power and the responsibility to address. Structured as a genuine inquiry rather than a prescriptive manual, the book uses philosophy as both its method and its message. Andrew defines what thinking actually is, exposes the imposters that masquerade as it and makes the case for dialogue, curiosity and reasoning as the foundations of transformative education. He writes as a co-inquirer alongside the reader, sharing what has worked and inviting educators to reflect on their own practice. For any teacher who has glimpsed that rare moment when students are genuinely alive with ideas, this book offers a clear path to making it happen every day.

School improvement is not a theory problem. It is a doing problem. Most school leaders know what good improvement looks like – the challenge is knowing what to actually do on Monday, and then after that. The Driving School Improvement Workbook is the practical companion to Pamela Macklin and Vic Zbar's widely used Driving School Improvement series, designed to help school leaders apply a proven improvement approach to the specific circumstances of their own school. From evaluating your leadership and building a cohesive team, to diagnosing where your school is at and carrying staff with you through change, every chapter offers structured tools, pro formas and activities you can use immediately. Grounded in more than three decades of school improvement work across Australia and internationally, this workbook moves beyond argument and into action. It is organised around the key stages of whole-school improvement – leadership, diagnosis, building staff capacity, evidence-informed practice, change management and measuring impact – and is designed to be dipped into as needed rather than read from cover to cover. Whether you are a principal leading whole-school change or a member of a leadership team looking to sharpen your practice, this is the resource that answers the question every school leader eventually asks: so what do I actually do next?

You are not behind. You are just figuring it out. And so is pretty much everyone else, even if they do not look like it. Start Where You Are is not a book full of perfect advice from people who have life sorted. It is an honest, practical companion for the moments that actually happen. When you are waiting to feel ready before you start. When you are comparing your life to everyone else's highlight reel. When something goes wrong and you are not sure what to do next. When you have no idea what path you are supposed to be on. Written by Ash Manuel, founder of Growing With Gratitude and former teacher whose own teenage years included three attempts at Year 12 and a football dream that did not work out, this book is built around real stories, short ideas and small actions you can actually try. Twelve chapters you can dip into whenever you need them, each one a reminder that the messy middle of life is where most of the learning happens. Because small actions repeated over time quietly change everything. Your path will not look like everyone else's. It does not have to. You are not behind. You are building.

Grammar is one of the most important and least understood areas of primary teaching. Many educators entered the profession with little formal grammar training, only to find themselves navigating a curriculum that draws on two distinct and sometimes confusing approaches. Teaching Grammar F–6: A Year-by-Year Resource for Building Teacher Knowledge cuts through that confusion with clarity, warmth and practical purpose. Written by a curriculum expert with decades of experience supporting classroom teachers, this book builds confident, working knowledge of both traditional and functional grammar so that teachers can teach it meaningfully rather than simply manage it. Structured year by year from Foundation to Year 6 and aligned with the Australian Curriculum: English Version 9.0, the book gives teachers exactly the grammatical knowledge they need for their year level, without unnecessary complexity. Each chapter unpacks the relevant content descriptions and elaborations, explains the key concepts in plain language, and shows what this looks like in real classroom practice. Whether you are new to grammar or returning to it after years of uncertainty, this book offers the confidence and clarity to make grammar a genuinely powerful part of your students' learning.

In the two years since the publication of Practical AI Strategies, generative AI has changed beyond recognition. Chatbots still dominate everyday use, but the industry has moved on to agents and complex systems with AI at the centre. Our questions have changed, too. It is no longer about which tool to use or how to write a better prompt. It is about hallucinations and bias, environmental cost and deepfakes, the human labour hidden behind AI systems, and how to redesign assessment so that students are actually learning. This book is the critical guide educators need for this next phase. Dr Leon Furze returns with his trademark blend of practical advice and unflinching honesty, drawing on his PhD research and years of work alongside classroom teachers. He covers how generative AI actually works, how to choose and evaluate platforms wisely, how to rethink curriculum and assessment, and how to build genuine critical AI literacy in students and staff. Practical AI Strategies 2 is essential reading for educators looking to move beyond chatbots and prepare both themselves and their students for the near future of AI.

Some days you really are fine. And some days you say you're fine because it's easier than explaining what's actually going on. This book is for those other days. You already know how to be a good friend. When someone you care about is having a hard time, you know how to listen, how to be kind, how not to make things worse. Hey. How Are You, Actually? is about turning that same kindness toward yourself – because you deserve it just as much as they do. Inside are twenty small things you can do, most of them only a few minutes long, for the moments that really happen. When your brain won't switch off at night. When you're waiting outside the exam room feeling sick. When a friendship fades and nobody says why. When everyone else seems fine and you're not so sure you are. Nothing you have to believe in. Nothing you have to be good at. Just small, real things that help. One gentle question runs through all of it: what would you say to yourself if you talked to yourself the way you talk to your best friend? Whatever you're carrying right now, you don't have to carry it alone. You can just start here. ________________________________________ For the grown-up holding this book Written straight to teenagers, grounded in real research, and small enough to use on an ordinary day. No pressure. You might find a few of the practices are exactly what you needed too.

When challenging behaviour appears in a classroom, an early years setting, or a care environment, it draws immediate attention. But what is visible on the surface is rarely the whole story. Behaviour Is Not the Whole Story is a practical, grounded guide for educators, leaders, and teams who want to move beyond reactive responses and build behaviour support that is informed, consistent, and sustainable. Drawing on extensive field-based experience across early years, schools, and OSHC settings, Kelly Oldfield offers a wider lens on behaviour – one that looks beyond the visible act to the regulation, communication, environment, adult responses, and systems that shape it. Packed with practical tools including reflection prompts, practice scenarios, and ready-to-use frameworks, this book helps educators and leaders ask better questions, build stronger systems, and create settings where young people can genuinely thrive. This is not a book of quick fixes or one-size-fits-all strategies. It is a thoughtful, realistic guide for people who understand that stronger outcomes for young people come from strengthening the adults, environments, and systems around them.

What does it take to build a school that forms good men? Building Schools for Boys offers a compelling and practical framework for educators committed to this question. Drawing on decades of global research and real-world school leadership, Dr Phil Cummins and David Atkinson argue that character is not an add-on to a boy’s education – it is the whole work. Grounded in the conviction that boys thrive when they belong, fulfil their potential and learn to do good in the world, this book challenges schools to move beyond narrow academic measures and build cultures of intentional character formation. Spanning six key dimensions of school life – contribution, hope, intention, expectation, value and experience – the book weaves together research, practical frameworks and rich case studies from outstanding schools across Australia, the United Kingdom, South Africa, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. Whether you teach or lead in a boys’ school, a co-educational school or are interested in what education for young men can and should be, Building Schools for Boys offers both the rationale and the roadmap for schools where boys become the good men the world needs.

Middle leaders are the engine room of school improvement – yet they are too often underprepared, overstretched and under-supported. Stretch: Navigating Pressure and Impact in Middle Leadership is a practical guide for middle leaders navigating the demanding space between classroom and boardroom, between doing and leading. Drawing on decades of real-world leadership experience, Steven Trotter offers honest, research-informed insights into the pressures that define middle leadership, and the strategies that make those pressures manageable, meaningful and ultimately transformative. Structured across three parts, Stretch moves from the lived realities of middle leadership – cognitive load, time pressure, emotional intelligence and role ambiguity – through to six concrete levers for elevating leadership practice, and finally to a set of reflections for leaders building toward the future. This is not a book of tidy answers or one-size-fits-all solutions. It is a guide for leaders willing to pause, reflect and grow – because when the stretch is understood and embraced, it becomes the very engine of lasting impact.

What kind of leader are you when no one is watching? The Virtuous Leader makes a compelling case that effective leadership is, first and foremost, a moral activity, and that competence without character is never enough. Drawing on decades of experience leading some of Australia’s most respected independent schools, Dr Timothy Wright and Clive Logan argue that the leaders who earn lasting trust and create genuinely thriving organisations are those who do not merely hold good values, but who live them, consistently and habitually, until virtue becomes reflex. Grounded in the rich tradition of Aristotle and Aquinas and brought to life through honest reflection and real-world experience, The Virtuous Leader explores the virtues that matter most for leaders navigating the complexity of schools and organisations today: practical wisdom, love, courage, truthfulness, justice, humility and hope. This is not a book of quick fixes or leadership slogans. It is a thoughtful, searching guide for leaders willing to examine their own motivations, confront their blind spots and commit to the slow, worthwhile work of becoming the kind of leader others are proud to follow.

Every generation of Christian school leader stands in the quarry, chisel in hand, cutting stone for something far greater than themselves. Grand Designs: Building Faithful Christian Schools That Endure is a compelling guide for leaders committed to building Christian schools that endure as living communities of faith, formation, and purpose. Dr Darren Iselin and Dr Daniel Pampuch argue that the greatest risk facing Christian schools today is not external pressure but internal drift. When foundational vision fades, a once vibrant community becomes an impressive but empty monument. Structured around four foundation stones of Alignment, Belonging, Excellence, and Imagination, and four dimensions of formation for the next generation, Grand Designs offers both a framework and a call to action for Christian school leaders, educators, and board members. Rich with research, theological grounding, and honest reflection from the field, this is a book for those who understand that Christian schooling is an intergenerational project, one that demands clarity of purpose, courage of conviction, and the wisdom to prepare those who will continue building long after we are gone.

You invest hours crafting thoughtful feedback. Students spend seconds looking at it. They skim comments, correct surface details, or ask “Is this good?”—not because your feedback lacks quality, but because they haven't yet learned how to identify what they need or seek the right help. Guidance that should accelerate learning stalls, through no fault of teacher expertise. This isn’t a feedback problem. It's a learner capability problem. From Feedback to Advice shows how to develop students who actively seek the help they need and act on it with purpose. By making your thinking visible—revealing the feedback process you’ve always managed internally—you help students understand how improvement actually works. Through six progressive stages, James Anderson presents a practical pathway for developing students’ capacity to direct their own improvement. You'll learn how to cultivate students who: Shift from “Is this good?” to “Here's what I've tried, and here's where I need help” Understand and navigate the improvement process themselves  Identify their learning gaps and present evidence of their attempts  Request specific, purposeful advice rather than waiting for evaluation  Take increasing ownership of their learning—lesson by lesson, year by year This isn't a book about writing better comments. It's a book about developing the learner capability that makes feedback matter. With practical strategies for primary and secondary classrooms, and a clear progression leaders can implement school-wide, this book offers a systematic approach to strengthening learner expertise. When students develop the capability to seek the help they need—and act on it—feedback finally works as intended. Learning accelerates. And the improvement process you once carried alone becomes a genuine partnership.

A practical guide to using purposeful read alouds to engage young learners, build literacy and language, and spark joy and curiosity in primary classrooms. Powerful Read Alouds shows teachers how intentional read alouds can deepen and enrich a year-long primary literacy program. Rather than adding more to an already full day, it focuses on using books to enhance and strengthen what teachers already do. Through carefully chosen texts, practical routines and classroom examples, teachers will learn how purposeful read alouds support all aspects of an early primary classroom, from social-emotional learning and play to reading, writing, oral language and knowledge building. Teachers will find the tools they need for inspiring our youngest learners: practical, classroom-ready read-aloud routines teachers can use immediately read alouds to bring skill instruction into your literacy practice strategies for using real books to build joy, curiosity and engagement in primary classrooms practical ways to integrate read alouds into all aspects of the primary classroom with minimal prep and maximum impact curated book lists to support literacy, play, reading, writing and knowledge building in primary classrooms examples of student responses that illustrate engagement and learning from the read-aloud experience At a time when many literacy classrooms are placing increased emphasis on explicit skills instruction, this timely book reminds us how read alouds give context for that work. Children also need rich language, meaningful stories, shared conversations and engaging nonfiction experiences that nurture curiosity and a love of learning. The read aloud is not simply an activity tucked into the school day. It is one of the most powerful tools we have for building engaged readers, inspired writers and thoughtful learners. Powerful Read Alouds is just what teachers need to use real books and engaging classroom routines to enrich language and literacy learning, while nurturing curiosity, connection and joy in reading.

Leading school improvement means navigating long stretches of uncertainty between launching a strategy and seeing results. Too often, school leaders find themselves in what Dr Simon Breakspear calls the messy middle: too far in to stop, but too far from the end to know if they are on track. Lean Monitoring: Knowing Where You Are and What to Do Next is a practical guide to closing that gap, helping school leaders build simple, sustainable habits for tracking progress during improvement work rather than waiting for end-of-year data that arrives too late to act on. The first book in the Agile School Improvement Series, Lean Monitoring introduces one of three core practices at the heart of Simon's approach to leading change in schools: staying oriented during the journey rather than hoping things are heading in the right direction. Drawing on a decade of work alongside more than 5,000 school leaders across multiple countries, Simon offers clear frameworks and ready-to-use tools including the Impact Canvas, Data Capture Card and Insight Protocol, giving leaders the confidence to make better decisions mid-course and keep improvement moving forward.

Every teenager has done something so bewildering that the adults around them find themselves asking the same question: ‘Why on earth would you do that?’ In The Livewired Teen, renowned educator and neuroscience researcher Dr Michael C. Nagel takes parents and educators on a fascinating journey through the adolescent brain, from the onset of puberty through to early adulthood. Drawing on the latest neuroscientific, educational and psychological research, Dr Nagel reveals how the experiences we provide teenagers in these pivotal years don’t just shape who they are, they quite literally wire the architecture of their brains. Written in an accessible and engaging style, The Livewired Teen bridges the gap between cutting-edge brain science and the everyday realities of raising and educating adolescents. Covering everything from risk-taking and reward to identity, social connection and the challenges young people face when wiring goes wrong, Dr Nagel offers practical insights to help parents, teachers and caregivers make the decisions that matter most, because understanding how a teenager’s brain is wired is the first step to supporting it well.

Too many teachers are giving everything they have, and running out. Too many schools treat wellbeing as an add-on rather than the foundation everything else depends on. The Wellbeing Ecosystem: How Thriving Teachers and Students Transform Schools Together contends that this needs to change, and offers a practical framework for making it happen. Drawing on more than two decades of working alongside schools across Australia, Tony Cox argues that when we take care of the people who teach, we take care of the people who learn. At the heart of the book is the FIFTHER framework, built on seven core values: family, integrity, fun, tenacity, health, education and respect. These values power five gears of growth and a six-domain Wellbeing Wheel that together form a living, interconnected system for whole-school flourishing. Grounded in honest stories from the field and ending each chapter with practical reflection and action tools, this book is for teachers who want to make a difference, leaders who want to create the conditions for others to thrive, and schools ready to become more human.

Generative AI has arrived in schools faster than any technology in history. Teachers are asking urgent questions about assessment, creativity, academic integrity and what it even means to learn when an AI tool can produce a polished essay in seconds. The Human Advantage: Teaching, Learning and Leading in a Gen AI World cuts through the noise to offer something more useful than alarm or enthusiasm. Drawing on more than 35 years of experience across classrooms, school leadership and education consultancy, Dr Tim Kitchen argues that AI has not created the challenges schools are grappling with – it has exposed them. And that means this moment is also an opportunity. At the heart of the book is a simple but powerful idea. In a world of intelligent machines, the most important capabilities are the ones that remain uniquely human. Curiosity, creativity, discernment, empathy, critical thinking and ethical judgement cannot be automated. Structured around practical strategies, classroom activities and frameworks for rethinking curriculum and assessment, The Human Advantage gives teachers and school leaders the confidence to embrace AI wisely, use it ethically and make sure that education continues to be about people. Because great teaching, now more than ever, is a deeply human endeavour.

The spaces where we teach are more than containers for learning. They are active and influential forces shaping how students engage, think and grow. Yet most teachers have never been supported to evaluate whether their spaces are actually working, or shown how to make them work better. Making the Most of Your Learning Environment: A Guide for Teacher-Led Evaluation of Spaces and Practices changes that. Drawing on nearly two decades of research by the Learning Environments Applied Research Network (LEaRN) across Australian and international schools, Wesley Imms and Julia Morris offer a practical, step-by-step guide to help teachers and school leaders assess their spaces with confidence and purpose. Structured around a clear evaluation template, the book walks educators through every stage of the process, from identifying a focus and writing a question through to collecting and analysing data and sharing findings with others. This is not a book that tells teachers what a good learning environment looks like. It is a guide to helping them work that out for themselves, in their own context, using research-informed approaches proven to work in real schools. For any educator who believes that space is part of their pedagogic toolkit, this book is the missing resource.

Discover the hidden strengths in your neurodivergent child with this revolutionary guide that transforms traditional deficit-focused approaches into a strength-based roadmap for success. Moving beyond limiting diagnostic labels, this practical handbook reveals how to identify your child's unique learning strengths and leverage them to build confidence, resilience, and lifelong capabilities. With evidence-based strategies drawn from thousands of real-world cases, you'll learn how to convert challenges in attention, sensory processing, reading, writing, and emotional regulation into powerful advantages that school systems often miss. Written for parents and educators of neurodivergent children, this compassionate resource offers actionable tools to help your child thrive both academically and socially. Whether navigating school meetings, building executive functions, or fostering emotional regulation, you'll gain a treasure trove of practical techniques while discovering how neurodiversity has always been humanity's evolutionary advantage. Perfect for families seeking positive approaches to ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and other neurodevelopmental variations, this book empowers you to embrace your child's differences as the remarkable gifts they truly are.

The Pruning Principle offers a groundbreaking approach to educational leadership, drawing inspiration from horticulture to address the chronic issues of overwork and inefficiency in schools. The authors, Dr Simon Breakspear and Michael Rosenbrock, propose a radical shift from the culture of “doing more” to one of strategic subtraction, arguing that by carefully pruning away non-essential tasks and initiatives, schools can achieve better outcomes with less strain on resources and staff. This practical guide provides a comprehensive framework for implementing The Pruning Principle in educational settings. It outlines the causes of current challenges, introduces the concept and mechanics of pruning, and offers detailed, actionable steps for creating sustainable work rhythms and decision-making processes. With its focus on achievable improvement and educator wellbeing, this book promises to be an invaluable resource for school leaders seeking to cultivate more-effective and balanced educational environments.

When you're dealing off-task student behaviour, you want teacher-tested strategies that work in real classrooms. You'll find a wealth of these tools in Classroom Dynamics by Glen Pearsall. Drawing from his experience helping schools address challenging student behaviours, Pearsall explores how to create positive learning environments, heighten engagement and maintain productive relationships with young people.  This book is ideal for K–12 teachers looking for concrete strategies that they can immediately implement in their classrooms. Incorporating recent research on effective classroom practice, Pearsall discusses how to quickly address low-level off-task behaviour before it becomes problematic – and how to de-escalate potential conflicts and address difficult behaviours when it does. Classroom Dynamics also helps teachers understand the reasons behind these disruptive behaviours, offering practical ways to quickly get to the heart of issues that might be affecting student learning. This revised edition includes a new chapter focusing on demand-avoidant behaviours where Pearsall guides educators in the subtleties of dealing sensitively with situations in which even low-level instruction might lead to an explosive response from the student.

Data are everywhere. Countries are compared based on how their students perform in international testing. Schools are compared using standardised testing and school-leaver data. Students are tracked using their individual data and that of their peers. But while there is much already written about leadership styles, leading change and the benefits of being data informed, transferring an understanding of educational research and change leadership literature to a data-informed context is not always easy or seamless. Selena Fisk, EdD, author of Using and analysing data in Australian schools, believes that data should be used to support learning in a way that develops thriving learning communities where students are engaged and motivated. This invaluable resource introduces a 10-step process for leading data-informed change comprising measurable steps for action supported by connections to relevant literature and practical examples showing what the process looks like in schools. Fisk also introduces the 12 key elements required for a leader to prime the environment or build a culture that will enable them to lead data-informed change. Leading data-informed change in schools offers teacher team leaders, principals and administrators a practical guide on how to collect, analyse and use data to help school communities and the students they serve flourish.   Download the Appendix with all the templates here. 

Driving School Improvement: Practical strategies and tools is designed to support school leaders in practical, adaptable and context-specific ways to advance their school’s improvement journey. The focus of the book is implementation. A broad collection of tools, activities and pro formas are provided, which have been used successfully in a range of schools. School leaders can begin at their school’s point of need and select the path that is most valuable to their setting. This second edition builds on the success of the original resource and, with extensive feedback from the field, delivers significantly expanded, refined and updated research, case studies and techniques to help schools meet the implementation challenge. With the help of Driving School Improvement, whole-school improvement can be embedded so that it becomes truly sustainable, resulting in measurable long-term progress in learning outcomes for schools, teachers and students.

Dive into the definitive guide to nurturing self-regulated learners with Educate to Self-Regulate. Drawing from extensive teaching experience, research studies and school partnerships, Dr Shyam Barr presents evidence-informed strategies to empower both educators and students on the path to lifelong success. Through three comprehensive parts, the book navigates from laying the foundations of self-regulated learning to practical classroom implementation and leadership initiatives. It is an essential roadmap for teachers to identify barriers to students’ self-regulated learning and apply effective teaching approaches. Unlock the secrets to fostering self-regulated learners with Barr's expertise, equipping yourself with the tools to cultivate autonomy, resilience, and academic excellence in your students. Whether you're a seasoned educator or a newcomer to the field, this book provides invaluable insights and actionable steps to transform your teaching practice and empower students for success in an ever-changing world.