9 Good reasons to attend: the ones to put to senior leaders

November 7, 2025

All of the reasons to attend that I’ve suggested in 21 reasons to attend conferences are valid, but they are personal, in a sense. So here are 9 suggested arguments that may appeal to your senior leadership team.

21 Reasons to attend conferences

October 14, 2025

It’s often difficult to get time out of school to attend a conference, but I think you should try and get to at least one a year.

Getting permission to go on a course or to a conference

November 20, 2021

Having to make the case for actually registering for an event is, in my opinion, treating teachers as if they were (a) non-professionals and (b) children.

Picture by Mohamed Hassan on Pixabay. Licence: CCO

Creating a culture of innovation, #6: Attend talks

February 28, 2018

Why attending talks can be a good way of fostering innovation, and six things to consider before you do so.

Forthcoming education conferences in London, England

September 25, 2017

Here are a few interesting-looking conferences coming up in London, England, up to January 2018.

Getting the most out of education conferences

August 15, 2017

This book has received 22 five star reviews in total so far, and is the TESOL Institute's featured book. Read on for more information, and for details on how you can buy a personalised version.

9 questions to ask about big name speakers at education conferences

December 5, 2016

Life's too short to waste time going to the wrong conference talk. Here are 9 questions to ask to help decide whether or not to attend a talk given by a well-known speaker as opposed to an unknown teacher.

Recent book reviews

Two reviews in one: Turner and Constable: Rivals and Originals -- art and history

One for your colleagues, perhaps: art, art history, ploitics with a small ‘p’.

Two reviews in one: State of Ridicule: A History of Satire in English Literature -- politics, history, English

One for your colleagues, perhaps. Sperrin has provided a wealth of information that can be used to provide a rich experience for students of politics, history and English literature.

Two reviews in one: A Little History of Mathematics

I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published. The second one is what I actually wrote! In substantive terms there is little difference between the two, but you may find it interesting to see what the editor altered.

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Review: The Learning Rainforest: Great Teaching in Real Classrooms

This is a great book for dipping into in order to read about different teaching and assessment strategies, backed up by research.

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Review: Outstanding Formative Assessment: Culture and Practice

This book contains numerous assessment for learning techniques.

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Review: New Media in the Classroom: Rethinking Primary Literacy

This provides a great deal of information about the different aspects of "literacy” and how digital tools can be brought into the service of literacy in the primary school.

Review: Designing the internet of things

This book takes you through the process of designing connected devices from prototyping to launching.

Quick look: (Un)educated: My Life as a Teacher, and Why You Should Never Become One

“Some of it is laugh-out loud funny, but some of it, about his reference being spiked, made me angry …”

A Heads-up: Hot Type: The Magnificent Machine that Gave Birth to Mass Media and Drove Mark Twain Mad

This is about the invention of linotype, and its consequences.

Are we in, or entering, a post-literate society?

I know that there are people who think that Tik-Tok videos and other (very) short-form content is a kind of literacy that’s on a par with reading, but I have my doubts.