Celebrating 10 years of Teacherhead Blogging, Ep. 39 (S2E14)

For this episode, Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner chat about several recent accomplishments, a special anniversary for Teacherhead blogging, and a new program Baccalaureate that Tom is interested in. 

To start, Emma’s new book Simplicitus: The Interconnected Primary Curriculum & Effective Subject Leadership is available for purchase and has already reached Amazon’s bestseller levels of success. Tom and Emma discuss some of the buzz around the book and how excited they are for primary educators to read it. 

Next on the list for exciting celebrations is the 10-year anniversary of Tom’s Teacherhead blog. What began as a way for Tom to share ideas with fellow educators has become a site with over 7.5 million views and hundreds of articles that have been read in nearly every corner of the world (except, as Tom points out, the West Sahara). From articles he has written nearly weekly for ten years, Tom has grown a following in the education community that includes a number of experts, educators, and researchers. In this part of the discussion, Tom discusses his responsibilities to educators, the content and topics he enjoys writing about, and steps for educators to take action and create their own blogs. A shining example of the community Tom has built is the EDUBlog share network on Twitter which amplifies voices all across the education sector, including many guests that have been featured on Mind The Gap. 

Lastly, Tom discusses his and other English educators’ work on creating a framework for a National Baccalaureate program. Based on the International Baccalaureate (IB) system, the program Tom is supporting would increase access to a more well-rounded and student-driven curriculum than anything currently available to students in England. A major focus for Tom is how disparate he feels the education system can be due to socioeconomic limitations. Tom hopes a more well-rounded Baccalaureate initiative could address that gap. You can get more information on that program here: https://rethinkingassessment.com/rethinking-blogs/towards-a-national-baccalaureate-for-england/. 

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).

Watch more episodes of Mind The Gap to learn about making education work globally.