Mind the Gap: Making Education Work Across the Globe

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Shaun Allison and Andy Tharby from Durrington High School to revisit the enduring influence of their landmark book Making Every Lesson Count , 11 years on. Together they reflect on how the book’s six principles - challenge, explanation, modelling, practice, feedback, and questioning - emerged from real classroom and wh...

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Daisy Christodoulou , Director of Education at No More Marking , for a fascinating conversation about assessment, comparative judgement, AI and what makes writing better. Daisy explains how comparative judgement offers a more reliable alternative to traditional rubric-based marking, why humans are often better at compa...

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined once again by Mary Myatt, education writer, speaker and author of The Ambitious Years , for a compelling conversation about reclaiming Key Stage 3 as a vital phase of education in its own right. Mary makes the case that Years 7–9 should not be treated merely as preparation for GCSEs, but as a rich, intellectually ambitiou...

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Dixie-Louise Dexter, Assistant Head, EYFS lead and English lead, for a rich and practical exploration of what high-quality early years provision really looks like. Dixie shares how her team creates the “magic” of reception through meticulous attention to detail: a carefully planned induction process, strong relationshi...

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Tom Needham - teacher, school leader, and author of Engelmann’s Direct Instruction in Action - to explore what direct instruction really means. Marking the final book in the In Action  series, the conversation digs into Siegfried Engelmann’s work, from the power of carefully sequenced examples and non-examples to the i...

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Christian Mba, who is a vice principal, speaker, content creator, and now author of the upcoming book, Teach Like Your Heart Is On Fire. The trio engage in an uplifting conversation about purpose, passion and the moral imperative at the heart of teaching. Christian reflects on his journey into education, the teachers a...

In this episode Tom and Emma go head-to-head to discuss realities that schools face as they grapple with an ever-expanding variety of social and economic issues while simultaneously attempting to deliver quality education. Emma says, "I think we could probably agree as a profession that there are core things that are common to great classroom teaching, but in terms of school improvement, I th...

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Sarah Cottinghatt and Adam Kohlbeck to explore the craft and complexity of instructional coaching, drawing on their widely shared Coaching Cuts series on Substack. The conversation unpacks how coaching can move beyond surface-level feedback to focus on teacher decision-making and mental models, and why the most powerfu...

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Professor Becky Francis, CEO of the Education Endowment Foundation, for a rich and wide-ranging discussion about the role of evidence in improving education - and the complexities that come with it. Becky unpacks how the EEF has evolved from a research-focused organisation into a trusted, sector-facing resource used by...

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Craig Barton - maths teacher, podcaster, and co-founder of Eedi - to discuss his ambitious new project: a series of 16 short books, each exploring a single, highly specific element of classroom practice. Drawing on three to four years spent visiting schools and observing hundreds of lessons, Craig explains the thinking...

On this episode of  Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Alex Fairlamb and Rachel Ball, co-authors of  The Scaffolding Effect , to explore what scaffolding really is (and isn’t) and why it has become such a pivotal idea in the move from “differentiation” to adaptive teaching. They discuss the research roots of the term, the practical reality of “knowing–doing,” and the cent...

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Sam Crome, teacher, leader and author of The Power of Teams , to explore what it really takes to build teams that thrive in schools. Sam reflects on why so much leadership development is still overly individualistic, and shares the practical principles behind strong teams - belonging, alignment, purposeful operations,...

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner welcome back Dr Carl Hendrick - writer, researcher and relentless “research distiller” - for a wide-ranging conversation about what the educational research can (and can’t) tell us, and how ideas mutate as they travel through schools. Starting with Carl’s monthly research round-ups and emerging areas like pre-questions  (“pre-trieva...

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington is joined by Dr Simon Breakspear - educational researcher, author, and system leader based in Australia - for a wide-ranging conversation about how improvement actually happens at scale. Together they explore Simon’s distinctive role working across classrooms, schools, networks, and entire systems, and why sustainable change depends less on policy...

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Bennie Kara - former teacher, consultant, and author of Nuthall’s Hidden Lives of Learners in Action - to explore what learning really looks like beneath the surface of the classroom. Drawing on Graham Nuthall’s seminal research, Bennie unpacks the idea of the three worlds of the classroom (the public, social, and priv...

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Jude Arkwright, headteacher of St Michael’s CE, Aldbourne, to explore how a strong culture of professional trust, research-informed practice, and professional development can transform teaching and learning. Jude shares how long-term staff stability and coaching triplets have created a school where teachers openly exam...

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Ann Palmer - educator, leadership coach, and founder of Figtree International - for a rich conversation spanning diversity, leadership, and the future of AI in education. Drawing on over 35 years of experience as a headteacher, Ofsted inspector, and international trainer, Ann shares how her work now centres on helping...

On this episode of  Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Catherine Priggs and Hugh Richards, co-authors of  Secondary History in Action,  to dig into what great history curriculum and leadership look like in practice. They discuss starting with a clear departmental vision, making brave choices about what to include (and exclude), and balancing school context with disciplina...

On this episode of  Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Alun Francis OBE - Chief Executive of Blackpool and The Fylde College and Chair of the UK Social Mobility Commission - for a wide-ranging conversation about further education (FE), the importance of pedagogy in post-16 education, and what genuine upward mobility looks like in real communities. Alun traces the origins...

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Mike Hobbiss - teacher, researcher, and author - to dive into the science of attention and what it means for everyday teaching. Mike shares what he uncovered during his PhD and subsequent research about attention in real classrooms (and that its main detractors are peers, mind-wandering, background noise, and phones) a...

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington is joined by Meg Lee and Jim Heal, co-founders of Learning Science Partners, to explore how to make evidence-informed practice live and last at scale. Meg and Jim share why learning science should be a lens rather than an initiative, how they build common language across large, complex districts, and the three-phase approach they use to build, deep...

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by cognitive psychologist and bestselling author Professor Daniel Willingham to explore how insights from cognitive science can transform classroom practice. The conversation ranges from his influential book Why Don’t Students Like School? to the enduring truth that “memory is the residue of thought.” Together, they discu...

On this episode of Mind the Gap , Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Anna Stokke, mathematician, professor at the University of Winnipeg, and host of the Chalk and Talk podcast. Together they explore the so-called “math wars,” the persistence of flawed research claims, and the crucial role of strong foundations in mathematics education. Anna shares her advocacy work, from challenging my...

On this episode of Mind the Gap, Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by John Tomsett, former school leader and educational author, to talk about his latest two books,  This Much I Know About Truly Great Primary/Secondary Teachers (and what we can learn from them) . The episode is a celebration of teaching, which is messy, complex, and can't always be quantified. That being said, John ha...

On this episode of Mind the Gap, Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Patrick Cozier, long-serving headteacher of Highgate Wood School in Haringey, London and author of the forthcoming book  Calm Leadership . Patrick shares insights from nearly two decades in headship, and the conversation explores the tension between personal identity and professional responsibility, the evolving role of...