Author List

Dr Ellen Spencer is Senior Researcher at the Centre for Real-World Learning and, with Bill Lucas, author of Teaching Creative Thinking. Ellen is also a Researcher for Arts Council England's Creativity Collaboratives, a three-year project to test a range of innovative practices in teaching for creativity in schools..

UKEdChat Podcast - Episode 13 - Teaching Creative Thinking.

Karen Spence-Thomas is a former schoolteacher and Associate Professor (Teaching) at the Centre for Educational Leadership, IOE. She specialised in designing and facilitating tailored professional development programmes for school leaders in the UK and internationally. She also co-led the centre’s R&D network of schools, promoting teacher inquiry as a basis for professional development.

Stuart Spendlow loves challenging the norm, trying new things and constantly questioning his teaching practice. His philosophy, in teaching and in life, is that everything should be done to challenge, grow and inspire. He is also the author of Penguinpig ' an e-safety themed picture book for 5- to 7-year-olds.

Julia Stead is a teacher and key stage leader with over a decade of experience in the classroom, having taught from Reception right through to Year 5. Julia has written for various educational publishers on topics such as the recent changes in primary education, how specialised toolkits can be designed for whole-school impact and how to create whole-school CPD packages. She has also presented at national CPD events.

Elena Stevens is a secondary school teacher and the history lead in her department. Having completed her PhD in the same year that she qualified as a teacher, Elena loves drawing upon her doctoral research and continued love for the subject to shape new schemes of work and inspire students’ own passions for the past.

Kristian Still is a Deputy Head at Academic Boundary Oak School, an independent private school in Hampshire. He has over 20-years’ experience as a head teacher and senior leader with a MsEd in Kinesiology, BSc in Sports Science, and a Level 5 Coaching and Mentoring. Kristian shares a keen interest in education leadership, evidence informed practice and #edutech.

Dr Louise Stoll is Professor of Professional Learning at the UCL Centre for Education, IOE and an international consultant, focusing on how school and system leaders create capacity for learning. Louise is a former president of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement and has worked with the OECD on several initiatives. She has co-developed many materials supporting leaders to connect research evidence and practice.

Wendy Sullivan is a specialist international trainer of Clean Language and Symbolic Modelling who has worked extensively with the founders of that field - Penny Tompkins, James Lawley and David Grove.

Click here to read Wendy Sullivan’s blog.

Tony Swainston is a UK born and based trainer and writer. Following on from a 20-year career in teaching, for the past 15 years he has delivered training, in both business and education, in over 15 countries around the world. Tony has a passion for developing individuals as leaders and coaches, working with people across a broad range of levels in organisations. He is a sought-after keynote speaker with clients that include Shell, the British Council and the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia. He has, so far, taken over 20 UK schools through his 12-month Mindset of Success' programme.

Moshe Talmon, PhD (University of Pennsylvania 1982), is a psychologist based in Israel, where he is a Senior Lecturer at Tel Aviv Academic College. He is the founder and director of the International Center for SST and teaches and supervises worldwide. He is the author of the best selling Single-Session Therapy: Maximizing the Effect of the First (and Often Only) Therapeutic Encounter, as well as the follow-up books Single-Session Solutions and (in Hebrew) Worthwhile for Every Soul: The Brief Way to an Effective Psychotherapy.

Carol Taylor is a programme leader for Bespoke Leadership Programmes at UCL IOE. A former school leader, she helps schools to embed practitioner research and inquiry into organisational and individual practice. Carol also designs and facilitates bespoke leadership programmes for national and international contexts.

Sparky Teaching was launched to help teachers create classrooms where ordinary things are thought about in less than ordinary ways. With a background in primary teaching and speech and language therapy, their goal is to ignite creative thought in teachers and pupils by providing unique teaching resources.

Roger Terry was an International NLP Master Trainer and expert on human value systems. Roger lead seminars and consulted with companies in the UK, USA, Europe and Middle East.

Andy Tharby is a practising English teacher with over a decade's classroom experience at a secondary school in West Sussex. He is co-author of the award winning Making Every Lesson Count and the author of Making Every English Lesson Count. Andy is also interested in helping fellow teachers enhance their practice through engagement with research evidence.

Click here to read Andy Tharby’s blog.

Nick Tiley-Nunn is a primary school head teacher, having previously been Assistant Head and SENCo at a school in London. He has been described as 'A nationally significant talent at maths teaching.-

Ian Timbrell is the founder of More Than Flags and Rainbows, a not-for-profit organisation that supports schools and charities with LGBTQ+ inclusion. He is an Independent Thinking Associate and has delivered inspiring talks and workshops across the UK that empower educators to tackle homophobic bullying, embrace equity and foster inclusivity. Drawing on his personal journey and 20 years of teaching experience, Ian’s debut title, It’s More Than Flags and Rainbows provides schools with the knowledge and strategies to create meaningful, lasting change for LGBTQ+ inclusion.

James Lawley and Penny Tompkins are co-developers of Symbolic Modelling and leading authorities on the use of client-generated metaphor for personal and professional development. They are both practising psychotherapists registered with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP). Together they train and supervise therapists, counsellors, coaches, managers and teachers in the use of Symbolic Modelling. Penny was co-managing director of a manufacturing company in the oil industry, and James was a senior manager in the telecommunications business. They use this experience when they coach managers and executives to become more self-aware and to develop their ability to think systemically. They also facilitate teams in the use of Clean Language and metaphor so they can model and learn from themselves. They are married, and live in London.

John Tomsett taught for 33 years in state schools and was a teaching secondary headteacher for 18 years, latterly at Huntington Research School, York. He writes a blog called “This much I know” and has written extensively about school leadership, and developing teaching & learning. He believes that developing truly great teaching is the main responsibility of all headteachers. He has published twelve books, including: Love Over Fear: Creating a Culture for Truly Great Teaching and Mind over Matter: Improving Mental Health in our Schools.  In the Huh: Curriculum series, he collaborated with the curriculum expert Mary Myatt. He co-founded The Headteachers' Roundtable think-tank and is a popular speaker on education. He is the educational consultant supporting the development of the AI teacher coach Aristotal.