A brilliant book to inspire teachers, parents, pupils and the wider public at a time when we urgently need more people to enter – and stay in – the teaching profession. Being a ‘truly great teacher’ is about so much more than the mechanical delivery of results and ticking boxes. It requires a complex range of skills, joy and, above all, belief and interest in young people and how they learn. Truly Great Secondary Teachers reminds us that if we want to have a really equitable and excellent education system, attracting and developing the very best people, into what should be a life-enhancing career, must be a priority.

I have always believed our great profession is packed full of expert teachers. Indeed, as John Tomsett says in the introduction to Truly Great Secondary Teachers, there are ‘thousands of them’ in our classrooms up and down the country. In this book, the author has brilliantly embodied that expertise through a series of detailed teacher profiles; each one contains a strong balance of theory and practical ideas to use in the classroom, whilst being packed full of personal connections and anecdotes. The tips and reflections from serving practitioners are profound, and the evidence base behind the claim that these colleagues are ‘truly great’ is extensive. The author also recognises all of the truly great teachers who could have been included if there were enough pages. I am already looking forward to This Much I Know About Truly Great Secondary Teachers 2!

There are few things more valuable to those of us in the world of education than hearing first-hand about the nuances, complexities and contradictions of truly excellent teaching. In Truly Great Secondary Teachers, John Tomsett has done us all a hugely valuable service – he’s found 10 expert practitioners who can tell us what makes a great teacher – not in the simplistic language of data and outcomes, but in the delicate and subtle language of real classroom experience.

The power of story to help us to understand how the world works is well-documented. The power of story to draw us in to new and unfamiliar territories is an underestimated element of professional learning. What we find in these wonderful accounts of stunning practitioners are insights, strands of gold and subtle nuances that invite us to reflect on our own practice. Truly Great Secondary Teachers is such a joy to read, to reflect on and to marvel at. Wherever we are in our professional lives, we will take some inspiration from these incredible colleagues, who have managed to get to the heart of the matter, bring their students with them, get great results and continue to be fascinated by the craft of teaching. Truly transformational.

This is exactly what I needed to read before embarking on any further school improvement work. As always, John weaves together theory, research and practice to focus on what really matters: getting teaching and learning right in the classroom. We’ve worked with John for several years now. He has supported us in school improvement with pragmatic wisdom and wit! He never loses sight of what matters: the children and the quality of their learning through expert teaching. As with John’s previous books, Truly Great Secondary Teacherscombines a genial warmth with astute observations. The warmth radiates off the pages: both John’s warmth towards the teachers he profiles and the teachers’ warmth towards their charges which permeates each case study. Most importantly, his portraits of teachers at the top of their game provide incredibly important learning for all of us interested in schools.

We can all name a teacher that stands out. Getting excellent results for the young people will always be one of the reasons why they are memorable, but Truly Great Secondary Teachers clearly shows that results are only part of the picture. John Tomsett’s book shows why the Ofsted approach to quantifying teaching will never truly work. How do we measure how well a teacher connects with their students in the classroom? How do we put a number on a teacher’s ability to see a group of learners struggling with a concept and know instantly what they need to do to get over that learning barrier? It is quite simple … we can’t! I loved reading about every teacher in this book and every one of them made me want to go and teach my next lesson a little better, with a bit more conviction and in a way that makes it memorable. Read Truly Great Secondary Teachers, be inspired and find your own way of doing the same.