Proofs are out

To Crown House Publishers. 31st July.

1.
Warren and Bigger present a compelling and highly engaging account of a personal journey, from an authoritarian approach to discipline to one founded in respect and care: moving from discipline imposed by teachers, to developing pupils’ self-discipline that is the result of self-learning.  This is a powerful challenge to the ways in which schools work, underpinned by research and personal reflection.  Sean Warren’s sense of being a product of the education system, becoming a servant of the system and it’s agent and ultimately a reflective practitioner is made all the more powerful by the real life stories from young people and teachers, and from Sean himself.  The move from compliance and confrontation to cooperation and care is compelling in its challenge to readers to review their professional practice and relationships.

Dr Richard Woolley

Head of Centre for Education and Inclusion

Deputy Head (Research) in the Institute of Education

University of Worcester

2.

This book is an intelligent, sensitive and socially situated antidote to the macho, authoritarian ‘what works’ publications in education that cocksurely proselytize about what needs to be done to improve teaching and learning and how this needs to be done. In conceptualising teaching as a moral and ethical practice, Warren and Bigger’s book seeks to illuminate and confront some of the complexities involved in dealing with the thorny issues of behaviour and discipline in schools. But rather than providing spurious, short term solutions, this book takes the reader on a journey of critical reflection and self-learning as the authentic experiences of the authors’ professional lives are openly interrogated. The richness, sensitivity and depth of thought with which this book examines matters relating to behaviour and discipline in schools makes it very unique from many other publications.

Dr Matt O’Leary

Reader in Education

Birmingham City University