This book is about eliminating the discrepancy between what we know constitutes effective learning and what we know goes on in classrooms. Carefully developed over ten years, and moulded by feedback from teachers, all of the strategies outlined have been used effectively and successfully in a wide range of secondary schools.

Back cover

Closing the Learning Gap is Mike Hughes' third book, and is based on his experience in raising achievement as a Head of Department, as a Deputy Head, and now as Headteacher of Lakers School in the Forest of Dean, in a career that has also included advisory work and initial teacher training. He is a highly popular and successful INSET provider, well known for his work in the field of teaching and learning styles and with a reputation for putting his ideas into practice on a daily basis. Mike's other books are Flexible Learning: Evidence Examined and Lessons are for Learning, both published by Network Educational Press.

Closing the Learning Gap is about eliminating the discrepancy between what we know constitutes effective learning and what we know goes on in classrooms. If attainment is to rise, this Learning Gap has to close. This book provides a structured approach to improvement by setting out the steps needed to identify the gap and to implement strategies to close it.

What the book covers

• Helps teachers, departments and schools to identify and close the Learning Gap between what we know about effective learning and what actually goes on in the classroom
• Encourages teachers to reflect upon the ways in which they teach, and to implement strategies for improving their practice
• Helps teachers to apply recent research findings about the brain and learning
• Thoroughly grounded in reality, and full of practical advice for improvement, from individual to whole-school level
• Carefully developed over ten years, and moulded by feedback from teachers: all of the strategies outlined have been used effectively and successfully in a wide range of secondary schools
• Written in a light and engaging style designed to encourage teachers to spend ten minutes of their lunch hour reading it!

The School Effectiveness Series Closing the Learning Gap is part of The School Effectiveness Series, which focuses on practical and useful ideas for individual teachers and schools.

The series addresses issues of whole-school improvement and new knowledge about teaching and learning, and offers straightforward solutions that teachers can use to make life more rewarding for themselves and for those they teach.