The Ultimate List of Books for Research-Informed Teachers

In a world where teaching strategies are constantly evolving, staying research-informed is more important than ever. Whether you’re a seasoned educator or just starting out, having the right books on your shelf can make a world of difference. That’s why we’ve pulled together The Ultimate List of Books for Research-Informed Teachers - a handpicked collection of must-reads to boost your practice, challenge your thinking, and keep you at the cutting edge of education. Let’s dive in!

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Barak Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction are widely recognised for their clarity and simplicity and their potential to support teachers seeking to engage with cognitive science and the wider world of education research.In this concise new booklet, Rosenshine fan Tom Sherrington amplifies and augments the principles and further demonstrates how they can be put into practice in everyday classrooms.
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The second half of the booklet contains Rosenshine's original paper Principles of Instruction, as published in 2010 by the International Academy of Education (IAE) - a paper with a superb worldwide reputation for relating research findings to classroom practice.
Together with Sherrington's insightful and practical guidance, it forms a powerful booklet that no teacher can afford to be without.

Following the resounding success of Tom Sherrington's Rosenshine's Principles in Action, the seminal principles have swiftly become a practical support for teachers looking to develop their classroom practice.
The Workbook seeks to further this engagement by providing a thought-provoking and reflective guide designed to encourage teachers in all settings to become self-aware practitioners.
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Completed alongside a series of video masterclasses delivered by Sherrington, teachers will be led through a range of questions and activities devised to secure pedagogical understanding and ensure teachers are left with clear actions to support pupil progress.
The five-session structure of the workbook explores the fundamentals of classroom practice, finishing with a guided reflection on Rosenshine's Principles in Action, thus providing the reader with a stimulating companion to Sherrington's excellent work.

The central purpose of this book is to help teachers organise ideas through the use of graphic organisers. Over 35 such word-diagrams are: organised into a system to help select the right tool for the job; described for rapid understanding of their strengths; and explained for step-by-step construction.
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Over 50 teachers each have a double-page spread in which they reveal how they use them in their teaching – across the full age range and span of subjects. A further section of the book demonstrates how to use these word-diagrams most effectively by partnering them with other teaching strategies, such as retrieval practice, writing, speaking and listening, teacher explanations, advance organisers, scaffolding, remote learning and more.

Many books explore the wonders of science and education research but few are rooted in the reality of the primary classroom, what it is really like to run a primary classroom, and to spend each day in the fascinating company of our youngest learners. Initium looks with care and specific attention at the needs of our youngest learners, the development of age and stage appropriate practice and pedagogy, alongside the joys and realities of working within the primary phase.

Primary is a unique stage of a child''s development and requires a specific and distinctive approach to how we structure teaching and learning. What works at age 16 or 14 won''t necessarily work with a classroom of 6-year-olds. Informed by science and rooted in over 25 years of primary expertise, Initium is research-informed practice for the primary specialist.

Supporting teachers in the quest to help students learn as effectively and efficiently as possible, The Science of Learning translates 99 of the most important and influential studies on the topic of learning into accessible and easily digestible overviews. Building on the bestselling original book, this second edition delves deeper into the world of research into what helps students learn, with 22 new studies covering key issues including cognitive-load theory, well-being and performing well under exam pressure.
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Demystifying key concepts and translating research into practical advice for the classroom, this unique resource will increase teachers’ understanding of crucial psychological research so they can help students improve how they think, feel and behave in school. From large- to small-scale studies, from the quirky to the iconic, the book breaks down complicated research to provide teachers with the need-to-know facts and implications of each study. Each overview combines graphics and text, asks key questions, describes related research and considers implications for practice.

​A hugely accessible resource, this unique book will support, inspire and inform teaching staff, parents and students, and those involved in leadership and CPD.

In this new edition of the highly regarded Why Don't Students Like School? cognitive psychologist Daniel Willingham turns his research on the biological and cognitive basis of learning into workable teaching techniques. This book will help you improve your teaching practice by explaining how you and your students think and learn. It reveals the importance of story, emotion, memory, context, and routine in building knowledge and creating lasting learning experiences.
With a treasure trove of updated material, this edition draws its themes from the most frequently asked questions in Willingham’s “Ask the Cognitive Scientist” column in the American Educator. How can you teach students the skills they need when standardized testing just requires facts? Why do students remember everything on TV, but forget everything you say? How can you adjust your teaching for different learning styles? Read this book for the answers to these questions and for practical advice on helping your learners learn better.
Discover easy-to-understand, evidence-based principles with clear applications for the classroom

• Update yourself on the latest cognitive science research and new, teacher-tested pedagogical tools
• Learn about Willingham’s surprising findings, such as that you cannot develop “thinking skills” without facts
• Understand the brain’s workings to help you hone your teaching skills

Why Students Don’t Like School is a valuable resource for both veteran and novice teachers, teachers-in-training, and for the principals, administrators, and staff development professionals who work with them.

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Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning empowers educators to harness rigorous research on how students learn and unleash it in their classrooms. In this book, cognitive scientist Pooja K. Agarwal, Ph.D., and veteran K–12 teacher Patrice M. Bain, Ed.S., decipher cognitive science research and illustrate ways to successfully apply the science of learning in classrooms settings. This practical resource is filled with evidence-based strategies that are easily implemented in less than a minute―without additional prepping, grading, or funding!
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Research demonstrates that these powerful strategies raise student achievement by a letter grade or more; boost learning for diverse students, grade levels, and subject areas; and enhance students’ higher order learning and transfer of knowledge beyond the classroom. Drawing on a fifteen-year scientist-teacher collaboration, more than 100 years of research on learning, and rich experiences from educators in K–12 and higher education, the authors present highly accessible step-by-step guidance on how to transform teaching with four essential strategies: Retrieval practice, spacing, interleaving, and feedback-driven metacognition. 

If you are a teacher or school leader looking for a one-stop professional development resource focused on teaching practice, Power Up Your Pedagogy: The Illustrated Handbook of Teaching is the perfect book for you.

Covering a broad range of themes, from professional learning and coaching to cognitive science and educational research, this book is comprehensive in its scope. Through a detailed exploration of pedagogy, which includes presenting, questioning, feedback, differentiation and behaviour management, there is something in here for everyone.

Key messages from within each chapter are summarised by superb sets of Sketchnotes, produced by Finola Wilson from Impact Wales. Throughout the book, Reflective Tasks are included to support critical thinking and discussion.

Get ready to Power Up Your Pedagogy!

In the words of Bill Gates, 'We all need people who give us feedback. That's how we improve.' The art of giving feedback is widely recognised as one of the most powerful tools in education and equally one of the most variable aspects in the way it is applied.
In The Feedback Pendulum, Michael aims to explore how the use of feedback has evolved over time, drawing on a combination of research and sharing experiences, and examples of best practices across the different phases of education to establish a culture of efficient and effective feedback that supports the teaching and learning cycle.
This book will unpick the research, the experience of expert practitioners, and practical strategies in the different phases of education, including: the evolution of feedback over time; pre-school feedback; primary and secondary school feedback; specialist education feedback; parental feedback; and CPD feedback.
Through the use of spotlights from teachers and an education psychologist's perspective interweaved throughout, Michael provides a manifesto for enhancing feedback in education.

Written under the guidance and with the support of Dylan Wiliam, Kate Jones writes about five formative assessment strategies in action in the classroom, with a foreword from Professor John Hattie. Building on the highly successful work of Wiliam and Siobhan Leahy, ideas are shared and misconceptions with formative assessment are addressed with lots of practical advice. Formative assessment in action focuses on five evidence-informed strategies that the teacher can use to support their learners to make progress. Formative assessment can help both the teacher and student understand what needs to be learned and how this can be achieved. During the learning process, formative assessment can identify students' progress as well as highlighting gaps in their knowledge and understanding, therefore giving the teacher useful insight as to what feedback and instruction can be provided to continue to move learners forward. Formative assessment takes place during the learning process. It continually informs the teacher and student as to how learning can move forward as it is happening. This is different to summative assessment, which focuses on the evaluation of student learning at the end of the process. There's a range of case studies from different subjects and key stages to show how formative assessment can be embedded across a curriculum successfully.

Shimamura’s MARGE model, described as a ‘Whole-Brain Learning Approach for Students and Teachers’, builds links between the areas of neuroscience, cognitive science and the practice of classroom teachers. Through discussing key ideas within the learning process – Motivate, Attend, Relate, Generate and Evaluate – Shimamura’s MARGE is a valuable lens through which we can discuss learning. This book aims to bring the MARGE model to life through the use of case studies written by practising teachers, and examples taken from classrooms across a range of phases. Through taking each of the principles of MARGE in turn, this practical guide helps all teachers better understand how they can develop their practice and improve the impact they have with the students they teach. Includes a foreword by Dan Willingham.

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Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli team up to present 50 essential teaching techniques, each with five clear and concise illustrations and explanations. It forms a truly unique repository of key teaching methods, valuable to any classroom practitioner in any setting.The book covers important practical techniques in behaviour and relationships; curriculum planning; explaining and modelling; questioning and feedback; practice and retrieval; and Mode B teaching. Each technique is simply explained and beautifully illustrated in five short steps, to make sense of complex ideas and support student learning.

In this follow-up second volume, Tom and Oliver team up with 10 experienced educators to present 50 brand new WalkThrus, covering all the key areas of teaching: behaviour and relationships; curriculum planning; explaining and modelling; questioning and feedback; practice and retrieval; and Mode B teaching.
Alex Quigley, Martin Robinson, Claire Stoneman, Bennie Kara, Zoe Enser, Mark Enser, John Tomsett, Simon Breakspear, Bronwyn Ryrie Jones and Oliver Lovell bring a huge wealth of expertise as they help to further expand and elaborate this essential teaching manual.
As always, each technique is concisely explained and beautifully illustrated in five short steps, to make sense of complex ideas and support student learning.

Following the break-out success of Teaching WalkThrus Volume 1 (2020) and Volume 2 (2021), Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli present the third instalment of their five-step instructional coaching techniques. Volume 3 features 50 more essential teaching methods in the authors’ concise and accessible format, covering all the key areas of teaching: behaviour and relationships; curriculum planning; explaining and modelling; questioning and feedback; practice and retrieval; and Mode B teaching. Tom and Oliver have teamed up with a stellar supporting cast of educators to present the new WalkThrus, with contributions from: Adam Boxer, Alison Wilcox, Andy Buck, Andy Tharby, Ayellet McDonnell, Bennie Kara, Blake Harvard, Christopher Such, David Goodwin, Efrat Furst, Emma Slade, Emma Turner, Eva Hartell, Harry Fletcher-Wood, Josh Goodrich, Kat Howard, Leila MacTavish, Mary Myatt, Peps Mccrea, Richard Kennett, Shaun Allison, Sonia Thompson, and Tom Needham. Each technique is concisely explained and beautifully illustrated in five steps, to make sense of complex ideas and support student learning. The WalkThrus books are supported by an online PD toolkit, which is now used by 2,000 organisations in 35 countries.

Educational practice does not, for the most part, rely on research findings. Instead, there’s a preference for relying on our intuitions about what’s best for learning. But relying on intuition may be a bad idea for teachers and learners alike.
This accessible guide helps teachers to integrate effective, research-backed strategies for learning into their classroom practice. The book explores exactly what constitutes good evidence for effective learning and teaching strategies, how to make evidence-based judgments instead of relying on intuition, and how to apply findings from cognitive psychology directly to the classroom.
Including real-life examples and case studies, FAQs, and a wealth of engaging illustrations to explain complex concepts and emphasize key points, the book is divided into four parts:

• Evidence-based education and the science of learning
• Basics of human cognitive processes
• Strategies for effective learning
• Tips for students, teachers, and parents.

Written by "The Learning Scientists" and fully illustrated by Oliver Caviglioli, Understanding How We Learn is a rejuvenating and fresh examination of cognitive psychology's application to education. This is an essential read for all teachers and educational practitioners, designed to convey the concepts of research to the reality of a teacher's classroom.

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There are three things that every teacher must do: mark work, plan lessons and teach students well. This brand new book from Ross Morrison McGill, bestselling author of 100 Ideas for Secondary Teachers: Outstanding Lessons and Teacher Toolkit, is packed full of practical ideas that will help teachers refine the key elements of their profession. Mark. Plan. Teach. shows how each stage of the teaching process informs the next, building a cyclical framework that underpins everything that teachers do.

With teachers' workload at record levels and teacher recruitment and retention the number one issue in education, ideas that really work and will help teachers not only survive but thrive in the classroom are in demand. Every idea in Mark. Plan. Teach. can be implemented by all primary and secondary teachers at any stage of their career and will genuinely improve practice. The ideas have been tried and tested and are supported by evidence that explains why they work, including current educational research and psychological insights from Dr Tim O'Brien, leading psychologist and Visiting Fellow at UCL Institute of Education.

Mark. Plan. Teach. will enable all teachers to maximise the impact of their teaching and, in doing so, save time, reduce workload and take back control of the classroom.

This book is the ultimate guide to differentiation in early years, schools and further education settings by Sue Cowley, bestselling author of Getting the Buggers to Behave. It offers over 90 practical and time-saving strategies for effective differentiation in every classroom.

The Ultimate Guide to Differentiation demonstrates how teachers already differentiate much of the time, in subtle and creative ways. Sue Cowley shows that we need to understand, acknowledge and celebrate the variety of approaches that teachers already use to differentiate, as well as helping them to develop additional strategies. The book takes the reader through the different methods and approaches to differentiation, providing a step-by-step guide to each. It is broken down into five core areas - planning, resources, learners, teaching and assessment - and readers can dip in and out to find strategies as and when they need them.

Written in Sue's much loved realistic, honest and practical style, The Ultimate Guide to Differentiation will help teachers, practitioners and support staff to feel confident that they are meeting the needs of every learner.

In The Sweet Spot, Michael Chiles explores the art of teacher explanation and modelling in teaching students what they need to know. Delving into the research, Michael sets out the reasons why the art of telling and showing students underpin effective teaching and learning.

​Armed with research-based evidence, Michael looks at a range of efficient and effective strategies teachers can use in their own classrooms to expertly explain and model their subject. In the final part of the book, Michael is joined by teachers across the broad range of subjects in the primary and secondary phases to share how they teach one difficult concept within their own subject.

How do you embed excellence into schools' everyday practices, not as an incidental or an accident, but as an actual ethic? Like the original book, this book is not a manual but what it offers is a thorough analysis of the Ethic of Excellence toolkit strategies, which can be applied across all ages and phases. The examination is placed within a framework of relevant research and is aimed at corroborating Berger’s strategies and ethics, as they apply to classroom practice. The book is written with the full support, and the ethical guidance of the author of 'An Ethic of Excellence: Building a Culture of Craftsmanship with Students', Ron Berger. Each chapter exemplifies the active ingredients for each of the key principles and underpins them with evidence-informed practice and practical examples, from across the curriculum. The book offers case studies and insights from senior leaders and teachers on what excellence looks like, within their contexts. Whilst school improvement is never finished, the book offers a manual for identifying Berger’s principles of excellence. Through focused and evidence-informed offering, it considers how to make excellence as an ethic permanent across any school and any curriculum.

​We are spoiled for choice. Educational research abounds and countless teaching tips and trends are available at our fingertips. Where do you start?Connecting the Dots presents three key interconnected areas of focus that will have the most impact on teaching and learning.

1. Building Strong Relationships: creating a sense of belonging, establishing norms and high expectations; and understanding barriers, like unconscious bias and misconceptions, in order to break them down
2. Maximising Memory: managing cognitive load, using effective learning strategies, planning for long term retention and application of knowledge
3. Cultivating Learning Mindsets: building self-efficacy; developing metacognitive skills; and using feedback, goal setting and talk effectively
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Each of these three chapters lays out the research worth knowing and applies that research to ready-to-use teaching tools for real classrooms. The chapters conclude with detailed guides to support leadership in creating personalised professional learning sessions to turnkey these concepts to school staff.

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