Author list

Will Ryan has worked in schools in South Yorkshire for over forty years as a teacher, head teacher and local authority adviser. As a head teacher he led a school that prized itself on genuine pupil creativity and was described by Ofsted as outstanding'. He is a speaker and Associate of Independent Thinking Ltd.

Click here to read Will Ryan’s blog.

Mark S. Carich, PhD, is coordinator of the Sexually Dangerous Persons Program with Illinois Corrections at Big Muddy River Correctional Center. He is currently Adjunct Professor in the Counseling Department at Lindenwood University, and was affiliated with the Adler School of Professional Psychology. He has written extensively on issues relating to the management of sex offenders.

Ruchi Sabharwal is Director of Teaching and Learning at a community academy trust in Cambridgeshire. Driven by an insatiable passion for teaching and learning, Ruchi has a keen interest in new developments and research in pedagogy. She is also a regular speaker at #LearningFirst conferences, leading workshops on a range of approaches to assessment.

Alexandra Sabina Bender is a seventh grade student in middle school and lives with her parents and sister Michelle in Connecticut. Observing first hand the hurt and destructive power of cliques, she wrote this book when she was 12 years old to teach understanding and tolerance to others. She is currently working on her third book.

Dr Sam is a child psychologist and has extensive experience of working closely on government policy, school approaches to bullying and anti-bullying strategies in over 3000 schools. She has worked with many of the country's leading children's charities on welfare and safeguarding research, supported young people in court and run private child behaviour clinics in the UK, including London's Harley Street, working with children, young people and their families.

Dr Sam discusses how Girl Bullies Could be Great Leaders' with The Telegraph. Read the article in full here.

Click here to read Dr Sam's feature, titled Controlling the Pack with Fear and Threats', published on Teachwire.net.

Dr Samantha Todd is a clinical psychologist who works with children and adolescents with learning disabilities. She also provides regular training for teachers and children's services, and has co-developed a programme for behavioural difficulties, Riding the Rapids: Living with Autism or Disability.

Dr Amanda Sara is an author and educational consultant. Previously she was Principal Director of Academies (11 - 16) - Head of two London schools. In addition to her current role, she is also literacy consultant for The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts.

Julie Sargent has over 10 years’ experience of working across the whole of the primary sector as an English Consultant. This includes developing bespoke CPD for individual schools, multi-academy trusts and local authorities. She has a particular interest in Early Years/KS1 and using high-quality texts to promote and develop all aspects of English.

Tom Saunders MD merged his life's work as a physician with his life's pleasure, golf. He practiced as a Family Physician in Calgary until 1968 when he joined the new Faculty of Medicine as head of Family Practice. As a professor he taught medical students and trainees how to use self hypnosis techniques to help their patients manage medical problems. He set the principles of hypnosis on his own game, and with other golfers.

Mel Scott is an MFL and English specialist who currently leads a year six team at Vale School. Prior to entering the teaching profession, she worked in industry using her language skills in areas as diverse as buying and copywriting. She has a particular interest in raising the level of children's engagement in and enjoyment of writing. @melscott123

David Shephard BSc, DES is Chairman and Head of Research and Training for The Performance Partnership. David is a Master Trainer of NLP, Time Line Therapy, instructor of Hypnotherapy and teacher of Hawaiian Huna. He presents public seminars including Presenting Magically throughout the year. His companies include The Performance Partnership, the Coaching Partnership and The Profitability Partnership.

Dan Short is currently in private practice in Scottsdale Arizona and a member of the graduate faculty at Ottawa University. He was Associate Director and Chief Archivist for the Milton H. Erickson Foundation in the USA, former Editor for The Milton H. Erickson Foundation Newsletter and was the Editor and Designer for Milton H. Erickson: The Complete Works.

Julia Silver is the founder of Qualified Tutor, a professional development community that develops and certifies tutors. She lives in North London with her husband Simon, her five children and her Labrador puppy.

Julie Silverthorn MS and John Overdurf CAC are highly respected international therapists and trainers of hypnotherapy and NLP, with over thirty years of combined experience. They are both certified Master Trainers of NLP and are the developers of Humanistic Neuro-Linguistic Psychology, which integrates hypnosis, neuro-linguistics, quantum theory and spirituality. Julie has a master's degree in clinical psychology, while John is a certified addictions counsellor and a former instructor of psychology.

Joseph Sinclair has been a member of the Institute of Transactional Analysis, the International Co-counselling Community and the Institute of Neuro-Linguistic Programming. He is a member of the Association for Humanistic Psychology and editor of the Independent Practitioners Network Newsletter.

Iesha Small is an educator, a writer and an innovation lead at an education think tank. Iesha was previously an assistant head teacher and taught for fourteen years. After a breakdown in 2011, she started using photography to improve her mental health and explore people's stories ' and this journey ultimately led to her becoming an author. Iesha writes about education for various publications, including The Guardian and TES, and was previously a monthly columnist for Schools Week. To keep things interesting, she is also a speaker, blogger and podcaster. She lives near London with her family and a tiny but loud dog.

Alistair Smith is an internationally known consultant, author and trainer. He has spoken to tens of thousands of teachers across the world and has written a number of books including: The Brain's Behind It: New Knowledge about the Brain and Learning, Help Your Child to Succeed: The Essential Guide for Parents and Accelerated Learning: A User's Guide. He is the designated learning consultant to the Football Association. He is also the author of Learning to Learn in Practice (ISBN 9781845902872).

Jim Smith, the laziest (yet still professional) teacher in town, is a head of school, education consultant, Independent Thinking Associate, speaker and bestselling author.

Suzi Smith co-founded Anchor Point Institute (formerly Western States Training Associates/NLP of Utah) with Tim Hallbom to provide practical, skill-based training to individuals, businesses, and government organizations. She began conducting NLP Certification Trainings in 1985 and has been active in bringing NLP skills into people's lives in many locations throughout the world since that time. Her trainings are respected for their excellence in providing real-world skills that are practical and useful, and she is known for her ability to make even the most complicated process understandable and easy to learn.

She holds a Bachelors Degree from the University of Utah and a Master of Science Degree in Counselling from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. She has a Certificate from the Four Winds Society in Shamanic Healing and Soul Retrieval, a Certificate from the American Council of Hypnotist Examiners as a Hypnotherapist, and Certificates as an NLP Practitioner, Master Practitioner, and Trainer. Suzi's website is www.suzismith.net

Suzi is co-author of the book NLP: The New Technology of Achievement, and is featured on the Nightingale-Conant tape series NLP-The New Technology of Achievement. She produced the CDs Preparing for a Medical Intervention, Creating a Healthy Identity, Dealing with Allergies, and Communicating with Symptoms. She co-developed the CD Healing Yourself with Tim Hallbom.

In partnership with NLP innovator Robert Dilts, and Tim Hallbom, co-founder of Anchor Point, Suzi developed new NLP applications in the field of health and well-being. She continues to do research and development into the uses of NLP as it applies to longevity and life extension as well as health. In addition to conducting training around the world, she consults for a variety of private and government organizations. In her private practice she specializes in applying NLP to areas of physical and emotional health, giving people new choices of behavior in their personal and professional lives. Suzi has recently expanded to include telephone life coaching as a part of her practice.

Joan Smith worked as a secondary school teacher for almost twenty years, holding a variety of middle and senior leadership roles. She then moved into Initial Teacher Education as a PGCE tutor. She is currently postgraduate tutor for the EdD programme, a part-time professional doctorate designed for full-time teachers at the University of Leicester, and researches on both critical writing and research methods at postgraduate level.

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.