How do they do it?

What can we learn from amazing schools, leaders and teachers?

By: Mark Enser , Zoe Enser


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Products specifications
Attribute name Attribute value
Format: Paperback
Size: 234 x 156mm
Pages: 176
Published: September 2025
ISBN: 9781785837425

Dispelling myths, highlighting best practices, and prompting readers to assess their strengths and weaknesses, former HMI and members of the Curriculum Unit Mark and Zoe Enser explore what makes schools successful using the Ofsted framework as a starting point for evaluation.

With so many schools doing amazing work, How Do They Do It? What can we learn from amazing schools, leaders and teachers? by Mark and Zoe Enser is a much-needed celebration of teachers, school leaders and their successes. Drawing on their combined experience as teachers, school leaders and former HMI and members of Ofsted’s Curriculum Unit, they answer one central question: how do amazing schools do it?

Using the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework (EIF), they break aspects of school life down into their component parts and identify some factors that make things go well - and some that make things go badly. Together, Mark and Zoe unpick what we mean by a high quality of education, what matters when it comes to pupil attitudes and the importance of education going beyond the academic and including personal development. Along the way, they bust some common myths about inspections and offer reflective questions which will help school leaders and teachers improve their practice.

Suitable for teachers of all levels, head teachers, Ofsted inspectors and anyone interested in education today.


Picture for author Mark Enser

Mark Enser

Mark Enser is a former HMI and was a member of Ofsted’s curriculum unit as the National Lead for Geography. He is a former head of department and research lead as well as author of numerous books on education (including Powerful Geography, Teach Like Nobody’s Watching and The CPD Curriculum) and a regular TES columnist.

He is now a freelance writer, speaker and provider of school support.

Articles and interviews available

Mark is available for interview, expert comment or bylined articles on a range of topics, such as:

  • School improvement
  • Experience of inspecting
  • Quality assurance
  • Teacher development
  • CPD 

View the press release for What Are We Teaching? here.


Picture for author Zoe Enser

Zoe Enser

Zoe Enser is a former HMI and was a member of Ofsted’s curriculum unit as the National Lead for Secondary English and Drama. She was a school leader and local authority adviser, as well as the author of numerous books on education (including Bringing Forth the Bard, Generative Learning in Action and The CPD Curriculum) and a regular TES columnist. She has also worked with The Teacher Development Trust, Best Practice Network, The Ambition Institute and the Chartered College of Teaching.

She is now the school improvement lead for a multi-academy trust in the North West of England, which includes mainstream primary and secondary schools, as well as alternative provision and specialist settings.

Articles and interviews available

Zoe is available for interview, expert comment or bylined articles on a range of topics, such as:

  • School improvement
  • Experience of inspecting
  • Quality assurance
  • Teacher development
  • CPD 

View the press release for What Are We Teaching? here.


Reviews

  1. How Do They Do It? is the leadership manual every school leader will wish they had on the desk during strategic planning conversations. Drawing on their unique vantage point as senior leaders and former HMIs, Mark and Zoe Enser distil hundreds of school visits into a clear, evidence-anchored blueprint for sustainable improvement and outline what makes great schools thrive. Chapters aligned to the education inspection framework (EIF) provide instant familiarity, yet the authors move well beyond compliance: they challenge leaders to craft a purposeful curriculum, build truly distributed leadership and embed a culture where high ambition is the norm for every pupil and every member of staff. What makes this book stand out is its blend of big-picture vision and granular, do-it-tomorrow advice. Reflection questions, myth-busting insights about inspection and vivid case studies give school leaders practical tools for galvanising teams, sharpening self-evaluation and protecting staff workload while raising standards. Whether you lead a single school or a trust, this is an indispensable companion for navigating today’s accountability landscape while staying true to the core mission of education.

  2. How Do They Do It? explores some of the questions teachers and leaders frequently ask around the EIF and uncovers what high-quality schools have in common. Mark and Zoe provide an insightful look at what matters most and provide concise reflections with approaches that work. Highly recommended.

  3. This is a marvellous book. Here we have two educators with a wealth of experience in the classroom and in leadership at all levels, including national roles. Mark and Zoe Enser draw on their experience to provide insights and practical examples of what’s working well in our schools. It’s a celebration of what great schools are doing, how they have clarity of purpose and deliberateness as they work to provide great experiences and outcomes for young people. Balanced by overviews of what happens when things go wrong, there are helpful discussion prompts as an invitation for all of us to consider how to get better. How Do They Do It? is a terrific book and will be immensely helpful for teachers and leaders across the sector.

  4. How Do They Do It? is the ultimate guide for those walking the winding, often uphill path of school improvement. It feels like travelling alongside expert trail guides; Mark and Zoe Enser draw on their rich, tacit expertise to point out both the hazards and the hidden shortcuts. The book inspires like a breathtaking landscape view yet grounds you with clear, evidence-based steps and sturdy strategies to keep you moving forward. For school leaders and teachers doing the hard miles, this is both a map and a trusted companion, walking every step with you toward excellence.

  5. How Do They Do It? is a timely and valuable book that provides an evidence- and experience-based guide to improving schools, based on insights from highly successful schools and teachers.

    The book is structured around Ofsted’s Education Inspection Framework (EIF), which both authors know intimately, with chapters on quality of education, behaviour and attitude, personal development and leadership and management. Each chapter provides a helpful and accessible overview of key areas (for example, assessment or pupil behaviour). They are helpfully structured around what each concept is and why it matters, where things can go wrong and what it looks like when things go right.

    This book is fundamentally optimistic. It is a celebration of good schools and of how we can develop all schools by building on the talent of leaders and teachers already working there. As such, it is highly recommended for anyone working in education.

  6. What Mark and Zoe have done with this book is to collate hours and hours of listening, seeing and hearing practice from around the country. It is a powerful opportunity to explore the learning that results from two brilliant minds distilling all that lived and learnt experience.

    Through every aspect of school life and structure they have unpicked the thinking and reflections of hundreds of different school leaders and teachers. They have been able to triangulate this thinking with what they have seen and synthesised the emerging patterns. This is a powerful body of wisdom to have the luxury to explore.

    In every aspect they stress the value of considering our purpose and being deliberate about how we make a path towards it, planning both the potential pitfalls and opportunities that would work best for our students and our staff in our context: where do we want to be? Where are we now? What are the best bets to take us on the path?

    It’s not a how-to approach that dictates a set preferred model but an invitation and a scaffold to reflect on this body of learning for the greatest possible outcomes for those that matter most. The most compelling reality exposed is that it is exactly that journey that is the most impactful, the deliberate thought and deliberate action that in the end creates the magic, making something greater than the sum of its parts.

  7. Written by two heavy-weight thinkers, Zoe and Mark Enser, this book absolutely lives up to its title. Although using a superseded Ofsted framework to support its narrative (which doesn’t matter as it’s a good one), this highly researched and evidenced book lifts the lid on a wide range of aspects of any school’s provision. Tackling topics from curriculum sequencing and pedagogical approaches to the reading curriculum and approaches to disadvantage, this book pulls together the very best theory to create eminently practical suggestions. These are powerfully grouped using a repeated structure that considers why the topic matters, what happens when it goes right and (very helpfully) what happens when it goes wrong. The authors also acknowledge the importance of leadership that creates a culture of openness, trust and supportive challenge, where policy is consulted upon to ensure whole-school processes will work in all contexts within a school. I highly recommend this excellent book.


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