The VESPA Handbook begins with a vital question: what are the characteristics and behaviours of successful students? In this fascinating student guide, Oakes and Griffin explore the mindsets and practices of successful students, using their findings to help readers achieve similarly impressive results. With a range of sensible strategies and a wealth of practical advice, this is the perfect book for students who are keen to improve their study skills and reach their full academic potential.

This book superbly builds upon the first editions by enabling students and teachers to deliver activities bespoke to need. Activities you can pick up and deliver that need no previous study or experience can be used by schools and colleges to support their learners in a variety of capacities to enable both academic and well-being progress. With a keen focus on developing metacognitive skills and enabling learners to self-evaluate their own development needs, it encourages educational practitioners to think beyond the curriculum and more about key life skills essential for learners’ ongoing transitional journey to further and higher levels of study and career pathways. These activities will definitely refresh and uplift the VESPA model further.

Steve and Martin have the incredible ability to frame ideas and suggestions to develop learner habits in a way which just simply makes sense to teachers and students alike. Their research is relevant, and their suggestions are presented in an inviting style while challenging our students to truly reflect on how they are as learners and how they could be much more successful. A true staple of a successful curriculum.

Post-pandemic, nothing is quite what it once was. More students than ever seem to need extra support to enable them to study effectively. This latest book in the brilliant VESPA series acknowledges things have changed. This handbook provides teachers with a superbly curated set of new activities for students, which are organised upon the original VESPA structure but are shaped to address the new normal in the classroom. It's an essential resource for anyone trying to boost students’ commitment to their studies.

There’s a lot to love in The VESPA Handbook. I really like the fact that it’s rooted in reality and is extremely useful for the teacher who has concerns for all their students. The advice and direction offered to teachers is exemplary, privileging honest attainment and success at a human level, which, in turn, makes the handbook indispensable. I’m grateful to Martin and Steve for writing it.

Martin Griffin and Steve Oakes clearly understand what makes both students and their teachers tick! In this highly practical handbook, they’ve taken leading-edge educational research and combined it with their own teaching experience to create a host of easy-to-follow activities, many of which can be completed in the brief window of tutorial time. This is a fantastically rich resource that should be required reading for anyone working with young people who aren’t yet fulfilling their potential – it should certainly be on the bookshelf of every head of sixth form.