No Other

Ian Gilbert is an award-winning education writer and editor as well as an international speaker, innovator and entrepreneur. He is the CEO of the education platform Independent Thinking, an organisation he founded in 1993. He is the author of Essential Motivation in the Classroom 3rd ed (Routledge, 2025) and Why Do I Need a Teacher When I’ve Got Google? (Routledge 2014) and has written or edited multiple books for the Independent Thinking Press. He is currently based in Finland.

‘This much needed book carries a wealth of insight that will help every school think carefully about its own work in ensuring all children and families belong. A must for every staffroom’. - Mick Waters, Educationalist and author‘Without a sense of belonging, everything a child learns is built on damaged foundations. This powerful and wide-ranging book shows how schools can get those foundations right for all children’- Ben Walden, Director, Contender Charlie

• List of contributorsForeword – Ellie Costello, Executive Director, Square PegPrefaceChapter One - Belonging, if - Inclusion, exclusion and the Homo Sacer - Tier BlundellChapter Two - Children Seeking Sanctuary - Megan GreenwoodChapter Three - ‘Shakespeare Must Have Been a Black Girl’ – Diversity and curriculum design - Jonathan LearChapter Four - ‘A Bit Less Alien’ – Belonging and the bereaved child - Lucy LynchChapter Five - Belonging More by Attending Less – the benefits of flexischooling - Sarah SudeaChapter Six - Literacy Without Limits - Reframing reading, writing and oracy through inclusion - Dr Sarah MoseleyPoem One - Our Name Is Not a Burden - Afifa KhanamChapter Seven - The Attendance Problem Isn’t An Attendance Problem - Mark GoodwinChapter Eight - ‘I Know You All Like Me’ – On intentional inclusivity - Rob MetcalfeChapter Nine - Don’t Say the P-Word! – LGBTQ+ awareness in the conservative school setting - Andy LowChapter Ten - Belonging, Curiosity and the Radical Forces of Inclusion - James SearjeantChapter Eleven - The Invisible Ones – Supporting autistic girls in education - Cathy WassellPoem Two - A Seat at the Table - Afifa KhanamChapter Twelve - You Belong Here: Cultivating Value, Voice and Cultural Belonging in All Schools - Gemma HathawayChapter Thirteen - Invisible Barriers – Supporting ethnic minority teachers - Rhia MutomboChapter Fourteen - ‘I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means’ – Inclusion beyond rhetoric in international schools - Nigel WinnardChapter Fifteen - Belonging begins at home - How parental engagement creates inclusive schools - Karen Dempster and Justin RobbinsChapter Sixteen - Achieving Belonging by Dismantling Hierarchies in the Curriculum - Bennie KaraChapter Seventeen - What's Right With You? - Happiness, belonging and the Finnish perspective - Dr Kaisa VuorninenPoem Three - We Walked Into School with Quiet Shoes - Afifa KhanamChapter Eighteen - Prejudice, Labelling, and Low Expectations – Challenging teacher assumptions – Dr Elizabeth FarrarChapter Nineteen - The Lonely Child - Mihaela Beatrice SirbuChapter Twenty - The Hidden Exclusions of Quiet Compliance - Julia HancockChapter Twenty-One - Thirteen Reflections on Belonging, Authenticity and Allyship - Alison KrielChapter Twenty-Two - Inclusion by Intention - An inclusion champion in every classroom - Dr Nicole PonsfordChapter Twenty-Three - Breaking the Silence – Speaking out on inclusion and identity - Ian TimbrellChapter Twenty-Four - Belonging, Identity and the Educational Binds of Poverty - Professor Ceri BrownChapter Twenty-Five - I, (Older)Teacher - Elaine FenechChapter Twenty-Six - Teacher Bias, Ethnicity, and Perceptions of Mental Health in Schools - Dr Maddi PopoolaPoem Four - The Question Beneath Our Skin - Afifa KhanamChapter Twenty-Seven - A Fish In Water – Belonging in the Early Years - Ruth SwailesChapter Twenty-Eight - Finding Common Ground - families and schools working together so that children thrive - James HarrisChapter Twenty-Nine - Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Children - Rich in the wrong currency - Sarah FellChapter Thirty - Holding Courageous Conversations - Hannah WilsonChapter Thirty-One - Belonging and Neurodiversity in the Inclusive Classroom - Katie GoodwinPoem Five - Refugees and the Hostile Environment - Afifa KhanamChapter Thirty-Two - Love is Not an Intervention - Zoya WallingtonChapter Thirty-Three - Muslim Belonging in Education - Anti-Muslim hate, curriculum reform and ethical Safeguarding Practice - Dr Javeria Khadija ShahChapter Thirty-Four - You Don’t Know Me Yet – Cultivating belonging for new Sixth Formers - Laura NewellChapter Thirty-Five - Limb Difference in the Classroom - Jane HewittChapter Thirty-Six - Learning Through Dialogue – Unselfing, belonging, and the power of conversation - Susan Kyne AndrewsChapter Thirty-Seven - I Care; You Care; We Care – Building cultures of inclusion, diversity and wellbeing in Schools - Nina JacksonChapter Thirty-Eight - ‘Say it Again, Only Whiter’ – Rethinking EAL - Rory FileChapter Thirty-Nine - Learning About versus Learning to Be – How character education can support inclusion- Melodie HarmerPoem Six - Across Two Classrooms - Afifa KhanamChapter Forty - Peer Coaching – the glue that connects the whole school community - Jackie Beere, OBEChapter Forty-One - Behaviour, Attendance and Belonging – The six principles of the Healing Way - Stephen LoganChapter Forty-Two – ‘Here I am’ – Belonging and Authentic Oracy - Rachel HigginsonChapter Forty-Three - Wired to be Loved - Dr Debra KiddIndex