Teacher Gap

Rebecca Allen is Professor of Education and Director of the Centre for Education Improvement Science (CEIS) at the UCL Institute of Education, UK. She was previously the Founding Director of Education Datalab, and is an expert in the analysis of large scale administrative and survey datasets. You can find Becky on Twitter @profbeckyallen Sam Sims is a Research Fellow at Education Datalab and a PhD researcher at UCL Institute of Education, UK. He researches the teaching profession and has a particular interest in using linked survey and administrative data to understand how teachers' working environments affect their professional development. You can find him on Twitter @Sam_Sims_

"This is a powerful book that deserves to be very influential. Readable and searingly thought-provoking, The Teacher Gap offers an alternative view of professional learning and leadership at all levels to finally address the standards agenda. An absolute must-read for all those interested in the future of our profession." - Professor Dame Alison Peacock, DBE, DLitt, Chief Executive, Chartered College of Teaching "The Teacher Gap has the potential to be one of the seminal works of our time. The impact of the book will be determined by whether we are willing to collectively rise to the challenge within it." - Stephen Tierney, CEO BEBCMAT, Blackpool, author of Liminal Leadership and Chair of the Headteachers’ Roundtable"This is one of the most important education books written in this country in recent years because it gets to the heart of the biggest challenge our system faces. If you’re a school leader or policy-maker and you’re only going to read one book this year make it this one." - Sam Freedman, Executive Director of Participant Impact and Delivery, Teach First, UK"I found The Teacher Gap optimistic and inspiring! It reinforced a conviction that we can and must make a difference in how we train, grow and support brilliant teachers within the structure of a "career worth having"." - Caroline Barlow, Headteacher, Heathfield Community College, East Sussex, UK"I read The Teacher Gap in one sitting and genuinely thought it was coherent, well-written, pragmatically idealistic (or idealistically pragmatic) and very, very relevant." - Keven Bartle, Headteacher, Canons High School, UK"The Teacher Gap is a fascinating and important book. Sam and Becky’s reflections represent an entirely novel and very significant contribution to the debate." - Leora Cruddas, Chief Executive Officer, Freedom and Autonomy for Schools National Association (FASNA)"I think it is an excellent account of the state of the teaching profession expounded engagingly through narrative and analysis, with a strong overlay of good research to support the conclusions. It resonated with my own direct and indirect experience as a teacher and a headteacher in many places." - Ian Bauckham CBE, CEO Tenax Schools Trust

• 1. The teacher gap 2. Teacher expertise: learning to cha-cha on a ship full of mouldy fruit 3. Teacher retention: why Abi and James now work in the City 4. Teacher hiring: sausages and lemons 5. Teacher motivation: you couldn’t pay me to do that 6. Teacher development: habits, coaches and caves 7. Teacher workload: auditing the hamster wheel 8. Teaching teachers: what policy-makers can do without waiting for schools 9. A career worth having