Peter Foster is a teacher and school leader. He has worked in state comprehensives since qualifying as an English teacher in 2010.

He has written two books on teaching, one for new teachers and one on making teaching a sustainable job. Peter currently works to support and develop teachers across a multi-academy trust in the South-West of England. 

Peter will be running two sessions during the conference: Sustaining a Career in Teaching (workshop one) and How Can We Improve Teaching and Learning in Our Departments? (workshop two).  He will also be meeting with Senior Leaders during the Collaboration session.

Praise for ‘The Long Game: Sustaining a Successful Career in Teaching’.

"Teaching is relentless, sapping, intense, and so many are feeling the pressures of workload, lack of appreciation, and begging to leave. Peter Foster writes from inside-the-classroom-out about how to resist the pull to conform, maximize feelings of control, become part of an effective team, share the love of improvement, how to reengineer the workload, prioritize the effective, and slow down and do less, better. It reads like a great novel, touches on dilemmas we all face, and is so positive about de-implementing, reengineering, and recapturing the joys of why we become teachers – to have a great impact on the learning lives of our students."

John Hattie, Melbourne Laureate Professor Emeritus

"Lots of books about teaching tell us about new strategies or what we should be doing to improve our practice. This book is different. It tackles the thorny issue of teacher sustainability head on, with a myriad of practical strategies. For those of us who have just been told to 'work smarter!' Peter offers much more realistic and evidence-informed solutions, each explained with case studies and examples. It's the book I wished I'd had much earlier in my career to arm me to cope with the workload, time and immense energy needed to be an effective teacher. A must-read for teachers and leaders at all stages."

Rachel Ball,Coaching Development Lead, StepLab

"This book gets real about the challenges of being a teacher today – and offers us meaningful ways through these challenges. Peter shares with us, in an engaging, humble and down-to-earth way, his own story, bringing in those of others to add rich extra dimensions and drawing upon a rich and fascinating array of research to work out what’s behind the challenges – and, most importantly, what we can do about it. Whilst he doesn’t pretend it's easy, the result is that he represents our profession as a rich and rewarding one – and one worth sticking with for the long game! It contains a huge amount of valuable advice for teachers new and longer in tooth and is highly recommended to all those wanting to make this noble and challenging profession work for them."

Dr Emma Kell, Teacher, coach, writer and speaker

Praise for ‘What Do New Teachers Need to Know?: A Roadmap to Expertise’

‘Peter Foster has created a playbook for new teachers. Rather than suffering a baptism of fire in their early years of teaching, informed predominantly by trial and error, colleagues can feel equipped by the core mechanisms that underpin highly effective teaching. This book is the wise colleague in the staffroom, sharing not just what works, but the rationale behind it. I highly recommend a copy for any teacher seeking to understand the fundamental components of classroom preparation and practice better.’

Kat Howard, DRET Teaching School Hub Director, Author of Stop Talking about Wellbeing and Co-Author of Symbiosis: The Curriculum and the Classroom

‘This is a terrific book which both summarises and preserves the essence of some key elements of our work. It draws on the current findings from research, making it clear that these are insights, rather than three-line whips. Some excellent examples of what the implementation of strategies look like in practice together with accounts of Peter Foster’s own experiences makes this a compelling read. What Do New Teachers Need to Know? is an elegant book which will be a boon to all teachers new to the profession and an aide-memoire for their mentors.’

Mary Myatt, curriculum writer & speaker. Curator of Myatt & Co

‘Starting out in teaching can be daunting; it's a steep learning curve with so many ideas to absorb that it can be overwhelming. With this book Peter Foster has used his experience to produce a superb guide through the big issues that new teachers face including cognitive science, behaviour management, curriculum development and the process of teacher development itself. Written in a punchy style with excellent summaries, great sign-posting to key research and further reading and lots of grounded-in-reality case studies from practising teachers, I can see this being incredibly reassuring and useful as a reference for any new teacher - and plenty of more experienced colleagues too.’

Tom Sherrington, author of Teaching Walkthrus