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Botheredness: Stories, stance and pedagogy
This is an education book that is like no other that has gone before. It won't tell you what to do minute by minute, lesson by lesson, day by day. It won't batter you with impenetrable research or tell you what you must think. You won't even find a scheme of work in it some planning ideas, for sure, even a template or two, but there's no spoon-feeding here. It's just a book that invites you to consider where you are in your own educational journey. It's a book to get youbothered.
Botheredness is a word Hywel Roberts uses to sum up the kind of authentic care and adult positioning that is real and deliberate and gets children and young people on board with learning. It is the holy grail of teaching and something that will both significantly improve your enjoyment of teaching and benefit your classes enormously.
This book is therefore an exploration of the road less travelled, backed up with Hywel's own experiences, reflections and research down the rabbit hole of contemporary education. It's about the reinstatement of professional integrity, the teacher as storyteller, and the need for our professional imaginations to be nurtured and curated. Hywel sets out to help teachers enhance their understanding of what it means to lead learning and thinking, to stand beside children as well as in front of them, whilst developing their knowledge acquisition with compassion, warmth and optimism.
If you are looking for an education book that will inspire not dictate, that will entertain, challenge and fire up your imagination in equal measure,that allows you to think beyond a path laid out by scripted lessons, downloadable schemes and quick-fix fads, then this is the book for you.
Providing clear strategies around imaginative and effective planning, supported by genuine examples of powerful classroom work from primary, special and secondary settings, this book is an essential guide to reclaiming your professional warmth, passion, and care - your botherednesss - in the classroom. Written by a travelling teacher and film buff who's on a mission to put botheredness into classrooms everywhere.
Suitable for teachers, teaching assistants and school leaders, as well as other education professionals.
Botheredness is a word Hywel Roberts uses to sum up the kind of authentic care and adult positioning that is real and deliberate and gets children and young people on board with learning. It is the holy grail of teaching and something that will both significantly improve your enjoyment of teaching and benefit your classes enormously.
This book is therefore an exploration of the road less travelled, backed up with Hywel's own experiences, reflections and research down the rabbit hole of contemporary education. It's about the reinstatement of professional integrity, the teacher as storyteller, and the need for our professional imaginations to be nurtured and curated. Hywel sets out to help teachers enhance their understanding of what it means to lead learning and thinking, to stand beside children as well as in front of them, whilst developing their knowledge acquisition with compassion, warmth and optimism.
If you are looking for an education book that will inspire not dictate, that will entertain, challenge and fire up your imagination in equal measure,that allows you to think beyond a path laid out by scripted lessons, downloadable schemes and quick-fix fads, then this is the book for you.
Providing clear strategies around imaginative and effective planning, supported by genuine examples of powerful classroom work from primary, special and secondary settings, this book is an essential guide to reclaiming your professional warmth, passion, and care - your botherednesss - in the classroom. Written by a travelling teacher and film buff who's on a mission to put botheredness into classrooms everywhere.
Suitable for teachers, teaching assistants and school leaders, as well as other education professionals.
424 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 28, 2023
8 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 5, 2023
This book ‘nurtured my botheredness’. Great ideas for approaching the ‘could’ and ‘must’ of the curriculum.
Will be recommending to colleagues and would recommend to all teachers.
Will be recommending to colleagues and would recommend to all teachers.
September 15, 2025
I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Hywel, and it was inspiring to see him put some of the lessons from this book into practice. The children were completely engaged – they didn’t just learn, they bought in to their learning journey. That kind of creativity, compassion, and imagination in teaching is exactly what has kept me passionate about education for over 25 years.
As the book describes, Botheredness is about “the care teachers have for their children… the warmth, imagination and creativity embedded in their curriculum.” I saw that in action, and it reminded me why this approach is so powerful.
In today’s world, where children swipe screens and ask Siri or Alexa for instant answers, Botheredness feels more vital than ever. Hywel offers clear, imaginative strategies, genuine classroom examples, and – perhaps most importantly – a rallying cry to reclaim the professional warmth and humanity at the heart of great teaching.
This is not just another set of “whistles-and-bells lessons” or quick-fix fads – it’s an invitation to build a culture where children are invested in their learning, and where teachers feel inspired rather than dictated to.
I would recommend Botheredness to every member of educational staff. It’s not just a book to read; it’s a book to live out in classrooms, to reflect upon, and to implement. The impact it can have on both children’s learning and their values is immeasurable.
As the book describes, Botheredness is about “the care teachers have for their children… the warmth, imagination and creativity embedded in their curriculum.” I saw that in action, and it reminded me why this approach is so powerful.
In today’s world, where children swipe screens and ask Siri or Alexa for instant answers, Botheredness feels more vital than ever. Hywel offers clear, imaginative strategies, genuine classroom examples, and – perhaps most importantly – a rallying cry to reclaim the professional warmth and humanity at the heart of great teaching.
This is not just another set of “whistles-and-bells lessons” or quick-fix fads – it’s an invitation to build a culture where children are invested in their learning, and where teachers feel inspired rather than dictated to.
I would recommend Botheredness to every member of educational staff. It’s not just a book to read; it’s a book to live out in classrooms, to reflect upon, and to implement. The impact it can have on both children’s learning and their values is immeasurable.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews