‘New Perspectives…’ is a small, independent educational consultancy established in 2003 by Dr Tony Eaude. Drawing on his experience as a headteacher, researcher and consultant, he provides an innovative, personal approach to offer teachers and headteachers in schools and settings for young children, especially those up to 11 years old, new ways of understanding and approaching school improvement and pedagogy. This is based on three core principles, that:
- the aims of education are complex and multi-faceted, with measures of success needing to reflect these and the importance of breadth and balance of experience;
- school improvement is intimately linked with the relationships and values developed in, and manifested by, the school community;
- success depends on building, and building on, the learning abilities and dispositions of children and the professional expertise of teachers and other staff, with the role of outsiders primarily to empower and support.
The emphasis is to offer support to schools in:
- identifying, and addressing, the elusive but important elements of education too often overlooked in the drive for improved test scores;
- trusting and encouraging teachers, and others, to innovate, to adapt and to be reflective and self-evaluative; and
- creating and sustaining, among and between staff and pupils, learning, caring communities.
Tony Eaude’s particular interests are in the areas of:
- spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, values and creativity;
- cultural diversity, urban education and bilingualism;
pedagogy, based on a consideration of how young children learn and the implications for the learning environment and for teachers; - the nature of teacher expertise in the primary classroom.
This is reflected in the books which he has written, details of which are available in the right-hand column or at publications. His latest book, published in February 2020, is called ‘Identity, Culture and Belonging: Educating Young Children for a Changing World.’ The right hand column gives details of how to order this book, which is available in paper back as well as hardback.
Among his most recent publications are:
- Eaude, T. (2023) Reclaiming teaching as a profession based on autonomy and trust, Forum 65 (2) pp.72-82
- Eaude, T. (2023) Reflections on how young children develop a sense of beauty and should be guided in doing so, British Journal of Educational Studies (online only- hard copy version to follow) https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2023.2241889 (this is open access)
- Eaude, T. (2023) Spiritual and Moral Development In Debates in Religious Education L. Philip Barnes (ed) (2nd edition) pp. 114-125 Routledge, London
- Eaude, T. (2023) Reflections on the Role of Spirituality in How Young Children’s Identities Are Constructed, In Supporting Children and Youth Through Spiritual Education Kirmani, M., A. Chapman, B. Steele, M. Moallem and S. Scroth (Eds), pp 22-41, IGI Global, www.igi-global.com
Eaude, T. (2023) Enabling those becoming teachers of young children to nurture spiritual growth – Challenges, Dilemmas, and Opportunities, In Rekindling Embers of the Soul: An Examination of Spirituality Issues Relating to Teacher Education, pp. 89–106, Information Age Publishing, www.infoagepub.com is due to be published shortly.
For more details on these, please see the publications page on this website.
Dr Tony Eaude is associated with the Department of Education, University of Oxford. Most of his work is in the area of evaluation, research, teaching, training and writing. Examples of his work in evaluation include a report for the Higher Education Academy evaluating the Islamic Studies Network, a report for the DCSF on Institutional Quality Standards and one for the National Education Trust on 6s&7s. More details can be found on this website especially on Previous Projects. He is a trainer for the Values Education Trust.
Tony Eaude was one of the co-editors of a themed issue of the journal Education 3-13 on the humanities in the primary school, looking at the situation in the four jurisdictions of the UK and presenting a range of different and challenging perspectives on this theme. This was published in May 2017. A seminar to publicise and discuss the ideas was held on 13th November 2017.
Tony Eaude is co-ordinating a group of people, mostly teacher educators, who have set up a campaign called Humanities 20:20 which aims to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the humanities in primary schools. This is based on a four page manifesto available on the Humanities 20:20 website. Those interested are encouraged to sign up to support the manifesto. There is also a Twitter feed Humanities2020. For more details or to offer support please contact Tony Eaude on tony@edperspectives.org.uk
Dr Tony Eaude is a regular presenter/ speaker at conferences such as Naptec (National Primary Teacher Education Conference) and TEAN (Teacher Education Advancement Network). A summary of a talk called ‘What really matters? -looking beyond the standards agenda’ at the National Primary Teacher Education Conference in September 2007 gives a brief indication of his thinking. The text can be downloaded at naptec (doc, 62K) He led a session at the same conference in September 2011, with the title ‘New agendas -but whose? reflections on professionalism, pedagogy and expertise in the primary classroom.’ The text of the notes can be downloaded at naptec conference notes september 2011 (doc, 39K) and the whole paper on which this was based can be accessed by contacting him.He gave the annual lecture for the Philosophy of Educational Renewal (PER) group in June 2017 with the title ‘What can young children teach us about morality?’ A summary of this was published in the journal Prospero in late 2017.
Tony Eaude gave the Christian Schiller lecture on Thursday April 19th 2018 at the University of Greenwich which co-sponsored the lecture with the National Association for Primary Education. The title is ‘Re-humanising primary education -placing trust in teachers, learning from the legacy of Christian Schiller’. The text is available at schillerlecture2018 (pdf, 530K) .The lecture was repeated near Oxford on Monday 24th September 2018. A podcast of a conversation about some of Tony Eaude’s thinking is available on this link from Education on Fire.
He also gave the 2021 Christian Schiller lecture on Monday 8th March 2021 as the keynote of the NAPE virtual conference. This was on the theme of ‘Why a balanced and broadly-based curriculum matters –particularly for young children and those from disadvantaged backgrounds’. The text and a video of the lecture and other presentations at the conference can be seen on https://www.nape.org.uk/post-conference-slides
Following the decision that the Ofsted Framework will require inspectors to ‘take account of spiritual, moral, social and cultural development’ in their judgements about the overall provision made by schools, Tony Eaude, in 2011-2, led a series of seminars, both national and local, on ‘Understanding and meeting Ofsted’s requirement to ‘take account’ of spiritual, moral, social and cultural development’. These are based on research into SMSC and the new Evaluation Schedule for the Ofsted Framework which came into force in January 2012, giving a new emphasis to SMSC especially in judging the overall effectivenesss of a school, in whatever phase. He is available for training, seminars and other events to discuss what this entails and the implications for schools in terms of both gathering evidence and school development. He has chaired and spoken at several national conferences on ‘Fundamental British Values’. Any groups of schools, individual schools, other groups or individuals interested in knowing more or booking a similar seminar should contact Tony Eaude.
From 2008 to 2011, Tony Eaude tutored the module ‘Contemporary Issues and Debates’ on the MA Course in Primary Education at the Institute of Education, London. He has also taught the module ‘Coaching and Mentoring’ for Westminster Institute, Oxford Brookes University. Until 2015, he continued to teach children, from time to time, at a local primary school.
Details of the courses available which can be adapted to the needs of schools, local authorities or other groups can be seen on New Perspectives on… courses and Thinking Through Pedagogy.
Among his planned projects are a project on teacher expertise in the primary classroom. Anyone interested in collaboration on this is invited to contact Tony Eaude for an informal discussion at tony@edperspectives.org.uk
