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An Interview with Ross McGill
OSS McGILL, also known as @TeacherToolkit, is the ‘most followed educator on social media in the UK’ with a blog and resource site that empowers all teachers to reduce their workload and become more effective in their work. Ross has been a teacher for 25+ years in state schools across London. He is frequently asked to speak at national conferences and is an award winning blogger and author. To date he has worked with over 100 schools in 8 countries. The Sunday Times listed Ross as one of the ‘500 Most influential People in Britain’ - the only classroom teacher to have been featured. He is currently studying for his doctorate at Cambridge University. FOBISIA's CPD Executive Daphne Wong interviewed Ross McGill to find out more about what makes him tick. How have you been occupying yourself during lockdown? During lockdown I have found myself leading webinars online and so far, have reached over
3000 teachers in 40 countries. It's keeping me busy, supporting my mental health, alongside my doctoral studies and writing two new books.
Your work has brought you to many different countries, working with various schools, how do you envisage this will change in the next year?
I have already cancelled all my international work simply because it is impossible to plan anything. Typically, overseas events are planned three to six months in advance, so I cannot see myself reaching any countries overseas until September 2021. In situations where I plan to work
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inside the school building across the UK, I suspect with social distancing rules in place, training days as we know it will be very different and we will all need to adapt. I do not see why we should not consider online events for the immediate future.
Many of your books focus on teaching strategies within classrooms, with more home learning in place now, how can these tips be applied?I found it very difficult to work from home with a nine-year-old son. There are also different boundaries and emotions involved, so even though I am a qualified teacher, it has been incredibly difficult to
