Book excerpt: The Toxic Classroom offers a wide-ranging look at education today and explores in detail the pressures children experience as a result of constant change, digital technology and political interference. Beginning with what it is like to be a child in the classroom, the book goes on to provide a detailed analysis of the curriculum, assessment and accountability, school structures, educating for global citizenship and the plethora of social issues schools are now expected to solve. Written from the perspective of a successful headteacher with over 30 years' teaching experience, the book considers what needs to be done to put things right and outlines a more equitable and effective school system. Each chapter outlines the steps schools can implement immediately and the longer-term policy changes that are needed de-toxify the classroom and facilitate a genuine love of learning. Offering a challenging yet compelling argument for putting education back into the hands of teachers, this book will be of great interest both to the general reader and to those working within education such as teachers and professionals who wish to improve the ways in which children learn and develop.