Jarlath O'Brien Author

Jarlath O'Brien has been a teacher for nearly two decades, working in comprehensive, independent, selective and special education - including in schools for children with social, emotional and behavioural issues and severe and profound and multiple learning difficulties. For the last eight years Jarlath has been a head teacher and executive head teacher.Jarlath is also a behaviour columnist for TES, has written for The Guardian and for several other education publications and trains teachers on behaviour, school leadership and special educational needs. Since establishing Independent Thinking 25 years ago, Ian Gilbert has made a name for himself across the world as a highly original writer, editor, speaker, practitioner and thinker and is someone who the IB World magazine has referred to as one of the world's leading educational visionaries.The author of several books, and the editor of many more, Ian is known by thousands of teachers and young people across the world for his award-winning Thunks books. Thunks grew out of Ian's work with Philosophy for Children (P4C), and are beguiling yet deceptively powerful little philosophical questions that he has created to make children's - as well as their teachers' - brains hurt.Ian's growing collection of bestselling books has a more serious side too, without ever losing sight of his trademark wit and straight-talking style. The Little Book of Bereavement for Schools, born from personal family experience, is finding a home in schools across the world, and The Working Class - a massive collaborative effort he instigated and edited - is making a genuine difference to the lives of young people from some of the poorest backgrounds.A unique writer and editor, there is no other voice like Ian Gilbert's in education today.