Why you should be a ‘maverick’ teacher

It’s a funny old word “maverick”. And any article with it in the heading is bound to bring to mind images of some self-regarding David Brent-style chancer who expresses his disdain towards the authority that feeds him through the agency of an overly colourful tie and the Mickey Mouse socks he’ll surreptitiously reveal to those taken temporarily in by his gossamer charm.

There is also the sense that any idiot seeking to address this word (and to examine what it means) “clearly” identifies with it and is therefore to be viewed through the twin lenses of pity and contempt.

So, I’m acutely not unaware that publishing a book examining the concept might automatically make any reader’s forehead screw up into the worried frown that says something along the lines of: “I used to partially respect this fella’s work and now he is just about to make a monumental fool of himself.”