About Teach17
Teach17 is an education website sharing practical ideas, useful opportunities and interesting voices from across education — 17 at a time.
The site was created by David Ridings, an experienced physics teacher and former Head of Science who has worked in secondary education for over 25 years. David wanted to create a place where teachers could discover ideas that are clear, realistic and genuinely useful.
What You Will Find on Teach17
Teach17 covers a growing range of topics, including:
- Practical ideas for teaching and learning
- School leadership and professional development
- Interviews with teachers, authors, researchers and education leaders
- Useful education books and their key ideas
- Technology and artificial intelligence in schools
- Teaching vacancies and career opportunities
- Schools, organisations, competitions, visits and classroom resources
- Honest reflections on workload, wellbeing and everyday school life
New articles are added regularly, with each one designed to give readers something useful to discover, consider or try.
Why 17?
The idea behind Teach17 is simple. Seventeen points provide enough detail to explore a subject properly while keeping each article clear and easy to read.
Readers do not have to agree with or use every suggestion. If just one idea leads to a better lesson, introduces a useful resource or starts an interesting conversation, the article has done its job.
Ideas Grounded in Real School Life
Teach17 is written with the realities of education in mind: busy days, mixed-ability classes, changing priorities, difficult lessons, forgotten pens, marking, meetings and constant pressure on teachers’ time.
The site focuses on ideas that can work in real classrooms and schools. That might be a clearer explanation, a calmer routine, a better question, an interesting resource or a small change that makes tomorrow’s lesson easier.
Although Teach17 has a strong secondary education focus, many of its articles will also be useful to primary teachers, trainees, tutors, support staff, school leaders, parents and anyone interested in education.
The 17 Questions Series
The 17 Questions series introduces people doing interesting and valuable work across education.
Each interview gives a teacher, leader, author, researcher or education professional the opportunity to share their experiences, ideas and advice in their own words.
The aim is to highlight a wide range of voices and give readers practical insights into teaching, learning, leadership and the wider world of education.
Contribute to Teach17
Some of the best ideas in education come from people quietly doing excellent work in classrooms, departments, schools and organisations.
Teach17 welcomes contributions from teachers, school leaders, authors, researchers, trainers and others working in education. Contributors can write a “17 Things” article, take part in a 17-question interview or suggest an educational project, resource or organisation to feature.
Find out more about how to contribute to Teach17.
About David Ridings
David is a physics teacher with nearly two decades of experience teaching science and physics from Key Stage 3 to A level. He has also worked as a Head of Science and Technology for many years, has supported early-career physics teachers and delivered professional development for science teachers.
Teach17 brings together his interests in classroom practice, science education, leadership, educational technology and the people and organisations working to improve education.
David believes that good teaching is rarely built on one dramatic idea. More often, it develops through small, thoughtful improvements made one lesson at a time.
For contributions, collaborations or general enquiries, please contact Teach17.