Body Language for Competent Teachers

Sean Neill and Chris Caswell

Nonverbal skills are invaluable for teachers in ‘getting the message across’ to classes and
understanding the messages pupils are sending—messages of interest or messages of
confrontation, which are first expressed non-verbally. With increasing interest in
classroom competence, teachers need to understand the use of gesture, posture, facial
expression and tone of voice. These have become especially important for effective
teachers in a climate where respect has to be earned rather than coming automatically
with the job.
Each chapter of the book has training exercises related to its theme for the new teacher;
answers are provided at the end of each chapter. The last chapter is addressed to staff
responsible for staff training and development, especially in the school context, and
includes suggestions for half- and whole-day courses.
Sean Neill has been carrying out research on non-verbal communication at the
University of Warwick over the last ten years, and has taught, and published numerous
research papers and an academic book, Classroom Nonverbal Communication.
Chris Caswell is a member of the Senior Management Team at Myton School,
Warwick and has wide-ranging teaching experience. He has taught school-based courses
on classroom non-verbal skills at Myton and other schools, and related courses in other
institutions, as well as counselling many inexperienced colleagues.
Routledge