I loved 'Essential Motivation in the Classroom' when its first edition burst joyfully into the educational stratosphere in 2013. I admired its lightly-worn wisdom, its optimism, its sheer humanity. Much has changed in society in the intervening years, but this new edition of Ian Gilbert's book seems to me more important and more relevant than ever. It serves as a rallying-cry for one of the most essential activities we adults can choose to do - developing in all our young people an essential love of learning that will set them up to take their place as our future citizens.

- Geoff Barton, Former English teacher, headteacher, and General Secretary, the Association of School & College Leaders.

There came a point, about twenty years ago where, somewhat arrogantly, I felt there was no one to learn from, no one to look up to. Where do I go from here? Then, I saw Ian Gilbert speak at an awards event being both suave and startling, and the synchronicity between what he and I felt about things stopped me in my shoes. But while our hearts were similar, he knew things that I did not, had thought about things I hadn't, had read things I hadn't heard of. I blurted a slurred approximation of that apprehension to him while drunk in a hotel lift late at night.

I guzzled the first edition of 'Essential Motivation' (as a classic and a friend it gets an abbreviation, a shortened nickname) as rapidly as I'd necked wine on the evening we first met. Here were answers ... and questions ... and ideas ... and new ways of looking at old things. I implemented more or less everything in the book in my new school, both me and my students benefitted, and there are still things in the book that I use regularly twenty years later.

Its longevity is attributable to its continuing relevance. It is child centred at a time when people have forgotten what an innocent phrase that is. It seeks to understand the child. It seeks to find (still) new ways of locating what makes them tick and how to tailor what we offer to what they want. Time has passed, and pedagogic fashions change: hemlines are in; hemlines are out. But quality is permanent. This third edition includes Ian's narration of the changes since the book was first published. He remains a wry and ribald commentator with winking style, and the book remains a stone cold classic.

- Phil Beadle, award-winning educator and writer