Using Factfulness and the Gapminder Project in the ITT: Enhancing data-informed decision-making and effective reflections

CHRISTOPHER TERRY, DEVELOPMENT LEAD, TEACH FIRST, UK Abstract  This article explores ways in which to use the findings of Hans Rosling’s book Factfulness (Rosling et al., 2018) and the Gapminder (nd-a) project to help people on initial teacher training programmes to better understand the data with which they are working in the classroom. Gapminder identifies systematic misconceptions about important global trends and uses reliable data to develop easy techniques to rid people of their misconceptions and interpret data better. Teachers new to the classroom, because of the complexities of teaching and cognitive overload, often struggle to interpret data correctly. This article will look at practical ways in which people supporting newer teachers can help them to move past the wrong assumptions and misconceptions that they develop when entering the classroom. It will use the Education Endowment Foundation’s ‘A school’s guide to implementation’ (Sharples et al., 2024) as a st