Gavin McCormack

Raising Resilient Children: 7 Ways to Nurture Lifelong Learners

Publishing in August 2025.

Simon & Schuster Australia are thrilled to announce the world rights acquisition via Daniel Pilkington for Raising Resilient Children: 7 Ways to Nurture Lifelong Learners by Australia’s most influential teacher Gavin McCormack, publishing in 2025.

This is the book that all parents with school-aged children and educators will need to read in 2025. It will elevate the conversation for readers of Steve Biddulph’s numerous groundbreaking books including Raising Boys in the 21st Century and Raising Girls in the 21st Century, Maggie Dent’s From Boys to Men and Girlhood, and the beloved Teacher by Gabbie Stroud.

With school refusal by children on the rise in Australia across all socio-economic groups, especially because of the COVID-19 lockdowns, more parents are looking for help. This book serves as a beacon of hope, not only challenging the current system but also offering practical strategies and insights to help parents take an active role in their children’s education and beyond. It also offers a valuable resource for teachers who are seeking to find a better way.

McCormack says, ‘My book has been carefully crafted to equip parents and educators with the tools and guidance to cultivate resilience and compassion in our children. As a firm believer in the transformative potential of education, I am honoured to embark on this journey alongside the remarkable team at Simon & Schuster, whose unwavering support has been instrumental in bringing this vision to life.’

Emma Nolan, Non-fiction Publisher at Simon & Schuster Australia, adds, ‘This groundbreaking book is a must-read for all parents disillusioned with the current education system and for teachers feeling trapped within its confines. Gavin McCormack is one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met. One good teacher can change a student’s life for the better, and my hope is that Gavin’s book will help and inspire hundreds of thousands of children across the country.’

Raising Resilient Children: 7 Ways to Nurture Lifelong Learners will help parents, carers and teachers not just survive the developmental years, but thrive in developing children that are confident, happy and resilient.

About the author

Gavin McCormack is a distinguished teacher and school principal with extensive experience in both mainstream and Montessori education. As the ambassador for Montessori Australia, he has been recognised as one of the top ten most influential global educators for the past five years, including 2024. Gavin was also a nominee for Australian of the Year in 2019 and 2020, acknowledging his significant contributions to building several schools and training centres in the Himalayan region of Nepal.

Gavin now runs Upschool, a free online educational platform with hundreds of thousands of students and over 20,000 teachers across 192 countries. Upschool empowers children to create the change they want to see in the world through free, inspirational courses delivered from some of the world’s most remote locations, including Antarctica, the North Pole, Mount Everest, the Chitwan Jungle and Iceland.