One of the obstacles educational leaders face when giving colleagues feedback is deflection. Over the years, through numerous conversations with educators centering on giving and receiving feedback, this issue of…
Read More Feedback that pops the bubble – overcoming the deflector shield
Working in education is a lifelong passion for many teachers. Even when teachers are sick, they dose-up on vitamins, cold and flu medication, just to make it into school because…
A large number of schools still continue to use tick box evaluation models that make little difference to the impact a teacher has on teaching and learning in a school.…
Read More Why we must get away from tick box style teacher evaluations
Numerous school leadership courses and programs exist, designed to prepare aspiring leaders, or to further support existing leaders in their roles. Looking closely at these courses there are common themes…
Read More 3 things that most school leadership training does not prepare you for but should
A huge amount of effort goes into improving schools yet we often can overlook how much work is needed to maintain a high performance culture. As schools get better they…
Read More The more schools improve the harder it becomes to maintain performance
A large number of schools use teacher surveys for different reasons during a school year. To some teachers on the receiving end, it can feel like there are a lot…
There are an overwhelming number of initiatives that schools can invest time in developing in order to improve and change for the better. Some schools may charge full-on into as…
Read More Is it more important for school leaders to manage change rather than lead it?
With an increase in findings from education research, more education books that tell us about what we should be doing in schools alongside so many professional learning opportunities, it is…
Read More Are we working too hard in schools to have it all?
Does your ‘To Do’ list seem never-ending and continues to grow by the day? Well you are not alone, this is the case for most, if not all, school leaders.…
Bob Davids stated in his talk on leadership without ego that as a leader “You need to be in touch with the people you lead, and you need to be…
An old colleague of mine used to say, “Happy teachers means happy students.” There is some truth to this statement but upon closer examination, it quite often does not hold…
Read More Supporting students and supporting teachers – a delicate balancing act
As many schools in the northern hemisphere are busy preparing for the forthcoming new academic year, goals will be set in terms of where school leaders and teachers wish to…
Read More Stop! Before proceeding, consider whether you are playing with a full team
Where should schools start when determining how they are going to spend their available funds on professional learning for their teachers and who makes such a decision? This question needs…
When observing classes in high schools, it is possible to see two extremes of teacher support. Firstly, there is complete hand-holding or, as some teachers would like to say, spoon…
Read More Supporting students with learning core transferable academic skills
With a wide variety of professional learning opportunities and a certain limit to the funds that schools can spend on teacher learning and professional growth, it is important that school…
Read More 3 things to consider when designing professional learning in schools
When I reflect on the positives of working in my current school and share my thoughts with colleagues from other schools, they are often amazed when I tell them that…
Read More A downside of setting student academic results targets in schools
Teacher and school leader workload issues very much stem from the fact that there is not enough time to do the job properly. Some time back I commented on two…
Read More The battle to find time in schools – we need to consider teacher efficacy
Trust and trust-building qualities frequently top polls and surveys that attempt to show the most important qualities of a leader. A 2016 McQuaig Global Talent Recruitment Survey places trust as…
