Leadership during complex and tricky times requires more of us as leaders. It is a time where we need to dig a little deeper, tap into reserves we often do not know we have, and sometimes we need to learn new ways of operating. The last few months have been like nothing I have ever…
Category: leadership
The Tomorrow’s School Review – A Quiet Optimism – Part One
‘Why are you in such a bad mood?’ ‘Experience!’ Lord Berric to the Hound, in Game of Thrones. Todays post outlines some of my reflections on the TSR, and to be clear, they are wonderings that I have personally. I wear a number of hats in the educational world, which include sitting on a number of…
School Choice – You Are Not Everyone’s Cup of Tea
You are not everyone’s cup of tea – and this is ok! Today when I was scrolling my social media feeds, I came across a meme called ‘you’re not everyone’s cup of tea’ and I started to think about how this applied to school choice and that it is ok if your school is not everyone’s…
Intuitive Assessment, Teacher Agency and Being a Disobedient Educator – Part 1
I have been thinking, wondering and considering various innovations around assessment. It has been sparked in part by a request that was made in a closed leadership environment on social media by another principal, and by the timely words in the latest hit book about education, which is currently going viral in New Zealand, Disobedient…
When Your Blog Goes On Sabbatical! (6 Reasons to do it)
I have been a little quiet of late. To clarify (before those of you who know me personally start piping up to argue the ‘quiet’ bit) I mean quiet on the blog writing front. I am not going to jump into a whole pile of excuses and blame it on being busy, because I am…
The Case of Professional Curiosity
Dear reader, let me begin with a small apology. I have just noticed that I have not actually published anything since what appears to be the middle of the last ice age! Ok, that might be the smallest of exaggerations, but I have had a bit of a sabbatical from publishing and now I realise…
Beware the ‘Creep Up’
Follow my blog with Bloglovin Let me begin with a clarification. By bewaring the ‘creep up’ I am not referring to your underpants or the weird fella down the street with the dodgy van. By ‘creep up’ I am referring to those things in life that sneak up on us, practically unexpected (I would like…
The Fear in the Belly – 11 Leadership Hacks to Control It
“Without the darkness, how can you recognise the light” Tuvok (Star Trek Generations) Ever had one of those moments where you feel a little queasy and the queasiness is not related to what you ate, but what you experienced? It’s that little ball of fear that makes your tummy twist and recoil, almost in an attempt to run away and…
The Quality of the Noise
Several weeks ago I attended an ACEL (Australian Council of Education Leadership) conference. Dr Tim Watterson, who is the Director-General of Education and Training for Queensland, delivered the opening keynote. I confess that my initial ‘judging a book by its cover’ reaction was not particularly complimentary, and I did wonder how I, as a Kiwi…
The Leadership Roller Coaster
Forgive me dear reader, for I have been remiss. (If you are not a regular reader you may not have noticed, incidentally why are you not a regular reader? Do be a dear and go sign up – somewhere on the sidebar there is an email link and then you won’t miss out!) Now the…