I suck at goal setting. I tend to just write aspirational statements that sound good, but that I also poorly prioritise. My psychology is to attend to my goals … later on. As a result, my goals have regularly failed to change my daily conduct. And so, a few years back now, I became one…
I’ll bet that you know a non-school leader seeking an edge or inspiration in their work who has found it in the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team. Their mantra of “sweeping the sheds” has become a lightning rod for any leader looking to foster selflessness, humility and the priority of the collective within the…
I think the wisest words I heard a teacher say in 2022 came from a secondary teacher I met in Term 2. We were discussing “recovering” from whatever the last couple of pandemic years have been. We discussed, as a whole staff, what the strategies and the attitudes were that we’d need to cease surviving…
People are always trying to bring things back. Mullets are a good example. Sort of. I’d like to make 2023 the year that we bring personal responsibility back. Not as cool as a mullet, but more important. And I’ve missed it. Let’s start by knowing our roles in fostering responsibility. The student role is to…
Blogs and newsletters like this one arrive in my inbox with pretty high regularity these days – even though I’ve become more discerning about what I subscribe to and unsubscribe from. Still, I don’t read them all. None of us do. And so, I’m delighted every week when I see that a decent percentage of…
Sometimes we get really worried about preventing a negative outcome and miss the more profound learning opportunity right in front of us. Failing to pass a standard, meet a deadline, demonstrate effort or use manners might not be desirable situations, but we needn’t desperately default to time-consuming warnings, threats, reminders, prompts and extravagant encouragements to…
I’ve been reconciling for a while now that our Australian teachers and school leaders have a fine line to walk in terms of self-determination. On one hand, we’ve been beaten up by a pandemic and by years of systemic abuse from departments, politicians and bureaucracies determined to put their own agendas ahead of our nation’s…
Every school wants to improve and many are planning now for that ambition in 2023. However, I’d contend that restorative school cultures have a better chance at improvement across multiple ambitions than schools that choose control-based cultures. Which one is your school? Run your school’s tendencies against these ambitions and ask which column your school…
The teacher shortage around the country is stressing School Leaders in all sectors and in all geographical locations. Even this week, newspapers are reporting in increase in teaching position ads on sites like Seek of up to 40%. Some of us are old enough to remember not even needing to advertise. It can leave us…
At the start of the school year we’re naturally more inclined to invest social capital in our students … but also our colleagues. At the end of the year, we sometimes tend to withdraw that capital and can eventually end up running a relationship on an empty bank account. That’s probably not ideal. I’ve come…