It can be hard to talk about teaching at the moment. Speaking to your own experience or observation of our profession and what’s happening to it can be fraught and riddled with paradox. On one hand, we could still describe it as the most rewarding gig any young adult could choose as a career. Who…
My contention is that schools, for decades, have been asked (ok, maybe even forced) to implement gargantuan programs and frameworks that are supposed to help with student conduct, teacher practice, engagement behaviour and culture. My further contention is that you probably got busy implementing them. And also, perhaps you looked around, after many years of…
As many of you who are walking the restorative path will know, the emotion underpinning the research body we build our practices on is a nasty one. It’s a shame. Helping our Teachers to understand shame, to know why we have such an emotion and to help students develop a better relationship with shame is…
One of the reasons some School Leaders put off the first steps in transforming their school culture into a restorative one is that they think it will overwhelm their Teachers. I get that. So many of the changes that schools have made in the relentless pursuit of school improvement manifest for Teachers as additional work.…
I’ve noticed something lately that I think your staff might need to have a conversation about. That said, it’s sometimes a little like a conversation is assumed to have already happened … but it hasn’t. You see, I’ve spoken to countless teachers about restorative methods, models and strategies for engaging students more effectively in the…
Some things just get under my skin that I probably shouldn’t allow to annoy me so much. Perhaps it’s because I watch a fair bit of sports, but gambling ads are one such irritant. As a sports lover, it bugs me that gambling companies are so allowed to target young people and addict them to…
My daughter, Ebony, is 22 years old, and I love her to bits. She’d also kill me if she knew she was the subject of this week’s Home Truth. So, let’s keep this between us, eh? Thanks. Eb had a difficult birth and, as such, was a little delayed in fine and gross motor skill…
A little war analogy to make a point for School Leaders today. Wars have battles. And in most battles, there are only two possible results – you win or lose. Winning is preferred, but it can still come at a cost. Losing is worse, comes at a cost, and sometimes the battle is so badly…
There’s a disturbing trend emerging from our school system colleagues in the US that I think we should be attentive to. To summarise we’re seeing a first-in-history decline in broad academic standards and test scores. But we’re also seeing a steady improvement in student self-esteem scales. In essence, American kids think they’re awesome … but…
I’ve had that call from a school to tell me that my child has done the wrong thing. And when you’re a Principal receiving that message from another Principal who you thought was ringing to tell you about ‘Principally’ things … only to find out that it wasn’t that kind of call, it’s especially confronting.…