A Collective Noun

In my research on School Culture, I’ve seen an extraordinary number of attempts to define School Culture. Most fail because nailing the definition of something so complex and nebulous is akin to nailing jelly to a fence. This cultural thing just keeps moving and oozing on us. Because cultures are so hard to make singular…

Recovery and Twisties

If your school is in the minority of those who have not been recently impacted by Covid lockdowns … good for you. It’s a slice of fortune you deserve and long may it last. But if you’re currently teaching or leading in a school trapped in a lockdown, I wanted to spend this message encouraging…

The thing about advice

As a Principal, I often found myself frustrated that my Teachers wouldn’t take my advice.  After all, in my humble opinion anyway, it was pretty special wisdom that I was handing them. And then I realised. Teachers find it challenging to take advice about changing their practice because our practice is so much more than…

Behaviour Agreements

I’ve contended for some time that most of the Individual Behaviour Plans (IBPs) I see in our schools are a waste of time, paper and the server space they’re saved on. It’s not because you’re bad people.  It’s just because we let our impatience and our frustration write these plans on our behalf. As a…

Netflix and kindness

I did some researching (ok, Googling!) for some information this week on how the people in schools can best cope, or even thrive, through the current lockdowns that so many Australian Teachers and School Leaders are enduring. I think I was looking for something profound and disruptive. But, when I came across this Routledge study…

Values, marketing and lies

Would you like to work for an organisation that espouses ‘Communication, Respect, Integrity and Excellence’ as its core values? Sounds pretty good right?  Well, be careful what you wish for.  These were the values of Enron in their Annual Report of 2000, the very company notorious for the worst fraud and corruption scandal in modern history. The…

Student Voice

Jeepers, there’s a lot of schools out there trying to do something about Student Voice as a key objective in their strategic plans. Which kind of tells me that there might be something wrong with the way we collect data on this topic – but that’s probably a topic for another Home Truth. Rather than…

Interested believers

Today, I’m heading out for lunch with my great mate Martin “Bucko” Buchanan.  We’re celebrating that he’s turning 50 … and that I’m not … yet. Bucko is one of those presences in my life that has slowly become an unquestioned constant.  I guess that can happen when you’ve been friends for 37 years. Over…

Caging Farts

Cages have two key components – bars and the gaps between the bars. And when we try to improve student behaviour in schools with systems of control – such as programs, rules, matrices and policies – we build an impressive cage of sturdy bars. The problem we have is that student behaviour cares not for…

Poor sleep destroying student behaviour ambitions

 The phone on my Principal’s desk rang and I didn’t even get the opportunity to say “Hello”. “Get down here now!” shrieked my panicked Year 5 teacher, an educator usually calm and highly competent. In the background I could hear the enraged screaming of a 10-year-old boy’s voice. I knew that voice. On my hasty arrival at…