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Skills for the 4th revolution- what does that really look like?
18 Jan 2022
We have knowledge on tap. We have google. Is it core skills, routed in core values, that will enable those younger than ourselves and, for us, as adults to navigate this fourth industrial revolution; this enormous technological paradigm shift? What skills are required moving forward? And how is your school managing this?
Values. Tis my bread and butter as a leadership coach within schools. Actually 'tis the bread and butter of every single headteacher in the land. So what happens, when there appears to be a big shift in core community values and when they are publicly laughed at. How does one react? So easy to be enraged, apoplectic and the rest. But what, as a leader in every school in the land, are you observing right now? An individual that is in a position of responsibility beyond their competency. We all do it and can all be complicit in hindsight. Come on. Let's be realistic. How important is it to you to promote the next ready incumbent candidate because without it, you do not have any budget moving forward or your own get out clause? The reference to Queen and Freddie Mercury is purely to remind us of how different one's life could have been, and how much happier one might have been, had one just been himself? A lesson for us all. Values are what drives us. This is the great place we are in. I celebrate all schools and headteachers for the values that they live and breathe and act in every day. Every day. So easy to preach. As we know full well, as the system does not always concur, but if we don't really try to uphold then, what integrity do any of us have? Thanks to all edustaff for a great term.
Schools are still in survival mode between now and the end of term, with plays, concerts, decorations, fairs and jolly Christmas Jumper days keeping the mood light and bearable, but there is a sharp and dark reality that we have a creaking and cracking system around us. Every teacher and parent that I know will have shed tears on hearing the details of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes' short and frightening life experience.
As this half term comes to a close, there are some really exhausted leaders and teachers. Rebuilding stamina and rebuilding school culture has only just begun.
Productivity tools to effectively manage workload and communications
12 Oct 2021
School communications, both internal and external, have reached the status that requires the best school business manager, school admin, and personal assistance that money can buy. But what happens if your school budget is so focused on basic and necessary delivery such as having enough adults in the room, that productivity relies heavily on the senior leadership team or the headteacher themselves? This post looks at how we manage our productivity and communications to best effect, including the use of productivity tools.
I don’t want to quit before the miracles: on-line learning strategy moving forward
29 Mar 2021
Safeguarding takes up a lot of space for many schools right now. This will be at the back of many minds during this Easter break. The horizon is long however. Cautious optimism. Is that a Covid Oxymoron? Will it be a bit like freewheeling down a hill on your bicycle with the brakes on? The importance of your whole strategy for on-line learning is still a beast to tame. And it is a whole school issue. Who is tasked with this responsibility?
So this post introduces us to think carefully about the teachers that made you, influenced you to take the next step, or those that believed in you, when you didn't, or couldn't.
