My two favourite leadership gurus are Viviane Robinson and W. Edwards Deming. I use them in the same slide deck on the science of change. On this slide, the industrialist who was central to the emergence of Total Quality Management and the educational leadership guru collide (the quotation could easily…
Uckfield Post Office, 1955 Harry Tomsett, second row, centre My dad was a postman from the day he left school at the age of 14 until he died, 43 years later. I have written at length about him. His life story is the narrative thread which runs through my first…
I like the notion of simplexity: making it is as simple as possible to complete a complex task. Teaching a class of 32 students on a wet, windy Thursday afternoon in November is incredibly complex; there are, however, a number of simple processes which – if implemented with care and attention…
We know that students’ outcomes depend upon the quality of teaching which, in turn, depends upon the quality of school leadership. As we emerge from the shadow of the pandemic and find all our students struggling to counter the impact of lost learning – our most disadvantaged students falling behind their…
‘What stuff do you want your students to know, understand and be able to do if you have taught them a rich, challenging subject curriculum?’ This question is at the root of all our conversations in our new book Huh. I got a grade A at A Level mathematics nearly…
A question was bugging me: “How on earth can senior leaders support subject leaders with developing the curriculum in subjects beyond the senior leaders' own subject specialisms?” Consequently, a few months ago I published this tweet: The response to the tweet was emphatic. I had clearly surfaced an important…
I turned 57 yesterday. It was no ordinary birthday. On the contrary, it was a landmark moment. I am now the same age as my Dad was when he died. When he was told he had weeks to live, Dad was too ill to worry. He did not rail against…
I am off to fresh woods and pastures new. I am in my eighteenth and final year as a secondary school headteacher. In September, for the first time in over three decades, I will not be a member of school staff. So, many people get to my position and attempt…