What’s incredible is that men have hardly smashed this leadership thing for the last six years…

Exclusive: £300 a pop for training in an Ofsted inspection framework that’s still subject to consultation. @cerysturner.bsky.social reports on concern over consultants pre-emptively selling services that will “fuel the accountability fire” for headteachers.

Hello folks, it’s my dad’s 10 year anniversary this year and - in April - I’ll be running the London Marathon for the BHF, 10 years after I first did it. I only got my place in Jan so I’m up against it - I’d be so grateful for your support 🙏🏻 Story: 2025tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/kathryn-m...

It was a real honour to be amongst this group of incredible, thoughtful educators. Looking forward to the work ahead!

Literally the last thing the sector needs is more external ‘expertise’ for £££. We need to reduce our reliance on it, not increase it.

Getting every last second of sunshine at the beach this evening 🌊

Already amusing myself with the "guess which of the descriptors is meant to be better" game for the new Ofsted toolkits.

These are the examples that Ofsted need to be bombarded with over the consultation. Anyone with half an ounce of sense will see that it is a nonsense that one of these is better than the other.

Loved this interview with @jonnyuttley.bsky.social. ✅ Happy, strong communities so people have better lives ✅ If you only ever talk to your direct reports, you get disconnected ✅ How can we help young people - long term? ✅ Small Trusts ARE the system #TeamTEAL m.youtube.com/watch?v=yg8y...

What do Kelly Clarkson, The Commitments, Pink Floyd & networks all have in common? They all have a dark side. Read more in my open access editorial for @alm30.bsky.social journal Slam. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... @danetteparsley.bsky.social @pmdewitt.bsky.social @stevemunby.bsky.social

A must-read. Don’t let them demoralise you and convince you it’s all inevitable. Nothing is inevitable.

I wrote a blog. It’s been a while! Inspired by @head-teach.bsky.social’s blog ‘Lighthouses & Sirens’ educontrarianblog.com/2025/02/02/l... It’s full of dangerous opinions & ideas that may well run amok as soon as you click the link. Caution advised 😊 watermanlearning.wordpress.com/2025/02/02/w...

Delighted to be doing some dissemination and impact work - in the next few months - for the Sustainable School Leadership research project: sustainableschoolleadership.uk Survey closes Monday 3rd. Please complete here: 👇🏻 And please share: sustainableschoolleadership.uk/leadership-s...

'We must tackle excesses in the pay of MAT senior executives. My preference would be for trusts to abide by a mandatory pay ratio for new appointees [so] the highest-paid cannot receive more than a set multiple of the lowest-paid working in their schools'

Writing in TES today to share the vision for our new Flourishing Leaders/Flourishing Teachers Programmes launching at our national conference today 🙌 All part of re-imagining education as a career in which adults could expect to flourish. 👍 🌳 🙏 www.tes.com/magazine/ana...

The two biggest problems with the system in stats from @tesmagazine.bsky.social. Ofsted cannot and will not self-reform and, until reform happens, no other meaningful change can. And we need to reduce our reliance on outsourced expertise and develop capacity within and across schools.

Really happy to endorse this important piece of leadership research. Please complete the survey in the link if you are a school leader. It’s part of a major 3-year research project exploring contemporary school leadership across the UK by researchers at the Universities of Nottingham and Warwick.

Instead of arguing about trusts vs maintained schools, let’s focus on collaboration between all schools, ‘which happens organically when we are not pitted against each other through league tables, Progress 8 and Ofsted banners,’ writes @keziah70.bsky.social ⬇️

📢 Just published — A constant dance: a study of values-based leadership in Multi-Academy Trusts Discover insights from five MATs in our network in this new report by @tobygreany.bsky.social & @eleanorbernardes.bsky.social 📥 Download here ➡️ https://buff.ly/4fYA1TN #ValuesBasedLeadership

This morning @tobygreany.bsky.social and I are launching a new report on values-based leadership and organisational development in MATs wholeeducation.org/a-constant-d...

"Children flourish when they are offered inspiring and creative learning experiences within a supportive and engaging environment" Great blog from Hannah Boag on the work two(small) schools did to embed Cog Sci principles in the curriculum @norfolkrs.bsky.social researchschool.org.uk/norfolk/news...

After last week’s announcement that NPQs and the ECF will be reviewed, @ellencph.bsky.social and @cerysturner.bsky.social ask a host of sector experts what these reviews should focus on…

Such a pleasure to share once again with the brilliant @trustcpdleads.bsky.social yesterday 🙏

Patches of light are breaking through the morning mist on my run - light is always up there!

Cassie nailing it.

Struggling to go home to get ready for work…

Exercise class done and the sunrise was our reward 😍

We did the most beautiful circular walk in Rhossili this morning. About 25 of us met in the car park at 7:30am and did an 8 mile circular route with the most spectacular views. Truly breathtaking with such an array of hues of sky.

This is a really wonderful idea and will shine a much needed spotlight on the important work of HTs, including the ways in which individual context influences experiences and shapes views. I tip my hat to all headteachers - a super rewarding but tough gig!

The line between news and entertainment has been blurred by social media over the last decade because we have fewer people who are able to critically analyze, read for understanding, and think critically. Buckle up, it's only going to get worse.

On the subject of ‘fun / disadvantage / attendance’, we have written about these issues in depth in this report on attendance in rural and coastal communities (esp pages 30-35): www.onecornwall.co.uk/_site/data/p...

Was not particularly interested in seeing Wicked, and then my wife gave it a Media Studies framing and said it’s actually about how a gullible and ill-informed public is easy to manipulate with misinformation and I was all in, great movie, 10/10 so far.

The comments under this week's newsletter, particularly from people who changed their career in their 40s, are extremely lovely. In short: it's not too late. You can still do it iandunt.substack.com/p/happy-new-...

It was great to publish ‘Flourishing Together’ in Nov 24 with @leoracruddas.bsky.social @cstvoice.bsky.social 🙌 So excited to put into practice in 2025 with launch of Flourishing Leaders and Teachers Programmes with trusts across 🇬🇧 and international collaborations in 🇺🇸 🇦🇺 🇨🇦 🇿🇦 🇳🇱 🇩🇪 🇳🇿 and many more…🙏

New year, same fave view - Heaven on Earth! #Rhossili #Gower

Completing the survey could be just the opportunity you need to reflect on your leadership journey as you think about 2025! Happy New Year to one and all!

New podcast! @twperry1.bsky.social & I talking with @naht.org.uk @jameskbowen.bsky.social about our UK Sustainable School Leadership research. Pls do complete the survey - open til late Jan! www.naht.org.uk/News/Latest-...

A Crisis of Belonging: “Although most of us know what it feels like to be excluded or question our belonging, Cohen says we don't do the greatest job of recognizing that feeling when it happens to others.” This was really interesting to listen to and read: www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/edcast...

*Adaptive expertise* is a woolly concept. But here’s three key quotes I’ve picked out that tell us something useful for teaching...

It’s entirely possible to deliver the ECF in-house and with contextual relevance - and the DfE should trust schools to do just that, if that is their preference.

Public library energy is the best energy. Like here is all the knowledge we could find, it's been meticulously organized and vetted and it will cost you nothing today, welcome to the absolute pinnacle of human civic evolution, feel free to pull up any bean bag chair you like

This is really interesting. A nuanced view of the exclusions issue, a way forward in a debate that is often presented as a binary, when it isn’t.

“I used to use the terms stress and overwhelm interchangeably, but that does not serve us well. The growing field of neurolinguistics is teaching us that language doesn’t just communicate emotion, it shapes how and what we’re feeling.” brenebrown.com/articles/202...

The Government has "much more to do" to tackle misogyny in schools, the minister for early education says Stephen Morgan tells @thehousemag.bsky.social the "escalatory nature" of misogyny means "education plays a crucial role" in challenging it early on www.politicshome.com/news/article...

At the end of the day, don’t we all just want a bookshelf with a rolling ladder?

“Its analysis shows that there are 2,983 isolated primaries and 510 isolated secondary schools.” This piece gets at the issues facing schools trying to recruit leaders. Geography is part of the problem - but also the lack of teachers wanting to move into leadership. www.tes.com/magazine/new...

All I want is a cottage in the Scottish Highlands, a raging snowstorm, and Agatha Christie novel, a crackling fire, a kettle on the stove, and a basket of emotional support pastries.

What types of leadership development have you found most powerful in your career? Tell us your views in the UK Sustainable School Leadership Survey. Pls RT warwick.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... @andywolfe.bsky.social @ascl-uk.bsky.social @nahtnews.bsky.social @uofgheadship.bsky.social

Moody and misty but still alluring.