Shane Leaning discusses his new bestseller focusing on finding solutions within school communities. He highlights a confidence crisis in education, where schools often look outside for answers. Instead of prescriptive solutions, the book offers 40 thought-provoking questions to unlock community wisdom. This approach embraces the complexity of change, fostering genuine buy-in by engaging both heart and mind. With community-centered strategies, it encourages educational leaders to reclaim their agency and drive meaningful transformation.
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insights INSIGHT
Schools' Confidence Crisis
Many schools face a confidence crisis by constantly seeking external solutions and outsourcing their thinking.
This reliance diminishes schools' own capacity for meaningful change and knowledge retention.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Use Questions to Drive Change
Instead of looking outward, focus inward on your school community's collective wisdom.
Use powerful questions organized in stages to facilitate meaningful change discussions.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Real Stories Across Perspectives
The book shares stories from a parent, teacher, student, and school leader facing unique change challenges.
These perspectives demonstrate how the approach supports different community members.
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What if Everything Your School Needed was Right in Front of You?
Ruth Lerner
Shane Leaning
In this special episode, Shane Leaning discusses his new best-selling book "Change Starts Here: What if Everything Your School Needed Was Right in Front of You?", co-authored with Efram Learner. Shane shares why they wrote the book, its core philosophy, and how it can help school leaders drive meaningful change by looking inward to their communities rather than constantly seeking external solutions.
The Confidence Crisis: Many schools are experiencing a confidence crisis, constantly looking outside for solutions from consultancies and companies, inadvertently outsourcing their thinking
A Different Approach: Instead of providing prescriptive solutions, the book offers 40 powerful questions organized into 8 stages to unlock the wisdom that already exists within school communities
Based on Design Thinking: The framework adapts the British Design Council's Double Diamond model for educational settings
Already a Bestseller: The book has achieved bestseller status within a week of pre-orders being available
What Makes This Approach Different
Embraces Complexity: Change involves people, and people are complex - this book doesn't try to oversimplify that reality
Community-Centered: Involving multiple perspectives leads to better quality change and develops genuine buy-in
Engages Head and Heart: Questions engage with feelings as much as thoughts, helping people follow through even when change becomes challenging
Who Is This Book For?
School leaders (primary audience)
Teachers developing minds in their classrooms
Parents supporting their children
HR managers thinking about recruitment challenges
CEOs of school groups
Anyone who believes in community-led change
Episode Partner
The International Curriculum Association:Learn more
Shane Leaning, an organisational coach based in Shanghai, supports school leaders globally. Passionate about empowment, he is the author of the best-selling 'Change Starts Here.' Shane is a leading educational voice in the UK, Asia and around the world.
Education Leaders