Education Leaders | Strategic School Leadership

In this episode, I discuss the tragic case of Ruth Perry’s death, OFSTED and its implications for the international school sector. I explore the need for a compassionate and reflective reevaluation of school inspection systems worldwide, taking lessons from Ruth's story to advocate for a more humane approach to educational oversight.Overview of the Episode:In memory: Understanding the circumstances leading to the passing of Ruth Perry, a head teacher in Reading, UK, and the role of OFSTED inspections in her experience.Impact of Inspection Systems on Mental Health: Examining how the current school inspection processes can severely affect the mental health and well-being of education leaders.Global Perspective on School Inspections: Discussing the relevance of Ruth Perry’s case for international schools and the various forms of quality assurance processes they undergo.Rethinking Quality Assurance: Reflecting on the traditional methods of school inspection and the shift towards more empathetic and growth-oriented approaches.The Role of Self-Evaluation and Internal Assessments: Highlighting alternative methods such as self-evaluation, with insights from John McBeath’s work on the evolving relationship between inspections and self-evaluation.Coaching in Educational Leadership: Exploring the potential of coaching and structured self-reflection in transforming school evaluation systems.Challenges of Implementing Self-Assessment: Addressing the potential difficulties in shifting to self-assessment, including cultural mindset changes, maintaining consistency and fairness, and balancing accountability with improvement.Thank you for tuning in, and as always, if you found this episode useful, please share your experience. You can find me online on X (@leaningshane), and LinkedIN. My website is shaneleaning.com.For international school leadership tips, subscribe to my newsletter here.About the hostShane Leaning is a passionate organisational development coach with over 14 years of international teaching and leadership experience. His approach to coaching and professional development is all about approachability and attentiveness to the unique strengths and contexts of schools and educators. Shane believes that empowerment fosters growth and success for both educators and students alike.Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensiveShane 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.You can find Shane on LinkedIn and Bluesky. or shaneleaning.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, my guest is Richard Reid, a former principal who has transitioned into being a much-sought-after coach for school leaders. We unpack the transformative power of having an outside voice in leadership challenges, celebrate the importance of self-belief, and explore the impactful practice of peer coaching in educational settings.Overview:- Richard journey from principal to leadership coach.- The critical role of coaching in bolstering school leaders' confidence and self-belief.- A deep dive into a successful team-building exercise: principals sharing wins and engaging in peer coaching.- The significance of group coaching sessions and their structure to inspire and empower school leaders.- The transformative effect of recognizing successes and achievements within schools.- A first-hand account of a principal's breakthrough in redefining his role beyond the title of "acting principal."- Advice from Richard on how school leaders can incorporate external perspectives into their practice.Thank you for tuning in, and as always, if you found this episode useful, please share your experience. You can find me online on Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagram: @leaningshane. My website is shaneleaning.com.For international school leadership tips, subscribe to my newsletter here.About the host:Shane Leaning is a passionate organisational development coach with over 11 years of international teaching and leadership experience. His approach to coaching and professional development is all about approachability and attentiveness to the unique strengths and contexts of schools and educators. Shane believes that empowerment fosters growth and success for both educators and students alike.Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensiveShane 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.You can find Shane on LinkedIn and Bluesky. or shaneleaning.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, I explore the vital role of English as an Additional Language (EAL) in international schools. I'll share three strategies that are key to supporting our multilingual students and promoting linguistic inclusion. Drawing from my experience in EAL, I offer practical tips from embracing an additive mindset to implementing scaffolding techniques and integrating language structures throughout the curriculum.Key InsightsCelebrating Linguistic Diversity: I discuss how multilingual students bring a wealth of diversity to our schools and why it's essential to shift from a deficit to an asset-based mindset.The Power of Scaffolding: I emphasise scaffolding learning to match students' cognitive levels, rather than simplifying content, allowing them to engage with complex ideas.Embedding Language Structures: I advocate for consistent language support in all subjects, highlighting how this can improve overall communication skills for every student.Strategies DiscussedShifting Mindsets: I reflect on the importance of viewing multilingualism as an enrichment rather than a challenge to overcome.Building Up, Not Watering Down: I talk about the necessity of providing students with the tools they need to grasp higher-level concepts, ensuring that all students can succeed.Language Across the Curriculum: I explore the benefits of reinforcing language structures in every lesson, aiding EAL students and their classmates alike.Thank you for tuning in, and as always, if you found this episode useful, please leave a review on your podcast platform. You can also find me online on Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagram: @leaningshane. My website is shaneleaning.com.For international school leadership tips, subscribe to my newsletter here.About the hostShane Leaning is a passionate organisational development coach with over 11 years of international teaching and leadership experience. His approach to coaching and professional development is all about approachability and attentiveness to the unique strengths and contexts of schools and educators. Shane believes that empowerment fosters growth and success for both educators and students alike.Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensiveShane 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.You can find Shane on LinkedIn and Bluesky. or shaneleaning.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Education in Thailand. I am joined by Festival Directors, Iain Henderson and Shane Mann. We delve into the festival's mission to encourage dialogue, inclusivity, and diversity, shedding light on controversial sessions, powerful experiences, and the much-celebrated blend of in-depth talks and lively atmosphere. Not to mention, we touch on plans for expansion, offering an exciting peek into the impressive global journey of EdFest.Overview- An overview of the Festival, shedding light on its aim to foster a balance of ideas among its participants. [00:06:00]- Criticism and Controversy: We discuss the events that sparked controversy on social media, focusing on Eddie Izard's call for kindness and the backlash that ensued. [00:14:20]- Lessons to Remember: We explore some powerful and memorable sessions - including those by Chris Packham, Patrick Foster, Dan Willingham, and Jassa Ahluwalia - that spanned topics from autism to mixed heritage. [00:28:50]- The Bigger Picture: We talk about the decision to bring speakers from outside the education space and the broader impacts these sessions can have. [00:44:30]- Looking Ahead: We reveal the international journey the Festival of Education is embarking on, with future festivals planned in Shanghai, UK, USA, and potentially India. [00:58:20]Resources- Festival of Education Thailand: https://educationfestthailand.com/- Festival of Education UK: https://educationfest.co.uk/Thank you for tuning in, and as always, if you found this episode useful, please share your experience. You can find me online on Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagram: @leaningshane. My website is shaneleaning.com.For international school leadership tips, subscribe to my newsletter here.About the hostShane Leaning is a passionate organisational development coach with over 11 years of international teaching and leadership experience. His approach to coaching and professional development is all about approachability and attentiveness to the unique strengths and contexts of schools and educators. Shane believes that empowerment fosters growth and success for both educators and students alike.Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensiveShane 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.You can find Shane on LinkedIn and Bluesky. or shaneleaning.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, I delve into a personal experience where I stumbled quite significantly but managed to find a silver lining in it. It's all about transforming setbacks into stepping stones. We'll explore how to incorporate resilience and forward-thinking when faced with unexpected challenges.I'll share my recent visa mishap, which unexpectedly stranded me in Hong Kong and how I turned this situation into a learning and growth opportunity by connecting with inspiring educators here. This episode is a journey through handling setbacks, with a focus on resilience, practical strategies, and emotional intelligence.Key Quotes"I'm going to be honest – this week I messed up, but this got me thinking: how do we turn our setbacks into stepping stones?"."We're often challenged with setbacks in education... I want to talk about common types of setbacks leaders face and how we can bounce back."."Emotional resilience is vital... Daniel Goleman's work on emotional intelligence focuses on self-awareness and self-regulation as crucial in handling setbacks effectively."."In crisis, first, immediately deal with the issue... then seek support and resources... and finally, adapt and find alternative solutions."Thank you for tuning in, and as always, if you found this international school leadership podcast episode useful, please share your experience. You can find me online on X, Linkedin and Instagram: @leaningshane. My website is shaneleaning.com.For international school leadership tips, subscribe to my newsletter here.About the hostShane Leaning is a passionate organisational development enthusiast with over 11 years of international teaching and leadership experience. His approach to coaching and professional development is all about approachability and attentiveness to the unique strengths and contexts of schools and educators. Shane believes that empowerment fosters growth and success for both educators and students alike.Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensiveShane 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.You can find Shane on LinkedIn and Bluesky. or shaneleaning.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Discover how Nihad Ćehić, founder and CEO of Vibbl, is transforming the way teachers give feedback in the classroom. In this episode, Nihad introduces us to Vibbl, a digital tool that allows teachers to provide faster and more meaningful feedback to their students. Through Vibbl, teachers can record verbal feedback, snap student work, and send it directly to their students' accounts.Nihad discusses the power of verbal feedback, its impact on student learning, and the role of technology in enhancing feedback practices. Learn about the potential impact of AI in feedback and the importance of maintaining the irreplaceable human connection between teacher and student. And find out how Vibbl supports collaboration and continuous professional development among teachers, and how it provides valuable analytics to track feedback effectiveness.Key Quotes"Verbal feedback adds an additional seven months of learning, whereas written marking adds an additional five months of learning."“When you give verbal feedback, you have the tone of voice within that piece of information and that can make a big difference, I believe, in how a student relates to that feedback."'We’ve built a tool that allows teachers to very quickly record verbal feedback in a no nonsense, quick and easy way that they can then send to their students.”"The biggest challenge is changing behaviours. One of the things that we were mindful of when we built Vibbl is to build it in a way that was similar to the way in which teachers mark in that it's very difficult to change a behavior where someone's been doing something for two decades."Find out more about Nihad and Vibbl at vibbl.co.ukThank you for tuning in, and as always, if you found this episode useful, please share your experience. You can find me online on Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagram: @leaningshane. My website is shaneleaning.com.For international school leadership tips, subscribe to my newsletter here.About the hostShane Leaning is a passionate leadership development enthusiast with over 11 years of international teaching and leadership experience. His approach to coaching and professional development is all about approachability and attentiveness to the unique strengths and contexts of schools and educators. Shane believes that empowerment fosters growth and success for both educators and students alike.Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensiveShane 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.You can find Shane on LinkedIn and Bluesky. or shaneleaning.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn how to maximize your conference ROI by aligning objectives, engaging post-conference speakers, hosting structured sharing sessions, and implementing post-conference coaching. Get insights on translating conference inspiration into actionable steps for school-wide impact.

I speak with Orlene Badu, a passionate advocate for education equity and the elimination of systemic biases in schools. Orlene shares her personal experiences as a young black girl growing up and how those experiences motivated her to challenge low expectations and create opportunities for other children. She discusses the importance of racial literacy training for staff and the need to understand the perspectives and experiences of the communities international schools serve.Orlene also highlights the significance of creating safe spaces for marginalized members of the community to share their experiences and for staff voices to be heard without fear of negative consequences. We dive into the challenges of addressing biases within the education system, the importance of role modeling anti-racist behavior, and the use of rubrics for self-assessment and reflection. Orlene emphasizes that addressing biases and inequalities requires active effort and collaboration, and provides valuable insights for international school leaders who are committed to creating inclusive and equitable learning environments.Key Quotes"The actively antiracist educator or organization will be actively disrupting those inequalities, actively taking ownership of their own biases, whether that be in the individual or the system”"I think sometimes people think if you say unconscious bias, they seem to think that means that you're giving people you're allowing people to be biased because they were unconscious and they never knew. Rather than really understanding that it's knowing that we all have biases and we can admit them without realizing and we have to challenge ourselves to do better.""But us trying to challenge them on our own is not enough because the system can also have biased outcomes."“There are so many young people for whom if they had had the support that they needed when they needed it, then behavior would never have been a concern.""Your behavior policy is as strong or as it is as strong as the adult who administers it." "I think one of the mistakes that we can make is we can think we know what's needed, we can think as educators or as leaders that we know what's kind of where we need to go in terms of approach, but actually it's really important that we understand what our community feel as well."Resources MentionedHow to Build Your Antiracist ClassroomHackney diverse curriculum resources, adaptable, six weekly units of work that were developed by highly skilled teachers in Hackney for teachers. You can sign up for these resources here.Thank you for tuning in, and as always, if you found this episode useful, please share your experience. You can find me online on Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagram: @leaningshane. My website is shaneleaning.com.For international school leadership tips, subscribe to my newsletter here.Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensiveShane 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.You can find Shane on LinkedIn and Bluesky. or shaneleaning.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I discuss the concept of "leadership flexibility" and how strategies that were once effective can become counterproductive if not adapted to changing contexts. I also define the concept of a "lethal mutation" where an effective strategy mutates into something counterproductive.To finish, I provide a 5-step framework for developing leadership flexibility:1. Consistent self-assessment2. Seeking feedback from others3. Being open to change4. Avoiding ego by focusing on student outcomes rather than personal achievements5. Ongoing professional development focused on adaptive leadership skillsResources and books mentioned include:- Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman- Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman- "The Power of Vulnerability" TED talk by Brené Brown- Good to Great by Jim CollinsThank you for tuning in, and as always, if you found this episode useful, please share your experience. You can find me online on Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagram: @leaningshane. My website is shaneleaning.com.For international school leadership tips, subscribe to my newsletter here.About the hostShane Leaning is a passionate leadership development enthusiast with over 11 years of international teaching and leadership experience. His approach to coaching and professional development is all about approachability and attentiveness to the unique strengths and contexts of schools and educators. Shane believes that empowerment fosters growth and success for both educators and students alike.Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensiveShane 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.You can find Shane on LinkedIn and Bluesky. or shaneleaning.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I chat with Rob Coe, a leading figure in evidence-based education. We delve into the complexities and paradoxes surrounding instructional coaching, a topic that has gained significant attention in educational circles. The conversation explores the tension between research and real-world application, between fidelity and adaptation, the importance of time allocation in professional development, and the need for adaptive expertise among teachers and leaders.Key Quotes“Adaptation is not a bug, it’s a feature.” -Rob Coe"Time is really, really important. Time is a barrier, but I am just incredibly intolerant of that as an excuse." - Rob Coe"If you're a leader of an organisation, your responsibility is to develop strategy... So if there isn't enough time to do something, that's because you've chosen to do other things." - Rob Coe"Professional learning is the most powerful thing you can do to improve students' learning... professional learning is the biggest lever you've got." - Rob Coe"Are we, as leaders, merely reacting to the immediate needs of our institutions, or are we proactively carving out time for what truly matters?" - Shane LeaningResources MentionedEvidence-Based-Education (EBE)Why are we holding out for more professional development time (even though school leaders say they can’t manage it)?Why aren’t we doing ‘instructional coaching’ (even though everyone else seems to be)?Why do we see teacher expertise as needing knowledge, skill and judgement (even though most people seem to focus on just one of these)?Why are we betting on giving teachers more effective feedback (even though no one else is really doing this)?Thank you for tuning in, and as always, if you found this episode useful, please share your experience. You can find me online on Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagram: @leaningshane. My website is shaneleaning.com. Subscribe to my newsletter here.About the hostShane Leaning is a passionate leadership development enthusiast with over 11 years of international teaching and leadership experience. His approach to coaching and professional development is all about approachability and attentiveness to the unique strengths and contexts of schools and educators. Shane believes that empowerment fosters growth and success for both educators and students alike.Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensiveShane 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.You can find Shane on LinkedIn and Bluesky. or shaneleaning.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.