Many school leaders promote that they have an 'open door' policy but what exactly does this mean? Interpretations of having an 'open door' are somewhat mixed. To many teachers, a school leader having an 'open door' policy is a signal that means the leader is approachable, open to feedback and available to give guidance to... Continue Reading →
To lead schools successfully, the relationship between the various leaders in the school and the teams that they lead is critical to establishing a healthy school culture and to achieve continuous improvement. There are times, perhaps, where leaders focus too much on the team members driving improvement as opposed to whether the team members are... Continue Reading →
Every school I have ever worked in or visited is keen to improve. When school leaders often talk about improvement, they more often than not consider what is needed to help teachers grow and develop. This may be in through the provision of resources to complement the teaching and learning that we wish to see... Continue Reading →
To have a successful school, it requires leaders who are abreast of how everything in a school works. Schools are highly complex places where poor decision-making in one area of the school can have significant impact on another. Schools are complex in that external forces that either mandate or create pressure for change on certain... Continue Reading →
As a school leader, solving problems, moving initiatives forward and supporting colleagues requires difficult conversations from time to time. Reflecting further, depending on how much is going on in our respective school environments, it can appear at times the a number of difficult conversations are necessary in a short period of time. Without a doubt,... Continue Reading →
When leaders move to a new school or receive an internal promotion invariably we encounter problems to solve that instantly become our responsibility yet these problems may not be of our own making. As a result, we can be very quickly associated with the problem and needing to solve it. This is a really tough... Continue Reading →
What will happen? How will they react? How will I be viewed? These are some of the questions that will go through the minds of school leaders when faced with making courageous decisions, or engaging in difficult conversations where feedback needs to be given to a colleague. There is a genuine sense of fear, which... Continue Reading →
School leaders spend a considerable amount of their time in problem solving mode. There are those problems that leaders create ourselves through their own actions or the change initiatives that they are either leading themselves or requiring of others. Added to this, are those problems that emerge from factors beyond the control of school leaders.... Continue Reading →
One of the greatest challenges, I believe, facing school leaders today is the doom and gloom in education. There is so much material out there about what is wrong with schools and what we are not doing. We are often faced with so many problems, all of which are appear urgent, in a society where... Continue Reading →
