It was Jim Rohn who said, “Life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” Yet, for many of us, engineering or leading change in schools is incredibly difficult. What’s that all about? Well, in many instances the anchors on our change agendas are many and varied, but often include: establishing buy-in…
I hope you didn’t take the subject of this email too personally! But if it got your attention at all, you’re probably the type of passionate educator we need most – albeit that you might be feeling a little leg-weary as we conclude the first semester of the Australian school year. This winter, I want…
Most of you reading this article will have arrived at work today by car. That trip is an event in itself. For some it’s bedlam – a manic period of dropping children off, fixing hair at the traffic lights because you didn’t get time between brushing the hair, teeth and attitudes of the little people…
The place of data in our schools is a point of conjecture for School Leaders everywhere. We know it’s important, we know we’re accountable for it and we know it’s not going away. But there are several aspects of working with data that we are still yet to fully get a handle on. For instance:…
It’s been a massive undertaking at Real Schools to take our work in cutting edge Teacher Practice online. We had a few who said it couldn’t be done! Launched just 12 months ago, we’re now delighted to have our first Teacher FastTrack Graduates completing the program. Nervously, we asked for frank and fearless feedback about…
I’ve come to believe that there’s a Secret Society that we, as teachers, are completely oblivious to. There are criteria for entry into this society: 1.You must be of student age. 2.You must love conflict, debate and the art of defiance. 3.You must learn the motto “You can’t make me, you’re not my mother!” in…
Ryan Martin and I made a little video about out upcoming Winter School Culture Conferences. It goes for less than 6 minutes, but it provides you with a rough idea of why this opportunity presents as two days that could just change your school’s entire improvement trajectory and potential. You should watch the video! Then…
I’m in countless conversations with our Partner and Member Schools all around Australia. All are determined and conscientious about their improvement agendas … but life gets in the way of the greatest plans sometimes. What exactly, in schools, do we mean by ‘life getting in the way’? Well, as much as our Staff and our…
The above picture is now one of my favourite pics of all time. It shows my great mate, Martin (he’s really ‘Bucko’ but I’ll stay in formal palate for you) and I in the Long Room at the famed Lords Ground in London gazing at a rather nondescript Thursday morning cricket match. Just last week…
When I ask School Leaders what the opposite of Failure is, I get some interesting responses. The most common answer is “Success”. Being the agitator that I am, I like to challenge this. “Success” implies an absence of Failure – that what we do works to its best extent and with a very high level…
A quick question … would a vastly improved, or even transformed, School Culture be worth the investment of two freezing days amidst the mid-year break? Well, we’re incredibly excited to be bringing the School Culture Conference to three Australian cities this winter. After a phenomenal response to the original Melbourne pilot in January, we’re now…
Today is a special milestone for my wife Anthea and I. It’s our 20th Wedding Anniversary. Sure, there are some who would say that this special achievement has been a little more arduous for Anthea than for I (which is so cruel!) but we can at least look back on photos like the ones above and…
I had the chance to chat on “The Project” last night about the Rate My Teacher website and the destruction, mistrust and lack of collaboration that ensues when such platforms are used to slag off Teachers and School Leaders. Watch the full interview by clicking here. It’s not on. But inescapable is that the folk…
If the wellbeing of your Teachers were an engine, how well would you say it’s running after ¼ of the 2016 school year? Imagine if you could simply pull out the dipstick of that engine to reveal the true energy levels, the true enthusiasm levels, the true stress levels and the true resilience levels of…
Recently, I spoke to a friend’s 16-year-old son about his new job at McDonald’s. I was particularly interested due to my own time as a grill jockey at Karingal McDonald’s in the late 80s that led to my claim to fame of being Australia’s first male McDonald’s Kids Party host. You can stop clapping now!…
Hasn’t Term One flown by – as it always does. Time seems to be something in short supply in the contemporary school such that our newly struck edu-buzzwords seem to be “busy”, “tired” and “treadmill” these days. While I empathize with the genuine condition of weariness I’m also mindful of the social conditioning at play…
Next week, we’re running our regular FREE monthly webinar and this time, it’s dedicated to a topic that many School Leaders tell me they are grappling with – exactly what’s required to move an entire staff, and indeed a School Community, away from the old, destructive punitive model and towards a more relational, respectful and…
New things can be a bit scary. As a prudent example, we recently replaced the dishwasher in our home. It’s been months now and I still haven’t turned it on. I can stack it and empty it, but the buttons on the front of it confront me, convince me I’m about to make a mistake. …
Over a quiet evening cuppa last week I engaged in a little channel surfing on TV and discovered one of my favourite movies of all time, The Castle. Amidst some of the great lines in Australian cinematic history like “Tell him he’s dreamin’” and “Dad, I dug a hole” there’s also one scene with some…
One of the things that drove me a little crazy about being a Principal was the looks that you get. There’s a look that a parent gives you when they bump into you at the supermarket. There’s a look that students give you when you when you try to (awkwardly) play a little four-square with…
I get the privilege to speak with a LOT of Teachers and School Leaders. One topic that has come up consistently of late is that of Self-Esteem. To be honest, I’m getting pretty sick and tired of it. Self-Esteem, and specifically our obsession with the avoidance of low Self-Esteem, is now starting to cause us…
Two things have struck me in the conversations I’ve had with countless School Leaders in the frantic days that have been the start of the new school year: Everybody mentions Staff Turnover and how many new and/or graduate Teachers they have in the school. This is always a recognition that the challenge of supporting these…
I abandoned my original newsletter to you today after a chat on the phone with one of our amazing Partner Schools at Richmond North PS in NSW. They reported an incredibly positive story to me about how their school is turning around. For the first time in a decade, they are experiencing quite stark increases in…
It’s easy sometimes to be distracted in our work by mounting “busy-ness”. The workload, the curriculum, the responsibility, the hours and the stress levels have grown significantly over the last two decades. Sometimes, the work feels so huge that it overshadows the deep reasons that we became educators in the first place. But let me…
The truly frustrating part about forks in roads is not the fork. We’re generally quite pleased by choice when presented with it and I usually have no problem deciding between two simple options. In my house this summer, my son and I have a clear preference for cricket on the tv while my wife and…
