Feb 20
Preparing all my notes to speak next week in Dubai about how schools can enable students to become globally competent, based on my latest book, ‘The Globally Competent School: a manual’, I am flexing my presentation muscles to take on the challenge of GESS BITES. This is a stream of talks at the GESS Dubai …
Feb 10
Visiting one of my favourite state schools in Edinburgh on Thursday, I came into the school reception to find the Headteacher rushing out past me. ‘With you in a minute!’, she gasped energetically, with only a hint of a sigh in her voice, ‘I’ve been told there is a poo in the playground …’. I …
Jan 30
For a number of reasons, I’ve been reading an unusually high number of ‘codes of conduct’ recently – for executive coaches, for school staff, for Trustees and for other non-executive directors, and it was therefore fortuitous that last week’s Changing the Chemistry Graduate Group Meeting (for members who have one or more board roles), was …
Jan 20
Travelling from Perth railway station to a Boarding Schools’ Association meeting at Strathallan School just outside the city of Sir Walter Scott’s ‘Fair Maid’, I struck up a conversation with the taxi driver. Born in the 1950’s, and a denizen of these parts, he had inevitably seen much change over the past few decades, and …
Jan 14
I had a lightbulb moment on Friday at approximately 08:45 HKST, ie 00:45 GMT, as I sat with a good friend and fellow executive coach in the ground floor cafe of the Grand Hyatt at the Convention Centre in Hong Kong. I was sipping English breakfast tea and she had an Americano; limited cultural diversity …
Dec 31
Stratford-upon-Avon has 4 million visitors a year, according to the taxi driver who took me (and my daughter) back to the railway station after a short post-Christmas break indulging in culture in the town of Shakespeare’s birth. It was, I must say, a fabulous trip; we had a great time visiting various sites associated with …
Dec 16
It has been great to engage with colleagues across the world over the past week in particular, since my latest book, The Globally Competent School: a manual, was published. Thank you so much for your energising words, and – as ever – for your commitment to the education, development and growth of young people in …
Dec 11
My new book has been published! Hot off the press, it is now on Amazon as both a paperback and a Kindle version – and my fervent hope is that it will inspire teachers and school leaders to place global competence at the heart of their schools. I wrote the book as a follow on …
Nov 25
Courtesy of some poor systems and staffing planning by Trans-Pennine Express trains last week, I found myself on a rail replacement bus meandering across the Scottish Borders towards Carlisle, in order to get on another train that would finally take me to my destination. I can now report that there is a distinct limit to …
Nov 18
Every time I visit Hong Kong, I leave feeling impressed and humbled by the city and the region. Geographically, it must be one of the most beautiful natural harbours in the world, and the feats of human engineering which have situated almost unfeasibly high buildings on hillsides, created high octane container terminals and developed a …