I really enjoyed contributing last week to the BSME January conference for Leaders and Aspiring Leaders in British curriculum schools in the Middle East – what a keen and engaged bunch of professionals! And it was super to see so many of them in the (virtual) room! I came away feeling really quite uplifted at …
Category: education
Jul 13
Forwarding to the future in education
I was delighted to be invited to the inaugural Future Fwd conference in Warwick at the beginning of July – 2 days of in-depth reflection on what is really needed in education, with strands led by innovative thinkers in tech and gaming, business, the creative arts, curriculum and entrepreneurship. The conference – a collaboration between …
Nov 18
A meeting of minds in Dubai
I felt genuinely fortunate and blessed this past week to have navigated reams of pre-travel requirements successfully and to have had the opportunity to contribute as a speaker to the GESS Dubai conference. I was speaking on values-led leadership in schools, and the importance of understanding and developing self in order to be a highly …
Oct 25
‘10% braver’ – learnings from WomenEd Thailand
‘Be 10% braver’ is the (now surely really well-known) call to action from the WomenEd movement, which aims to support and connect aspiring and existing women leaders in education, … and I was 10% braver on Saturday last week as I said ‘sure, I will speak!’ at the WomenEd Thailand Career Clinic. It was all …
Sep 14
The power of connection – why the support of our peers makes a difference to us
Einstein once wrote: “A human being is part of a whole, called by us the ‘Universe’ – a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, and feelings, as something separated from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.” Einstein then went on to say: “This delusion is a kind …
Aug 16
New school year … a new approach to school leadership?
A new school year begins shortly in the northern hemisphere, and – as with every new beginning – it is an opportunity for school leaders to reflect on how they are going to take their organisations forward, learning from the past and venturing boldly into the future. The disruptions and upheavals of the pandemic are …
Jun 22
How to leave school again … and again … and again …
I have been reflecting a lot recently on what it means to leave school – that moment of transition from being a school student to not being a school student, leaving behind 13+ years of formal schooling mandated by the state, and facing up to a future of possibilities, choices and responsibilities. These reflections have …
May 10
How to learn to be a better Board member
One of the hidden elements of really good courses run by professional educators is the expertise, careful consideration and detailed planning that goes into ensuring that the course has really impactful outcomes for its participants. This means that the course needs to be designed in such a way and to set up the learners (for …
Apr 26
Why learning for the sake of learning is transformational
I spent half an hour the other day learning about aphids. Did you know that there are 500 species of aphid in the UK alone? And that colonies of aphids often consist of females only, who give birth to live young who develop from eggs which are simply clones of the mother? And that they …
Mar 29
The importance of discipline in a successful life
I spent a glorious hour last week tuning into a live talk with the author Alexander McCall Smith, hosted by the Caledonian Club in London, but of course all on Zoom (which made it much more accessible, if less social). Anyway, he was, as ever, a delightful speaker – entertaining, modest, self-deprecating, intelligent, with a …