On Wednesday 2nd November the Westminster Education Forum Policy Conference will be discussing “the future shape of England’s school system”. What does that mean? According to the agenda some key things in this arena are: Discussing the process of expanding the MAT (Multi Academy Trust) system Governance Support for under performing schools and improving attainment and outcomes, especially in English and Maths You can see the agenda here: https://www.westminsterforumprojects.co.uk/conference/School-System-22  Missing the point There is no doubt that these are important to ..read more

We all make our own map of the world because we are viewing it through our own set of filters (values, past experiences, current circumstances, mood right in this moment, etc). And so is everyone else! And their view (truth) about the situation may be very different.   Have you ever watched two people arguing about a referee’s decision in a sports match? The decision was the decision. They both saw it in real time at the same time, but what they believe to be true is quite different: for one it was a stone-wall penalty, for the other a blatant dive.  It is key to remember, we ea ..read more

Here’s a question for you!  What do you believe is possible for you? In your career? And in the rest of your life?  Here are some further questions that might help.  What careers did you dream of once, but haven’t done yet?  How much money do you really believe you could earn? Some people find it revealing to replace “could” with “deserve to”.  What level of job do believe you could do?  NOTE: money and level of job do not equate to success unless that is how YOU define success. How much balance is it possible (do you deserve) to have between work and all the o ..read more

  Maybe you hear this sort of thing when you were growing up: Don’t blow your own trumpet Nobody wants to know how good you are Its bad to brag Its powerful advice, not because it's true, but because we get those and similar messages so often from people around us that, subconsciously, we start to believe it.  Lets be clear: Those messages are BULLSH1T Its ok to talk about things you’re good at. Otherwise, how will people know that you can help them? How will your boss know that they need to value you and look after you, and score you high in things like performance appraisals ..read more

My purpose in writing this blog is two-fold. Firstly to highlight the things that teachers are saying about their own profession in the hope that if you agree with some of these points, you’ll help raise awareness of the changes needed by sharing this post.  Secondly, to offer some tips to teachers to help you start to make things better in the moment and take the first steps on the road to change. What teachers are saying What has prompted this is also two fold. Of course, one groups of professionals I love to help is teachers, because everyone talks about career education in schools but ..read more

As we head towards the holiday season, those long and hopefully balmy summer days,  this is an ideal time to reflect and get some strategies in place to reduce stress and increase your levels of calm and peace. Emotions: reflex or choice? Have you ever said yourself or heard someone else say things like this: You make me so mad! He really pushes my buttons! She makes me feel stupid The common factor here is that someone else is doing something and you are noticing and articulating your emotional response. It’s almost certainly akin to a reflex reaction: something happens and you respond ..read more

As we head towards the holiday season, long and hopefully balmy summer days,  this is an ideal time to reflect and get some strategies in place to reduce stress and increase your levels of calm and peace. Emotions: reflex or choice? Have you ever said yourself or heard someone else say things like this: You make me so mad! He really pushes my buttons! She makes me feel stupid The common factor here is that someone else is doing something and you are noticing and articulating your emotional response. It’s almost certainly akin to a reflex reaction: something happens and you respond in th ..read more

Do you ever feel like you’ve got so much on, and there are still people asking you for more things, whether it be bits of work or meetings or problems to solve, or….? It feels overwhelming, doesn’t it? It can lead to those Sunday night blues, or that feeling of dread as you go into work, or think about logging on each morning. Eventually you might notice that it’s spoiling your evenings and weekends because you can’t get work out of your mind  If you resonate with any of that, then read on. Un-choosing overwhelm This is not a situation you have to put up with, and nor should you. However ..read more

Do you ever feel like you’ve got so much on, and there are still people asking you for more things, whether it be bits of work or meetings or problems to solve, or….? How does it make you feel? It feels overwhelming, doesn’t it? It can lead to those Sunday night blues, or that feeling of dread as you go into work, or think about logging on each morning. Eventually you might notice that it’s spoiling your evenings and weekends because you can’t get work out of your mind  If you resonate with any of that, then read on. Choosing something different This is not a situation you have to put up ..read more

The system I’m talking about is the Education system. It's certainly not the teachers who broke it, although many I speak to feel broken by the education system. Teachers say this. One I interviewed said she was having to relearn a lot of stuff she teaches every time she taught it, because it's not used in everyday life. Her question was “Why are we teaching children this?”  Or as one ex-teacher said on TikTok recently, “the system was broken, it became an exam factory”. Students say it's not giving them what they need. Go and have a look at this well-articulated argument from a Year 10 s ..read more