I love Adam Grant’s work. An organisational psychologist by trade, Grant explores motivation, teams, and potential, among many other things. In his book Think Again (blog here), he discusses how we tend to retreat to a bunker with our views and defend them till the end. He explores how we should think more objectively, seek a range of views, and proactively try to disprove our own assumptions. Grant’s work mixes research, anecdotes, and beautiful prose, which makes it accessible for any reader, while providing further research to explore if you want a bit more. I was delighted when Hidden Pote ..read more

My researchED Warrington talk, 2024 When we think of a dysfunctional team, it’s tempting to conjure an image of a group of people arguing, scowling, raising their voices or storming out of rooms. Overt dislike, perhaps. Toxic leadership with malignant approaches to accountability, maybe. And yes, those things are bad. But the truth is, most dysfunctional teams don’t look anything like that. It would be much more straightforward if they did! One of the most common forms of team dysfunction lies beneath the surface of warm, friendly, affable teams. There might be mid-meeting smiles. Sharing of c ..read more

The National conference was always going to be special for me this year. John Catt and I worked out that, with my book draft submitted in spring, the release date would likely occur around this time. Sure enough, six months later, I had a very happy book launch day in and around the researchED National conference. The conference was absolutely NOT all about my book. But the book launch brought to the fore some of my favourite things about these conferences, and the (on the whole!) eduTwitter community. Connection: in the last 12 months, I have made lots of great connections with educators. Som ..read more

The summer term is often when the most evaluation occurs across our school teams. Planning afternoons, away days, and the ever-elusive ‘gained time’ prompt us to consider what we’ve been working on this year. The most effective teams will evaluate and debrief throughout the year, of course, ensuring that it is the norm to review practice and make improvements, and not wait for a certain interval to make a change. But it’s inevitable that in the summer we turn our attention to the next academic year. Every team in the school should celebrate successes, strive to improve, and spend some time thi ..read more

Teams are fascinating to me, perhaps because I spent a chunk of my early career dismissing the value of teamwork. Inefficient. Unproductive. Too many voices. Then, as I began to lead teams, from an English department, to a tutor team, to a learning and teaching team, and many others, I began to revise this view. We are better together. The problem is, we often don’t expend much time, effort, or thought into transforming our teams from a bunch of people who meet together at set intervals, to cohesive groups that achieve great things. In fact, I can’t think of any leadership course I’ve done in ..read more

Building a thriving culture of excellent behaviour, mutual respect, kindness, and joy, are common aims of school leaders and teachers. We want to go to school every day and focus on what we do best: teaching our subject, using our expertise to help children make progress, and forming healthy relationships in a safe place. Everyone should come through the gates in the morning and feel a sense of belonging and safety. ‘I am about to experience another day of feeling comfortable, looked after, at ease, and academically encouraged and challenged. And I’m basing those feelings of safety on experien ..read more

On Saturday 8th October 2022, the sun shone gloriously across Surrey, thus enabling both a beautiful day for researchED-ers from across the country, and me the chance to open this blog post in clichéd fashion. The sun merely acted as a symbol for the energy and optimism of the hundreds of people who gathered at Farnham Heath End school for a day of CPD, by educators, for educators. Yet again, Jack and the FHES team put on an event that was well organised, friendly, and lived up its renown of first-class catering! This wasn’t my first rodeo, but it was my first chance to present at researchED ..read more

Why I read it I would have bought and read this book regardless, but I was lucky enough to read and give feedback on ‘What Every Teacher Needs to Know’ last autumn. If you have followed Jade, you’ll know that she has spent the last three years on Twitter sharing countless resources. Teaching and Learning Guides, presentations, and many, many research paper summaries. Her work provides expertise, for free, without ego. It was clear that this book would always aim to follow a similar route: a comprehensive guide that provides genuine value to teachers and leaders. Jade recently said to me ‘I can ..read more

Some teams work together in intense, high-pressure situations. Military teams may face perilous situations as part of their day-to-day working life; medical teams have lives in their hands and must treat each one with the same level of care and expertise. For these teams, having a shared knowledge and language of what must be done, and who is doing what, is essential – life and death, even. And yet shared understanding and knowledge of the team’s processes, expertise, and team members is vital for any thriving team, whatever the stakes. When I first became a Head of English, earlier in my care ..read more

Why I read it Over the course of Pocket Wisdom, it won’t come as a surprise to you that I have researched a lot of books. For reference, here is how I find most of them: books by authors I’ve already read; books recommended by those authors; books I discover on podcasts; personal recommendations; trawling through lists online. I remember hearing Brad Stulberg speak about his books Peak Performance, and then Groundedness, and decided to go for the latter. Here was a successful, intelligent chap appealing to the audience to take stock of their busy lives and be present. Also, the cover. I love t ..read more