Category Archives: Education

What are the problems we are trying to solve?

Posted on January 7, 2023 by Joe Kirby

As school leaders, what are the problems that we can best focus our thinking and action on? What are the most useful questions to ask together? ***   School strategy problems: how can we make our school improvement efforts cohere?  … Continue reading →

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Golden needles in a haystack: Assessment CPD trove #4

Posted on December 18, 2021 by Joe Kirby

School leaders and teachers are strapped for time.  What is the best free, fast, flexible CPD out there on assessment? What can we read that has the highest impact in the least time? There are no silver bullets, but here … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Teaching | 1 Comment

Implementation as learning: 24 questions to ask

Posted on November 20, 2021 by Joe Kirby

Implementation is everything. Or is it? True, strategy without implementation doesn’t get done.  But implementation without good strategy gets the wrong things done.  No one could blame the soldiers on the Somme for not implementing their mission. They charged the … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Staff Culture | 1 Comment

The wicked problem of learning

Posted on October 30, 2021 by Joe Kirby

Sometimes we are so deep in an orthodoxy we cannot see it. In their new book, Becky Allen, Matthew Evans and Ben White give us ways to question how we see and think about our schools.  They combine a visit … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | 3 Comments

What was asked at ResearchEd Surrey?

Posted on October 17, 2021 by Joe Kirby

ResearchEd is one of the most exciting developments in teaching in the last ten years. Teachers and school leaders are now asking questions that cut to the core of how we can improve education. The sharing, passion, generosity and collegiality … Continue reading →

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Taking feedback well

Posted on October 9, 2021 by Joe Kirby

As school leaders, we need feedback from staff on how things are going; we can’t be present in that many hotspots, CPD sessions, lessons or conversations. But it’s hard for staff to be fully honest when their jobs, livelihoods and … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | 5 Comments

Honest upward feedback

Posted on October 2, 2021 by Joe Kirby

Staff don’t often tell school leaders what they truly think about what matters most.. Why does seeking honest upward feedback from staff matter? Being ignored is demotivating. We want staff to be able to share their struggles and mistakes without … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | 4 Comments

Knowledge-led strategy

Posted on September 18, 2021 by Joe Kirby

How can we think better about school improvement?  Schools are prone to overstretch.  We need a way forward that doesn’t overload us as school leaders.  But we should also beware of oversimplifying and boxing ourselves in to templates.  The history … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Staff Culture | 3 Comments

Strategy: a 2,500 year-old history

Posted on September 11, 2021 by Joe Kirby

In 10 years in schools, I’ve always been prone to frazzling overstretch. I think we as school leaders often are: it’s tough to know what and how to prioritise. I reckon the history of strategy can help us out.  I’ll … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | 3 Comments

Teachers lead the scientific revolution in education: 44+ seminal articles

Posted on August 28, 2021 by Joe Kirby

‘The scientific approach to identifying best practices is the best long-term bet.’ Prof Rob Coe The scientific revolution dramatically improved medicine.  Doctors applied scientific research evidence to vastly improve healthcare over time. Infant, maternal and preventable mortality fell worldwide; longevity … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | 9 Comments