Category Archives: Staff Culture

Seeing blind spots: how can we know our school well? 

Posted on January 21, 2023 by Joe Kirby

You start in a new school. What do you most need to know?  Schools are fiercely complex: a hundred staff and a thousand students have millions of interactions every day.  Some schools feel friendly: there are smiles, chats, jokes, fun, … Continue reading →

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Treasure Troves in the Golden Age of CPD. #1: Staff Culture

Posted on November 27, 2021 by Joe Kirby

Over the last ten years, teachers and school leaders have led on creating a golden age of professional learning. If knowledge is treasure, in the era of the world wide web, wiki-sites, webinars, social media networks, smartphones, tablets, podcasts and … Continue reading →

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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 →

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How can school leaders create great staff culture? 

Posted on September 25, 2021 by Joe Kirby

‘I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else in the world. This culture, this staff, this school… being part of a team like this is what keeps me going’. What is staff culture in a school?  Staff culture is the mass … Continue reading →

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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 →

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Overstretch: how and why to say no

Posted on September 4, 2021 by Joe Kirby

   Every September I’ve taught in schools, I have to admit I’ve felt a bit frazzled! School staff are beset by a dizzying dazzle of pressing decisions, concerns, dilemmas, and requests; cudgelled with urgent demands, requirements, conflicts, pressures and pickles.  … Continue reading →

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Hornets and Butterflies: How to reduce workload

Posted on June 6, 2015 by Joe Kirby

       When teachers were asked about workload, 44,000 responded. Teachers work 50-to-60 hour weeks, often starting at 7am, often leaving after 6pm, and often working weekends. Some 90% of teachers have considered giving up teaching because of excessive … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Staff Culture | 42 Comments

How can schools create a vibrant staff culture?

Posted on August 3, 2013 by Joe Kirby

“School leaders must never forget: nothing is more important than your people” Paul Bambrick-Santoyo   The Goose and the Golden Eggs Aesop’s fable One day, a man found a glittering golden egg in his goose’s nest. At first, he thought … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Staff Culture | 16 Comments