On the 26th of March, pupils from Kings’ school, Winchester, hosted 25 headteachers from the city of Liepāja in Latvia. The purpose of their visit was to learn more about how ‘leadership’ skills are developed within UK Secondary schools. Like most schools in the UK, Kings’ offers a wide range of opportunities for pupils to take on responsibility [...]
Leadership is a popular theme these days and in education it’s a hot topic for discussion. All schools are looking for ways to develop the leadership of their staff and pupils. This running deep within my veins, especially due to my work with Leader in Me schools throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East. I’m [...]
In my first blog on character education I emphasised two points that are crucial: The necessity for children to apply their knowledge, so they develop disciplined habits that they practise in their daily lives - without application, virtues will not be internalisedThe importance of the teacher modelling character; the need for us to first develop [...]
In education today, the system forces our teachers to look intensely at their pupil’s academic results, to identify weaknesses which needs to be improved on to allow for their intellectual strengths to be amplified. When this becomes the main focus of education, young people feel as if they are just a grade, not a real [...]
Global events, our personal life experiences and our early childhood environments have a direct impact on us. Some of these life events can be small, whilst other larger events can have a far-reaching influence throughout our lives. These experiences on both sides of the ledger have the potential to define us and in many unfortunate [...]
What does an authentic leadership school look like? A good example of a school that has embedded a leadership culture throughout the whole school is Fair Isle Primary school in Scotland. Leadership is an integral part of everyday life in Fair Isle Primary School, for staff, children and for many parents. The school places equal [...]
If you asked any headteacher in the UK who the most important stakeholder in their school is – they would unanimously reply; the pupil. They wholeheartedly believe that the purpose of their school is to provide the best possible education for each child. However, recent data from the government shows that many schools are encouraging [...]
We seem to have lost sight of the purpose of education; our schools have become exam factories within a system that judges schools on the basis of their position in league tables. The child has become a thing from which their attainment data is most important. The government, educators and parents must wake up to [...]
I’ve been involved in education for almost 30 years and have seen many initiatives arrive with huge promise only to fizzle out and completely disappear a few years later. The first Leader in Me school was started by headteacher Muriel Summers in 1999 and now there are over 4000 Leader in Me schools in more [...]
What are your school values? Some of the usual suspects are; respect, trust, integrity, responsibility, self-discipline, compassion, perseverance and tolerance. Many schools are proud of their school values because they are meaningful to them and the collaborative effort it has taken to create them. Some schools pedal these values as their character education programme and [...]