EdBlogs

A recent Twitter conversation about the advantages and disadvantages of headteachers having a teaching commitment made me thoughtful. I was a head for 30 years and taught each class of year 7 one English lesson every week throughout this time. I was paired with the English teacher who taught them for the rest of the time. If I had to be out of...

Best known for: Jones is an advocate of evidence-based educational leadership and management. His blog, Evidence Based Educational Leadership, explores how educators can use research more in their practice, and the pedagogical implications in doing so. In 2016 he published an online handbook for teachers and school leaders on the best uses of evide...

​School governance has changed in recent years. Gone are the days of light-touch oversight with a good dose of jolliness; governing boards are now expected to be more business-like rigorous, ensuring that the school fulfils their duty to their students and their budget. Never, then, has it been more important for school leaders and g...

Is your school full of hedgehogs or foxes? Hedgehogs are people who are committed to certain ideas, and will stick with them even when they've been shown to fail. Foxes are people know lots about everything, but not everything about anything – they are pragmatic, prone to self-doubt and willing to admit when they are wrong. In his 2005 study Expert...

Have you known excellent classroom practitioners who have failed to make the transition to successful school leadership – as middle leaders, senior leaders, or headteachers? Have you known indifferent teachers go on to be skilful and effective leaders? I've been thinking about the relationship between teaching and leading in education recently. It ...