Education Leaders | Strategic School Leadership

What if the principles that help students learn could also transform how you lead? This episode explores the powerful concept of the "science of leading" with Meg Lee, co-founder of Learning Science Partners and an internationally recognised advocate for evidence-informed teaching and professional learning. Meg explains why our leadership moves often fail when we act on "brittle knowledge," just enough understanding to be dangerous, instead of fostering the deep, flexible understanding needed to navigate complex organisations. This is a critical conversation for any leader feeling the tension between urgent action and sustainable implementation. You'll learn how core principles from cognitive science, such as cognitive load, prior knowledge, and effortful thinking, directly apply to leading schools and systems. Meg, a 30-year public education leader, author of Mindsets for Parents, and US ambassador for researchED, shares practical strategies, including how to simplify your school's focus, make small incremental moves in the same direction, and build a shared language for change that honours your team's experience. If you want to move beyond initiative fatigue and lead change that lasts, this episode provides the evidence-informed framework you need.Resources & Links Mentioned:Connect with Meg LeeLearning Science PartnersEpisode PartnersInternational Leaders ConferenceTeaching WalkthrusJoin Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensiveShane Leaning, an organisational coach based in Shanghai, supports school leaders globally. Passionate about empowment, he is the author of the best-selling 'Change Starts Here.' Shane is a leading educational voice in the UK, Asia and around the world.You can find Shane on LinkedIn and Bluesky. or shaneleaning.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shane and Chris are back for this month's Education Leaders Live, recording from Shanghai and Newcastle respectively, to unpack some of the biggest themes from recent episodes.The conversation kicks off with the backstory behind Education Leaders itself. How it started as a hobby podcast called Travel Ed, what redundancy taught Shane about building a business, and why the "build it and they shall come" approach is terrible advice for anyone thinking about going independent.From there, they get into Dr Chris Baker's brilliant work on poor proxies for leadership. What does it actually look like to lead well? Is visibility the same as effectiveness? And why did a child once assume Chris Baker was the new headmaster based entirely on his trench coat?They also dig into the CPD problem. Shane shares results from a LinkedIn survey where only 1 out of roughly 100 school leaders said external workshops had genuine impact. That leads to a proper debate about where responsibility sits when training doesn't stick, and what providers should be doing differently.Plus: the guilt of not looking busy, why teachers have the rolliest eyes of any profession, Chris's story about Rob Coe walking into his conference session, and what's coming up next on the podcast.Episodes referenced in this conversation:The Work Behind Education Leaders: shaneleaning.com/podcast/151Poor Proxies for Leadership with Dr Chris Baker: shaneleaning.com/podcast/152Parent-Driven School Storytelling with Selena Boyd: shaneleaning.com/podcast/148What Actually Works in Teacher Development: shaneleaning.com/podcast/153Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensiveShane Leaning, an organisational coach based in Shanghai, supports school leaders globally. Passionate about empowment, he is the author of the best-selling 'Change Starts Here.' Shane is a leading educational voice in the UK, Asia and around the world.You can find Shane on LinkedIn and Bluesky. or shaneleaning.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

England spends £1 billion a year on teacher professional development, yet a poll of school leaders found that just 1% said it led to lasting change in practice. This episode examines why that gap exists, drawing on a landmark 2025 report from the Teacher Development Trust, which surveyed over a thousand teachers and leaders across England. The findings are stark, but the patterns, as Shane argues, are universal and if you lead a school anywhere in the world, the problems will feel familiar. You'll learn about the significant perception gap between what leaders think CPD achieves and what teachers actually experience, why the formats schools rely on most (workshops, online modules) are the least effective, and what the evidence actually points to instead. Shane shares five practical steps leaders can take right now, from closing the feedback gap with staff to investing in coaching and peer observation. Perhaps most urgently, the data shows a direct link between poor professional development and teacher retention and what kind of CPD would genuinely make teachers more likely to stay. Resources & Links Mentioned:Education Leaders IntensiveEpisode PartnersInternational Curriculum AssociationTeaching WalkthrusJoin Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensiveShane Leaning, an organisational coach based in Shanghai, supports school leaders globally. Passionate about empowment, he is the author of the best-selling 'Change Starts Here.' Shane is a leading educational voice in the UK, Asia and around the world.You can find Shane on LinkedIn and Bluesky. or shaneleaning.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do we truly know if someone is a good leader? If your school relies on visible presence, constant busyness, or even a certain "look," you might be measuring the wrong things. In this thought-provoking episode, Shane is joined by experienced educator and leadership development specialist, Chris Baker, to explore the concept of 'poor proxies' for leadership. Inspired by Rob Coe's work on poor proxies for learning, Chris explains how schools often mistake correlated behaviours for the causal impact of effective leadership, potentially undermining leader well-being and organisational success. You’ll learn to identify common poor proxies like visibility, busyness, and confidence, and discover a more impactful framework for evaluation centred on two questions: "How does this leader make people feel?" and "What does this leader enable people to do?" Chris provides a practical, immediate action plan, advising you to audit your school’s leadership frameworks, recruitment processes, and development programmes for hidden proxies. If you want to move beyond superficial metrics and cultivate leadership that genuinely empowers your team, this conversation is an essential starting point. Resources & Links Mentioned:Connect with Chris BakerRob Coe's work at Evidence-Based EducationLeadership Launchpads by Chris BakerEpisode PartnersInternational Curriculum AssociationTeaching WalkthrusJoin Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensiveShane Leaning, an organisational coach based in Shanghai, supports school leaders globally. Passionate about empowment, he is the author of the best-selling 'Change Starts Here.' Shane is a leading educational voice in the UK, Asia and around the world.You can find Shane on LinkedIn and Bluesky. or shaneleaning.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 151 is a milestone worth pausing on, and Shane uses it to do something he probably should have done sooner: properly introduce himself. Many listeners know the podcast but have never heard the full story of how Education Leaders grew from a simple desire for better conversations into a three-part organisation spanning a community, a coaching academy, and international school consultancy. This episode is Shane's honest account of those early uncertain months, the moment something shifted, and why he kept going long before he had any of it figured out. You'll hear how the Education Leaders Intensive came together, what drives the self-study courses launching soon, and why Shane co-founded The Work Collaborative, a not-for-profit built on one clear conviction: schools need to restore confidence in their own judgement. Shane explains what he keeps seeing in schools around the world, the cycle of well-intentioned consultants and initiatives that never quite stick because internal capacity was never built alongside them. If you're curious about the world behind the microphone, or simply want to understand what Shane and his collaborators are actually building, this is the episode to start with. Resources & Links Mentioned:Education Leaders IntensiveThe Work CollaborativeEpisode PartnersInternational Curriculum AssociationTeaching WalkthrusJoin Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensiveShane Leaning, an organisational coach based in Shanghai, supports school leaders globally. Passionate about empowment, he is the author of the best-selling 'Change Starts Here.' Shane is a leading educational voice in the UK, Asia and around the world.You can find Shane on LinkedIn and Bluesky. or shaneleaning.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.