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Craig Berg from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, created this teacher observation tool for teacher education programs or district leaders. Looks interesting.

I had the pleasure recently of listening to Michael Fullan thanks to ACEL (Australian Council for Educational Leaders). Like many thought Leaders who are looking closely at the current state of education, Michael builds a strong case for radical change in education.

This page makes it easy to find information and resources that are relevant to particular concepts, approaches and strategies. Each Collection is curated to serve a particular need and shares a set of resources pooled from The Learner's Way. In time this set of Collection will grow. In addition to articles from The Learner's Way you will be able to find resources designed to help you get started with the key concepts presented. The aim is to produce a set of resources which are readily accessible and of immediate benefit to classroom teachers and school leaders.

"As part of our efforts to support the amazing community of schools, teachers and educators globally, we are delighted to announce that our plans for a 2020 UKEdChat Conference have been moved forward to June 2020. The 2020 event will be our second online conference, and many educators got involved in the first event, sharing resources, pedagogy and great ideas that can be used in the classroom. We have now opened our 'Call to Speakers', and we invite school leaders, teachers, educational authors, educational consultants and educational companies to create (upto) 20-minute videos that will inspire delegates during the 3-day event."

"Every learning organisation has a culture. This forms an underlying set of values and ways of doing things which determines how practice is maintained, and changes resisted or embraced. This culture changes slowly over time and resides in the experience and experiences of staff and other significant stakeholders in the organisation. A wise leader, before embarking on significant changes, would do well to ensure they understand the cultural drivers of the particular school for these may accelerate, or hinder the pace and direction of change."

"In the first of a series of 5 webinars, Martin Burrett (@ICTMagic) showcased innovative ways that school leaders and teachers can eliminate the bulk of e-mails out of their school lives. Using online, collaborative communication tools, teachers and school leaders can easily send messages to each other, with fantastic tools that allow users to 'turn off notifications', or turning on 'snooze mode'. Such features help in that messages only arrive when the user specifies, therefore eliminating the need to deal with e-mails when they arrive at a time when individuals should be resting."

Argh! We need good journalism!

"In education we are very comfortable using the term "middle leaders", rather than "middle managers", to talk about heads of department and heads of faculty. But are they really leaders? What distinguishes middle leaders from middle managers?  Middle managers - and senior managers for that matter - work to the specification of their leaders. Managers only become leaders when they inject something of themselves into their work. Managers sing the hymn sheets of others. leaders do much more, they add verses, create harmonies and the best compose new scores. "

"The Education Secretary has today urged all schools to eliminate their use of single use plastics by 2022. Damian Hinds has called on senior leaders in schools to stop using items such as plastic bags, straws, bottles and food packaging in favour of sustainable alternatives, and invited them to start a conversation with pupils about the effects discarded plastics have on the environment and wildlife."

"When Zoë's book came up for review I put my hand up to read it straight away. I currently work as a Primary Middle Leader (Literacy Lead and EYFSCoordinator) in a larger than average primary school in the North of England. In the last two years, we have undergone a lot of changes, both internal due to staffing and curriculum and changes and external as we have become part of the largest MAT in the city. This has meant an increase in responsibility and accountability, not only for myself but other middle leaders who I have had the chance to meet with."

"It's the end of the first week of term and it has been so positive. I have tried to spend most of my day being the leader I want to be, engaging the 'spirit energy' (see Peter Drucker). I spent summer reflecting on my values and vision, and I'm fortunate to have been handed the reins for the Curriculum in my school. To realise the vision, I've employed the help of a team of subject leaders, and today I met with them for the first time. I knew this was probably our most important discussion; my opportunity to engage them in the future (see Steve Radcliffe, Future Engage Deliver), and so I spent the week prior to this discussing and reflecting with SLT to ensure I was ready."

"In his new book, Adrian Bethune explores different angles of the life of children who are of primary-school age. For example, in a fascinating first chapter, Bethune examines our tribal roots, tapping into our pupils' primitive social instincts and their powerful effects on wellbeing and ability to learn. Citing the work of Louis Cozolino (Click here to view The Social Neuroscience of Education: Optimizing Attachment and Learning in the Classroom by Louis Cozolino on Amazon UK - worthy of a read itself) a tribal classroom embodies tribal qualities including a tribal leader, cooperation, teamwork, equality, fairness, trust and strong personal relationships. Such qualities enable everyone to feel valued and a feeling of a big family, helping secure positive relationships - the role of the teacher in this relationship is to help pupils feel like they belong, which is fundamental to learning. Developing this tribal theme, Bethune the proceeds to share ideas to be implemented in the primary classroom to help cultivate such positive relationships, including the design of a team flag, greetings and endings, teaching social skills, and building humour and games into the setting."

"Much attention has been given to the reasons why so many teachers leave the profession. Workload, lack of independence, and bullying from senior 'leaders' and other issues are cited as reasons why lots of teachers will not see their 5th year in the classroom. While some of these are difficult to mitigate for individuals, there are practical things that schools and teachers can do to help teachers with all of these pressures and create a supportive culture to stem the flow of good teachers leaving the profession."

"Something that has struck me as vitally important in the realms of education at the moment is the lived experience of the child. Now, you may be sat there thinking, 'Isn't this stating the absolutely obvious?' I hear it said so often that underpinning every decision made in schools is a focus on the children. Please don't misunderstand me at this point; I am not calling into question the motives of educators and leaders. I just thought it pertinent to bring this to the fore in the wake of the myriad of difficulties schools face in relation to increased budget strain and stretched services."