Education Leaders | Strategic School Leadership

There's a particular kind of leadership trap that nobody warns you about: the one where everything is going so well that you stop noticing why. Richard Wheadon spent the first decade of his career in a high-performing London school where great culture, strong professional development, and collaborative leadership were simply the norm. It wasn't until he moved to a new school in the Northwest that he realised none of it had been accidental, and that his confidence had quietly tipped into assumption. This episode, built around Richard's honest account of that transition and the humbling moments that followed, including a candid conversation with Ross McGill that stopped him in his tracks, is essential listening for any leader who has ever walked into a new context expecting their old success to travel with them.

You'll hear why Richard believes the single most important thing a leader can do when they arrive somewhere new is listen before they lead, and why skipping that step cost him time he couldn't get back. Richard also makes a compelling case for blogging as a leadership development tool, not for the audience, but for the depth of thinking it forces you to do. Whether you're navigating a school move, trying to build a culture from scratch, or simply looking for your next challenge, this conversation will give you a lot to reflect on.

Resources & Links Mentioned:
Richard Wheadon on LinkedIn
Richard Wheadon's book: Learning Habits

Episode Partners
International Leaders Conference
Teaching Walkthrus
Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensive

Shane 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.

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 Lee
Learning Science Partners

Episode Partners
International Leaders Conference
Teaching Walkthrus
Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensive

Shane 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/151
Poor Proxies for Leadership with Dr Chris Baker: shaneleaning.com/podcast/152
Parent-Driven School Storytelling with Selena Boyd: shaneleaning.com/podcast/148
What Actually Works in Teacher Development: shaneleaning.com/podcast/153
Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensive

Shane 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 Intensive

Episode Partners
International Curriculum Association
Teaching Walkthrus
Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensive

Shane 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 Baker
Rob Coe's work at Evidence-Based Education
Leadership Launchpads by Chris Baker

Episode Partners
International Curriculum Association
Teaching Walkthrus
Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensive

Shane 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.