Stories of School Leadership emlewry

This episode touches on such a range of valuable topics. I’m joined by Alex Neophitou, former Senior Leader, now Freelance Education Consultant for his business New Education Outlook. As Alex shares his journey with incredible honesty, we explore how viewpoints of leadership evolve, finding joy in education and the importance of teams. He shares his decision making processes at key points in his educational career including trying to balance family life with leadership. Alex’s passion for curriculum shines through and we talk about subject leadership and how to manage the role when you’re not a specialist but seem to have landed a subject leader role sometimes off the back of a project you did in secondary school! I really enjoyed this discussion, you can tell because it’s over an hour long! But there’s so much value that Alex shares, I really hope you love it too.

I’m joined by Headteacher Bob Benson, sharing his journey and insights spanning over 30 years in education. We talk about finding education and leadership when it wasn’t in the life plan, being a male leader in a girls school and championing the voices of women. Bob shares his pride in the impact his team has had supporting pupils in receipt of Pupil Premium funding, and the strategies they used. We discuss how educational leadership has changed and what needs to happen to make the role sustainable and joyful for future leaders.

In this episode I’m joined by Stella Odosola, sharing her journey and experiences of the education system as a pupil and into her career in teaching and leadership. We explore barriers relating to gender, race and disability, and Stella shares some invaluable recommendations for leaders looking to reflect upon their recruitment and retention of staff. We explore leadership outside schools including as a Governor, Trustee and with external organisations and how, with bravery, change can be implemented for pupils, staff and leaders.

This episode brings several vital conversations to the table. With the wonderful Sadia Hussain-Savuk we dig into racial prejudice, gender bias, glass ceilings and explore the progress, and at times, lack of progress, that we have made in the education sector in the UK. Sadia bravely shares her story of being educated in Scotland, moving into the sector as a teacher and becoming a change agent for equality, diversity and inclusion. We talk about the value of listening to, and really acting on the voices of our children, belonging, developing a colonised curriculum, cultural experiences and more.  This episode also includes practical ideas that leaders can use to tackle inequalities for women, and importantly women of colour. I urge you to take the time to listen and reflect on the messages in this episode, and then… take action.

In episode 11, I am joined by international school leader Matt Manfredi. Matt’s teaching and leadership career has taken him all around the world and we discuss the differences between education and leadership in the cultures he has experienced. Matt shares his insight into developing teams, autonomy, finding joy and an impressive amount of recommendations for reading! There are so many great nuggets of advice and wisdom in this episode, I hope you enjoy listening as much as I did recording it.

Helen shares her journey into educational leadership exploring the challenges of having a family while wanting to progress in a career and navigating a variety of roles and experiences on the journey to headship. We talk about the energy needed to excel in the role of Headteacher and the value and impact of coaching.