Education Leaders | The Chart-Topping School Leadership Podcast

Schools in trusts and school groups gain shared capacity and economies of scale, but many leaders feel the pull between group expectations and the needs of the community on their doorstep. Tamara Zaple Rolfs, former Executive Headteacher and lead author of the free Work Collaborative paper Nets and Anchors, joins Shane to name that tension. She describes the "net" as the cohesive school group and the "anchors" as schools rooted in their communities, with the "knots" where the two pull against each other. If you lead a school, a trust or a wider system, this conversation gives you language for pressures you may have felt but never said out loud.

You'll hear why Tamara believes paying attention to tension, rather than avoiding it, is what makes a net strong. She also explains what "work with, not do to" looks like when accountability pressure pushes leaders towards control and certainty. Shane and Tamara cover four ways to navigate tension: understand your context, connect and collaborate, check your governance and communication loops, and pool resources across the group. Tamara also shares why this vision is grounded in research and in case studies from 15 trusts, and the one thing she would ask you to do next week: find the relationships and assets in your community that you haven't yet noticed, then listen.

Resources & Links Mentioned:
Nets and Anchors: School-Based Community Leadership (free paper, case studies, summary, one-pagers and slide decks)
Work Collaborative, the non-profit arm of Education Leaders
Tamara Zaple Rolfs' LinkedIn

Episode Partners
International Curriculum Association
Sisi
JOIN MY FREE WEBINAR, Clear the Cognitive Clutter: 10 Levers for Leading Without Overload.
Thursday 12 November at 9 am UK / 1 pm UAE / 5 pm China and Singapore

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Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensive

We are a proud member of the Education Leaders podcast network. For more great education shows, visit educationleaders.co/network/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Alex Fairlamb describes differentiation as having suffered a "lethal mutation", she means the tiered worksheets and pre-set tasks that quietly cap what children can achieve. Alex, Senior Advisor for Inclusive Teaching at Laidlaw Schools Trust and co-author of The Scaffolding Effect, explains how labels, unconscious bias and a flawed version of Bloom's taxonomy push vulnerable students towards lower expectations while piling extra workload onto teachers. If you lead teaching and learning in an international school, you will likely recognise the pattern in your own classrooms.
You'll learn what adaptive teaching looks like for a child who struggles with reading comprehension, from anticipating barriers before the lesson to checking understanding every two to five minutes and adding or removing scaffolds as you go. Alex and Shane discuss why interventions should supplement the curriculum rather than replace it, and why a music A level specification with no women in it shows what a narrow curriculum can do. For leaders wondering where to start, Alex makes the case for a three to five year professional learning plan over a different initiative every week. This conversation will change how you think about equity in your school.

Resources & Links Mentioned:
Alex Fairlamb's The Scaffolding Effect
Alex Fairlamb's LinkedIn

Episode Partners
International Curriculum Association
Sisi
JOIN MY FREE WEBINAR, Clear the Cognitive Clutter: 10 Levers for Leading Without Overload.
Thursday 12 November at 9 am UK / 1 pm UAE / 5 pm China and Singapore

---

Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensive

We are a proud member of the Education Leaders podcast network. For more great education shows, visit educationleaders.co/network/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Leadership interviews terrify plenty of capable teachers, and Shane admits he is one of them. So Orla Dempsey, a coach who helps teachers secure leadership positions, coaches him live in this episode. She starts with a reframe Shane calls huge: when a question asks “what would you do if...”, answer in the past tense and tell a story about something you have already done. If you are preparing for a school leadership interview, or helping a colleague prepare, you can use her tools straight away.

In this archived episode, you’ll learn how Orla teaches the STAR technique (situation, task, action, result), including her “clam” image and her rule that the result should take 17 words or less. Shane has a go at a live mock answer about coaching a colleague whose long emails annoyed his team, and Orla shows how a list of verbs makes it sharper. You’ll also hear how to put figures behind your impact, how to read a school’s needs from a principal’s address and photographs, and why speaking from the heart beats speaking from the head when a setback comes up. Orla’s closing message is worth hearing before your next interview: not being the right fit for one school does not mean you are not good enough.

Resources & Links Mentioned:
Orla Dempsey's LinkedIn
Orla Dempsey's website

Episode Partners
International Curriculum Association
Sisi
JOIN MY FREE WEBINAR, Clear the Cognitive Clutter: 10 Levers for Leading Without Overload.
Thursday 12 November at 9 am UK / 1 pm UAE / 5 pm China and Singapore

---

Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensive

We are a proud member of the Education Leaders podcast network. For more great education shows, visit educationleaders.co/network/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A teacher hands in their planning late for the third time, and you know they are dealing with a difficult situation at home. Insist on the deadline and you may ask for something they cannot manage, but keep extending it and colleagues end up carrying the load while pupils’ preparation suffers. This solo episode of school leadership coaching looks at what to do when two of your values pull in opposite directions, using Rushworth Kidder’s idea of “right versus right” dilemmas. It matters for any leader who has felt torn between standards and compassion and defaulted to whichever response felt most familiar.

Shane walks through five practical moves: name both concerns and what each one protects, gather the facts, look for another route, choose and acknowledge the cost, then rehearse the conversation. You’ll hear what “standards” and “compassion” might mean in the late planning example, and why a temporary arrangement with a clear review date can create room for both. Shane also shares how he slipped on his own delegation when family visited from the UK and his self-care suffered. The episode ends with a simple if-then commitment you can use this week, so you can press play and leave with something to try before your next difficult conversation.

Resources & Links Mentioned:
Giving Voice to Values, Mary Gentile’s approach to acting on your values

Episode Partners
International Curriculum Association
Sisi
JOIN MY FREE WEBINAR, Clear the Cognitive Clutter: 10 Levers for Leading Without Overload.
Thursday 12 November at 9 am UK / 1 pm UAE / 5 pm China and Singapore

---

Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensive

We are a proud member of the Education Leaders podcast network. For more great education shows, visit educationleaders.co/network/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Andrew Miller, Academic Principal at Beijing International Bilingual Academy, explains what going slow really looks like for a school leader and why "maybe don't" could be the most useful phrase you say all year. His career spans Washington State's Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Singapore American School and Shanghai American School, so he has seen how pressure to move fast plays out in very different systems. There is also a story behind this episode: Shane's audio failed to record, so you hear Andrew's answers as they were given on the day, with short bridge lines from Shane to set up each question.

You'll learn how to tell deliberate slowness apart from avoidance or a loss of nerve, and how Andrew resets his own sense of urgency on the days when he feels he hasn't done enough. He also covers how to let staff see your thinking without it sounding like excuses, and where the line sits between useful vulnerability and venting. Shane closes with three practical steps to try this week, starting with writing down what would happen if you didn't launch that next initiative. If everyone around you is waiting for you to act, this conversation gives you a way to pause with confidence.

Resources & Links Mentioned:
Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Singapore American School
Shanghai American School
Andrew's LinkedIn

Episode Partners
International Curriculum Association
JOIN MY FREE WEBINAR, Clear the Cognitive Clutter: 10 Levers for Leading Without Overload.
Thursday 12 November at 9 am UK / 1 pm UAE / 5 pm China and Singapore

---

Join Shane's Intensive Leadership Programme at educationleaders.co/intensive

We are a proud member of the Education Leaders podcast network. For more great education shows, visit educationleaders.co/network/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.