Author Archives: Robert Jones

My Leadership Story⤴

from @ Learning Stuff About Stuff

I have volunteered to "share my leadership journey" for ten minutes before leading a discussion with other middle leaders at a SCEL event in Edinburgh.  This blog post is a rehearsal of those ten minutes, and I would gratefully appreciate any constructive feedback.

I have a leadership story rather than a leadership journey to share. This is the story I tell myself about how I got to where I am now as a leader, and about where I might go next. It is very subjective and selective. Nonetheless I think it is worth sharing, because this is the truth I inhabit. You also have stories you tell yourself, and you inhabit your stories every day of your professional life. It is sometimes easy to recognise these stories in others - the colleague who sees themselves as the victim of unreasonable burdens regardless of changing circumstances or another who sees themselves as blessed and lucky no matter what misfortunes befall them. It is much harder to identify the stories we tell ourselves, because we tend to see them not as stories but as "how things are". These stories have immense power to shape our motivations and actions. If we are willing to examine them critically, we may even be able to reshape them into more powerful, positive stories.

Here's my story. It highlights the biographical moments which seem significant to me, and takes for granted my enduring desire to improve the lives of the young people of Scotland through education.

As a young teacher, I had no interest in leadership. I thought leadership was synonymous with dominance and control. I wanted to do neither. My worldview was influenced by Buddhist and psycho-therapeutic ideas. I believed in human growth and human potential, not in command-and-control.

I also thought promotion just meant less teaching and more administration (I was right about that!). And so I avoided anything I would have described as a leadership position for many years. I did, however, become a senior teacher with responsibility for ICT. But that wasn't leadership in my head, because I wasn't anyone's boss. During this period I began to blog and use Twitter, thanks to the work Don Ledingham, Ewan McIntosh, Louise Jones, David Gilmour, John Johnstone, Neil Winton, Kate Farrel, Ian Stuart and others were doing. They formed the core of my growing professional learning network. My horizons expanded beyond my room and the colleagues in my department. I participated in an early Teachmeet.

Then eventually my PT announced his impending retirement, and I was faced with the possibility of having to work under a new PT who might be younger and less experienced than me. That didn't seem like it would be fun, so I decided to apply. I had a lot of support and encouragement via Twitter and my PLN, who convinced me to go for it. Ollie Bray was particularly supportive in terms of getting my application right. I remember being conscious at the time that I would have to really want it to get it, so I invested much time and energy in preparing over a 6 month period. During that time I began to read about leadership, and found, to my great surprise, that modern thinking about leadership actually resonated with my beliefs about human potential and the nurturing of human growth. This was a real turning point for me. I saw the possibility of being a leader whilst remaining true to myself - leading with integrity. I began to learn more about coaching.

All I had to do now was to convince someone to give me a job. I had the great good fortune to work under a head teacher, Colin Sutherland, who saw potential in me, and he promoted me to PT.

I loved being PT maths and did a great job (even if I say so myself!), and might have remained one for the rest of my career had East Lothian schools not restructured their departments into faculties. This meant that every PT had to reapply for their job. After my interview, one of the panel asked Colin "why isn't Robert a depute already?". When Colin told me this, it had a big effect on me. I began to believe I could make a difference on a bigger scale than one department. I applied for the flexible route to headship programme. This was the best CLPL I ever did. I was coached by Dorothy Hillsley, to whom I am eternally grateful.


Four years later I was a depute head teacher, after one spell as an acting depute which ended with my failing to secure the permanent post. That hurt, but I learnt a lot, and came back more resilient and determined. I have my current head Lauren Rodger to thank for this: she didn't appoint me the first time, but she always supported and believed in me. I have now achieved the standard for Headship, am loving having the opportunity to make appoint difference at NBHS and more widely and aspire to headship - gies a job!

So that's my story. 25 years condensed into a few paragraphs. Many failures, mistakes and moments of doubt along the way have been edited out. This can't possibly be the whole truth, and some of it may be entirely untrue. The causal links are far too simplistic and it paints me in an altogether too positive light. Small incidents are given perhaps unwarranted significance. It skips entirely any examination of the values which underpin my motivation to be involved in education. It's just a story, not the truth. But it is an (incomplete) approximation of the truth I inhabit. I think it's a good story, because it motivates me to keep learning and working hard. It also keeps me humble as it recognises the good luck and support of others which have helped me along the way. I'm keeping my eyes open for a better story.

What's yours?

My Leadership Story⤴

from @ Learning Stuff About Stuff

I have volunteered to "share my leadership journey" for ten minutes before leading a discussion with other middle leaders at a SCEL event in Edinburgh.  This blog post is a rehearsal of those ten minutes, and I would gratefully appreciate any constructive feedback.

I have a leadership story rather than a leadership journey to share. This is the story I tell myself about how I got to where I am now as a leader, and about where I might go next. It is very subjective and selective. Nonetheless I think it is worth sharing, because this is the truth I inhabit. You also have stories you tell yourself, and you inhabit your stories every day of your professional life. It is sometimes easy to recognise these stories in others - the colleague who sees themselves as the victim of unreasonable burdens regardless of changing circumstances or another who sees themselves as blessed and lucky no matter what misfortunes befall them. It is much harder to identify the stories we tell ourselves, because we tend to see them not as stories but as "how things are". These stories have immense power to shape our motivations and actions. If we are willing to examine them critically, we may even be able to reshape them into more powerful, positive stories.

Here's my story. It highlights the biographical moments which seem significant to me, and takes for granted my enduring desire to improve the lives of the young people of Scotland through education.

As a young teacher, I had no interest in leadership. I thought leadership was synonymous with dominance and control. I wanted to do neither. My worldview was influenced by Buddhist and psycho-therapeutic ideas. I believed in human growth and human potential, not in command-and-control.

I also thought promotion just meant less teaching and more administration (I was right about that!). And so I avoided anything I would have described as a leadership position for many years. I did, however, become a senior teacher with responsibility for ICT. But that wasn't leadership in my head, because I wasn't anyone's boss. During this period I began to blog and use Twitter, thanks to the work Don Ledingham, Ewan McIntosh, Louise Jones, David Gilmour, John Johnstone, Neil Winton, Kate Farrel, Ian Stuart and others were doing. They formed the core of my growing professional learning network. My horizons expanded beyond my room and the colleagues in my department. I participated in an early Teachmeet.

Then eventually my PT announced his impending retirement, and I was faced with the possibility of having to work under a new PT who might be younger and less experienced than me. That didn't seem like it would be fun, so I decided to apply. I had a lot of support and encouragement via Twitter and my PLN, who convinced me to go for it. Ollie Bray was particularly supportive in terms of getting my application right. I remember being conscious at the time that I would have to really want it to get it, so I invested much time and energy in preparing over a 6 month period. During that time I began to read about leadership, and found, to my great surprise, that modern thinking about leadership actually resonated with my beliefs about human potential and the nurturing of human growth. This was a real turning point for me. I saw the possibility of being a leader whilst remaining true to myself - leading with integrity. I began to learn more about coaching.

All I had to do now was to convince someone to give me a job. I had the great good fortune to work under a head teacher, Colin Sutherland, who saw potential in me, and he promoted me to PT.

I loved being PT maths and did a great job (even if I say so myself!), and might have remained one for the rest of my career had East Lothian schools not restructured their departments into faculties. This meant that every PT had to reapply for their job. After my interview, one of the panel asked Colin "why isn't Robert a depute already?". When Colin told me this, it had a big effect on me. I began to believe I could make a difference on a bigger scale than one department. I applied for the flexible route to headship programme. This was the best CLPL I ever did. I was coached by Dorothy Hillsley, to whom I am eternally grateful.


Four years later I was a depute head teacher, after one spell as an acting depute which ended with my failing to secure the permanent post. That hurt, but I learnt a lot, and came back more resilient and determined. I have my current head Lauren Rodger to thank for this: she didn't appoint me the first time, but she always supported and believed in me. I have now achieved the standard for Headship, am loving having the opportunity to make appoint difference at NBHS and more widely and aspire to headship - gies a job!

So that's my story. 25 years condensed into a few paragraphs. Many failures, mistakes and moments of doubt along the way have been edited out. This can't possibly be the whole truth, and some of it may be entirely untrue. The causal links are far too simplistic and it paints me in an altogether too positive light. Small incidents are given perhaps unwarranted significance. It skips entirely any examination of the values which underpin my motivation to be involved in education. It's just a story, not the truth. But it is an (incomplete) approximation of the truth I inhabit. I think it's a good story, because it motivates me to keep learning and working hard. It also keeps me humble as it recognises the good luck and support of others which have helped me along the way. I'm keeping my eyes open for a better story.

What's yours?

Planning for Learning or Planning for Behaviour?⤴

from @ Learning Stuff About Stuff

Several months ago I found myself sitting beside a quite senior staff member from one of our colleges of initial teacher education, who complained to me that her student teachers all seemed to be obsessed with behaviour management.

I was flabbergasted, but failed miserably to put together a reasonable argument for why the students were quite right.

That conversation came back to me today as I taught a maths cover class, who were learning about the graphs of linear equations.  The class had some lively characters in it, and they were clearly struggling with the central concept: that a line on a coordinate diagram represents all the points where a particular linear equation involving x and y is true.

As they explored this concept through a series of activities, many of them experienced confusion and frustration. These are normal, healthy emotions for learners. We were able to stick with these challenging experiences partly because the pupils were operating in an environment in which misbehaviour wasn't an option. I'm not bragging here - they behaved themselves mainly because I'm a depute head and they don't know me very well.

It struck me that things would be very different in an environment in which the good behaviour of pupils was always contingent upon them enjoying themselves, experiencing success or performing well. In such an environment (which prevailed in some of the classes I taught in the early years of my career, by the way), the teacher would veer away from tasks which involved challenge and required perseverance. They would lean towards activities which were entertaining and provided quick gratification and the illusion of learning, for fear of otherwise provoking poor behaviour.

If your (and by "your" I refer to the school as a whole as much as to individual teachers) - if your behaviour management is impeccable and the expectations of behaviour and effort in your classes are sky-high, then you are liberated from that fear, and can focus on planning for learning rather than planning for behaviour. Your students are then more likely to experience the profound gratification of learning, rather than the shallow gratification of success-in-the-moment.

That's why student teachers are right to be obsessed with behaviour management.

Planning for Learning or Planning for Behaviour?⤴

from @ Learning Stuff About Stuff

Several months ago I found myself sitting beside a quite senior staff member from one of our colleges of initial teacher education, who complained to me that her student teachers all seemed to be obsessed with behaviour management.

I was flabbergasted, but failed miserably to put together a reasonable argument for why the students were quite right.

That conversation came back to me today as I taught a maths cover class, who were learning about the graphs of linear equations.  The class had some lively characters in it, and they were clearly struggling with the central concept: that a line on a coordinate diagram represents all the points where a particular linear equation involving x and y is true.

As they explored this concept through a series of activities, many of them experienced confusion and frustration. These are normal, healthy emotions for learners. We were able to stick with these challenging experiences partly because the pupils were operating in an environment in which misbehaviour wasn't an option. I'm not bragging here - they behaved themselves mainly because I'm a depute head and they don't know me very well.

It struck me that things would be very different in an environment in which the good behaviour of pupils was always contingent upon them enjoying themselves, experiencing success or performing well. In such an environment (which prevailed in some of the classes I taught in the early years of my career, by the way), the teacher would veer away from tasks which involved challenge and required perseverance. They would lean towards activities which were entertaining and provided quick gratification and the illusion of learning, for fear of otherwise provoking poor behaviour.

If your (and by "your" I refer to the school as a whole as much as to individual teachers) - if your behaviour management is impeccable and the expectations of behaviour and effort in your classes are sky-high, then you are liberated from that fear, and can focus on planning for learning rather than planning for behaviour. Your students are then more likely to experience the profound gratification of learning, rather than the shallow gratification of success-in-the-moment.

That's why student teachers are right to be obsessed with behaviour management.

And what if we don’t achieve our dreams?⤴

from @ Learning Stuff About Stuff

"If A then B" is logically equivalent to "If (Not B) then (Not A)". For example "if a shape has three sides, then it is a triangle" is logically equivalent to "if a shape is not a triangle, then it does not have three sides". The second statement in quotes is called the contrapositive of the first statement in quotes. Logically speaking, they are identical statements. If one is true, the other must be, and vice versa. In this case, they are both true statements.

A commonly touted inspirational message we deliver to young people can be distilled down to "if you do all the things right that are within your power, then your dreams will come true". Consider its contrapositive. 

And what if we don’t achieve our dreams?⤴

from @ Learning Stuff About Stuff

"If A then B" is logically equivalent to "If (Not B) then (Not A)". For example "if a shape has three sides, then it is a triangle" is logically equivalent to "if a shape is not a triangle, then it does not have three sides". The second statement in quotes is called the contrapositive of the first statement in quotes. Logically speaking, they are identical statements. If one is true, the other must be, and vice versa. In this case, they are both true statements.

A commonly touted inspirational message we deliver to young people can be distilled down to "if you do all the things right that are within your power, then your dreams will come true". Consider its contrapositive. 

NQT Professional Enquiries⤴

from @ Learning Stuff About Stuff

Our school's NQTs presented their professional enquiries to staff at an in-service session this afternoon, with each one at a different table in the canteen. I was humbled and thrilled by the depth of their thinking, and by the tone and level of their discussions with staff.

I picked up the following key insights from the three enquiries I heard about:

  • female pupils still often appear to defer to male pupils in group discussions. Randomised groups aren't good enough.
  • pupils prefer to work with friends, but the quality of their discussions might actually better when they are with peers they know less well. With the right support they can realise this themselves.
  • we hold enormous power as teachers, and the language we use with pupils can make a huge difference to how they feel about learning and about themselves as learners.
About the ensuing discussions at the canteen tables, I was particularly delighted that:
  • many teachers hung around in conversation with the NQTs long after the session was supposed to have finished.
  • the teachers with whom I shared discussions were genuinely curious about the NQTs' enquiries - open minded about actually learning from the NQTs.
  • the tone of the discussions was so supportive. Not the slightest hint of "yeah yeah I knew that already - I have nothing to learn here".
Now it may be that my presence affected the tone of the discussions in which I participated (I really don't think so), but even then I would be delighted: if teachers think "keeping Jonesey sweet" means being curious, humble and open-minded about pedagogy, they are right!

NQT Professional Enquiries⤴

from @ Learning Stuff About Stuff

Our school's NQTs presented their professional enquiries to staff at an in-service session this afternoon, with each one at a different table in the canteen. I was humbled and thrilled by the depth of their thinking, and by the tone and level of their discussions with staff.

I picked up the following key insights from the three enquiries I heard about:

  • female pupils still often appear to defer to male pupils in group discussions. Randomised groups aren't good enough.
  • pupils prefer to work with friends, but the quality of their discussions might actually better when they are with peers they know less well. With the right support they can realise this themselves.
  • we hold enormous power as teachers, and the language we use with pupils can make a huge difference to how they feel about learning and about themselves as learners.
About the ensuing discussions at the canteen tables, I was particularly delighted that:
  • many teachers hung around in conversation with the NQTs long after the session was supposed to have finished.
  • the teachers with whom I shared discussions were genuinely curious about the NQTs' enquiries - open minded about actually learning from the NQTs.
  • the tone of the discussions was so supportive. Not the slightest hint of "yeah yeah I knew that already - I have nothing to learn here".
Now it may be that my presence affected the tone of the discussions in which I participated (I really don't think so), but even then I would be delighted: if teachers think "keeping Jonesey sweet" means being curious, humble and open-minded about pedagogy, they are right!

Classroom Rules: Imagine it’s the last lesson of the year.⤴

from @ Learning Stuff About Stuff

This tweet

led me to this video



in which Tom Bennett says that teachers should not negotiate classroom rules with students, because they may produce rules which are not sensible.  I'm not sure if I agree, but it struck me that I should share what I do.

I start new classes by asking them to imagine it is the last lesson of the year. They are walking out of the door, and I have a wee tear in my eye, because they have been the best class I have ever had, and am really going to miss them. I ask them to tell me what they think they will have to do during the year in order to make that happen.

I am not pretending that they are in control, but having generated the list of behaviours (which has always been pretty good, even with some very challenging classes) I ask them if they think they can live up to this list. They have always said yes to me. I must say I only began doing this some years into my career. I don't think I would have had the confidence to do it as an NQT.

I then ask them what I have to do for them to say at the end of the year that I have been the best teacher ever. This does usually generate some humorous answers - CAKE! - but by and large they tell me what they actually want: patient, clear, fair etc. I tell them if I can live up to their list. Usually I can agree to most of their expectations.  If they don't say it, I will add "have high expectations of you" to the list, and explain why.

If the "imagine..." chat doesn't work for you, a more straightforward approach is simply to ask "what do you think I am going to expect from you?" Again you are not kidding on that they are in control, but you are giving them the opportunity to show that they know what is expected of them, rather than presenting them with rules without discussion. Then ask "what do you expect of me?"

I'm sure I didn't make this technique up, but I can't remember where it came from. Please let me know if you know. It works for me.

Classroom Rules: Imagine it’s the last lesson of the year.⤴

from @ Learning Stuff About Stuff

This tweet

led me to this video



in which Tom Bennett says that teachers should not negotiate classroom rules with students, because they may produce rules which are not sensible.  I'm not sure if I agree, but it struck me that I should share what I do.

I start new classes by asking them to imagine it is the last lesson of the year. They are walking out of the door, and I have a wee tear in my eye, because they have been the best class I have ever had, and am really going to miss them. I ask them to tell me what they think they will have to do during the year in order to make that happen.

I am not pretending that they are in control, but having generated the list of behaviours (which has always been pretty good, even with some very challenging classes) I ask them if they think they can live up to this list. They have always said yes to me. I must say I only began doing this some years into my career. I don't think I would have had the confidence to do it as an NQT.

I then ask them what I have to do for them to say at the end of the year that I have been the best teacher ever. This does usually generate some humorous answers - CAKE! - but by and large they tell me what they actually want: patient, clear, fair etc. I tell them if I can live up to their list. Usually I can agree to most of their expectations.  If they don't say it, I will add "have high expectations of you" to the list, and explain why.

If the "imagine..." chat doesn't work for you, a more straightforward approach is simply to ask "what do you think I am going to expect from you?" Again you are not kidding on that they are in control, but you are giving them the opportunity to show that they know what is expected of them, rather than presenting them with rules without discussion. Then ask "what do you expect of me?"

I'm sure I didn't make this technique up, but I can't remember where it came from. Please let me know if you know. It works for me.