This is a bonus episoded. Join us every month for Education Leaders Live, where we explore key insights from our recent podcast episodes, including the importance of adaptability in leadership, the role of research in education, and how to foster a community of learning.

Key takeaways:

* Discover what leaders can learn from cuttlefish and the challenges of adapting to different environments.

* Understand the significance of research in education and how to apply it effectively in your classroom.

* Learn about the journey of Patrice Bain and her impact on educational practices.

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.

Patrice Bain's classroom was the first in the United States where cognitive scientists studied how children actually learn, not in a university laboratory, but with real students in a real school. That extraordinary starting point left her feeling completely alone professionally, with no colleagues to talk to and no community to turn to. This episode is for every teacher or leader who has ever felt that there are two education worlds: the one inside their school, and the wider world of research and ideas that seems just out of reach.

You'll learn why reaching out to researchers, authors, and bloggers is far less daunting than it feels, and why the science of learning community is one of the most genuinely welcoming in education. Patrice shares a powerful question every school leader can ask that can transform professional culture overnight. If you lead a school and want your teachers to stop feeling like islands, this conversation will give you the practical nudge you need to press play.

Resources & Links Mentioned:

Patrice Bain's website

Patrice Bain on LinkedIn

Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning

Blake Harvard — The Effortful Educator

Andrew Watson — Translate the Brain

Pooja Agarwal — RetrievalPractice.org

Episode Partners

International Curriculum Association

Sisi

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.

You float a reasonable idea in a meeting and within seconds, you're defending a plan you never made. This episode is about the straw man argument: what it is, where it shows up in schools, and why it quietly kills good decisions. Shane breaks down the four distinct forms it takes, from the classic distortion of what you actually said, to the hollow man (an opponent who doesn't even exist), the weak man (attacking the flimsiest version of a concern as though it speaks for everyone), and the iron man (puffing up your own idea so nobody dares question it). These aren't abstract philosophy; they show up in staff meetings, governor conversations, parent emails, and appraisal discussions wherever there's a bit of heat and a disagreement to avoid.

You'll learn to spot a straw man while it's still happening using five practical tells, including the physical jolt of "that's not what I said," the telltale phrases like "so you're saying" or "so you don't care about," and the moment extreme words like "scrap," "never," or "abandon" start appearing in place of the measured thing you actually proposed. Shane then walks through a three-step response: don't take the bait, calmly reclaim your real position, and redirect to the genuine question. If you've ever left a meeting frustrated because a sensible idea turned into a monster you never built, this episode gives you the tools to stop that from happening again.

Episode Partners

International Curriculum Association

Sisi

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.