How to Trust Your Teachers
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When Sam Gibbs asked, "Are we any further forward in honestly trusting the teaching profession?", she hit on something uncomfortable. In too many schools, we've slipped into what Sam calls toxic accountability. Sam, Director of Education at Greater Manchester Education Trust and co-author of The Trouble With English, argues that school leaders need to start from one simple assumption: teachers are professionals who want to do right by children. This conversation gets into why we've become unhealthily dependent on external products, how to use evidence without ignoring what teachers know works in their classrooms, and why that matters for actually changing practice.
You'll hear why buying a programme before identifying your real problem creates dependency, how Sam's trust builds internal expertise through "mindful practice", and what it means to create a culture where teachers actually think, reflect, collaborate, learn, and develop. Shane and Sam discuss how narrow definitions of excellence hinder schools, why a chat over the kettle can be more effective than another external training session, and how to work with consultants without relying on them indefinitely. If you're trying to build professional development that doesn't just disappear after the initial excitement, this conversation provides a starting point.
Resources & Links Mentioned:
Episode Partners
International Centre for Coaching in Education (Use discount code SHANE5 for 5% off)
Thank you for tuning in, and as always, if you found this episode useful, please share your experience. You can find me online on LinkedIn and Bluesky. My email address is shane@shaneleaning.com.
