Good morning!

This week on Thinking Deeply About Primary Education, I’m joined by Scott Wells from Windsor Academy Trust to explore one of the most important and persistently difficult questions in education: how do we design professional development that actually changes classroom practice?

Too often, professional development stops at awareness. Teachers leave knowing more, but not necessarily doing anything differently on a wet Thursday afternoon in November. In this conversation, Scott sets out a far more rigorous and thoughtful model, one that treats professional learning as something to be carefully sequenced, rehearsed, coached and evaluated over time.

We discuss trust-wide professional development, the power of identifying bright spots within schools, the importance of codifying excellence, and the role of routines, coaching and group rehearsal in building habits that last. Along the way, Scott offers a compelling account of how Windsor Academy Trust is trying to align evidence, implementation and day-to-day classroom reality in a way that is both ambitious and practical.

This is an episode for anyone interested in teaching and learning, instructional coaching, school improvement, and the challenge of making professional development meaningful at scale.

Hope you enjoy!

Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading - TLaC Team

A School’s Guide to Implementation - EEF

Parsing the practice of teaching - Mary Kennedy

Thomas Guskey Dot Com - Thomas Guskey and Associates

Steplab

Under the Hood of Adaptive Expertise - Sarah Cottinghatt

Leadership Handbook - Nick Hart

Educontrarian - Matt Evans

What is Genchi Genbutsu - Toyota

Huge thanks to everyone who shared last week’s episode. It genuinely helps the podcast reach more thoughtful primary teachers and leaders. If you know someone who enjoys properly reflecting on teaching, learning, or leadership, please do pass the link on.

That’s it from me this week. I’d really love to hear what landed for you, or what you’d push back on. Leave a comment wherever you listen, or just hit reply and tell me what you’re thinking.

Until next time, thanks for listening.