Education Leaders | Strategic School Leadership

Education Leaders LIVE | March Reflections

Mar 27, 2026

Dr Chris Baker, education researcher and consultant focused on evidence-based leadership and teaching practices. He unpacks poor proxies for leadership and whether visibility equals effectiveness. They debate why most CPD fails to stick and who should be accountable. Brief, witty stories and practical reflections on translating classroom pedagogy into real leadership practice.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

How Education Leaders Began As A Hobby

Shane started the podcast as a hobby called Travel Ed and used redundancy as paid time to explore turning it into a business.
Early growth was scattergun: occasional training offers led to narrowing into the Education Leaders brand over about a year.

ANECDOTE

Rob Coe Turned A Nerve Wracking Session Into A Lesson

Chris told a story of Rob Coe attending his conference session which made him unexpectedly anxious because Rob is an authority on evaluation.
Rob stayed supportive in the room, and Chris bought him beers afterwards to thank him.

INSIGHT

Visibility Is A Poor Proxy For Leadership

Visibility and looking busy are poor proxies for effective leadership; context determines whether presence or paperwork matters more.
Chris and Shane contrasted visible corridor leadership with heads who needed admin time to fix systemic issues.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Shane and Chris are back for this month's Education Leaders Live, recording from Shanghai and Newcastle respectively, to unpack some of the biggest themes from recent episodes.

The conversation kicks off with the backstory behind Education Leaders itself. How it started as a hobby podcast called Travel Ed, what redundancy taught Shane about building a business, and why the "build it and they shall come" approach is terrible advice for anyone thinking about going independent.

From there, they get into Dr Chris Baker's brilliant work on poor proxies for leadership. What does it actually look like to lead well? Is visibility the same as effectiveness? And why did a child once assume Chris Baker was the new headmaster based entirely on his trench coat?

They also dig into the CPD problem. Shane shares results from a LinkedIn survey where only 1 out of roughly 100 school leaders said external workshops had genuine impact. That leads to a proper debate about where responsibility sits when training doesn't stick, and what providers should be doing differently.

Plus: the guilt of not looking busy, why teachers have the rolliest eyes of any profession, Chris's story about Rob Coe walking into his conference session, and what's coming up next on the podcast.

Episodes referenced in this conversation:

The Work Behind Education Leaders: shaneleaning.com/podcast/151
Poor Proxies for Leadership with Dr Chris Baker: shaneleaning.com/podcast/152
Parent-Driven School Storytelling with Selena Boyd: shaneleaning.com/podcast/148
What Actually Works in Teacher Development: shaneleaning.com/podcast/153

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.