Education Strategy & Policy → Dr Jake Madden

Every Message Shapes the School You Want to Become

Communication in school leadership forms the invisible architecture of your institution.

Communication in school leadership forms the invisible architecture of your institution. Every email, assembly address, corridor conversation, or staff meeting remark contributes to the culture you build. Leaders often focus on strategy and results, yet overlook how daily messages quietly define the school community.

James Humes - The art of communication is the language of...

Words carry weight. They inspire or deflate. They unite or divide. In 2026, with hybrid working and digital channels, messages multiply faster than ever.

Why Communication Matters in Leadership

Strong schools rest on trust and shared vision. Communication in school leadership builds both. It signals priorities. It reinforces values. It models behaviour for staff and students.

Research shows that clear, consistent messaging improves staff morale and student outcomes. When leaders communicate thoughtfully, teams feel valued. Innovation flourishes. Resilience grows during challenges.

The Cumulative Effect of Every Message

One positive note brightens a day. Repeated over time, it creates a supportive ethos. Conversely, hurried criticisms erode confidence gradually.

Think of culture as a mosaic. Each message adds a tile. Over months and years, the pattern emerges. Leaders rarely see the full picture in real time, but staff and students live it daily.

Small interactions matter most. A quick “well done” in passing. An empathetic response to concern. These moments accumulate and shape perceptions.

Practical Strategies for Intentional Communication

Leaders can harness this power deliberately.

Pause before sending — Ask: Does this align with our values? Will it build trust?
Balance feedback — Pair constructive notes with genuine praise. Aim for a positive ratio.
Use multiple channels wisely — Face-to-face for sensitive topics. Emails for clarity and records.
Seek feedback on your style — Anonymous surveys reveal blind spots.
Celebrate successes publicly — Assemblies and newsletters amplify positivity.

These habits turn communication in school leadership into a strategic tool.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Watch for these traps:

Inconsistency between words and actions.
Over-reliance on digital messages for emotional topics.
Assuming clarity when jargon dominates.
Neglecting listening as part of communication.

Key Takeaways

Every message, big or small, shapes culture.
Intentional communication in school leadership builds trust and vision.
Reflect regularly on your messaging habits.
Start today: One mindful interaction can begin change.

Your school becomes what your messages repeatedly reinforce. Choose them carefully.

For related insights, explore these posts on Leadership Echo and Organisational Culture or Building an Instructional Coaching Culture in Your School.

Modern School Leadership That Lasts Beyond the Buzzwords

In the face of rising expectations and constant change, school leaders need more than quick fixes. Better Tomorrow Than You Today offers grounded strategies for modern school leadership focusing on deep change, teacher empowerment, personalised learning, and sustainable improvement. Based on lived experience across schools in Australia and abroad, this book is a practical guide to leading with purpose and making real progress that lasts.

Modern school leadership can feel overwhelming. Rising expectations, shrinking time, and constant demands create pressure that wears down even experienced leaders.

That’s why I wrote Better Tomorrow Than You Today. It’s for those who want school improvement to stick, not just survive another cycle of initiatives.

This book shares real stories from schools in Australia and internationally. Each chapter is a reflection grounded in practice. It is aimed at helping you take action, not just read theory.

Driving real change

Too often, we chase surface-level fixes. A new strategy here, a framework there, yet the core structures of the school remain untouched.

The book argues for second-order change. This means reshaping how your school thinks, learns, and leads. It focuses on building conditions where improvement is part of daily life.

Empowering teachers

Improvement starts with teachers. The book explores how modern school leadership can create job-embedded learning, inquiry-based practice, and shared growth.

Rather than delivering PD, it’s about building a culture where teachers study their impact, test their ideas, and grow together.

Implementing personalised learning

The factory model of education no longer fits. Today’s students need teaching that responds to their needs, interests, and pace.

Through practical examples, I show how schools can redesign timetables, assessments, and team structures to support personalised learning in real ways.

Building a strong foundation

Lasting school improvement isn’t luck, it’s built on five clear pillars:

High quality teaching and learning
Supporting and motivating staff
Servant leadership and community
Aligned systems and structures
A focus on learning and wellbeing

Each pillar includes prompts to assess what’s working, what’s fragile, and what to address next.

The leader’s mindset

A key theme across the book is that leaders must grow, too. Modern school leadership demands study, reflection, and a clear sense of purpose.

By staying grounded, open, and learning-focused, leaders influence others and help shape schools that get better every day.

If you want a practical resource grounded in lived experience, Better Tomorrow Than You Today is for you.

👉 Get the book here:
https://www.amazon.com/Better-Tomorrow-Than-You-Today/dp/B09DN3BV4F

Final thought

What’s one area of school improvement you most want to strengthen this year?

Reading the World in School Leadership

Discover how reading the world, not just the word, can transform school leadership through context, empathy, and purpose.

“We must learn to not only read the word but to read the world.” – Paulo Freire

As school leaders, we know how to read the word. We sift through performance reports, analyse assessment data, pore over strategic plans, and decode policy documents. We interpret agendas, track actions, and read between the lines of emails and meeting notes.

But how often do we stop and ask: Are we reading the world?

Brazilian educator Paulo Freire reminds us that true literacy goes beyond text. It means learning to interpret the realities that shape our schools, the lives our students lead, the beliefs our staff carry, the culture that lives between lessons and lunchrooms. Reading the world means seeing clearly what is happening around us and leading with that awareness.

Context is the Compass

Every school lives in a wider social, political, and cultural world. When leaders ignore that context, we risk making plans that look good on paper but fall flat in practice. Reading the world pushes us to ask better questions:

What’s shaping our students’ realities outside the classroom?
Are our policies supporting or sidelining those who need the most?
Who benefits from our systems and who is left out?

Context sharpens leadership. It stops us from importing generic solutions and prompts us to design with care, grounded in the real lives of those we serve.

Beyond Technical Work to Moral Leadership

Leadership often demands technical tasks, including staffing, budgeting, and reporting. But reading the world calls us to go deeper. Freire’s challenge is to lead with purpose, not just process. When we really read what’s around us, we begin to notice:

Who isn’t speaking in meetings
Which students are falling through the cracks
What assumptions shape our day-to-day decisions

This awareness isn’t abstract. It demands action. It asks us to shift from managing behaviour to nurturing belonging. From tracking data to changing the systems that produce the same gaps again and again.

Strategic Empathy and Listening

Reading the world also changes how we listen. It requires empathy not as a soft skill, but as a strategic one. Listening becomes more than hearing responses. It means tuning into silence, curiosity, and emotion. It means:

Pausing to ask, “What’s really going on here?”
Holding space for discomfort and disagreement
Leading with the courage to be changed by what we learn

When people feel seen, they trust more deeply. And in schools, trust is the soil where change takes root.

Why It Matters Now

Our job is not just to help students read novels or solve equations. It is to help them make sense of the world they live in and feel capable of changing it. That starts with us. If we can’t read the world, we can’t lead in it. And if we don’t lead with purpose, someone else will shape that world for us.

So as we look ahead, let’s hold Freire’s words close. Let’s lead with clarity, compassion, and the courage to act. Let’s read the world and respond with purpose.

Reading the world means asking not just “What’s working?” but “Who is it working for?”

From Technical Management to Moral Purpose

Much of the work of school leadership is technical, focusing on budgets, assessments, and staffing. But Freire urges us to lead with moral clarity. When we read the world, we begin to see inequities. We notice patterns of exclusion. We recognise which voices are missing. And that awareness demands action.

We move from maintaining systems to transforming them. From managing behaviour to fostering belonging. From reporting on progress to addressing the conditions that limit it.

A Leader’s Literacy: Dialogue, Empathy, Awareness

Reading the world also requires a different kind of listening. It means tuning into what’s not being said in staff meetings. It means being curious, not certain. It means creating space for dialogue, not just discussion. This is not soft leadership, but rather it’s strategic empathy. Because when people feel seen and understood, they commit more fully.

Leading Schools that Make a Difference

Our role is not just to help young people read texts, solve equations, or pass exams. Our role is to help them read the world and feel empowered to change it. That starts with us. If we cannot read the world we lead in, we cannot shape it. And if we don’t shape it, someone else will.

So as we plan for the next part of our school year, let’s stay focused on what matters most. Not just reading the word. But reading the world. With clarity, compassion, and the courage to act.

Trust, Influence, and the Power of Shared Leadership in Schools

Aoba’s evolution into a connected learning community emphasizes distributed leadership built on trust and meaningful relationships. Leadership now focuses on enabling others and fostering collaboration rather than control. The aim is to create environments where ownership and professional growth thrive, guided by shared values and a commitment to student learning and wellbeing.

As Aoba continues to grow from a group of schools into a connected learning community, I’ve been thinking deeply about what leadership looks like in this evolving phase. It’s not just a matter of updating structures or roles. At its core, this shift is about building trust, strengthening relationships, and expanding influence in meaningful ways. The move toward a more layered and distributed model is not about control. It’s about enabling others to lead with clarity, purpose, and confidence.

In this post, I want to share how my own leadership thinking is evolving. Because real change doesn’t come from frameworks alone. It comes from people. Their voice, their agency, and the quality of the trust we build together.

From Control to Culture

Leadership used to mean setting direction and managing tasks. But the complexity of modern schools asks something different of us. It asks for leadership that creates conditions where others thrive. It’s less about holding the answers and more about helping the right questions surface.

At Aoba, we’re shaping leadership as a shared practice. Teachers and middle leaders are not just executing plans; they are shaping them. We are building a culture where decisions are informed by those closest to the learning. This is not delegation for convenience. It is intentional distribution, grounded in expertise and aligned with purpose.

This only works when trust is present. Without trust, what should feel like empowerment can feel like abandonment. Collaboration becomes compliance. Innovation struggles to take root.

Building Trust as a Daily Practice

Trust is not something declared. It is something built, gradually and deliberately. It is shaped by how we listen, how we follow through, and how we respond under pressure. In this more system-wide role, I’ve come to see that influence does not come from position alone. It comes from relationships. From credibility earned through consistency, empathy, and integrity.

That’s why much of my leadership now is about listening and supporting, not directing. It’s slower, yes, but it is more sustainable. The more we invest in these daily interactions, the more we strengthen the fabric of our school group.

Distributed Leadership Rooted in Learning

We’ve all experienced the version of distributed leadership that lives in theory only. Titles without influence. Meetings without change. What we’re working toward is more authentic. We want leadership that is deeply connected to learning and professional growth.

Our coordinators are shaping curriculum, not just managing it. Our team leaders are anchoring learning communities, not just ticking boxes. This isn’t about easing the load for school heads. It’s about expanding leadership around the things that matter most for our students and staff.

Trust Shifts the Conversation

When trust is present, everything changes. Learning communities become spaces of professional dialogue. Feedback becomes a shared tool for improvement. Teams step forward with ownership, not because they are told to, but because they are trusted to.

None of this happens by accident. We are being deliberate about how leadership is shaped, how we communicate across campuses, and how we reinforce clarity in our shared goals. Distributed leadership still needs coherence. It benefits from having a shared centre of gravity and a clear set of values.

Context Matters, Values Guide

Each Aoba campus has its own culture and context. Our leadership must adapt to these realities. But while approaches may vary, our values remain constant. We lead with learning at the centre. We prioritise trust in every relationship. We see leadership as a collective responsibility.

Good leadership balances clarity with flexibility. It protects alignment while allowing for local agency. And it ensures that every decision, no matter where it’s made, supports student learning and wellbeing.

A Shared Responsibility for the Road Ahead

As you follow my journey at Aoba, I invite each of you to reflect:

Where are you building influence in your role?
How are you creating trust in your daily interactions?
Are your leadership actions moving learning forward?
What more can we do together to grow a culture of authentic, shared leadership?

Our future depends not just on good design, but on strong relationships. I encourage you to continue to lead in ways that bring out the best in your teams and keep your focus where it belongs: on the growth of every learner in your care.

Because when leadership is rooted in trust and guided by shared values, we do more than run schools. We grow a thriving learning community.

What is a School Improvement Plan? A Guide for School Leaders

Learn what a school improvement plan is, why it matters, and how to create an effective strategy for continuous school success.

Many schools at the halfway mark of the academic year find themselves at a crossroads, reviewing their School Improvement Plan to assess progress and identify areas that need attention. As a school leader, you may be reflecting on the progress made so far—celebrating the wins while also identifying areas that still need improvement. The question arises: How can we ensure our school continues to grow, support our teachers effectively, and improve student outcomes?

A School Improvement Plan (SIP) provides the roadmap to answer this question. It is more than just a document; it is a strategic vision that guides decision-making, fosters accountability, and ensures that every stakeholder—from students to staff—contributes to meaningful progress.

Why is a School Improvement Plan Important?

Reflecting on my own leadership journey, I know how easy it is to get caught up in the daily demands of running a school. Without a clear improvement plan, we risk making reactive decisions instead of intentional, data-driven ones. An effective SIP helps schools:

Set clear, measurable objectives for academic and organisational growth.
Foster teacher engagement and professional development.
Use data-driven insights to track progress and adjust strategies.
Improve student performance and well-being.
Ensure accountability and continuous improvement.

Key Components of a Successful School Improvement Plan

From experience, a successful SIP isn’t about ticking boxes; it’s about real, actionable strategies that lead to transformation. Key components include:

1. Clear Vision & Goals

Every successful plan starts with a shared vision. As leaders, we must define the school’s mission and establish SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) that align with our broader educational priorities.

2. Data-Driven Decision Making

Numbers tell a story. Using assessment results, student performance metrics, and teacher feedback provides the evidence we need to set benchmarks and drive meaningful improvements.

3. Actionable Strategies

It’s not enough to set goals—we need a clear path to achieve them. This includes structured plans for curriculum enhancements, teacher training, and student engagement programs.

4. Stakeholder Involvement

Real change happens when everyone is invested. Engaging teachers, students, parents, and the wider community ensures buy-in and long-term success.

5. Monitoring & Evaluation

A great plan isn’t static. It requires regular check-ins, key performance indicators (KPIs), and mechanisms for feedback so we can adjust and improve.

Steps to Creating an Effective School Improvement Plan

Assess Current Performance: Conduct an in-depth school audit.
Identify Key Focus Areas: Pinpoint areas needing urgent improvement.
Set Strategic Goals: Align with school objectives and national education standards.
Develop Action Plans: Assign tasks, responsibilities, and timelines.
Implement & Monitor Progress: Use data and feedback loops to ensure success.
Adjust & Improve: Revise strategies based on evaluation results.

Final Thoughts

I’ve seen first-hand how a well-crafted School Improvement Plan can transform a school. It shifts the culture from reactive problem-solving to proactive growth. By setting clear goals, leveraging data, and involving key stakeholders, we can create schools where both students and educators thrive.

As you review your school’s progress this year, consider how an improvement plan can be your guide to lasting change. The question is not just “What do we need to improve?” but “How will we get there?”