Your Top Picks: Most Listened Episodes

Wow, it has been quite a year, and in this episode, we are going to look at the top five episodes in that they were most listened to by you. Hey, everyone, I'm Shane Leaning. Welcome to Education Leaders, the chart-topping leadership podcast for school leaders just like you. As an organizational coach, I've helped thousands of leaders worldwide lead with greater confidence, make better decisions, and create winning teams.

And on this show, we explore the strategies that are going to help you achieve your goals and transform your leadership practice. This episode is supported by the International Curriculum Association and the International Center for Coaching in Education. Stay tuned to learn more. All right, so it's the end of the year.

We're nearly, nearly there, 2026. And it's a nice time to reflect on where we've been. If you have been following this podcast for the whole year, maybe two years, maybe three years, it has been so wonderful to share this space with you. Thank you so much.

Hopefully, you've really enjoyed to see this journey grow. We are now up to about 150 episodes, would you believe, with some of the best thinkers around the world and some solo episodes, which I hope have been really helping with your leadership practice. And maybe you're brand new here, in which case, welcome. I'm so glad to bring new people into the podcast.

You know, we doubled in size just in the last six months. The rate of growth is incredible on this show. So if you're new, just joining us, welcome. This episode is going to be very useful to you because you're going to learn about the five most listened to episodes.

So without further ado, it's a short episode. Let's get into it, the top five. So coming in at number five is the brilliant episode with Ola Dempsey. I will link to this, by the way, and all of the episodes in the show notes.

So you can click to go directly there. Ola Dempsey is a brilliant expert who helps teach us secure leadership positions. So we had a bit of a conversation on how to master your interview game. I really recommend going into this because Ola really helped me lean into my vulnerability because all actually coached me live during the conversation and really helped me to prepare for interview questions myself.

I think if you are going for an interview, you will love this. It is no wonder this is one of the top five, a lot of leaders moving through leadership positions, looking to master their interview game. This is the episode for you. It's half an hour, really, really good quality content, specifically using a technique called the star technique for structuring your interview answers.

And let me tell you, this technique has really, really helped me with my interview game. I know it will help you not only just in the technique for preparation, but also in how to handle setbacks and maybe showing your authentic humanity in interviews. You're going to love it. Go check it out.

It's called master your leadership interview game. And that was towards the beginning of this year. You'll find it in the link in the show notes. So five master your leadership game with Ola Dempsey.

Number four, brilliant episode called how to learn from everyone. And this was by the brilliant Ben Whittaker. And he was actually chatting about his new book called the ideas guy. Basically he thinks we're all capable of being idea generators.

And what I loved about this episode is Ben has got the pick and mix mentality, pick and mix ideas from lots of different people, even ones with ethics that we might struggle with in his book. He has famously talked about Elon Musk, for example, someone who many people have strong opinions on, but I really did like about how you have to craft a role model from multiple people. Not one, because there are no perfect role models out there. So can we create our own role model by bringing lots of others together?

In this episode, we explored lots of stuff like second Robinson's paths. We talked about Bernie Brown and vulnerability. He challenged the notion of trying to cram more stuff into education. He created quite a compelling case for space, I thought.

So if you're looking for some fresh ideas in your leadership, go check it out. How to learn from everyone by Ben Whittaker. It's a good one. All right.

Top three. Now, this third one made me smile. This was Chris Jules and the episode was called why teachers resist your great ideas. Do you know, I approached Chris to see if he wanted to come on the podcast.

He's written a good few books. He's a real expert, especially within English and primary schools. Like absolute brilliant thoughtly that he's based out in Taipei, actually not too far from here. So when I reached out to him, I was expecting us to kind of have a conversation around literacy.

We didn't, we actually talked about why brilliant ideas don't always translate into actual reality. And Chris shared quite openly and brilliantly about, even though he's a published author, sharing his ideas with educators around the world. Some of the ideas that he writes about, he struggles to get through in even his own school, because there is a gap between writing about best practice and actually making it happen. He had such great candor in this.

And he admitted that even despite literally writing the book on teaching, writing in primary school, he still struggles with implementation challenges. So we actually looked in this episode at implementation. We looked at the psychology of professional development. We looked at how past CPD trauma affects how teachers receive new ideas.

And we talked around what Chris called death by a thousand blows for sustainable change. I think it is going to really resonate with you this episode. If you've ever wondered why that amazing training session didn't quite stick. And Chris has some great practical insights too, on reframing change around student outcomes, around consistency over perfection and how small little frequent adjustments can create long lasting change.

You're going to love this. Go check it out. Why teachers resist your great ideas. And that is with Chris, yours.

This episode is supported by the International Center for Coaching in Education. And I am actually on their current cohort. I don't recommend anything I don't believe in. And I am genuinely excited to be strengthening my coaching practice this year.

The ILM level seven certificate in executive coaching is built specifically for senior leaders in international schools. It's fully online, really practical. And honestly, learning alongside other school leaders who get the context we work in as being brilliant. If coaching is something you want to develop properly, not just dabble in head to the icce.org or click the link in the show notes and

listeners to this podcast get an exclusive 5% discount using the code Shane five. That's Shane five. This episode is supported by the International Curriculum Association. The ICA have been around for 30 years now championing quality, unlocking potential and improving learning in international schools.

And what I really love is that right at their core is the model for improving learning. This is a model focused on the learning experience and they have got tons of great curriculum materials, PD resources, and even an accreditation pathway for schools just like yours. If you're interested, head to internationalcurriculum.com top two now.

And these were top two way out ahead of any of the other episodes. There was a big gap here. These two leap to head. The first one was with Dr.

Keira O'Donnell and it's called When Teachers Teach Teachers. Do you know what? This episode keeps getting played. People go back through the archive to find this.

And it is no surprise because Keira is a brilliant advocate for teacher educators, those who teach teachers. And in this episode, we talked about the unique challenges of being a teacher educator and specifically about the dynamic of career transitions within the sector. Keira specifically has done a lot of brilliant research around the identity transformation that happens during secondment and the impact of different educational policies on teacher attention. She also talks very eloquently about the skills required to effectively educate teachers.

And my goodness, I just found this an incredibly useful conversation for me personally, and I know many teacher educators have tuned in and loved the learning. We got a lot of engagement online with this. A lot of people loved this and it is no, no surprise. Keira is based in Ireland, highly respected over there.

And now to bring a voice around the world. What a privilege, brilliant episode. Go check that out. When Teachers Teach Teachers by Dr.

Keira O'Donnell. That was out back in February. And all right, here we go. Drum roll.

Number one, let's just go back through. So number five, we've got Master of Leadership interview game with Alla Dempsey. Number four, How to Learn from Everyone by Ben Whittaker. Number three, we've got Why Teachers Resist Your Great Ideas by Chris Eules.

And number two, we've got When Teachers Teach Teachers with Keira O'Donnell. I feel like a radio DJ. This is a dream. Number one, this year, 2025 is Leading with Conviction by Catherine Burble Singh.

No wonder thousands of you have tuned into this one. Thousands of you have sent in your comments and it was a brilliant episode. Catherine, if you don't know, founder of one of Britain's most talked about schools, she talked about how the leadership principles she has that transform her vision into reality. We, in this episode, talked about Catherine's unflinching approach to leadership.

She has an absolute clarity of vision, a radical simplicity, and is deeply passionate about authentic conversation. And these have really helped her school to achieve some of the highest progress scores in England for many consecutive years. In this episode, Catherine shared why autonomy is not just about freedom from interference, but about actually creating genuine ownership through your organisation, and also how saying no to good ideas can be the key to getting really amazing results. There's so much in this.

I've gone back and listened to several times. You may have heard of her name. You may have a strong opinion. Some people have gotten in touch with me saying they refuse to listen to this episode because they struggle with Catherine's thoughts.

In this episode, we don't go near politics. We didn't go near ideas on behaviour management and things like that, but we did talk about leadership. That's why the episode's called Leading with Conviction. It is no surprise that this is number one.

Whether you agree with her methods or not her insights on building culture, on having difficult conversations and leading with unwavering standards will offer valuable lessons for any school leader, for any leader, in fact, looking to create meaningful change. I guarantee you this chat will challenge your assumptions about what it means to lead with true conviction. That's Leading with Conviction with Catherine Burble Singh. All of the links to those top five are in the show notes.

Go check them out. Go have a listen and please do get in touch. You can contact me on LinkedIn. You can send me an email.

You can find me on a lot of different social media platforms. I love to connect about what you're listening to and what you're thinking about. Don't forget as well. We also have Education Leaders Live.

You can find those bonus episodes in the feed where me and Chris Skora every month reflect on the episodes that have come that month and bring your voice into it. You get involved with, bring your comments, bring your reflections. So get involved with that. As we go into the new year, one final plea from me, I would just love it.

I've been looking at the podcast statistics recently, and I noticed that about a third of you listen in, but you don't subscribe. So two thirds of you are subscribing, but about a third of you are listening in. Maybe you just listen every so often, but you don't subscribe. It would mean the world.

If you could just go right now into your podcast player, hit follow, hit subscribe, Spotify, Apple podcasts, wherever you listen. This will really, really help us grow this podcast into 2026. And I so value every one of you who joins in to these conversations. Education Leaders has become one of the number one educational podcasts in the world.

And this is thanks to the incredible engagement by the community. Every time we grow the show, it allows us to get bigger and greater guests. So it really does mean a lot. Please go hit subscribe and follow wherever you are in the podcast.

And all that leads for me to say now is I hope you have a wonderful festive season. I'm wishing you a very, very happy and prosperous new year going into 2026. We've got some amazing episodes, so I hope you'll come back and join us. Take care and I'll see you soon.

Education Leaders is hosted by me, Shane Leaming, thanks to the show editor, Pete McGill, production assistant Skylar Rose-Sturman and for the original music by Guillaume Silva. And thank you so, so much for tuning in today. If we don't speak before, I'll see you here in a new year. If you're interested in the work of the International Centre for Coaching in Education or the International Quiklam Association, check out the links in the show notes.