SPEAKING
As a speaker, Simon works to make complicated research-based ideas actionable and easy to understand.
He has delivered presentations to over 100,000 people across the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, England, Qatar, Finland, India, Hong Kong, Spain, the Czech Republic and Israel.
His clients have included the NSW and Victorian Departments of Education, the International Baccalaureate, Apple, Microsoft, The English Schools’ Foundation of Hong Kong, The Alberta Teachers’ Association, Ontario Principal Council, Corwin Press, Learning Forward, EduTech, Future Schools and many more.
Simon aims to provoke fresh thinking and be a catalyst for meaningful progress. He weaves together research, story and experiences from the field to enable leaders to understand the why, what and how of realising positive change in their unique contexts. He has been sharing his insights for over a decade, and understands how to craft the right message for an audience of thousands, or a more intimate dialogue for a retreat. Below we have outlined some of his key speaking themes connected to his areas of expertise. Please see these as more of a starting point for a conversation about how we can tailor a message that is specific to your context and the aims of your learning event.
We look forward to partnering alongside you to create a truly catalytic learning experience.
Speaking themes
You would like to: Turn the disruption of past years into an opportunity to redesign the way forward.
Collectively shaping the educational future.
COVID-19 has caused us to rethink learning, teaching and leadership. We’ve had a collective opportunity to re-examine many things that were on auto-pilot in our schools. Yet, in our exhaustion, there is a natural tendency to revert to our defaults and re-install what we used to call ‘normal.’ We must make the most of this rare opportunity to intentionally seek renewal for our teams and organisational cultures. Collectively, we need to carve out space and time to make sense of what we have been through, synthesise the lessons learned, and move forward together.
You would like to: Get out of the daily grind and learn processes and frameworks which can propel you to make real progress on your school improvement plan.
New ways of working to enable continuous school improvement.
Changing times call for educators who can solve problems and create progress despite the complexity, ambiguity and uncertainty that they face. Yet, traditional approaches to leading school improvement are too rigid and linear to support leaders to engage in this human and complex work of change. Agile Leadership provides a dynamic approach for leading continuous school improvement that enables leaders at all levels to sharpen their focus, build momentum and lead a collective and sustainable learning journey.
You would like to: Give your attendees the tools to create and support a high-achieving leadership team.
How forward-thinking groups can create collective impact together.
Sustained and meaningful educational improvement is a team endeavor. A school, or indeed an education system, can be best understood as a team of teams. Lifting the engagement and sustainable performance of our teams requires a longer-term approach that intentionally enhances team health and sustainably improves team dynamics.
You would like to: Learn the reasons behind push-back and what you can do to get your team working well together on shared goals.
The psychology of helping adults change what they do
How can we activate other people for change? Do you find that improvement efforts often get stalled by cynics and skeptics? Do you find it hard to ‘move the middle’ and get more people on the path to professional practice change? In this practical masterclass we will explore what psychological research suggests is the best way to respond to the resistance that emerges during an improvement journey. Anchored in implementation and behavioural science research, Rethinking Resistance provides a clear framework to enable leaders to support deep and sustained changes in the professional practices that matter most to their improvement work. You will learn what to do when you are seeking to lead improvement when change is hard and motivation is low.
You would like to: Accelerate the shift towards evidence-informed teaching in every classroom.
How overloaded educators can keep getting better.
All educators are looking for better ways of developing evidence-informed teaching strategies that can support effective student learning. Yet, the busyness and overload of school life can often stand in the way of deliberately enhancing expertise. The Teaching Sprints approach is used by hundreds of schools and thousands of educators to make the most of their collaborative professional learning time. It is a simple and effective way of engaging with research-based strategies and creating incremental and sustainable changes to classroom practice.
Enquire about a speaking engagement
Simon has an experienced events team who would look forward to discussing your event and working with you to create a unique experience for your audience. Please get in touch to discuss live or digital presentations such as:
- Traditional keynote sessions with Q&A (Simon specialises in opening Keynote sessions)
- Interactive workshop sessions
- Panel sessions or facilitation
We’d love to find out more about your event, so fill in the form below or contact:
Kate McCully
Events Coordinator
kate@simonbreakspear.com
