Educational Consultancy:
Cultivating Ambitious School Cultures
In an era of high-stakes accountability and increasing workload, school leadership can often feel like a series of reactive fires. My consultancy is designed to shift that dynamic. I help leaders move from "surviving the system" to "crafting a culture"—one rooted in ambition, equity, and human energy.
By aligning your school’s systems with my four core pillars, we create an environment where both staff and students can flourish.
How I Support Your School
Leadership Development & Coaching (The Energy Focus)
I work with SLT and Middle Leaders to understand their interpersonal energy. By identifying their Motivation Buttons and behavioural modes, we reduce conflict and boost retention.
Strategic Curriculum Reviews (The Equity Focus)
We deep-dive into your curriculum intent and implementation, ensuring it is Rooted in Reading and built on the foundation of intellectual equity.
Systemic Culture Audits (The Relational Focus)
Using Functional Fluency, I perform a "health check" on your school culture, providing a blueprint for your next 12–36 months of growth.
1. Radical Simplicity: Focusing on the High-Leverage
Consultancy shouldn't add to your "to-do" list; it should help you decide what to stop doing. I apply radical simplicity to your school improvement plan, stripping away "initiative fatigue" to focus on the few things that move the needle.
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The "Coaching on the Go" Edge: We integrate 10-minute coaching habits into your daily flow, ensuring momentum doesn't require a 90-minute meeting.
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The Goal: To create a "fewer things done better" culture that reclaims time for your staff.
2. Intellectual Equity: A Curriculum for Everyone
My consultancy helps you audit and refine your curriculum to ensure intellectual equity is a reality in every classroom. We look at the powerful knowledge you are offering and ask: is this ambitious enough for every child?
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Scaffolding Up: I work with you to move away from "differentiated" tasks that lower expectations and toward high-level core tasks with high-level support.
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The Outcome: A curriculum that assumes every student has the capacity to join the great intellectual conversations of our time.
3. Relational Agency: From Monitoring to Co-Inquiry
Leadership is about energy management. Using Functional Fluency, I work with Senior and Middle Leaders to build relational agency. We move the school culture away from top-down "monitoring" and toward a collaborative "co-pilot" model.
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The Energy Shift: We identify where leaders are "over-functioning" (stress) or "under-functioning" (avoidance) and shift them into the Accounting mode—responding to reality with intention and fairness.
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The Outcome: A unified team that draws on each other’s expertise to solve complex problems together.
4. Professional Craft: Reclaiming Teacher Expertise
We treat teaching as an expert art form, not a delivery script. My consultancy focuses on deepening the professional craft of your staff, from their subject knowledge to their instructional precision.
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The Outcome: Teachers who feel like experts, leading their own growth with confidence and agency.
Publications by Steve Willshaw
Throughout my career I have written articles and reviews for a number of journals and publications. I co-wrote with Colin Harrison a chapter in Understanding Reading Development (2004). I was an Associate Coordinator for Chalkface, putting together their best selling pack, Detention Tasks to Improve Behaviour. I have also written blogs for York Notes, was Head of English for schoolsnet.com and had advised Longman on a range of publications.
As well as the above, I have also worked with young writers to publish their work, as shown below.
