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School Leader Quiz (1920 x 1080 px) (Instagram Video) (1)

How to Unlock What You Have to Offer when You Already Have Staff Buy In

As an ambitious school leader seeking to ascend to senior roles in the educational sector in Ireland, you likely find yourself in a unique position. You've already garnered the support and trust of your staff—a testament to your leadership skills and history. However, as you contemplate taking the next step in your career, you may wonder how to showcase your capabilities in your job application and interview - when the staff's buy-in is already secured.

Recognising Your Value

As a steady and n…

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Navigating Career Change as a Burned Out Teacher Tips and Strategies

Navigating Career Change as a Burned Out Teacher: Tips and Strategies

Discover tips and strategies for navigating career change as a burned-out teacher. Learn how to reflect on your values and interests, research your options, seek support, and build your skills and network. Attend our Masterclass and co-working sessions to take action towards finding a new career path that brings you happiness and fulfillment.

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Your leadership network might sound like...

  • Hey all, I have a question about an issue that I'm having with a student in school. Does anyone have expertise working with pupils with Downs Syndrome?

  • Hi Sarah - would you have 20 mins after 4 pm? - I have a question I'd like to ask you about resources for developing receptive language skills.

  • I've just finished a Masters in SEN - let me know if I can be of any assistance to you.

  • Hi Mary - I'll be applying for principal roles in the future and I'm looking for a mentor - would you be able to guide…

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AP2 roles - are they worth it?

After reading lots of teachers talk about teacher burnout - I’m sharing my thoughts on applying for AP2 roles.

When making changes to your life - always weigh up the pros and cons. Know what you have to give and plan in advance what you are WILLING TO GIVE.

My energy is a positive and loving one here - I’ve made decisions in the past and regretted them in the end - but coaching has greatly helped me to understand my decision-making processes and treat myself and others with greater compassion. It’…

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These simple strategies will transform your leadership job application

  • Use positive words like impressive, special, support,

  • Give the results. Use the STAR technique in your job application. State what you did, break it down into the actions you did and give the result of your actions.

  • Expect that they will want to hear your best stories. (*No, they aren't judging you- you're supposed to be telling your best career stories).

  • Add your LinkedIn profile link if you're active on the platform.

  • Make your job application easy to read using headings and subheadings.

  • Remembe…

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Applying to ETB Schools


When applying for ETB teaching vacancies, there are many things to consider. Your application must be typed and you must provide two copies of the application; one of these to be the original. Job advertisements are published on ETB county websites, in professional, academic journals, in newspapers and on social media. Here are a few things for you to consider when applying for ETB positions.

Final year initial teacher training applicants

If you are in your final year of training, you are still el…

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Creating a Guiding Vision for Your School - The Core Values Approach

Creating a Guiding Vision for Your School - The Core Values Approach

I regularly ask questions my 1-1 interview leadership coaching clients about the guiding vision of their school. Their replies are always really interesting.

From a coaching perspective, developing an awareness of your core values is really important.

My top 3 core values are commitment, growth and variety. When I make decisions about events, situations, investments etc. - each decision will revolve around my need for variety, commitment and growth. If I don’t experience these things then I feel s…

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Further questions from recent leadership interviews

Interview questions for Principal Jobs in Ireland

Are you searching for potential questions for leadership positions? If you’re reading this - I’m betting that you are!

Working 1-1 with 100s of teachers each year - puts me in a great position to hear what the latest questions are that are being asked. I hope you find them useful!

  • Intro: What have been three achievements in your teaching career to date?

  • What was a teaching and learning initiative that you introduced?

  • How do you self-evaluate?

  • What makes you ready to take on …

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How can I be more confident in interviews

How can I be more confident in interviews?

You are a great teacher and you are confident in your abilities, but what do you do with the dreaded interview fear? Are there ways to get past this and shine in your teaching job interview? Of course there are and I am here to help you.

Develop self-compassion and improving your self-talk

So many of my clients come out of an interview and do a postmortem of it! They berate themselves for the bits they slipped up in or couldn’t answer well and focus mostly on that. Try refrain from doing that by d…

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Looking at Our School The Leadership and Management Domains - Skills Development

Looking at Our School 2016: The Leadership and Management Domains - Skills Development

The ‘Looking at Our School 2016: A Quality Framework for Primary Schools’ outlines 4 domains as guides for teachers to step into management roles. 

These 4 Domains are:

1.    Leading Teaching and Learning

2.    Managing the Organisation

3.    Leading School Development and

4.    Developing Leadership Capacity

While I have already written blog posts for each individual blog post (linked below) today’s blog focuses on the skills development necessary for stepping up to the next level in your career.

I ha…

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