Dr Karen Edge PhD has worked as an educator, researcher and advisor globally for over twenty-five years. Karen’s work demonstrates an unwavering commitment to promoting equality and justice and drawing on local and global evidence to drive change.

Karen is currently Dean of the Faculty of Education at Yorkville University, Canada, having previously served at UCL Institute of Education until 2025 and as UCL’s Pro-Vice Provost (International) from 2016-19. Karen previously worked at the University California Santa Barbara, University of Toronto and Western University and held visiting academic posts in Canada, Chile, China and Malaysia. In 2022, Karen became a Salzburg Global Fellow.

Karen has led collaborative research projects in over thirty countries exploring leadership, teacher motivation, retention, generational theory and system-level design and change. A sought-after keynote speaker, Karen is widely recognised for her ability to fuse theory, practice and humour with memorable take-home messages and evidence-driven tools.

Karen delivered the session live on 8th September 2025. She focused on asking participants to reflect on their summer break activities, moments and feelings, how the start of term feels, using pacing and horizons as tools and, of course, energy and optimism. She asked attendees not only to think about themselves, but also those they lead and those they follow. While some may approach new starts with a bright outlook, others may be bringing trepidation, a summer full of stress or challenge….you never know what others might be carrying. Karen’s tips to prepare for positive starts include:

• Have flowers and plants in decorative pots about the room.
• Put up a bulletin board with photos of previous students enjoying themselves doing activities that your current year group will also get to do.
• Send emails to your incoming students to say that you are looking forward to seeing them. Include details of something that you enjoyed about your summer and tell them you look forward to hearing what they got up to.
• Boost a colleague’s mood with a note or funny quip that tells them you’re looking forward to catching up.
• Colour always brightens the mood, so try displaying a bright banner, poster or painting in a prominent place in your classroom.
• Nothing beats a fresh working space. If there is a cupboard or bulletin board that needs sprucing up, do it. It won’t take much time and the task will renew your sense of promise and potential.
• If there is a saying or quote that expresses your positive attitude about students’ potential to be great, post it prominently.
• Smile lots, and from your heart.

Karen went on to share some of her summer holiday photos, picking out the ‘summer ways’ that made her stop, take a moment to reflect, and smile.

Karen talked about how best to set the tone, pace and priorities for the year, asking attendees to consider some key questions:

• How skilled are you at recognising and correcting your own speed?
• How skilled are you at recognising and addressing others’ speed?
• What message is your speed sending to family, peers, followers and leaders?
• Does your speed make anyone interested in taking up your job?
• Are you and your team collectively supporting/setting the conditions needed to succeed?
• What practices are in place to nurture belonging and commitment?

The need to manage energy rather than time was an important theme, with Karen asking participants to respond to statements about body, mind, emotions and spirit, in order to give themselves an ‘energy score’, and to help them consider what needs to continue, and what needs to pause or stop, in order to maintain wellbeing.

‘Being kind to yourself is one of the greatest kindnesses’ said the mole.
(Charlie Mackesy)

Hi All,

Thank you for joining us last week at such a busy time in the academic year. It was a great time to pause and think about returning to work and how different colleagues may be feeling about the start of the year.

Planning for our time together gave me a lot to think about for my own new start and new job so….thank you! I have included a few planning prompt slides that may be helpful in working through the year.

I have included our slides from the talk and some resources I have found helpful around new starts and anxiety about returning to work, with links, below.

Please feel free to reach out. Email is usually best kedge@yorkvilleu.ca or drkarenedge@outlook.com.

I am already looking forward to our time together in the Spring.

Karen

You can use the short video to open a dialogue with a small group of colleagues about energy and optimism at work. This could connect to work already ongoing, or planned, about wellbeing at work; be clear on your purpose in sharing the video. What do you want to achieve by showing it and how will you agree actions, for example?

Before sharing this video with others as part of their professional learning, watch it yourself to ensure you know the key messages. You might also want wish to familiarise yourself with some of the additional resources listed below and perhaps pick out one or two that are useful to signpost.

It is important to consider how best to ensure a safe space for sharing and reflecting on the issues Karen covers in the video. You should agree ways of working with the group beforehand so everyone knows the behaviours that are expected, e.g., attentive listening, respectful comments, inclusive practice and language. These ‘ground rules’ should be generated by the group and recorded where they can be seen and referred to if needed.

You could use a few of the following prompts to facilitate professional dialogue in pairs or small groups, or perhaps private reflections and note making where the questions feel more personal.

• What most resonated with you from the film? Why?
• What might it mean for you and your practice?
• What conditions exist in your setting that support kindness, calm and joy?
• Is there more we could do to strengthen those conditions?
• How skilled are we at recognising and correcting our speed?
• How skilled are we at recognising and addressing others’ speed?
• What message does our speed send to family, peers, followers and leaders?
• Are we collectively supporting/setting the conditions needed to succeed?
• What practices are in place to nurture belonging and commitment?
• Are we kind?
• What ‘summer ways’ can we bring back for the start of term?
• Do we know where to go if we need help or recognise that one of our colleagues may need help?

Encourage the group to identify a small number of manageable, collective actions that will contribute to sustaining ‘that first day back feeling’ at work. You might ask the group to note down an individual action that they will commit to, that you can revisit at a later date.

Fresh starts

Embrace fresh starts: Personal and professional new beginnings (Forbes).

The perfect time for new starts (CNBC).

Anxiety about return to work

How to turn anxiety into excitement Video 3m (The Atlantic).

How to Fight Off the Sunday Scaries (The Mayo Clinic).

Employees with the 'Sunday scaries'? Here's how to support (Fast Company).

Free articles on our Global City Leaders work

Generation X leaders from London, New York and Toronto: Conceptions of social identity and the influence of city-based context - basically, a three city reflection on how race and in-group membership can influence leadership ... and how we can support leadership development as a result. (Sage Journals).

Generations at work : what the research says about how different generations approach work and implications for leaders (Taylor and Frances Online).

Generation X Leaders and the ethic of care - what do school leaders and teachers want and need from their schools… a big focus on worklife (MDPI  Journals).

The Energy Project - The most helpful reflection I have found on work/life balance related issues.

Core project website: https://theenergyproject.com.

Additional article on energy/time by the Energy Project team: What do to when you are stuck in survival zone (also from Tony Scwartz at the Energy Project.