Dr Simon Breakspear is a researcher, advisor and speaker on educational leadership, policy and change, and a father of three. As the founder of Strategic Schools, Simon focuses on supporting teams to enhance their impact on learning through evidence-informed processes and tools, which are actionable and easy to understand.

Over the last decade his capability building work has given him the opportunity to work with over 100,000 educators across more than 10 countries.

Simon is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of New South Wales, Australia. He serves as an advisor to the NSW Department of Education on leadership development and curriculum reform, and sits on an expert steering committee for the Australia Institute for Teaching and School Leadership.

Simon began his work in education as a high school teacher. He received his first degree, a Bachelor of Psychology (with Hons) from the University of NSW, his MSc in Comparative and International Education from the University of Oxford, and his PhD in Education from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Gates Scholar.

Simon delivered the session live on 3rd December 2025. He focused on themes from his book of the same title.

‘The impact of our collaborative time is shaped by the quality of the conversation’

Simon asked attendees to reflect on the idea of ‘weary talk’, how easy it can be to fall into that trap, and the limited impact it likely has when we are not properly focused or motivated.

He went on to use the analogy of how we use the right coffee pod to generate the right flavour of coffee; in the same way, we should use the right protocol to facilitate a particular type of conversation.

He then shared 7 practical protocols, to support a move from weary talk to elevated conversations:

1. Empathy Square
2. Deeper Reasons
3. Outcome Heat Map
4. Strategy Sort
5. Even Better If
6. We Need Next
7. Start Stop Continue

To find out more about these protocols you can request a pdf of the slides and the associated workbook. Please contact edspll@educationscotland.gov.scot using ‘Simon Breakspear slides’ in the subject line.

‘A really practical and engaging session with Simon. So helpful to have the workbooks available to properly engage with this material further.’

‘Useful tools which help staff to rethink learning, helpful when our older tools get tired or no longer fit for purpose, easy to use and don't require large amounts of time. I think these will help conversations in my Ed Psych team and also in schools with staff.’

‘Simon always provides practical tools and ideas. He is so engaging and I could listen to him all day long. I love how he cuts straight to the chase - nothing about what he says is woolly or vague, as I find with so many of the other sessions.’

‘Amazing session with practical tools to focus attention leading to greater productivity.

‘The tools presented by Simon will support professional dialogue across all areas in our school improvement journey, classroom practice and personal development.’

‘I find the work of Simon Breakspear so relatable. It has allowed me to refine my thinking and see the value in working smarter through elevated conversations.’

You can use the short video to open a dialogue with a small group of colleagues about collaborative time. This could connect to work already ongoing, or planned, about capacity, workload and making best use of shared time; 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 topic Simon 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?
• Does your team stop to think enough about our collaborative time together?
• If not, what could you do differently?
• What might a shift in practice mean for you and your individual practice?
• What could it mean for practice in your team/ department/ whole setting?
• What conditions exist in your setting that might support more effective collaborative time?
• Is there more you could do to strengthen those conditions?

Encourage the group to identify a small number of manageable, collective actions that will contribute to an enhanced collaborative culture 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.

Simon kindly provided a workbook for attendees to support his webinar. If you attended, and would like to receive it, please email edspll@educationscotland.gov.scot

Visit Simon’s website at www.simonbreakspear.com