Education Leaders | Evidence Informed School Leadership
Jun 25, 2026 · 48 min · 10 segments
This is a bonus episoded. Join us every month for Education Leaders Live, where we explore key insights from our recent podcast episodes, including the importance of adaptability in leadership, the…
Shane LeaningHostChrisHostWell, let's, let's start with the cuttlefish, and I've, I've got a confession to make, Shane.
I thought he's made a howler here, 'cause I didn't realize cuttlefish changed their colors.
I thought it was the octopus, the humble octopus that did that.
And lo and behold, clearly I need to pay more attention watching Blue Planet and things like that.
But yeah, the, the cuttlefish does indeed-
... change its colors.
So lifelong learner living it large right here, right now.
There you go, and texture and kind of like it can really kind of do quite a lot of blending.
Yeah.
Quite impressive animals, um, what they do.
Um, I liked this episode.
There were a few questions that I had coming from it, and the first one was about the headline, that sort of leaders and cuttlefish and then, then the sort of raised eyebrows, et cetera, et cetera.
But I, I, I thought about this, and I thought about that kind of situation as to why, why, why do, do leaders maybe sort of try to adapt, try to, to conform in, in many senses and try to appease those around them? And just, I think there was a little bit in your show notes that said about how draining it was-
... and how exhausting, and I, I think it's probably one of those factors that feeds into that attrition rate that we have in our profession, and I know that we talk about it quite widely, but it's worth noting just how significant that is.
There was an OECD study done Last year in 2025, and around a third of teachers leave the profession within five years.
That, that's contra- that's about half in other graduate positions and so on, and that's even more marked amongst leadership.
Um, you've, you've got huge numbers of, of secondary heads just leaving in, in less than five years.
And that, that in itself speaks volume not just for the individual, but also in terms of our industry and what we actually do.
The loss of our expertise, the loss of that goodwill, that ambition, that drive, that passion, and it's, it's certainly not a sustainable situation, and this is perhaps one of those factors that, that builds into that and something that we maybe ought to be aware of, I guess.
The question as to where it comes from is, is quite an interesting one, and it's that idea of masking ultimately, isn't it? You know, the, that, that being the cuttlefish is you're kind of masking what your own sort of position is, and you're trying to appease those around you because you've got a need to work with those people around you perhaps.
Well, let's, let's start with the cuttlefish, and I've, I've got a confession to make, Shane.
I thought he's made a howler here, 'cause I didn't realize cuttlefish changed their colors.
I thought it was the octopus, the humble octopus that did that.
And lo and behold, clearly I need to pay more attention watching Blue Planet and things like that.
But yeah, the, the cuttlefish does indeed-
... change its colors.
So lifelong learner living it large right here, right now.
There you go, and texture and kind of like it can really kind of do quite a lot of blending.
Yeah.
Quite impressive animals, um, what they do.
Um, I liked this episode.
There were a few questions that I had coming from it, and the first one was about the headline, that sort of leaders and cuttlefish and then, then the sort of raised eyebrows, et cetera, et cetera.
But I, I, I thought about this, and I thought about that kind of situation as to why, why, why do, do leaders maybe sort of try to adapt, try to, to conform in, in many senses and try to appease those around them? And just, I think there was a little bit in your show notes that said about how draining it was-
... and how exhausting, and I, I think it's probably one of those factors that feeds into that attrition rate that we have in our profession, and I know that we talk about it quite widely, but it's worth noting just how significant that is.
There was an OECD study done Last year in 2025, and around a third of teachers leave the profession within five years.
That, that's contra- that's about half in other graduate positions and so on, and that's even more marked amongst leadership.
Um, you've, you've got huge numbers of, of secondary heads just leaving in, in less than five years.
And that, that in itself speaks volume not just for the individual, but also in terms of our industry and what we actually do.
The loss of our expertise, the loss of that goodwill, that ambition, that drive, that passion, and it's, it's certainly not a sustainable situation, and this is perhaps one of those factors that, that builds into that and something that we maybe ought to be aware of, I guess.
The question as to where it comes from is, is quite an interesting one, and it's that idea of masking ultimately, isn't it? You know, the, that, that being the cuttlefish is you're kind of masking what your own sort of position is, and you're trying to appease those around you because you've got a need to work with those people around you perhaps.
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