Step 5: Developing the Curriculum - A School Leadership Podcast with Ben Erskine

**Episode 1: Step 5 — Developing the Curriculum (with Ben Erskine)** **The No Silver Bullets Podcast — Series 2: The Nine Steps to Executive Headship** **What does it really take to build a coherent, equitable curriculum across multiple schools?** In this episode, Paul Ainsworth is joined by **Ben Erskine**, Executive Principal and now **CEO‑Designate** of the Four Cs MAT, to explore Step 5 of the *Nine Steps to Executive Headship*: **Developing the Curriculum**. Ben leads four primary academies within a seven‑school trust, each with distinct contexts — from large inner‑city primaries to rapidly growing township schools. Drawing on his experience of system leadership, curriculum design and trust‑wide collaboration, Ben offers a grounded, highly practical look at what it means to shape curriculum at scale. This conversation digs into: - **Curriculum equity vs professional autonomy** — how executive leaders strike the right balance - **The power of trust‑wide collaboration** and why shared curriculum work reduces workload and increases quality - **Sequencing, coherence and knowledge progression** — and why high‑level subject expertise matters - **The role of the executive principal** in shaping curriculum across effective schools - **Barriers to building a trust‑wide curriculum** — time, pace, workload, and how to overcome them - **Developing leaders through cross‑school curriculum projects** - **Why pace is everything** — moving fast enough to maintain momentum, but slow enough to keep trust - **Servant leadership, influence and system‑wide impact** — Ben’s advice for new and aspiring executive heads Ben also shares examples from the Four Cs MAT, including trust‑wide writing development, direct instruction approaches, and how collaboration across schools is becoming essential in a tightening financial landscape. If you’re an executive head, CEO, senior leader or aspiring system leader, this episode offers **clear principles, practical strategies and honest reflections** on what it takes to build a curriculum that genuinely serves every child — regardless of school, postcode or teacher. **About the Series** **This episode is part of the Nine Steps to Executive Headship series, supporting Paul’s forthcoming book: 📘 *Nine Steps to Executive Headship*, published by Routledge in Autumn 2026.** **Connect** **Follow Paul on LinkedIn:** Paul K. Ainsworth | LinkedIn **Follow Paul on Instagram:** Paul K Ainsworth (@paulkainsworth) • Instagram photos and videos **Follow Ben on LinkedIn:** Ben Erskine | LinkedIn **Follow Ben on Substack:** Ben Erskine | Substack **Read the companion blog:** Blog – Day in, day out, school improvement.