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Listen ""You can't afford not to!" Headteacher Kulvarn Atwal on the power of slice teams"
Episode Synopsis
In this short episode of the Rethinking Education podcast, James Mannion speaks with Dr Kulvarn Atwal – a highly respected headteacher leading not one, but two schools: Highlands Primary and Uphall Primary in East London.
Kulvarn is the author of The Thinking School and The Thinking Teacher, and a long-time advocate of distributed leadership and research-informed practice. He shares insights into how his schools are developing cultures of continuous improvement through collaboration and genuine stakeholder engagement.
This conversation focuses on the idea of slice teams – diverse, representative groups of staff, students, and other members of the school community who lead change initiatives together. Slice teams are a central feature of James's new book, Making Change Stick: A Practical Guide to Implementing School Improvement.
Topics discussed include:
What slice teams are and how they work in practice
Why including pupils in these teams is so important
How this approach can lead to more sustainable, system-wide change
Whether you’re a school leader, a classroom teacher, or someone interested in education reform, this is a thought-provoking discussion on how we can rethink leadership and change in schools.
LINKS
Making Change Stick website - https://makingchangestick.co
Making Change Stick book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Making-Change-Stick-Implementing-Improvement/dp/1398387487
Outro track: ‘How it is and how it should be’ by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI
SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:
Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod
Buy James a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Kulvarn is the author of The Thinking School and The Thinking Teacher, and a long-time advocate of distributed leadership and research-informed practice. He shares insights into how his schools are developing cultures of continuous improvement through collaboration and genuine stakeholder engagement.
This conversation focuses on the idea of slice teams – diverse, representative groups of staff, students, and other members of the school community who lead change initiatives together. Slice teams are a central feature of James's new book, Making Change Stick: A Practical Guide to Implementing School Improvement.
Topics discussed include:
What slice teams are and how they work in practice
Why including pupils in these teams is so important
How this approach can lead to more sustainable, system-wide change
Whether you’re a school leader, a classroom teacher, or someone interested in education reform, this is a thought-provoking discussion on how we can rethink leadership and change in schools.
LINKS
Making Change Stick website - https://makingchangestick.co
Making Change Stick book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Making-Change-Stick-Implementing-Improvement/dp/1398387487
Outro track: ‘How it is and how it should be’ by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI
SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:
Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod
Buy James a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
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06/12/2025
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09/09/2025
What Are We Teaching? Powerful knowledge, capabilities, and teacher autonomy – with Richard Bustin
28/07/2025
Fixing the SEND Crisis – with Amjad Ali
04/07/2025
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