School Culture Archives - Azimuth | Education Consultancy & Fractional Digital Strategy

Leadership & Coaching

What ISI’s inspection reports reveal about teaching and learning in independent schools

Teaching is the finding ISI raises most often, and almost never the one that fails a school. After going through 395 of this academic year’s routine inspection reports, here is…

José Picardo19 June, 2026

Digital Strategy & AI Leadership & Coaching

Banning Social Media for Under-16s: Are We Measuring the Right Thing?

The government’s ban on social media for under-16s is designed to succeed on its own terms. Whether it actually does anything for children is a separate question, and the evidence…

José Picardo16 June, 2026

Leadership & Coaching

You cannot signpost your way to a significant strength

What 395 ISI inspection reports from the 2025-26 cycle reveal about the significant strength accolade, and why the work towards one starts the morning after your last inspection. Published as…

José Picardo13 June, 2026

Leadership & Coaching

Why Schools Keep Promoting the Wrong People

The skills that make someone an excellent teacher, administrator, or pastoral lead are not automatically the same skills required to lead others well. Too often, promotion decisions reward visibility, technical…

José Picardo23 April, 2026

Leadership & Coaching

Six Damaging Metaphors We Use In Schools, And How to Avoid Them

The metaphors school leaders use shape the culture more than they realise. Some are useful. Six of them do harm we rarely notice, and they are worth retiring.

José Picardo29 December, 2025

Leadership & Coaching

20 Signs of Emotionally Mature Leadership

Emotional maturity in leadership is more diagnostic than aspirational. You either have it in a given moment or you do not. Twenty signs to recognise it, in yourself first and…

José Picardo20 August, 2025