The Compass

What if we could teach more effectively by understanding how learning truly works? That was the guiding question behind a recent McGraw Hill webinar led by Dr Carl Hendrick, a teacher, researcher, and co-author of How Learning Happens. His talk, The Science of Learning meets Direct Instruction, offered a rich, practical distillation of decades of research into how pupils learn, and, just as crucially, how they forget.

Hendrick walked us through six foundational insights from cognitive science that all teachers should know:

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I find it peculiarly ironic that institutions devoted so passionately to the development of young minds can, all too easily, lose sight of the conditions that nurture the adults who run the place. We rightly worry about the mental health of our pupils, but the emotional climate for the grown-ups — teachers, leaders, support staff — is sometimes considered an afterthought. Something to think about during Wellbeing Week. And yet, if we want schools where children thrive, we must first pay attention to the ecosystems in which the adults grow.

A healthy school is not merely one that performs well on paper. Nor is it defined by glossy prospectuses or glowing inspection reports. True health, like character, is revealed in the nooks and crannies of the place: in conversations, in interactions, in the choices about what is praised, permitted, and prioritised.

So what does good look like?

Here are ten signs you’re in a school where care, clarity, and coherence prevail — signs that you are in a place that cares about you.

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While this reflection is grounded in school leadership (where I have worked and coached for many years) the dynamics described here echo more widely, across organisations, sectors and hierarchies. Wherever leadership is mythologised, we often reach for familiar archetypes: the lone hero, the bold reformer, the visionary outsider.

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