14th October 2025, 10-12 noon and 1-3pm

Developmental Neuroplasticity

Here, we will explore the differences in the available neuroplasticity at different points in the lifespan and consider the implications of this for leading pupils of different ages, and staff.

Windows of Opportunity in the Development of the Brain

Different networks and parts of the brain develop at different rates and this has implications for managing learning and behaviour. Here, we will outline the developmental time frames of networks in the brain and consider the implications for teaching, learning, and leading.

The Adolescent Brain

Adolescence is a time of major brain development. We will outline what changes during this period and consider how educators can best help adolescents develop with well-being and resilience while maximising the potential of their developing brains.

The Neurodiverse Brain

Creating an inclusive environment in a school requires a good understanding of the way that a range of individuals might interact with the world. Here, we will consider models of neurodiversity and how these can help educational leaders to build inclusive schools.

4th November 2025, 10-12 noon and 1-3pm

Recognising and Regulating Yours and Others’ Emotions

In order to be able to manage other people’s emotions well, it is important to start by recognise and regulate your own emotions. Here we will consider the neuroscience of emotional recognition and regulation and provide tools to help you regulate your own and others’ emotions when required.

Responding to Stress

Stress is a currently common challenge for many individuals in education. Here we will discuss why we have a stress response, what happens in the body and brain when we are stressed and ways to help respond effectively in stressful situations.

Levels of Stress

How do you know when you are stressed, and to what extent this is affecting your performance. Here, we will talk about the impact of different levels of stress on the body and brain. We will also discuss both how to recognise when you are overly stressed and how you might better manage this.

Building and Maintaining Resilience

If we are to deal better with stress, it is important for us to learn how to build and maintain personal, team and organisational resilience. Here we will provide a framework to aid this.

2nd December 2025, 10-12 noon and 1-3pm

Being Assertive

When we are leading others, it is important to find a middle ground between being accommodating and becoming aggressive. Being assertive forms this middle ground. Here we will discuss the consequences of failing to find this middle ground, and how to improve your ability to be in this space.

Rights and Responsibilities

Whenever possible, it makes sense to plan your strategy for a challenging situation. One factor that can help to clarify what to do is to have a clear idea of what your rights and matching responsibilities are in these situations. Here we will discuss why this makes challenging situations easier from a neuroscience perspective and how to plan in advance.

Clarifying Responsibilities

When working with others, there are times when it is not clear who is responsible for different parts of a job. This can lead to overlap in work and the potential for some aspects of the work being missed. Here we will discuss how to clarify responsibilities with members of your team to identify overlaps which lead to extra, unneeded work or failure to complete a task.

Challenging with Empathy

When we are dealing with people that we find challenging, it is useful to consider the situation from the perspective of each person involved. This helps us to lead and challenge from a position of empathy. Here, we will describe the evolutionary purpose and neuroscience of empathy and provide tools that will help you build your ability to lead and challenge with empathy.

13th January 2026, 10-12 noon and 1-3pm

Understanding Others Logically

Consider the type of language that you use when you are praising someone and compare this to the language you use when you would like them to change their behaviour. Are these the same? Here, we will consider how best to both praise and provide feedback in line with the way our brains function. This will allow you to give more effective positive and constructive feedback.

Individual Differences in Motivation 1 & 2

Leaders have to be able to motivate every individual in their teams. But different people are motivated in different ways. Understanding these differences from a neuroscience perspective can help you to create motivational strategies that work for whole teams, and to change your strategy to be more effective for an individual team member.

Motivating through Values

Much of our decision making and subsequent behaviour, both conscious and unconscious, is driven by our values. Individual differences in what values are most important therefore will change how someone will react in a particular situation. By understanding what values are most important to team members, leaders can better motivate through showing how these values can be met. Here, we will describe how values are formed and stored in the brain, how these drive behaviour and therefore how leaders can learn to motivate through values.

Effective Change Management

Making major changes within the school context can be challenging – often there are individual who are resistant to change. Here we will discuss the paradox of change – our brains change relatively easily but our behaviour sometimes does not. We will then provide a model of behaviour change that is based in neuroscience that can be used for either individual or organisational change.

10th February 2026, 10-12 noon and 1-3pm

Fast and Slow Decision Making

We all make thousands of decisions per day yet we are aware of only a small proportion of these. Here, we will differentiate between the decision-making mechanisms in the brain responsible for fast, unconscious and slow, conscious decisions. We will explain what types of decisions are made in each system and provide tools to help leaders become more aware of the types of decisions they are making.

Deliberate Intuition

If there are two decision-making systems, how can we best use each to make effective decisions? Here, we will provide a model that helps leaders to decide what type of decision making might be more effective for particular situations.

Unconscious Bias in Education

When building inclusive schools, it is useful to consider how unconscious biases might interfere with this process. Here, we will discuss how unconscious biases from, and how they drive behaviour from a neuroscience perspective. We will then consider how this can be addressed from a leadership perspective.

Decision Making Under Pressure

We do not always make the same decisions when we are under pressure as we would do when we have more time to think through a situation. Here, we will describe what changes when we make decisions under pressure and provide tools to help leaders make more effective decisions in these situations.

17th March 2026, 10-12 noon and 1-3pm

Managing and Sharing Information

Have you noticed that some people provide information at a high level while others like to go into a lot of detail? This individual difference in the amount of detail required when sharing information and making decisions can create a tension within teams. Here we will provide a neuroscientific basis for this difference and will show how this can be managed effectively so that everyone shares sufficient information to make decisions possible.

Making Group Decisions

Having the wisdom of many heads can improve our decision making but it is sometimes difficult to come resolve differences of opinion when many people are involved in making a decision. Here we will provide a model which helps leaders to make effective decisions while including many voices.

Essential Questions for Managing Performance

One role of a leader is the day-to-day management of the team. But often this comes on top of all of the other jobs that leaders must perform to keep the organisation on track. Here we will provide a model which allows for effective team management that takes little time to perform.

Giving Effective Feedback

Leaders often have to give both positive and constructive feedback to help their teams to develop. Here we will explain how feedback is interpreted in the brain and provide a model of how to give feedback that is likely to improve communication and team development.