Host:
Welcome back to The Deep Dive.
So if you’re a teacher, maybe a subject lead or a leader here in Bangladesh, maybe you’re thinking about that next promotion — or perhaps you’re just really focused on making a bigger difference in your school.
You know that professional development has to actually lead to better learning for your students. It needs to translate.
That’s absolutely the focus today. We’re diving into the leadership development pathways from EBTD — Evidence-Based Teacher Development. They’re specifically designed for the context here in Bangladesh.
We’ve looked closely at their programs for principals, senior leaders, faculty leaders, and also leaders of behaviour — trying to understand what tools they actually give you to turn your leadership ambitions into real success in the school.
Guest:
And the first thing that really leaps out from all the material is just how powerful good leadership is. It’s not just admin. It’s clearly the main driver — the catalyst — for school improvement.
The research is pretty clear on this, isn’t it?
Host:
Oh, absolutely. Decisive, strong leadership shapes the school’s vision. It directly lifts the quality of teaching, strengthens the curriculum, and really transforms the whole culture. And all of that leads to measurable improvements in how students perform.
Guest:
It really sounds like the best investment a school can make.
Host:
It really is. And these four pathways are structured to build that expertise systematically across all those areas. They move leaders from just knowing the theory to actually doing it — implementing it effectively, which, let’s be honest, is often the hardest part.
Guest:
Okay, right. So let’s unpack that. Where do we start?
Maybe with the most direct impact on students — instructional leadership.
Host:
Makes sense. That’s central to the Faculty Leaders course. This one’s aimed right at subject heads, phase coordinators — basically the people leading teams of teachers day-to-day.
Guest:
And the course content itself — is it based on solid ground?
Host:
Very much so. That’s crucial. It’s not about jumping on the latest bandwagon; it’s deeply rooted in solid international evidence — findings from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), proven ideas from cognitive science like Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction, and big-picture insights from Hattie’s work.
The whole point is to give leaders the knowledge to recognise good teaching, model it themselves, and importantly, expect it from their teams.
Guest:
Okay, let’s look at that science bit — Module One: Teaching, Learning, and Classroom Practice.
You mentioned cognitive science. How does a busy faculty leader actually use things like memory and cognitive load without, you know, boring everyone in meetings?
Host:
Right. That’s the bridge the course builds — it translates that theory into practical action.
When we talk about how pupils learn, there’s a big focus on memory — especially retrieval practice. For a faculty leader, it isn’t just about knowing the term retrieval practice. It’s about being able to show your team how to design quick, effective, low-stakes quizzes or starter activities that make students pull information out of their long-term memory regularly.
Guest:
Ah, okay. So if I’m leading the maths team, I’m learning to spot where we’re doing too much repetitive practice — and how to coach my teachers to use spaced practice or mix things up. Real techniques, not just jargon.
Host:
Exactly that. And it helps leaders tell the difference between something genuinely evidence-informed and something that’s just the flavour of the month.
Your job as that leader is to build consistency. If every teacher understands that learning involves a bit of struggle — managing cognitive load, reinforcing memory — then expectations across all those classrooms naturally rise.
Guest:
Okay, that makes sense. And that flows into Module Two — Curriculum, Assessment, and Adaptive Teaching.
Good teaching needs a good roadmap. What’s the immediate takeaway there?
Host:
Clarity and coherence.
The aim is a curriculum that’s ambitious for every single student — that flows logically from one year to the next and is actually accessible.
Leaders learn practical skills like how to conduct a curriculum audit: Where are the gaps? Is there real progression, or are we just repeating topics without building deeper understanding?
Guest:
And assessment? That can be a huge source of workload, can’t it? Often without much benefit.
Host:
It really can. That’s why this pathway focuses hard on making sure assessment practices actually align with what you want students to learn from the curriculum — making assessment useful, efficient, high-impact.
Guest:
And that ties straight into adaptive teaching, right? Sometimes that term sounds like lowering expectations for some kids. What does it mean here?
Host:
Good question. Here it absolutely means keeping high expectations — that goal of mastery for all students — but meeting their diverse needs through carefully planned support.
It’s about real inclusion, without sacrificing rigour. The leader learns how to coach their team on effective scaffolding — giving support when it’s needed, but knowing when to step back so the student succeeds independently.
That’s how you drive progress and equity together.
Guest:
Okay, so we’ve got the engine — instruction and curriculum. But the school culture, that’s like the fuel line, right? It needs to be working properly.
Let’s shift to how leaders shape that wider environment.
This is where it gets really interesting: connecting classroom management to the whole-school system. Tell us about the Leaders of Behaviour course.
Host:
Yeah, this specific pathway is vital because, frankly, learning just can’t happen effectively in a chaotic environment.
The evidence shows that leading culture well — creating consistent systems — isn’t something you’re just born with; it needs to be learned.
So this course provides a kind of structural blueprint for creating environments that are safe, predictable, and have really high expectations.
Guest:
Module One talks about building school culture and high expectations. You mentioned research on teacher expectations earlier — people like Jussim and Harber. What does that mean practically for a leader in Bangladesh?
Host:
It’s huge. The research basically says that what a teacher genuinely believes about a student’s potential often ends up happening — a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If the school culture allows some students to be implicitly written off, chances are they’ll live down to that expectation.
So the leader’s job, armed with this understanding, is to actively build a culture where every single adult communicates high, clear expectations — academic and behavioural — for every single pupil. No exceptions.
Guest:
So it’s about embedding those expectations to build motivation and resilience, which then makes the whole environment more stable for learning.
But culture needs consistency too. That sounds like Module Two — Enabling Conditions.
Host:
Absolutely. Think about it — a busy corridor transition or the first five minutes of a lesson. If every teacher has different rules or routines, students waste mental energy just figuring out, “What do I do now?”
So the course focuses on developing proactive school-wide routines — things like consistent ways to greet students at the door, standard ways to give positive reinforcement, and clear predictable steps for dealing with minor disruptions — “reset routines,” they call them.
Consistency reduces that low-level disruption almost immediately and frees up time for actual teaching and learning.
Guest:
And I noticed the course also talks about involving families.
Host:
Yes — and external agencies too. Building a truly coherent system means integrating that external support smoothly when required.
The leader learns how to manage that — how to build those partnerships effectively, especially for students who might have more complex needs.
It ensures they stay included and supported within that same high-expectation culture.
Guest:
Okay, so we’re building this picture: quality instruction, a clear curriculum, a strong consistent culture.
But all that knowledge is only useful if everyone applies it, right? So the real leverage must be in building the capacity of the staff.
Host:
Exactly. And that’s what we call the multiplier effect.
It’s a core part of all the EBTD pathways — especially with dedicated modules in the Principal and Senior Leader programs: leading people effectively, leading good professional development (PD).
Guest:
That’s often the weakest link, isn’t it?
Traditional PD can sometimes feel like a one-off training day on some new shiny thing — and then everyone forgets it by Monday morning.
How do these pathways help leaders avoid that trap?
Host:
They focus on designing PD that is sustained over time, coherent with the school’s main goals, and grounded in what we know works — implementation science.
Leaders learn practical things like how to audit their current PD: does it match up with best practices?
We know from research, like from Cordingley and others, that effective CPD needs time, follow-up, and relevance to the actual subject being taught.
Guest:
Designing something like a coaching program that works — especially when everyone’s already busy — that’s tricky. Does the course offer practical ways to do that?
Host:
It does. It’s about integrating coaching into how the school already works.
For example, leaders learn to design short, frequent coaching cycles focused specifically on the school’s teaching priorities — not just generic goals.
The goal isn’t just to tell teachers something new; it’s to embed the change using those implementation principles — diagnosing the problem first, preparing the team, integrating new practice into daily routines, and tailoring it to the school’s specific context.
That shift from just telling teachers what to do to actually coaching them on how to master it — that’s the key to making improvements stick.
Guest:
That’s precisely it. Leaders who really get good at this multiply their impact. They ensure that improvements in teaching, curriculum, or behaviour become permanent fixtures — not just short-lived initiatives.
Host:
Okay, let’s zoom out now. We need to talk about the strategic level — the people aiming for Principal or Senior Leader roles.
This is about the big picture — management and governance.
Guest:
Absolutely. This is where you need mastery of the whole organisation.
The Principal and Senior Leader pathways tackle this head-on.
For instance, the Senior Leaders program — Module One — starts with vision and strategy. The leader has to craft a compelling vision that everyone buys into, but one that’s directly linked to measurable student outcomes, not just warm words.
And in the real world of running schools, strategy quickly becomes about hard choices: resources, time, money.
Host:
Exactly. That’s organisational management.
Strategic leaders learn to move beyond day-to-day firefighting. They make deliberate choices about budgets, timetables, staffing — and, importantly, using data intelligently.
Not just for grades, but to spot patterns and ask why.
Guest:
Like using data to see — “Is this gap in understanding only happening in Year 7? Why? Is it a curriculum sequencing issue, or maybe a staffing challenge in that team?”
Host:
Precisely that kind of diagnostic thinking.
And then at the highest levels, you have governance and partnership. Principals learn how to work effectively with their boards and governors — ensuring transparency, accountability, and positioning the school strategically within the wider community.
They build those essential partnerships.
Guest:
There’s a concept in the Senior Leaders program — distributed leadership.
It sounds like jargon sometimes, but it seems vital for making sure improvements last. What does it really mean?
Host:
It’s definitely not just delegation.
Distributed leadership is about intentionally and systematically building expertise and empowering people across the school.
It means developing the next generation of leaders — making sure critical areas like curriculum or behaviour management don’t just rely on the principal always being there.
It’s about planning for succession and building resilience.
Guest:
So that really brings up the ultimate strategic question for a principal, doesn’t it?
What systems — financial, operational, people systems — can I put in place so that accountability is clear, resources are used effectively, and the school keeps improving even after I’m gone?
Host:
And the answer lies in that systematic development — exactly what these pathways are designed to support.
They offer a blueprint for building those systems.
They empower people at every level — from the teacher just stepping up as a phase coordinator to the aspiring principal — giving them the specific knowledge and tools they need for sustainable, ethical, and ambitious school improvement.
Guest:
So looking back over our deep dive today, it seems clear that these EBTD pathways offer a structured, evidence-based route for teachers and leaders here in Bangladesh.
It’s about getting the precise expertise you need to actually drive improvement — not just learning theories, but getting practical tools to strengthen teaching, lift the school culture, and ultimately make sure all learners achieve more ambitious outcomes.
Host:
Absolutely. And the sources consistently hammer this home: focusing on the quality of teaching — driven by strong leadership — is the single most powerful thing a school can do to improve student outcomes.
It outweighs almost everything else.
The real challenge always is putting it into practice — implementation.
So maybe the question for everyone listening is this:
What’s one immediate, evidence-informed change — maybe something small related to retrieval practice, or making a routine more consistent — that you could implement tomorrow morning?
Something that would measurably improve teaching consistency in your team, because ultimately, the future success of your school probably hinges on answers like that.
Guest:
That’s a powerful thought to end on. Thank you for sharing all that insight today — and thank you for joining us on The Deep Dive.
We’ll see you next time.
