Behaviour for Learning: Building Cultures that Last

🎙️ The Leadership Lens Episode Title: Behaviour for Learning – Building the Conditions for Thinking Episode Summary: In this episode of The Leadership Lens, Rachael Snowdon-Poole — serving Headteacher in a recently Outstanding school, Director of Performance & Standards across 20 primaries, and Trust Safeguarding Lead — explores one of the most powerful levers school leaders have: Behaviour for Learning. Because great behaviour isn’t just about calm corridors or tidy classrooms. It’s about creating the cognitive space for pupils to think deeply, remember securely, and learn meaningfully. Rachael unpacks what really sits beneath strong behaviour culture — moving beyond systems and sanctions to explore how beliefs, routines, and leadership alignment drive consistency and cognition. Drawing on insights from Dan Willingham, Tom Bennett, Peps McCrea, Dylan Wiliam, and Bandura, and from the real experiences of an executive headteacher leading multiple rural primaries, Rachael explores: Why attention is the gateway to learning — and how behaviour affects cognition. How social norms shape culture and why alignment across adults matters most. Practical strategies for sequencing behaviour improvement in sustainable ways. How leaders can move from managing behaviour to building behaviour. The power of coaching, visible leadership, and cultural reinforcement over time. You’ll leave this episode with clarity about how to create classrooms that aren’t just calm — they’re cognitively alive. 🎧 Listen Free You can listen to The Leadership Lens on: Spotify Apple Podcasts Amazon Music ⭐ Go Premium – Lead Behaviour with Clarity and Confidence Premium members receive exclusive access to the Behaviour for Learning Leadership Reflection Guide, a detailed evidence-informed tool to help you take this episode from theory into action. Inside, you’ll find: 🔍 Reflective prompts to evaluate the current behaviour culture in your school. 🧩 Discussion frameworks for SLT or middle leader meetings. 🪞 Diagnostic questions to identify where alignment and consistency could improve. 💡 Action-planning templates to translate insights into clear, trackable next steps. 📊 Research-aligned examples that link leadership practice to cognitive science. Use it with your leadership team to strengthen culture, align expectations, and build the true conditions for learning — where behaviour supports thinking, not just order. Join The Leadership Lens Premium Membership today to unlock this reflection guide plus every past and future CPD resource, including training slide decks, scripts, and templates across behaviour, teaching, culture, safeguarding and more. 👉 https://tinyurl.com/theleadershiplenspremium 💬 The Leadership Lens helps school leaders cut through the noise of frameworks, policy, and research — translating it into clarity, compassion, and concrete next steps for the classroom.