Podcast of the Month – Sustainable School Leadership

For researchers, the challenge can often be how do you share findings in a way that resonates with the people who can benefit from it? Our Podcast of the Month for April, the Sustainable School Leadership series, offers a practical example of how to achieve this.

The series is the result of an extensive, large-scale comparative study across England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Conducted by a research team at the University of Nottingham and the University of Warwick, the project examined how school systems support the recruitment, training, and retention of senior leaders. To bring this work to a wider audience, the team launched a four-part podcast series – hosted throughout by Mike Collins – to explore the deeper cultural and emotional forces shaping the profession today.

Grounding Research in Reality

What makes this series effective is the move away from traditional, one-sided interviews toward a roundtable format. Each episode brings together the core research team with esteemed experts and practitioners from across the UK to ensure the findings feel grounded in lived experience.

To truly connect the data with the human reality of the role, Mike intentionally leaves space toward the end of each conversation to ask the guests: “What surprised you in the research findings?” This allows these experts to move beyond the statistics and share their own personal experiences and reflections on the profession

The Four-Part Series – Sustainable School Leadership:

Ep 1 – How does identity shape school leadership?

Mike Collins is joined by Thomas Perry (University of Warwick), Gurpall Badesha, and Dr. Caitlin Donnelly (Queen’s University Belfast). They discuss how personal values, gender, and ethnicity shape a leader’s career pathway and provide an anchor against the “emotional weight” of the job.

Ep 2 – How does place shape school leadership?

Pat Thomson (University of Nottingham) joins Brigid Heron and Laurence Findlay. They explore the distinct realities of leading in rural, coastal, or urban settings, and why “one-size-fits-all” policy often fails to account for local context.

Ep 3 – Why and how does school leadership today reflect an ethic of education and care?

Toby Greany (University of Nottingham) talks with Tony Gallagher (Queen’s University Belfast) and Carolyn Roberts (The PTI). They examine how schools have become vital community anchors, managing expanding social and safeguarding responsibilities as other services have been shorn away.

Ep 4 – What can be done to make school leadership more sustainable?

Mike closes the series with Toby Greany from the research project and Baroness Mary Bousted, James Bowen, and Alison Mitchell. These high-level contributors discuss the structural reforms – such as professional trust and flexible pathways – needed to protect the leadership pipeline for the long term.

Supporting the Impact Agenda

At Research Podcasts, we understand the specific pressures of the research environment. We know that “impact” is more than a metric; it is about ensuring that vital evidence on issues like wellbeing, equity, and recruitment reaches the people who can act on it.

By combining expert voices with rigorous comparative analysis, this series offers a nuanced and timely exploration of school leadership. It provides a “clear-eyed yet hopeful” vision for the future of the profession across the UK.

You can listen to the Sustainable School Leadership podcast series now and join the discussion on how we might better support the individuals who shape our children’s futures.

How can we help you?

Research Podcasts offer podcast production and training for researchers and academics. If you have an idea book a free consultation today to find out how we can help you.