Mike Hughes is a well-known and highly acclaimed education trainer/author.
A former secondary head he is currently working freelance and over a period of many years has developed a deserved reputation as an inspirational and innovative trainer/facilitator and is widely regarded as a leader in the field of learning.
He is best known as the author of hugely influential books such as And The Main Thing is… Learning, Tweak to Transform and Closing the Learning Gap. His latest publication The Magenta Principles™ is now available.
Welcome to Mike Hughes Education Training and Support.
Publications by Mike Hughes
The Magenta Principles™
“if our goal was to make learning an engaging, student-centred experience then the Magenta Principles was the vehicle that enabled us to get there.”
Adam Chedburn, Headteacher – Whitley Bay High School 1993–2014
First and foremost Mike is a teacher having taught in secondary for 18 years, most recently as a secondary Head. Indeed, anyone who has read his books or attended one of training sessions can immediately see that he has spent a considerable amount of time in the classroom. Not surprisingly, he has a widespread reputation for being both practical and realistic.
In addition to teaching, Mike has also found time to:
- Work in an advisory capacity for Gloucestershire LEA (teaching and learning)
- Facilitate on the New Visions programme for recently appointed headteachers
- Work as an NPQH trainer
- Be a PGCE course leader
- Train as an Ofsted inspector
- Write an extensive range of educational publications and resources
- Provide training and support to a huge number of teachers and schools both in the UK and abroad
Mike’s work is hugely varied and tailored to fit the needs of the individual school / teacher. Anyone considering working with Mike is invited to contact him to discuss their requirements and explore possibilities.
To give you a flavor of his work…
Focus
He works predominantly in three inter-related areas:
- Teaching and learning
- Leadership development and leadership for learning
- Coaching
Group size
Anything from 1 to 500+ For example:
- whole staff groups, clusters and networks
- teaching and learning working groups
- coaches, senior leadership teams, middle leaders
- individual teachers, NQT conferences,
- Headteacher organisations.
Organisation
The possibilities are endless: keynote address staff training day twilight inset a programme of on-going support. Some schools invite Mike to run an inset day while others have worked with him for a number of years.
“Children should leave a classroom at the end of a lesson knowing, understanding and being able to do more than when they came in.”
Mike Hughes – Lessons are for Learning 1997
Improving teaching and learning
- Getting to good
- Good to outstanding
- Beyond outstanding
- From knowing to understanding
- Focusing on the things that make the difference
Engagement, pace and challenge
- The engagement triangle
- From occupied to engaged
- The importance of task
- The zone of challenge
Consolidating learning
- Metacognitive questioning
- Memory techniques
- Worthwhile and effective plenaries
Developing active, independent learners
- From answering to asking
- Curious children
- Teach less – learn more
Engaging reluctant learners
- Dealing with “I can’t do” attitudes
- Behavior for learning
- The keys to motivation
Quality questioning
- Planning for better questions
- Managing classroom dialogue
- From ping pong to pinball
- The importance of elephants
Developing professional capacity
- Thinking on your feet
- Self-reflective practitioners
Observation for improvement
- Observation tools and templates
- Using video to aid self-reflection
- From feedback to dialogue
- Information Driven Dialogue
Leadership for learning
- Keeping the focus upon learning
- Creating a learning culture
- Teachers as learners
- Promoting professional dialogue
Leading CPD
- From event to process
- Making CPD effective
- Making the most of internal expertise
- Using video as a self-reflective tool
Effective observation
- Observation tools, techniques and templates
- Feeding back to move forward
- From feedback to dialogue
- Information Driven Dialogue
Leadership styles
- The leadership spectrum; red, blue, purple
- Done to done by done with
- Achieving the carrot/stick balance
- Style for context
Leadership tools and templates
- Strategic thinking
- Identifying the barriers
- Productive effort
The leadership skill-set
- Coaching for leaders
- Challenge and support
- Avoiding the ABC
- Developing leadership skills – listening and language
Creating effective leadership teams
- From group to team
- Developing leadership throughout the organisation
- Developing the key middle leadership tier
Working with people
- People and change
- Managing change
- Working with reluctant colleagues
- Challenging leadership
General
- Introducing and embedding coaching
- Coaching: Why? What? How?
- The coaching spectrum – where coaching fits
- Coaching and mentoring
- When and when not to coach
Whole school models and approaches
- Developing a coaching culture
- Getting started
- Organising coaching
- Coaching as an integral part of CPD
- Coaching as an ongoing process
Coaching skills
- Structuring a coaching session
- Developing specific coaching skills
- Listening differently
- Coaching language
- Questioning
- Dealing with limiting beliefs
- Working with reluctant colleagues
- Coaching masterclass – advanced coaching skills
Coaching tools and templates
- Observation for coaching
- Observation tools
- Establishing reality
- Information Driven Dialogue
Variations
- Developing professional communities
- Teachers as learners
- Action learning sets
- Coaching and action research
- Coaching and video analysis
- Coaching students
- Developing coaching skills in students
- Coaching as a teaching tool
- Coaching as a pastoral tool