Inspiring the next generation with teaching - Ed Haslam

In this special bonus episode in partnership with Get Into Teaching, Jake is joined by Ed Haslam Whiston. Ed is the Trust Director of Sporting Excellence of the Laurus Trust he oversees the 'electives programme' Trust wide which is their extra-curricular initiative to make sure 100% of KS3 students participate in sport or physical activity outside of lessons, securing the only official partnership with Loughborough University to make the offer truly aspirational.

We regularly speak about the power and influence of teachers with our high performing guests. Teachers are such foundations in our youth so if you listen, are feeling inspired, and are looking for a career where every day is totally different and every lesson can shape a life, then search Get Into Teaching now to find out more.

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**Summary of Podcast Episode: A Conversation with Ed Haslam Whiston on High Performance in Teaching**

In this special bonus episode of High Performance, Jake Humphrey engages in a thought-provoking conversation with Ed Haslam Whiston, the Trust Director of Sporting Excellence at the Laurus Trust. Ed oversees the 'electives programme' Trust wide, an extracurricular initiative aimed at ensuring that 100% of KS3 students participate in sport or physical activity outside of lessons.

**Key Points:**

1. **The Power of Teachers:**
- Teachers play a pivotal role in shaping the lives of young people.
- They have the ability to inspire, motivate, and instill a growth mindset in their students.

2. **High-Performance Mindset:**
- A high-performance teacher is one who creates a classroom environment where students feel supported, challenged, and encouraged to reach their full potential.
- It involves setting high standards, providing clear feedback, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

3. **Creating a High-Performance Environment:**
- It is essential to establish a positive and supportive school culture where students feel valued and respected.
- Teachers should focus on developing strong relationships with their students and understanding their individual needs and aspirations.

4. **The Importance of Hard Work:**
- Hard work is a non-negotiable for achieving success.
- Teachers should emphasize the importance of perseverance, resilience, and dedication to their students.

5. **Aspirational Goals:**
- It is important to set aspirational goals for students and provide them with the opportunities and resources they need to achieve those goals.
- This can involve creating partnerships with universities, businesses, and other organizations to provide students with real-world experiences and exposure to different career paths.

6. **Growth Mindset:**
- Teachers should foster a growth mindset in their students, encouraging them to embrace challenges, learn from their mistakes, and continuously strive for improvement.
- This involves creating a classroom environment where students feel safe to take risks and try new things.

7. **The Importance of Role Models:**
- Teachers serve as role models for their students, and their behavior and attitudes have a significant impact on the students' development.
- Teachers should strive to be positive role models, demonstrating the values and behaviors they want to see in their students.

8. **The Golden Rule for High-Performance Living:**
- The golden rule for living a high-performance life is to work hard, knuckle down, and take opportunities when they arise.
- It involves embracing challenges, overcoming obstacles, and never giving up on your dreams.

**Conclusion:**

Ed Haslam Whiston's insights on high performance in teaching provide valuable lessons for educators and anyone looking to make a positive impact on the lives of young people. By creating a supportive and aspirational learning environment, fostering a growth mindset, and serving as positive role models, teachers can empower their students to achieve their full potential and lead fulfilling lives.

[00:00.000 -> 00:08.320] Hi there, I'm Jay Comfrey and this is a very special episode of High Performance.
[00:08.320 -> 00:12.240] Look, you know this podcast is here to remind you that it's within.
[00:12.240 -> 00:15.200] Your ambition, your purpose, your story are all there.
[00:15.200 -> 00:19.520] We just help unlock it by turning the lived experiences of the planet's highest performers
[00:19.520 -> 00:20.760] into your life lessons.
[00:20.760 -> 00:24.360] And what's really magic for us is that you then pass it on.
[00:24.360 -> 00:25.080] So we help unlock things for you and that you then pass it on. So we help
[00:25.080 -> 00:30.100] unlock things for you and then you help unlock things for other people. And one of the kind
[00:30.100 -> 00:34.580] of recurring themes, I guess, of the listeners to high performance is that we have many teachers.
[00:34.580 -> 00:41.040] We have many, um, CEOs and startup entrepreneurs and leaders, but we have an incredible amount
[00:41.040 -> 00:44.860] of teachers. I think actually, if you spoke to the high performance team, you would probably
[00:44.860 -> 00:47.100] hear from them that we get more emails,
[00:47.100 -> 00:49.040] more messages, more voice notes,
[00:49.040 -> 00:50.920] more interaction with the teachers
[00:50.920 -> 00:53.040] than any other profession on the planet.
[00:53.040 -> 00:55.680] And we're not just talking about teachers in the UK
[00:55.680 -> 00:57.080] where our podcast is based.
[00:57.080 -> 00:59.520] Teachers around the world are being inspired
[00:59.520 -> 01:01.920] by these podcasts and crucially for us,
[01:01.920 -> 01:03.880] sharing them with their pupils,
[01:03.880 -> 01:05.520] which is what we're most excited about.
[01:05.520 -> 01:08.320] So we thought, how cool to chat to a teacher
[01:08.320 -> 01:10.860] about exactly why high performance has resonated,
[01:10.860 -> 01:12.400] what they're doing to bring high performance
[01:12.400 -> 01:15.720] into their own schools, and why maybe for you listening,
[01:15.720 -> 01:18.160] you can realize that teaching is one of the most
[01:18.160 -> 01:21.020] remarkable careers on the planet,
[01:21.020 -> 01:23.840] and you can then change your life by becoming a teacher.
[01:23.840 -> 01:28.600] So we're about to meet someone who is the director of sporting excellence at the trust where
[01:28.600 -> 01:31.940] he works which is overseeing I guess the the sporting excellence of everyone
[01:31.940 -> 01:36.320] involved in that trust but also overseeing the elective program Trustwide
[01:36.320 -> 01:40.640] which is their extracurricular initiative to make sure 100% of
[01:40.640 -> 01:46.160] students at key stage 3 participate in sport or physical activity outside of lessons.
[01:46.160 -> 01:50.920] And we all know from the conversations we've had on this podcast, just how much you can
[01:50.920 -> 01:55.840] change your mind by changing your body. The trust this person works for has an ethos about
[01:55.840 -> 01:59.840] leveling the playing field, doing whatever it can to give opportunities to state school
[01:59.840 -> 02:06.840] students that are normally only found in the private or the independent sector. So it's time to welcome to high performance.
[02:07.120 -> 02:10.920] A man who actually has created his own in school podcast inspired by high
[02:10.920 -> 02:14.200] performance, which I love. We'll talk about that in great detail. Ed Haslam.
[02:14.200 -> 02:15.040] Hi Ed.
[02:15.240 -> 02:16.080] Hi Jake.
[02:16.240 -> 02:20.000] Mate so nice to meet you. So, um, you're now on high performance,
[02:20.000 -> 02:22.360] having listened to high performance for a long time. How does that feel?
[02:22.880 -> 02:25.760] Um, it's totally surreal, actually.
[02:25.760 -> 02:27.800] Something that I, when I started listening,
[02:27.800 -> 02:29.320] the last thing I could possibly think of
[02:29.320 -> 02:31.280] would be that I would be an episode
[02:31.280 -> 02:33.720] or I'd be speaking to you, so,
[02:33.720 -> 02:35.600] yeah, really surreal, actually.
[02:35.600 -> 02:36.960] Isn't that part of the magic, though, Ed,
[02:36.960 -> 02:39.280] that I think when people see the name High Performance
[02:39.280 -> 02:40.440] or maybe in the early days
[02:40.440 -> 02:42.480] when we were just speaking to big sporting stars,
[02:42.480 -> 02:44.840] you know, it was like, oh, that podcast is for people
[02:44.840 -> 02:48.920] who are really super elite, high achieving millionaires or business owners
[02:48.920 -> 02:54.680] or gold medal winners or Olympians. The truth is this podcast is here for absolutely anyone.
[02:54.680 -> 03:00.240] And it's time we realized that every single person on the planet, especially teachers
[03:00.240 -> 03:01.760] can and should be high performance, right?
[03:01.760 -> 03:06.400] Absolutely. And I think those billionaires, the millionaires, the Olympians, the professional
[03:06.400 -> 03:10.400] athletes, they all started at school. So I think it's a really powerful profession,
[03:11.760 -> 03:14.640] one that certainly shouldn't be overlooked in the importance
[03:15.200 -> 03:18.320] where it stands in our sort of in the social standards, really.
[03:18.320 -> 03:22.800] So what do you think then makes a high performance teacher and makes a high performance
[03:22.800 -> 03:23.840] school environment?
[03:23.840 -> 03:28.520] It's a really difficult question that because every school is completely different. We have
[03:28.520 -> 03:33.560] really sort of simple principles that if our students work hard, they're coachable and
[03:33.560 -> 03:39.160] they do their best, that high performance will resonate across a year group, a form
[03:39.160 -> 03:46.940] group, a class. It's really simple to, I feel, to get right, but it's much easier said than it is to actually
[03:46.940 -> 03:47.940] put it into practice.
[03:47.940 -> 03:49.580] Jason Vale – So how would you do that?
[03:49.580 -> 03:54.120] Because I'm a, I'm a parent and I spend a lot of my time trying to convince my nine-year-old
[03:54.120 -> 03:56.700] and seven-year-old that they need a growth mindset.
[03:56.700 -> 03:59.900] They need to open their minds to understand all the magic in the world.
[03:59.900 -> 04:06.080] In fact, to the point where Florence, my eldest, who very much speaks her mind, Ed, she went, Oh,
[04:13.520 -> 04:18.000] not high performance again. I'm like, okay. And I'm sure maybe some of your pupils feel the same when Mr. Haslam comes in going, guys, I've just listened to the latest episode, but you know,
[04:18.000 -> 04:21.760] you've got this growth mindset, right? You listen to the podcast, you understand it. I do too.
[04:22.400 -> 04:27.960] What would you say to people listening to this, parents, maybe fellow teachers about the things you've done with your pupils where
[04:27.960 -> 04:31.600] you've thought, Oh, that they've really understood that that's really helped them to develop
[04:31.600 -> 04:35.720] this mindset where they understand that they're responsible and they're in control and there's
[04:35.720 -> 04:37.040] so much out there for them.
[04:37.040 -> 04:43.680] Yeah. And, and, and it's, we, we, I said, we keep it really simple, but actually we,
[04:43.680 -> 04:45.360] we speak a lot with our students about this
[04:45.360 -> 04:51.120] and I'm a big advocate of that small margins and it's getting students to understand that
[04:51.120 -> 04:55.920] those little things that they can do can have a big difference. I work with a lot of high
[04:55.920 -> 05:00.860] performing students when it comes to their sporting ability, but for a young person to
[05:00.860 -> 05:09.320] understand that doing something slightly different or doing that little bit extra could make a massive difference. And it's just giving the time to allow that
[05:09.320 -> 05:13.160] to happen. And if you can build confidence and show results and everything that we're
[05:13.160 -> 05:17.680] trying to do within our trust, it certainly does make a difference. We've sort of had
[05:17.680 -> 05:22.040] this remit of this Sporting Excellence for the past two years, and I can notice that
[05:22.040 -> 05:29.920] just doing those little things, those conversations, directing them to things like your podcast is making a huge difference. It's changing the mindset.
[05:29.920 -> 05:35.280] A mindset they probably weren't even, it wasn't even a thought that they would need to change.
[05:35.280 -> 05:40.080] They thought they're on course to do something, but actually giving them the exposure to those
[05:40.080 -> 05:48.240] certain things is really, really important. And without teachers and without what we do it becomes very difficult because the world that
[05:48.240 -> 05:52.120] I'm working in a lot of the parents don't have a growth mindset and
[05:52.120 -> 05:56.720] they aren't familiar with with how this operates and it needs people like
[05:56.720 -> 06:00.680] myself and my colleagues to allow that to happen. One of the ways you're doing
[06:00.680 -> 06:04.280] that is you've created your own podcast what was the inspiration behind that? So
[06:04.280 -> 06:10.200] the initial thought was we wanted to gain exposure of what we do within the trust.
[06:10.200 -> 06:14.240] And we thought by hosting a podcast that would allow that to happen.
[06:14.240 -> 06:16.120] We wanted to invite people on.
[06:16.120 -> 06:20.520] We want to talk about their journey, give advice to our young people.
[06:20.520 -> 06:24.840] But some of your podcast is completely inspirational with that.
[06:24.840 -> 06:29.800] Now, it's a really difficult one because we have to find a niche and what that niche is at the minute.
[06:29.800 -> 06:33.800] I'm really not too sure. We certainly don't get the viewers that we wanted,
[06:33.800 -> 06:39.500] but actually what we are doing is we're giving exposure and we're trying to tie that into a curriculum within our school.
[06:39.500 -> 06:47.600] So some of the things that we'll speak about will have maybe have an impact on their GCC or A-level curriculum and it's sort of finding that niche or finding what
[06:47.600 -> 06:51.400] people are interested in. We spent a lot of time thinking about what the
[06:51.400 -> 06:56.600] parents would want. So for me I've grown up playing sport but I don't think my
[06:56.600 -> 07:01.000] parents fully understood the pressures, the needs and the wants that I probably
[07:01.000 -> 07:04.680] desired when I was a young age. So it's trying to give the parents some insight
[07:04.680 -> 07:06.200] because a lot of our parents,
[07:06.200 -> 07:07.920] they don't have that sporting background
[07:07.920 -> 07:11.400] and they don't have the exposure to elite sport.
[07:11.400 -> 07:13.080] And if we're not going to provide that,
[07:13.080 -> 07:14.260] then who is really?
[07:14.260 -> 07:15.280] We've had some great guests.
[07:15.280 -> 07:17.460] We've had ex-students.
[07:17.460 -> 07:21.000] We have current members of staff that play elite sport.
[07:21.000 -> 07:24.400] We have owners of clubs, ex-athletes,
[07:24.400 -> 07:26.600] current athletes, nutritionists, it is really
[07:26.600 -> 07:29.320] interesting but it's making sure people buy into that.
[07:29.320 -> 07:32.880] So Ed, let's talk then about some of the guests that have joined you actually on your podcast
[07:32.880 -> 07:36.960] because I would love to just ask you a quick question about each guest and just tell me
[07:36.960 -> 07:41.760] the big thing, the big learning from them. So you were joined by Vic Burgess, who's assistant
[07:41.760 -> 07:48.160] coach at England Netball, and she spoke to you about getting comfortable being uncomfortable. Why is that important for young people?
[07:48.160 -> 07:52.720] I think because they shouldn't be comfortable all the time. Everything that we do and we
[07:52.720 -> 07:57.800] try to do, I think if students become uncomfortable it sets them up for their
[07:57.800 -> 08:01.200] career and it sounds big and it might sound dramatic but if
[08:01.200 -> 08:04.480] they're sat in an interview or they're presenting to something they aren't
[08:04.480 -> 08:07.000] going to be comfortable and it's really important
[08:07.000 -> 08:11.120] that those students do feel uncomfortable at times and it's not a nice feeling
[08:11.120 -> 08:15.160] but it's a feeling that our students need to get used to to make it in the
[08:15.160 -> 08:18.920] real world. I think it's really important and there was also a conversation with
[08:18.920 -> 08:23.000] Conor O'Keefe who's a former professional goalkeeper and the title of
[08:23.000 -> 08:26.640] his was ambition,, Dedication,
[08:26.640 -> 08:28.520] and a Golden Envelope.
[08:28.520 -> 08:30.080] I mean, I love the conversation
[08:30.080 -> 08:31.440] about ambition and dedication,
[08:31.440 -> 08:33.400] because I often see people everywhere
[08:33.400 -> 08:35.960] and I think that their sort of ambition
[08:35.960 -> 08:37.720] gets them to a certain point, right?
[08:37.720 -> 08:38.680] They want to achieve something,
[08:38.680 -> 08:41.720] but it's actually the consistency in their behaviors
[08:41.720 -> 08:43.480] that helps them to reach it.
[08:43.480 -> 08:45.760] And I wonder whether there's an important conversation
[08:45.760 -> 08:47.980] from someone like Connor for young people
[08:47.980 -> 08:50.960] that in this world where everything happens quick,
[08:50.960 -> 08:55.520] where you can watch a video of 15 seconds
[08:55.520 -> 08:56.780] of someone being incredible,
[08:56.780 -> 08:58.560] or you want to buy something online
[08:58.560 -> 09:00.000] and it's delivered the same day.
[09:00.000 -> 09:01.780] Young people are used to having everything
[09:01.780 -> 09:03.600] very, very quickly.
[09:03.600 -> 09:06.900] Actually, true success can take a really long time to arrive,
[09:06.900 -> 09:09.000] and it's probably a really important lesson, I think, isn't it?
[09:09.000 -> 09:09.900] Yeah, absolutely.
[09:09.900 -> 09:13.100] And Connor, he was saying himself, he's not the biggest name,
[09:13.100 -> 09:14.800] but actually his journey is incredible.
[09:14.800 -> 09:18.300] He was offered a scholarship at a football club,
[09:18.300 -> 09:20.500] which he actually turned down.
[09:20.500 -> 09:24.200] He decided to go on and do his A-levels and go to university,
[09:24.200 -> 09:29.200] and he moved then to Spain, and the golden envelope is reference to, he sent a
[09:29.200 -> 09:35.120] handwritten letter to every club in Spain, advertising himself, promoting himself.
[09:35.520 -> 09:37.160] And only a few got back to him.
[09:37.160 -> 09:41.600] He would go and visit the clubs and it just shows the ambition of Connor and
[09:41.600 -> 09:42.960] the diversity that he's gone through.
[09:42.960 -> 09:48.240] He's not, and he said it on the podcast, he's not the tallest of athletes and being a goalkeeper
[09:48.240 -> 09:53.240] stereotypically you do need to have a height but he has worked his backside
[09:53.240 -> 09:56.840] off to get where he wants to get to. He's done everything he can, he hasn't just
[09:56.840 -> 10:01.240] gone for it, he's taken a consideration to thinking that actually his A-levels
[10:01.240 -> 10:07.800] and his academics and his education is really really important and without that he probably then isn't going to be the person that he's going to be or
[10:07.800 -> 10:13.880] was or is, sorry. He's done his time, he's taken his time, but he's reaping the rewards
[10:13.880 -> 10:17.800] now and he openly says how difficult that element of his life was or that period of
[10:17.800 -> 10:25.040] his life. But he's played in Sweden and he's loving it and he's got an academic background.
[10:25.040 -> 10:30.240] If the football doesn't work out or when he comes to retire, it's a really short lifespan
[10:30.240 -> 10:32.320] being a professional footballer.
[10:32.320 -> 10:36.200] And he acknowledged from an early age that he needed something upon retirement to fall
[10:36.200 -> 10:37.200] back on.
[10:37.200 -> 10:40.840] And you're also joined by Joe McConnell, who's the Loughborough University's Para
[10:40.840 -> 10:41.840] Sprints coach.
[10:41.840 -> 10:45.120] And I know that you've created a relationship with Loughborough Uni, which I think is fantastic
[10:45.120 -> 10:50.120] for your pupils to see the pathway to higher education.
[10:51.320 -> 10:53.200] I love the title of Joe's episode.
[10:53.200 -> 10:55.560] He said, I think everybody has the ability to be a champion.
[10:55.560 -> 10:57.440] Now I really want to understand from you
[10:57.440 -> 11:00.000] how we can instill this mindset into young people,
[11:00.000 -> 11:01.800] because there is no doubt that when you stand
[11:01.800 -> 11:02.840] in front of a class of children,
[11:02.840 -> 11:04.520] there will be some children who feel like,
[11:04.520 -> 11:06.680] yep, I can definitely be a champion.
[11:06.680 -> 11:08.760] There'll be others who are kind of like,
[11:08.760 -> 11:10.120] yeah, maybe it's possible,
[11:10.120 -> 11:12.320] but there will also be a handful of kids who think,
[11:12.320 -> 11:14.720] that's not for me, I'm not destined for that.
[11:14.720 -> 11:17.160] You know, the other children are on a path to greatness.
[11:17.160 -> 11:20.520] You know, that's not going to be my story.
[11:20.520 -> 11:22.560] And it's how we help them to realize right
[11:22.560 -> 11:24.120] at the very beginning that thinking like that
[11:24.120 -> 11:26.240] will almost certainly ensure it doesn't happen.
[11:26.240 -> 11:31.000] Having this mindset that you can do anything and believing it's okay, it's okay to be ambitious.
[11:31.000 -> 11:37.360] I think so many young people, Ed, protect themselves from disappointment and rejection
[11:37.360 -> 11:42.200] and failure and letdowns by not even trying, not even daring to imagine that they could
[11:42.200 -> 11:44.280] be the next great thing.
[11:44.280 -> 11:45.600] So how do we get
[11:45.600 -> 11:49.440] that into young people that everyone has the ability to be a champion?
[11:49.440 -> 11:54.520] I think it's taking everybody on an individual basis. We can't brand everybody the same.
[11:54.520 -> 11:57.800] It's something that we have to work tirelessly on. We have students that come through our
[11:57.800 -> 12:03.240] doors that have really low self-esteem and we have students that are really, really confident.
[12:03.240 -> 12:10.720] And within that, it's to making sure that everybody is giving those opportunities, it's everybody is taking on an individual basis,
[12:10.720 -> 12:14.080] it's not that we're branding everybody with the same or tarnishing everyone with the same brush,
[12:14.080 -> 12:19.040] it's making sure that we are doing things within the curriculum and outside of the curriculum
[12:19.040 -> 12:23.440] that is allowing everybody to succeed. And again, I said it before, it's really, really difficult
[12:23.440 -> 12:26.240] and I don't think we've sort
[12:24.380 -> 12:28.520] of we've got all the answers but we're
[12:26.240 -> 12:30.800] desperately trying we have to give
[12:28.520 -> 12:32.760] time to each individual student which
[12:30.800 -> 12:33.760] again is difficult but we have to do
[12:32.760 -> 12:35.400] that we have to have those
[12:33.760 -> 12:37.920] conversations we have to find out what
[12:35.400 -> 12:40.120] makes these students tick and without that
[12:37.920 -> 12:41.960] time and that dedication it's not going
[12:40.120 -> 12:44.040] to happen and and it boils back to the
[12:41.960 -> 12:45.800] sort of the type of teacher and the
[12:44.040 -> 12:47.280] teacher that people want to be and you've got to give that time, you've got
[12:47.280 -> 12:50.800] to make sure that things are put in place to make sure that everybody
[12:50.800 -> 12:55.040] succeeds. Every student that comes to the door is different and we have a
[12:55.040 -> 12:59.080] really, really important job to make sure that happens and it's easy for me to
[12:59.080 -> 13:03.720] to be on here and say it but we have to find ways of doing it. It's giving that
[13:03.720 -> 13:09.120] time and making sure that everybody regardless of circumstance regardless of background we
[13:09.120 -> 13:13.880] have a duty of care to these students and we aim to do it in a brilliant way
[13:13.880 -> 13:18.240] really. And can I tell you something that I also I wrestle and struggle with Ed is
[13:18.240 -> 13:23.040] this idea of telling every young person that they can be or maybe should be
[13:23.040 -> 13:25.020] destined for greatness they should be
[13:25.020 -> 13:29.420] searching to be elite or be incredible where do you sit on this because
[13:29.420 -> 13:34.880] actually isn't it okay to also say listen just surviving and being happy
[13:34.880 -> 13:38.280] and having great relationships with people is enough we don't all have to
[13:38.280 -> 13:48.780] strive to be the next somebody no and I 100% agree with that and it is okay just to be okay but I still
[13:48.780 -> 13:53.520] think that we have within our trust we actually have the three N's and that sounds a bit sort
[13:53.520 -> 13:58.640] of ridiculous but they're unashamedly academic, unapologetically aspirational and uncompromising
[13:58.640 -> 14:03.720] standards and that aspirational one really sort of resonates with me is that I do think
[14:03.720 -> 14:05.960] we can be aspirational and I do think we can
[14:06.160 -> 14:12.940] Deliver that in a way where it isn't so intense or it's not putting too much pressure and it is okay to be okay
[14:12.940 -> 14:19.300] But I do think we can be aspirational not it's the more I sort of think about that and and the more I'm sort of set
[14:19.300 -> 14:23.920] On actually we can give these opportunities for students to fly and to excel
[14:24.240 -> 14:30.480] But acknowledging that it is okay to be okay. I think that's really important. So from
[14:30.480 -> 14:33.720] all the podcasts you've listened to and the way that you've sent this into the
[14:33.720 -> 14:37.080] classrooms and created your own podcast, if I said to you now what is your
[14:37.080 -> 14:40.200] definition of high performance, what would you go with Ed? Probably going back
[14:40.200 -> 14:45.760] to what I said at the start really, is that as long as our students are doing their
[14:45.760 -> 14:51.440] best, they're coachable and they're working hard and actually removing that ceiling of
[14:51.440 -> 14:55.680] not thinking you can do something, I think that's really important. And I suppose the
[14:55.680 -> 15:00.720] stigma towards it when we talk about high performance, and I suppose my title of being
[15:00.720 -> 15:08.680] Director of Sporting Excellence, and I think excellence can be misdreaved in that it's just for the best, and that's not it at all.
[15:08.680 -> 15:11.720] My role is aspirational, it's wanting those students
[15:11.720 -> 15:14.880] to achieve something, and it's giving those opportunities
[15:14.880 -> 15:16.880] for the students to allow that to happen.
[15:16.880 -> 15:17.880] Really nice.
[15:17.880 -> 15:19.920] And what are your three non-negotiables?
[15:21.640 -> 15:22.680] I've probably just said them.
[15:22.680 -> 15:27.560] It's that, it's do your best, be coachable and work hard.
[15:27.560 -> 15:29.940] I think there's also something really interesting there
[15:29.940 -> 15:32.640] as well, that often people will say,
[15:32.640 -> 15:34.680] well, this is what I'm trying to instill in others.
[15:34.680 -> 15:37.240] And then when we ask them about their non-negotiables,
[15:37.240 -> 15:38.460] then they're different to the things
[15:38.460 -> 15:39.300] they're trying to instill.
[15:39.300 -> 15:40.580] Whereas I think what's really interesting there
[15:40.580 -> 15:42.840] is the things that you are trying to put into the minds
[15:42.840 -> 15:43.800] of young people, I then say,
[15:43.800 -> 15:48.340] well, what are your non-negotiables? And they're exactly the same. How important
[15:48.340 -> 15:53.380] is it for our teachers and for anyone in a position of leadership to not be instilling
[15:53.380 -> 15:59.480] something different to the things that inspire them? For me, it makes it so much more authentic.
[15:59.480 -> 16:03.480] Yeah, absolutely. And I've always gone with that. And I think my parents have instilled
[16:03.480 -> 16:06.160] that in me, is that I can only do my best.
[16:06.160 -> 16:07.800] I need to listen, I need to take on board.
[16:07.800 -> 16:11.280] And even now, I've been within education for 14 years,
[16:11.280 -> 16:13.240] and every day I'm learning something,
[16:13.240 -> 16:14.600] and I'm open to learning things.
[16:14.600 -> 16:15.880] I certainly don't know everything.
[16:15.880 -> 16:20.180] I try to gain as much understanding of every topic
[16:20.180 -> 16:21.560] that's put in front of me,
[16:21.560 -> 16:23.080] but I have to still be coachable.
[16:23.080 -> 16:27.440] I'm not sort of sat here thinking I know everything, and've got all the answers because that's absolutely not the case.
[16:28.000 -> 16:33.040] And I work hard every day and I would sort of say that to us blue in the face. I don't think you
[16:33.040 -> 16:38.000] sort of get anywhere without working hard. I know you've had a lot of unbelievably successful people
[16:38.000 -> 16:44.080] on your podcast and I think whatever sort of whatever's underlying is hard work and I think
[16:44.080 -> 16:46.080] that is vastly important to promote
[16:46.080 -> 16:49.520] that with every young people that's sat in front of me.
[16:49.520 -> 16:53.360] And for anyone listening to this thinking, I love the way Ed talks but I'm sure he's
[16:53.360 -> 16:57.980] an outlier in the world of education, I'm sure it isn't that inspiring and that much
[16:57.980 -> 17:01.000] fun and that rewarding to be a teacher.
[17:01.000 -> 17:10.880] What would you say to someone considering teaching as a profession? Actually, I listened to your education episode with Kelly Holmes and she spoke about teachers
[17:10.880 -> 17:15.680] and the impact that her PE teacher had on her. And they made reference or you made reference
[17:15.680 -> 17:20.080] to the golden seed moment. And I think that's extremely powerful. And I think anyone who's
[17:20.080 -> 17:29.480] looking to get into education has that ability to change someone's life and not sort of overestimating that I think you has as a teacher have the
[17:29.480 -> 17:34.400] ability to change someone's life in a few years time if I hope that the students
[17:34.400 -> 17:37.880] I work with now they look back and they see what we've put in place with all our
[17:37.880 -> 17:42.960] the Spotting Excellence stuff that we're doing, our Elite Pathway where we work
[17:42.960 -> 17:49.440] with like I said we work with some brilliant partners we work with, like you said, we work with some brilliant partners, we work with Loughborough, we work with a the Law
[17:49.440 -> 17:52.960] Family Educational Trust and all these sort of things are building up to
[17:52.960 -> 17:57.480] this changing someone's life and I think as a teacher you do have that power to
[17:57.480 -> 18:02.320] change someone's life and it's a really sort of overwhelming thought but
[18:02.320 -> 18:08.320] actually given the opportunity and you have have you are in such a powerful but privileged position that
[18:08.320 -> 18:11.840] you that teachers shouldn't underestimate it it's a fantastic career
[18:11.840 -> 18:15.900] to be in one that opens a lot of doors and I go back to working hard and you
[18:15.900 -> 18:19.720] work hard and the opportunities are there as well and I am a big advocate of
[18:19.720 -> 18:24.600] education I'm a big advocate of state education it's it's exactly that you
[18:24.600 -> 18:25.120] have the power
[18:25.120 -> 18:26.560] to change someone's life.
[18:26.560 -> 18:28.960] And we'll listen, Ed, my life was definitely changed
[18:28.960 -> 18:32.080] by the teachers that taught me at the state school
[18:32.080 -> 18:34.480] that I went to, and also my mom being a teacher
[18:34.480 -> 18:37.120] meant that she very much had a close eye on me.
[18:37.120 -> 18:40.280] And when I inevitably did slip behind
[18:40.280 -> 18:42.320] and didn't deliver as I should have done,
[18:42.320 -> 18:45.200] it wasn't just her, I think for my mom,
[18:45.200 -> 18:47.400] it was about me doing extra work, right?
[18:47.400 -> 18:51.200] Which was important for her because I had to get the results
[18:51.200 -> 18:52.300] to go and do A-levels and things.
[18:52.300 -> 18:55.100] But actually the really crucial thing was the teachers
[18:55.100 -> 18:57.600] at school that made me realize, like,
[18:57.600 -> 18:59.000] A, this is all about you.
[18:59.000 -> 19:00.100] You know, at the end of the day,
[19:00.100 -> 19:02.500] we will go home to our families and carry on with our lives.
[19:02.500 -> 19:04.900] You're the one that has to walk with these exam results
[19:04.900 -> 19:05.820] or with this start in
[19:05.820 -> 19:07.660] life forevermore. That was the first thing.
[19:08.340 -> 19:09.620] The second thing was it was,
[19:10.460 -> 19:14.540] it was just that work ethic and that understanding of the more you put in,
[19:14.540 -> 19:15.620] the more you get out.
[19:15.740 -> 19:18.700] And that is something that I've carried with me for the rest of my life really.
[19:18.700 -> 19:21.980] And that absolutely came from a, you know, a collection of teachers,
[19:21.980 -> 19:25.280] Mr. Maxwell, Mr. Pew, the teachers who taught me at secondary
[19:25.280 -> 19:30.800] school. They changed everything for me without question. Yeah yeah and it is that and it's you
[19:30.800 -> 19:35.280] do you you have your children's lives in your hands and you can shape them the best way possible and
[19:35.840 -> 19:40.800] I said we work in a state environment we have five schools the trust that I work for has five
[19:40.800 -> 19:46.000] schools all across um North Manchester and that's a variant of backgrounds as well and some of the a chyfathrebu ym mhob manchester y ddwyrain. Ac mae hynny'n gynrychioliad o ddiweddaraeth hefyd.
[19:46.000 -> 19:48.000] Mae rhai o'r myfyrwyr ddim yn cael'r cefnogaeth peryntholaethol
[19:48.000 -> 19:52.000] y byddwch chi'n ei ddewis, ac yna mae eich rôl fel ddarlithwr yn
[19:52.000 -> 19:55.000] dod ymhellach. Mae'n sicrhau bod y myfyrwyr hynny yn
[19:55.000 -> 19:57.000] y peth iawn. Mae gennym myfyrwyr sydd wedi bod
[19:57.000 -> 19:58.000] nid oed wedi mynd i'r brifysgol, neu mae'r rhai o'r
[19:58.000 -> 20:00.000] pharent wedi bod nid oed wedi mynd i'r brifysgol.
[20:00.000 -> 20:02.000] Felly mae'n rhaid i ni wneud y cyfleoedd hynny
[20:02.000 -> 20:07.600] yn ymdrechol ac yn rhoi'r stans y gallwch chi cael yr hyn rydych chi eisiau, ond rhaid i ni It's us making those opportunities aspirational and giving that stance that you can achieve anything you want,
[20:07.600 -> 20:10.560] but we do need to open those doors to make sure that happens.
[20:10.560 -> 20:13.520] I love that. Go on then, Ed. Your final answer for us then,
[20:13.520 -> 20:17.760] your one golden rule for living your own high-performance life.
[20:17.760 -> 20:19.760] How would you like to leave people thinking today?
[20:20.720 -> 20:27.800] I suppose it's going back to what I've sort of already said numerous times, but I think
[20:27.800 -> 20:33.880] the element of working hard is beyond everything. I'm certainly not the most academic teacher
[20:33.880 -> 20:38.520] in our trust. I have a master's degree, but I think that boils down to me working hard.
[20:38.520 -> 20:42.780] You can't underestimate the power of working hard. Some people, it's naturally very easy
[20:42.780 -> 20:49.680] for them, but I still think there's a barrier to that. I think boiling, it's working hard, it's knuckling down, it's taking opportunities
[20:49.680 -> 20:53.480] when, when they're put in front of you, um, and don't be overwhelmed by a situation.
[20:53.480 -> 20:54.400] Speaker 2
[20:54.400 -> 20:58.800] Fantastic. I've loved this conversation. Ed, um, I always feel when I, when I speak to
[20:58.800 -> 21:03.520] teachers that, you know, the future of our children is in safe hands. I am absolutely
[21:03.520 -> 21:05.440] aware that the job is not easy.
[21:05.440 -> 21:07.560] I'm completely understanding of the fact
[21:07.560 -> 21:09.840] that it has very unique challenges
[21:09.840 -> 21:12.880] and it's demanding on teachers.
[21:12.880 -> 21:14.640] It's not always a bed of roses.
[21:14.640 -> 21:16.400] But I think the biggest thing is that, you know,
[21:16.400 -> 21:18.480] you know, and all the other teachers who are listening
[21:18.480 -> 21:20.400] to this or potential teachers listening to this
[21:20.400 -> 21:22.560] or parents listening to this,
[21:22.560 -> 21:23.880] is an awareness that, you know,
[21:23.880 -> 21:26.600] the future of our world
[21:26.600 -> 21:27.760] is in the hands of teachers.
[21:27.760 -> 21:29.200] Because as you said right at the very start
[21:29.200 -> 21:31.600] of this podcast, every single person
[21:31.600 -> 21:33.700] who we've ever interviewed in the three and a bit years
[21:33.700 -> 21:36.320] of high performance has been through education.
[21:36.320 -> 21:38.840] At some point they've sat or stood in front of a teacher
[21:38.840 -> 21:40.500] who's had an impact on them.
[21:40.500 -> 21:43.280] And now that responsibility is in your hands.
[21:43.280 -> 21:45.920] So, mate, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
[21:45.920 -> 21:47.280] I really appreciate it.
[21:47.280 -> 21:48.720] No, thank you so much for having me, Jake.
[21:48.720 -> 21:50.000] I really, really appreciate your time
[21:50.000 -> 21:51.960] and giving the opportunity to speak.
[21:51.960 -> 21:52.800] Brilliant.
[21:52.800 -> 21:53.920] Thank you so much for your time
[21:53.920 -> 21:56.320] and to all of you teachers that listen to
[21:56.320 -> 21:58.440] and support us on high performance,
[21:58.440 -> 22:01.080] we are hugely grateful and we hear and see
[22:01.080 -> 22:02.440] every single one of your messages
[22:02.440 -> 22:04.680] and we know what an important job you're doing
[22:04.680 -> 22:05.760] for the future.
[22:05.760 -> 22:08.300] Huge thanks to Ed for sharing his thoughts
[22:08.300 -> 22:09.440] on today's podcast.
[22:09.440 -> 22:11.240] Please, for you, continue to spread the learnings
[22:11.240 -> 22:12.760] you're taking from this series.
[22:12.760 -> 22:14.840] Do what Ed does and try and get high performance
[22:14.840 -> 22:16.820] into the minds of those people around you.
[22:16.820 -> 22:18.500] So again, thank you to all the teachers
[22:18.500 -> 22:19.720] who listen to this podcast.
[22:19.720 -> 22:21.400] But if you are listening to this
[22:21.400 -> 22:24.880] and you want a dynamic, creative, amazing life
[22:24.880 -> 22:26.000] where you hope to inspire
[22:26.000 -> 22:28.520] the next generation and you're not a teacher,
[22:28.520 -> 22:30.080] then think about it.
[22:30.080 -> 22:32.100] Search Get Into Teaching Now,
[22:32.100 -> 22:34.120] and remember, there is no secret.
[22:34.120 -> 22:35.120] It is all there for you.
[22:35.120 -> 22:36.560] So chase your world-class basics.
[22:36.560 -> 22:38.840] Don't get high on your own supply.
[22:38.840 -> 22:41.920] Remain humble, curious, and empathetic,
[22:41.920 -> 22:43.320] and we'll see you very soon.
[22:44.340 -> 22:48.500] curious and empathetic, and we'll see you very soon.