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In a fast-moving education landscape filled with new ideas, products and pressures, it can be difficult for leaders to know where to focus their time and energy. At the upcoming International Leaders Conference 2026, Meg Lee will challenge leaders to slow down, think deeply, and use evidence to drive meaningful, lasting change.

With over 30 years’ experience in leadership roles in a large school system, including a decade specialising in learning science implementation, Meg brings a powerful perspective on how organisations – not just individuals – learn. In this exclusive Q&A, she shares practical insights on leadership, implementation, and why doing fewer things better might be the key to real impact.

If you want to hear more of what Meg has to say, book your ticket to the International Leaders Conference 2026.

Can you tell us about your background and what you’ll be speaking about at the conference?
My name is Meg Lee, and I specialise in evidence-informed implementation at the school and district level. I spent 30 years working in a large district in the United States, supporting the implementation of learning science across around 45,000 students.

At the conference, I’ll be focusing on how we can bring meaningful learning to adults within organisations, looking at the difference between surface-level knowledge and deep, flexible understanding, and how systems can move towards more sustainable, scalable learning.

What is the biggest challenge school leaders face right now when trying to implement change?
I believe the biggest challenge is staying focused. There’s so much for leaders to think about, it’s easy to spread efforts too thinly.

The key is deciding where to invest efforts – identifying the few priorities that really matter and committing to them long enough to make a difference, without creating initiative fatigue for staff. It’s about balancing strategic clarity with a deep awareness of the human impact on the people doing the work.

Why do so many promising initiatives fail in schools?
One major reason is overload; too many initiatives placed on already full plates. But another key issue is a lack of alignment. Too often, schools don’t take the time to ask: How does this fit with what we’re already doing? Without that, initiatives feel fragmented rather than coherent.

There’s also a crucial question leaders need to ask: not just what are we adding? but what are we taking away? Sustainable change depends on making space for new priorities, not just stacking them on top of everything else.

What does effective leadership look like in practice today?
Effective leadership combines strategic thinking with a strong focus on people. It’s about understanding the strengths within your team and using them to build collective capacity. Great leaders don’t try to be the expert in everything, they recognise the expertise around them and create the conditions for others to lead. That sense of collective efficacy is what really drives progress.

What’s one trend in education that leaders shouldn’t ignore right now?
The rise of “quick fixes” and ready-made solutions being marketed to schools. Leaders are constantly being sold new programmes, tools and approaches. The important thing is to stay grounded in evidence. Leaders should always ask:

• Is this aligned with how we know people learn?
• Does it fit our specific context?
• Do we have the capacity to implement it well?

It’s not just about financial resources but time too. So, being thoughtful about how both are used is critical.

How should leaders be thinking about AI in education right now?
AI is an emerging area, and we should approach it with cautious optimism. There are opportunities – particularly in improving efficiency for teachers and leaders – but we need to be careful.

The most important thing is to anchor decisions in what we already know about how learning works. Rather than rushing in, leaders should take a deliberate approach, ensuring that any use of AI supports, rather than undermines, effective learning.

Why is it important for school leaders to come together at events like this conference?
As leaders, we spend so much time developing others that we often neglect our own learning.

I think of it like the instruction you hear on an aeroplane – put your own oxygen mask on before helping others. Leaders need to create space to build their own knowledge and capacity so they can better support their teams. Events like this provide that opportunity, allowing leaders to step back, learn, and refuel.

What advice would you give to leaders who are feeling stretched too thin?
First, recognise that feeling stretched is part of leadership, especially in education, where the work is deeply human and emotionally demanding. One helpful strategy is to separate yourself as a person from the role you’re in. Sometimes difficult decisions come with the position, not the individual.

It’s also important to find small ways to regain control and clarity. Even something simple – for example organising a space or completing a manageable task – can create the headspace needed to move forward with calm and focus.

What’s one idea you hope to challenge in leaders’ thinking?
I want leaders to start applying what we know about how individuals learn to how organisations change.

Schools and systems are made up of people, so the same principles apply. Just as students experience cognitive load, so do organisations. Just as prior knowledge matters for learning, it matters for change.

If we understand how learning works at an individual level, we can use those same principles to design more effective, sustainable change across entire systems.

Join Meg Lee and other outstanding speakers at the International Leaders Conference taking place between 7 -8 May online. This is a live, interactive conference – designed for shared reflection and practical next steps, not passive viewing (it won’t be available on demand), so make sure you secure your place today.

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Play is not a break from learning; it’s where some of the most profound learning happens. Yet, in today’s pressurised educational landscape, play-based approaches are often sidelined in favour of more structured, rote teaching methods.

On 12 February, we are hosting a free webinar in partnership with Teach Middle East focused on play-based learning. The webinar will be a practical deep dive into how play-based learning can transform engagement, deepen understanding, and develop the critical thinking and problem-solving skills your students need to thrive.

Attendees will learn how to deliver intentionally designed play-based experiences that align with curriculum goals and nurture creativity, collaboration, and joy in learning.
The panel will be made up of expert ICA educators, including:
• Donna Bonham-Russell (International Educator, Panaga School, Brunei)
• Jolinda Groothedde (IEYC/IPC Curriculum Leader, Holland International School, Singapore)
• Katy Freeman (IEYC International Educator, Seoul Foreign British School, South Korea)
• Laura James (Head of Inclusion and Play-Based Learning, ICA)
• Nivine AbouAichy (IEYC Curriculum Lead, PDO School, Oman).

During the webinar they will share real classroom examples, address common implementation challenges, and offer strategies for implementing play-based approaches to learning within a school community.

The session is designed for teachers, curriculum leaders and school administrators from any school, and will take place at 1PM GMT/5PM GST on 12 February 2026.

Register to reclaim the pedagogical power of play.

By The British College of Brazil

How can cross-phase professional learning facilitate collaboration and meaningful professional development in an International Primary & Secondary school, aligning Diverse Practice with a Shared Vision? 

The brief 

As international schools grow and evolve, so too does the challenge of creating professional learning that feels both meaningful and manageable for staff. In through schools like ours, spanning Pre-Nursery to Year 13, this challenge can be particularly pronounced. Colleagues work within different age groups, curricular frameworks and utilise a range of pedagogical approaches, yet are united by a shared commitment to the school vision and mission.

Learning Trios at The British College of Brazil 

This case study reflects on the use of ‘learning trios’: groups of three colleagues working together towards a shared professional development goal as part of a whole-school professional learning approach. The initiative was deliberately framed using the International Curriculum Association’s Process to Facilitate Learning, helping to create a common language for learning across the group of educators. Rather than offering a step-by-step account of what happened, this case study focuses on what we learned from the process: what worked well, where challenges emerged and what this might suggest for future processes.

Why learning trios? 

The decision to use learning trios grew out of a desire to strike a better balance between individual goals and collective learning. Like many schools, we recognised that large group professional development sessions can sometimes feel too broad, while individual performance targets can unintentionally lead to isolation for staff. There was also an acknowledged need at the school to bring the Primary and Secondary sections closer together and it was felt that professional development offered a means for achieving this.

As part of the first round of performance management meetings in September, teachers and assistant teachers identified their own professional development priorities. Line managers then collated these targets, and the Head of Primary and Head of Secondary worked together to look for areas of shared interest across the school. In some cases, strong and specific links emerged, for example, more effectively supporting students who were new to learning English or making better use of group-wide digital learning platforms.

Bringing colleagues together across Key Stages was a deliberate and important choice. It reflected the reality of a through school, where students’ learning journeys do not sit neatly within Key Stage boundaries, and it encouraged professional relationships and conversations that might not otherwise take place.

Using the ICA Process to Facilitate Learning 

A central feature of the initiative was its connection to the ICA’s Process to Facilitate Learning. This framework, most often used to support student learning, was applied to teacher professional learning to promote coherence across the trios. 

At the whole-school launch meeting, colleagues were invited to think of themselves as learners moving through the stages of the process: identifying an Entry Point, Knowledge Harvest, explaining and applying learning, reflecting on progress and considering next steps, and engaging in an Exit Point through a learning exhibition. 

Using the process was effective in two ways. Firstly, it helped normalise professional learning as an ongoing, reflective process rather than a fixed outcome linked solely to the performance management cycle. Secondly, it reinforced the idea that the ways we support teachers’ professional learning should mirror the practices we promote in classrooms. 

How the trios worked in practice 

Each trio was asked to hold an initial planning meeting to agree on what they hoped to achieve together, ‘ground rules’ for how they would work collaboratively and independently and decide how often they would meet over the following seven weeks. While no fixed meeting structure was imposed, trios were encouraged to keep brief minutes to capture key discussion points, decisions and reflections. This supported both continuity of meetings and shared accountability to the process.

Autonomy was an important feature of the approach. Trios were free to shape their own process in ways that felt relevant and practical, drawing on research, classroom experimentation or peer observation as appropriate. This flexibility aligned with the ICA emphasis on learner agency, although it also meant that the trios progressed at different speeds and to different depths.

The process concluded with a learning exhibition at the end of term. Each trio chose how to share its learning, resulting in a range of engaging formats including presentations, videos, posters and live discussions. The celebratory sharing of practice helped position the process as something to be valued and learned from collectively.

What did we find? 

Engagement data and staff feedback suggest that the learning trios had a positive impact overall:

• Around three-quarters of trios met between three and five times during the seven-week period.
• Two-thirds of staff visited three to four exhibition stands, indicating strong engagement with colleagues’ learning.
• More than half of respondents felt that the learning trios had positively supported their professional development during the term.

Given the relatively short timeframe and the fact that this was a new approach for many colleagues, these outcomes were encouraging. The exhibition in particular appeared to support accountability and encourage curiosity, therefore extending learning beyond individual trios.

Strengths of the approach 

Several clear benefits emerged from the process. As the focus areas came directly from colleagues’ own development goals, the learning felt purposeful and closely connected to day-to-day practice. Where objectives were well matched, the trios approach created meaningful opportunities for colleagues from different Key Stages to learn from one another and gain new perspectives. The combination of meeting notes and public sharing encouraged participation without feeling overbearing. Using the ICA learning process with staff reinforced the idea that everyone in the school community is a learner, regardless of their role or experience.

Lessons learned 

The process also brought to light some important areas for refinement. Where trios were formed around broader themes, a side effect of a wide range of professional development targets, colleagues found it harder to sustain depth. Several colleagues provided feedback that further input on the research underpinning collaborative professional learning like this would have supported their confidence and buy-in. While autonomy was appreciated, clearer expectations around meeting frequency may have helped ensure more consistent engagement across trios. As ever, workload pressure limited how deeply some trios were able to explore their focus areas.

Looking ahead 

Overall, this experience suggested to us that learning trios can be a valuable professional learning approach in through schools, particularly when they are aligned with professional targets, well supported by research and expectations are clearly structured by the leadership team. We found that the Process to Facilitate Learning offers an effective way to connect teacher development with day-to-day classroom practice and the school’s shared values. We concluded that future processes could be strengthened by tightening up the grouping process to avoid loosely connected trios, offering a clear research grounding at the introductory stage and aiming for more explicit links between the professional learning taking place and the impact on student learning.

Learning trios offered us a constructive way to bring colleagues from across the school together around shared goals, encouraging collaboration, reflection and professional curiosity. While not without its challenges, the approach supported a sense of collective responsibility for learning and reinforced the idea that professional development, like student learning, is most impactful when it is purposeful, collaborative and reflective.

Thank you to The British College of Brazil, São Paulo, Paul McDaniel Head of Primary and the teaching team for sharing their story.