The question every school leader forgets to ask: “Why continue?”
- Ruth Thornton
- Jul 1, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
(Part 1 of the Harvesting Learning Series)
“Why continue?”
I recently read a post about the Drexler/Sibbet Team Performance Model, and it really made me pause and think: “Why continue?”
I often wonder how many times I actually stopped to consider this as a leader, rather than just ploughing ahead to the next “thing” without thinking whether it’s still what our school really needs.
Stage 7 of Drexler and Sibbet’s model is more than evaluating impact; it’s about making intentional choices, what to keep, what to adapt, or, perhaps most importantly, what to stop, so that time, energy, and focus are placed where they will have the greatest effect.
Why it’s so hard in schools
Because it’s successful?
Because abandoning familiar practices feels risky?
Because momentum pushes us toward the next initiative?
I was lucky enough to attend a workshop with Dylan Wiliam (my guru in education and leadership - and yes I got a selfie 🙃). He spoke eloquently about why schools need to do less and do it better. His point stuck with me: reflection and de-implementation aren’t optional, they’re essential for meaningful improvement.
In practice: it could be as simple as regularly asking the question: why continue?
For busy school leaders, you could:
Ask at the start of every leadership meeting: “Why continue X?”
(X could be your literacy intervention, weekly data review, or current homework policy—but it could also be any initiative, process, or habit your team is involved in.)
Why at the start of your meeting?
Set the tone: reflection is a priority, right from the get-go
Engage everyone early: fresh attention leads to more thoughtful input
Encourage proactive thinking: problems and opportunities surface before the operational stuff inevitably takes over
Create habit: reflection becomes part of the team culture
Being intentional about reflection helps avoid just ploughing on with things that don’t really matter.
Question for reflection:
What's one initiative, meeting, or process you could stop and question in your school this week? (I’d love to hear what you think!)
Next up: In my next post, I’ll share what this looked like in action through a reading intervention we ran, and what we might have learned if we paused to ask, “Why continue?”