In recent years, amidst policy turbulence, widening inequality, and the relentless pace of change in education, I’ve returned often to one metaphor: count the flowers. This simple phrase, used regularly within our academies at Tees Valley Education, is more than a saying. It’s a philosophy. A collective act of noticing. A deliberate reframing of our educational lens to focus not just on deficits, but on growth and possibility.
In a sector so often preoccupied with performance data, inspection frameworks, and fixing what’s wrong, counting the flowers is an invitation to consider what is good and what is going right. More on this in a moment.
Let’s talk about hope. Because I think it’s a good Friday to do so.
Leadership as ‘Hope’ work
Leadership, particularly in communities experiencing poverty and deepening hardship, is not just strategic work… it is hope work. I often try to remember this in my role as an education leader serving communities in the North East.
It’s about choosing to believe in something better, even when the evidence is incomplete, even when the news cycle is bleak, and even when the system feels broken with countless barriers. For some this is more evolution than revolution, but the principle remains the same. We aim and hope for better conditions.
At Tees Valley Education, this way of working, of celebrating the small and significant wins, has become embedded in the culture. Every term, my colleagues and fellow leaders at Tees Valley Education commit to a ritual that has become so ingrained in our culture, it feels almost sacred, like something passed down through generations. It’s woven so deeply into our ways of working that I often joke we’re part of some ancient society, faithfully upholding its rites.
We even call it Counting the Flowers.
This isn’t an extension of leadership meetings. It’s not some covert way of wrangling more academic data out of busy school leaders; we’ve already got well-established systems for that. Instead, Counting the Flowers offers something rarer, a structured opportunity for Headteachers and senior leadership teams from across our academies to pause, reflect, and celebrate what’s good.
And not just in terms of attainment or progress.
Last week, for example, academies came together to share stories of hope, snapshots of the term that made people pause and smile. There were excerpts from children’s work, reels of pupils and families talking about highlights, colleagues presenting projects they’d led, and leaders reflecting on how they’d grown both personally and professionally.
Educational leadership, especially in complex and high-need contexts, can sometimes feel like shovelling snow while it’s still snowing (or perhaps shovelling something else entirely!) But this isn’t about cataloguing the chaos or fixating on what’s gone wrong. Counting the Flowers is about noticing and naming growth. And there’s psychological grounding in this.
Research in psychology has long pointed to the benefits of gratitude and strength-based thinking. Studies show that individuals and organisations that focus on what is strong (rather than what is wrong) can be more resilient, more connected, and more likely to sustain positive change.
Hope, then, isn’t just a nice or niche idea… it’s a leadership imperative.
It fuels momentum. It can architect conditions where people feel seen, trusted, and able to take risks. In environments where disadvantage and hardships can feel overwhelming, this kind of leadership is vital.
Crucially, counting the flowers doesn’t mean ignoring the challenges. It means recognising that the weeds (the hard things exist) and that growth is still possible. If we can’t embrace this complexity in education then I’m not convinced many other sectors will.
I believe it’s also about holding complexity without being consumed by it.
Cultivating hope
Forget organisations and teams for a moment. On a personal level, hope benefits us as individuals too.
I’m not advocating for toxic positivity here. This isn’t about turning every setback into a silver lining or pretending everything is fine when it’s not. But I am advocating for the practising of optimism, especially in the face of difficulty, as a protective habit.
When policies, protocols, or even people begin to wear you down, it helps to return to one simple principle: control what is controllable.
I’ve worked in demanding contexts and alongside colleagues who, for various reasons, haven’t always created the conditions for positive change (I’m sure I’ve also occupied that category on occasions!). Likewise, working with children and families with complex needs, while rewarding, rarely offers the instant gratification that fuels job satisfaction. The uncomfortable truth is that many teachers are leaving the profession, not because they don’t care, but because the job is simply not satisfying enough to sustain them.
That’s why it’s so important not to lose sight of what gives hope.
When we cultivate the habit of noticing and reflecting on what’s going well, we give ourselves a better chance of staying motivated and connected to our purpose. As Martin Seligman (2002) notes, optimism and the ability to focus on growth, even in tough times, can significantly bolster our sense of meaning and wellbeing.
Research backs this up. Gratitude practices, as explored by Emmons and McCullough (2003), have a clear and well-documented impact on wellbeing, resilience, and job satisfaction. Simple habits like keeping a gratitude journal, or storing away thank-you cards, kind messages, or moments of connection from students or colleagues, can be surprisingly powerful for educators.
Over the years, I’ve encouraged new teachers and established colleagues to do just that; build a small collection of positive affirmations from their practice. It doesn’t need to be grand or formal. Just something that helps you remember, on the days when the weight feels heavy, why you started in the first place.
Hope in policy and practice
But of course, our practice and personal achievements don’t exist in a silo.
They form part of an ecosystem of competing and demanding practices, policies and places. It’s tempting, sometimes, to look at national policy and feel disheartened.
The narrative around schools is often deficit-based, focused on ‘falling standards’, ‘failing pupils’, and a ‘broken system’. In fact, the word ‘crisis’ seems to appear every week on certain education news platforms at the moment.
But dig deeper, and there are signs of hope.
Evidence that things can shift, and are shifting, especially when schools and communities are given the space and trust to lead the way.
Here’s some that have stood out to be in the last year, especially from North East pioneers and community leaders.
Food for thought
While the challenges facing communities in the North of England are stark, there are also hopeful signs of systemic change taking root, led by committed local authorities, schools, organisations, and philanthropic partners who are investing in long-term solutions.
Take, for example, the rising eligibility for free school meals (FSM) in the North East. As of the 2023/24 academic year, nearly one in three pupils (31.2%) in the region are now registered for FSM, the highest proportion in England. This statistic reflects the acute financial hardship affecting families across the North.
But it also shines a light on a powerful story, that of some local councils trying to tackle this at scale.
Building on the pioneering work of Sheffield City Council, councils in Northumberland, County Durham, Middlesbrough, and Redcar and Cleveland have worked alongside schools and partners to trial auto-enrolment schemes. These initiatives proactively use local data to identify eligible pupils and register them for FSM unless families opt out.
As a result, over 4,000 additional children registered. More than £5 million Pupil Premium funding directed to local schools that arguably would not have been. And an overwhelming vote of confidence from families facing hardship, just 26 opting out across all four areas.
This isn’t just administrative tidying. It’s meaningful, measurable change, helping to ensure that every child gets access to the support they’re entitled to. It’s also a clear sign of what happens when councils and schools work in partnership with families and communities, not against or around them. Encouragingly, other North East councils, including Stockton, Newcastle, and Darlington, are now in the process of implementing similar approaches, with South Tyneside committing to follow suit in its recently published child poverty strategy.
You can read more about this in my blog with the North East Child Poverty Commission.
Change is brewing
In my blog series Cuppa with a Change Maker, I’ve been privileged to speak with individuals across the globe who are enacting bold, values-led change, particularly in education. What connects these individuals isn’t status or title. It’s a deep personal and professional commitment to courageous advocacy.
These change makers don’t operate in silos.
They work through and with the education sector, embedding the voices of people with lived experience into their work. They ask difficult questions, challenge assumptions, and demonstrate that it is possible to change systems when you stay rooted in purpose and community.
Collaboration is happening
This same ethos runs through Tackling Poverty and Disadvantage in Schools, a book I recently co-authored with an incredible group of educators and leaders.
The book was born out of a shared desire to spotlight the schools and organisations around the world that are building better systems, ones that don’t punish poverty but instead recognise and respond to it with compassion, strategy, and collaboration.
The North East features prominently in the book.
That the book sold out in days and has been seen across the globe is humbling. But what makes me most hopeful is that every single royalty from this project is being reinvested to support children and families living in low-income contexts. This wasn’t just about writing a book. It was about contributing to a movement.
Understanding and addressing poverty and inequality in schools goes far beyond simply raising standards or adopting zero-tolerance policies for those facing hardship. I think we have managed to capture this in the book. In fact, many schools featured have moved past the outdated notion that they exist as rigid, authoritarian institutions, rooted in a Victorian mindset, with the sole purpose of “teaching children out of poverty.” Instead, there is a growing recognition that schools play a critical role in supporting the whole child, building relationships, providing opportunities, and fostering an environment where every student can thrive, regardless of their background.
The idea that schools alone can simply “correct” poverty through discipline or strict academic measures is not only misguided but counterproductive. In reality, it’s about creating nurturing environments where young people are seen, valued, and empowered to overcome the systemic challenges they face. When we take a more holistic approach, one that includes emotional support, community engagement, and a focus on the individual needs of students, we create lasting change that goes far beyond academic achievement.
Within the book, we highlight organisations like NEAT Academy Trust in Newcastle, led by CEO Debi Bailey, who co-authored our opening chapter. NEAT’s innovative use of the Pupil Attitudes to Self and School (PASS) assessment helps identify students who might appear to be “managing” at primary level but are actually quietly struggling, particularly as they transition into the demands of secondary school.
This data-driven, relational approach reflects a wider principle at the heart of our book; that it’s possible to challenge deficit narratives and move toward systems that truly understand and meet children’s needs.
Others are investing in hope
This year, I’ve also been energised by the work I’ve undertaken with the Fair Education Alliance and Bloomberg. While this collaboration has included funding support for our work at Tees Valley Education, its deeper impact has been in helping us sharpen our thinking; refining our theory of change, examining persistent problems in our communities, and building new models of collaboration that work both nationally and hyperlocally.
In an era when grant pots can seem elusive, I want to challenge the notion that investment is simply fiscal pot finding.
For example, the Rank Foundation, an organisation rooted in social justice and community empowerment, with strong links to the North East through their base in Newcastle, has been a vital source of support for us at Tees Valley Education. Their generous funding and belief in place-based change have enabled us to dedicate staff time and resources to building partnerships with local industry leaders across the Tees Valley. This work is opening up powerful, real-world opportunities for children to connect with and be inspired by the industries on their doorstep in the Tees Valley, something that traditional school curriculum alone often struggle to deliver. The Rank Foundation’s commitment to investing in people and places is helping us reimagine what education can look like when it is truly rooted in community.
SHINE is another brilliant example. I’ve had the privilege of working alongside SHINE, and they continue to be one of the most values-led, impact-driven organisations in education. SHINE regularly funds innovation projects led by teachers in schools across the North England. But, they’re not just funding projects; they’re walking alongside schools and communities, building from the ground up and focusing on areas facing the most entrenched challenges.
In Sunderland, for example, SHINE recently launched a £10million fund aimed at removing the barriers to success for secondary school pupils over the next decade. This is a long-term, place-based commitment to unlocking the potential of every student in the city. Crucially, SHINE are driving a belief that this fund must be locally shaped, led by the people who know Sunderland best including its schools, leaders, and families.
In partnership with the University of Sunderland, SHINE have run a city-wide scoping exercise to better understand the challenges young people face and the solutions that already exist. The goal is to make sure every penny of this fund is used wisely and with maximum impact.
Choose Hope
Hope is not a soft option. It’s a vital force for change.
In communities rich in culture, complexity, and challenge, hope is what keeps us moving. In educational leadership, hope is not the absence of reality. It’s the determination to shape it.
This Easter, it’s easy to choose cynicism. It’s tempting to feel deflated or overwhelmed by the weight of inequality that surrounds us. It’s understandable to feel frustration with certain political leaders and the policies they champion. But imagine for a moment what it could look like to choose hope, to be curious about the possibilities for change and how they can emerge.
So here’s to my colleagues (and readers) who keep noticing the beauty amidst the brambles. To the leaders who dare to name the good on this Friday. To the young people who show what is possible. And to the system shifters, slowly but surely, learning to listen.
Amidst the Easter indulgence, whether you’re working, resting, or playing, take a moment to pause and count the flowers. If you can’t see them right away, don’t let negativity take over. Instead, be curious about where they might be hiding and how you can uncover them.
I’m choosing to hold onto hope, and if you’ve read this far, perhaps you’ll count some flowers with me.
CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO OUR CROWDFUNDER
HELP US BECOME STRONGER SO THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO DELIVER POWERFUL CITIZEN JOURNALISM!
