In this insightful episode of Professional Learnings, host Drew introduces Season 4 with a powerful conversation featuring executive coach and leadership consultant, Annette Gray. Annette shares her profound insights on navigating leadership through crisis, fostering human-centred school cultures, and the critical importance of self-awareness for educational leaders.

Drawing from her experience supporting principals during the recovery phase of the 2019-2020 Australian bushfires, Annette discusses the emotional and professional toll on leaders and how a coach-like approach can help them support their communities while managing their own wellbeing. The conversation delves into practical strategies for having difficult conversations, building trust, and creating a thriving, constructive school environment.

About Our Guest

Annette Gray is an experienced educator, executive coach, and consultant specialising in leadership development within the education sector. With a passion for diversity and inclusion, she helps leaders create human-centred, inclusive, and effective learning environments. Annette is the founder of Annette Gray Consulting and offers a range of programs designed to enhance leadership capabilities, from foundational coaching skills to intensive group and individual coaching.

Connect with Annette:

•Website: www.annettegray.com.au

•YouTube: Annette Gray Consulting

Showcase Notes via Google docs to show all of Annettes Books

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sBw94nRp54zcJ3txgPXHyOHOjT-_gIrPOSYVN1Pw3mo/edit?usp=sharing

Key Takeaways

The Power of a Coach-Like Approach: Instead of giving advice, leaders can empower their teams by asking questions, listening deeply, and helping them find their own solutions. This fosters a sense of ownership and honours the expertise of individuals within their own context.

Self-Awareness is the Foundation of Leadership: Annette emphasises that self-awareness is the key skill for any leader. Understanding your own triggers, strengths, and areas for growth allows you to show up as your best self and lead with kindness and compassion.

Navigating Difficult Conversations: The episode explores the importance of direct management and having courageous conversations to address behaviours that are not aligned with the desired school culture. The goal is to be proactive and constructive, maintaining the relationship while holding people accountable.

Wellbeing and Presence: For busy principals, being fully present in conversations is a powerful way to make staff feel heard and supported. Annette suggests that if you cannot be present, it is better to reschedule the conversation for a time when you can give it your full attention.

Embracing Ambiguity: In today's complex world, leaders do not need to have all the answers. Annette encourages leaders to collaborate with their teams to make sense of uncertainty and move forward together.

Term 1 Program Opportunity

Annette is offering a pilot coaching program for leaders in Term 1. This is a unique opportunity to develop your coaching skills and leadership capabilities in a supportive group environment.

Annette Gray Pilot Coaching Program:

https:

Links and References:

To view our Professional Learning Offerings, visit:
https://www.nswppa.org.au/professional-learning

To view our latest offerings, visit: https://www.nswppa.org.au/catalogue

From the moment children develop basic motor skills, they begin role-playing the futures they can imagine. But by upper primary school, these dreams often narrow dramatically - limited by postcodes, stereotypes, and what they see in their immediate environment. What if we could change this pattern?

Liv Penny, co-founder and CEO of Become Education, is transforming how we prepare young people for their futures. Her journey began with a profound observation: watching smart, happy classmates take dramatically different paths based solely on where they lived. This sparked a mission to ensure all children could write their stories "from the inside out" rather than having their futures determined by external circumstances.

The evidence is compelling. OECD research shows 50% of students globally aspire to just 10 occupations, with even narrower patterns at the local level. Meanwhile, 80% of 10-13 year olds think about their futures weekly, yet less than 10% say a teacher knows their aspirations. We're missing a massive opportunity to tap into natural motivation.

Become Education's approach doesn't prematurely force career decisions but instead develops the skills to explore broadly and design meaningful future pathways. Schools implementing the program report remarkable outcomes - from a 205% increase in students feeling their school cares about their future to transformative stories of previously disengaged students finding purpose and hope.

One particularly powerful story involves a disengaged student with dyslexia who discovered animation as her "happy place" through the program. With newfound purpose, she crafted a beautiful email to a Disney animator who responded with encouragement and professional advice. "She was transformed," her teachers reported through tears. "She never spoke and now she has transformed."

The impact extends beyond career readiness to improved engagement across all learning areas. As PISA data confirms, students who connect current learning to future possibilities show improvement in all learning strategies. In a world of AI and rapid change, this approach develops the uniquely human capabilities - curiosity, creativity, agency - that will remain valuable regardless of technological shifts.

Ready to help your students design futures full of possibility? Visit the Become Education website to learn how your school or cluster can implement this powerful, evidence-based approach.

Links and References:

To view our Professional Learning Offerings, visit:
https://www.nswppa.org.au/professional-learning

To view our latest offerings, visit: https://www.nswppa.org.au/catalogue

Khalil Khay. From classroom to executive to system advocate, Khalil’s story spans three decades of transformation in NSW public education. He’s currently Principal-in-Residence K–12 in the School Excellence Directorate, previously championed curriculum reform, steered the ConnectED conference for 17 years, and been named to the Educator Hot List in four of the last eight years running.

As we close Season 3 and our final episode for 2025, the NSWPPA Educational Leadership Podcast concludes with a reflective conversation on leadership, purpose and sustaining meaningful change.

In this episode, Drew Janetzki is joined by Khalil Khay, a highly respected NSW education leader whose career spans classroom teaching, principalship, system leadership and national advocacy.

Together, they explore leadership as service, the importance of equity and moral purpose, and the value of creating multiple pathways for success across public education. Khalil reflects on his long-standing involvement with the Connected Conference, including his role as Chair, and the impact of accessible, high-quality professional learning for principals and middle leaders across New South Wales.

The conversation is grounded in key system frameworks, including the NSW Public Education Plan and the NSW School Excellence Framework, and highlights the role of sustained professional learning through programs such as the Art of Leadership Program and the NSWPPA Professional Learning Suite.

This final episode brings Season 3 to a close by returning to a central theme that has underpinned the year. Leadership is not about position or authority, but about enabling others, aligning values and doing the right work for students, schools and communities.

NSW Primary Principals’ Association

https://www.nswppa.org.au

NSW Public Education Plan

https://education.nsw.gov.au/about-us/strategies-and-reports/education-plan

NSW School Excellence Framework

https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/school-excellence-and-accountability/school-excellence

Art of Leadership Program

https://www.nswppa.org.au/professional-learning/art-of-leadership

NSWPPA Professional Learning Suite

https://www.nswppa.org.au/professional-learning

Connected Conference

https://www.connectedconference.com.au

Links and References:

To view our Professional Learning Offerings, visit:
https://www.nswppa.org.au/professional-learning

To view our latest offerings, visit: https://www.nswppa.org.au/catalogue