Anne-Marie McGovern

‘People are human beings, produced by the society in which they live. You encourage them by seeing good in them’ - Nelson Mandela. All views my own

[DWEC @DublinWestEC]

📣Announcing a new pre-recorded video library subscription for SNAs - ideal for school staff training days!

🤩Only €100 for the entire school staff
~ Introductory Offer for first 6 months (January-June 2026) ~
For more information & to Subscribe: https://t.co/tZdQdhzExy

[Lee Woods @LeeWoods0722]

Most school leaders are not chasing perfection.
They are chasing progress.

Quietly. Relentlessly. Under pressure.

That is why Better by Atul Gawande resonates so deeply with leadership in schools.

It is not about brilliance.
It is about systems, habits and the discipline of improvement.

In surgery, failure costs lives.
In education, it costs opportunity.

The lesson is the same in both fields:
Care is not enough. Systems matter.

That simple truth sits at the heart of Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande. Although written through the lens of medicine, it may be one of the most quietly powerful leadership books a leader can read.

Because it strips performance back to its essentials.
Not vision statements. Not slogans.
But habits, systems, humility and the relentless pursuit of improvement.

In schools, as in surgery, we often celebrate individual excellence.
The outstanding teacher. The inspirational leader. The charismatic head.

Gawande dismantles this myth with precision.

He shows that even the most talented professionals fail without:
•Clear systems
•Consistent routines
•Feedback that is acted upon
•A culture that allows challenge and learning

The lesson is uncomfortable but necessary. Performance does not improve because people care more. It improves because systems make the right actions more likely and the wrong ones harder to repeat.

One of Gawande’s central arguments is that improvement rarely comes from dramatic breakthroughs. It comes from marginal gains applied consistently.

This is profoundly relevant to school leadership.

Better attendance rarely comes from one assembly.
Better behaviour rarely comes from one policy rewrite.
Better teaching rarely comes from one INSET day.

It comes from leaders who:
•Clarify expectations
•Remove ambiguity
•Build routines that survive pressure
•Accept that good intentions are not enough

In Gawande’s world, checklists save lives.
In ours, systems save learning time.

Perhaps the most striking section of Better is Gawande’s exploration of coaching. Even elite surgeons, at the top of their profession, actively seek feedback from others who can see what they cannot.

This is where leadership in schools is often tested.

Senior leaders are expected to have answers.
Yet the most effective leaders are those who remain open to scrutiny.

The parallel is clear. Schools improve fastest when leaders:

Invite challenge rather than defend practice
Use evidence to refine decisions
Model learning rather than certainty

Leadership is not diminished by coaching. It is strengthened by it.

What makes Better resonate so strongly with education is its realism.

Gawande does not argue that failure can be eliminated. He argues that it can be reduced. He does not promise excellence overnight. He commits to progress, relentlessly pursued.

This mirrors the reality of schools.

We work in complex systems, serving diverse communities, under constant pressure. Improvement is rarely neat. But it is possible.

The leaders who make the biggest difference are those who ask, repeatedly:

What worked today?
What did not?
What one thing can we do better tomorrow?

That mindset is not glamorous.
It is transformative.

Better is not a book about medicine.
It is a book about responsibility.

Responsibility to design systems that protect people.
Responsibility to reflect honestly on performance.
Responsibility to keep improving even when progress feels slow.

For school leaders, that message could not be more relevant.

Because the work is not about being flawless.
It is about being better.

Every day.

[Anne-Marie McGovern @ammcgov]

Looking forward to facilitating the working with parents module on this course in the new year!

[DWEC @DublinWestEC]

🤩Back by popular demand!
In this accessible hybrid course, you will learn about the basics of school leadership which will equip you to discern for yourself what effective school leadership looks like and what it means to you.

⭐Register: https://t.co/WBUrumD2CL

[Anne-Marie McGovern @ammcgov]

What an honest, funny, principled and fabulous woman!

[CPSMA @CatholicPrimary]

Sincere thanks to schools and parents who contacted their local TDs for an increase in capitation

[Embassy of the State of Palestine to Ireland @IrePalestine]

An honour to express our deep appreciation to the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, for his enduring support and solidarity, on behalf of President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian people.

President Higgins is consistently a voice for peace, human rights and international law.

Go raibh maith agat, President Michael D. Higgins.

🇵🇸🇮🇪

[CPSMA @CatholicPrimary]

Strong article by Breda O’Brien on school finances

[ALASTAIR CAMPBELL @campbellclaret]

Around 400 Palestinians, including dozens of children, have been killed while trying to get humanitarian assistance. I don’t recall these incidents (including this weekend) leading many papers or news bulletins. Are we really saying a few chants from a couple of musicians is more newsworthy or important? We have lost our bearings …

[Ciara Quill ☘️🇮🇪🇫🇷🇩🇪🇪🇺 💚💛 @ciaraquill]

#edchatie

It is a great honour to be school principal – but the role is no longer sustainable

We are expected to be CEOs, CFOs, HR directors, compliance officers and facilities managers, all while leading learning, managing behaviour, supporting parents & safeguarding children

[Owen Jones @owenjonesjourno]

9 children, of one Palestinian doctor, burned alive by the Israeli military.

If this one atrocity was committed against people deemed Western, it would lead every news bulletin, be splashed on every front page.

But another of Israel's countless atrocities will be mostly ignored

[Down Syndrome IRL @DownSyndromeIRL]

Happy World Down Syndrome Day to all our friends across the world! Today is an important celebration of people with Down syndrome and everything that they achieve.

While it is a time for celebration, it is also a time for support.

[Down Syndrome IRL @DownSyndromeIRL]

Join Isabelle this World Down Syndrome Day and wear your most colourful socks! 🧦

March 21st is World Down Syndrome Day and we are asking you to wear fun socks and host a Lots of Socks event in your school, community or office.

Click the link in our bio to register! 🔗

[The Irish Times @IrishTimes]

Breda O’Brien: The principal can’t sleep for worrying. If she paid all the bills on her desk, she couldn’t open the school https://t.co/CRZyWLxdM0

[Anne-Marie McGovern @ammcgov]

@conor_pope The Jailer’s Rest in Wicklow Town is the best value around! 4 full breakfasts with tea, coffee and toast included was €53 this morning.

[Anne-Marie McGovern @ammcgov]

@orielishamiller @UNIFIL_ Now is when they are needed most

[Rory Stewart @RoryStewartUK]

This is a genuine gift to the world - I’d take @sleepdiplomat ‘s simple and well-researched ideas on sleep - over almost self-help tips on earth - thank you

[Scoil na nAmadán @NaAmadan]

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been up the walls trying to get a sub or fill a position and I said to myself, ‘Wouldn’t phone pouches solve a lot of problems.’ #Budget2025

[Anne-Marie McGovern @ammcgov]

Donate to a great cause, Greystones Family Resource Centre, and get to name your own horse too! Contact [email protected] for more information

[Anne-Marie McGovern @ammcgov]

@anndeibh @SchoolofEdTCD @tcddublin Congratulations!

[Gareth Noble @GarNob]

Very powerful (and familiar to all
of us who work in child protection)