Thinking out loud

Things we've noticed
in the field.

Short, honest pieces on what we see in schools, programmes, and systems — and what it makes us think about.

All Field Notes

Field Note The five pillars no one talks about

Every school has a curriculum. Far fewer have the underlying structures that make a curriculum actually work — the pillars that hold everything up when things get hard.

School Design Leadership
Field Note — Career Series · Part 1 Why career readiness starts earlier than you think

Schools talk about preparing students for the future. But the research — and our own work — suggests the window for real career readiness opens much sooner than most programmes assume.

Career Design Curriculum
Field Note You might have the vision — but have you built the 99%?

A school's identity isn't its curriculum. It's the thousand small decisions — rituals, culture, language, systems — that make the curriculum mean something.

Identity Culture Founders
Field Note — Part 2 Career readiness: what actually changes things

The follow-up to our first career note — moving from diagnosis to design. What programmes, structures, and moments genuinely shift how students think about their futures.

Career Design Programme Design