10 Million Views Later | A Conversation with Tom Sherrington

10 Million Views Later | A Conversation with Tom Sherrington

July 20, 2026 · 45 min · Episode 170

About this episode

Shane Leaning interviews Tom Sherrington about his journey in building a significant online presence in education.

This week, we're revisiting a favourite from the archives, recorded back when this podcast was still called Global Ed Leaders. Shane sits down with Tom Sherrington, the former headteacher turned writer, speaker and co-author of the Teaching WalkThrus series, to trace how he built one of the biggest audiences in education from a single WordPress blog in 2012. Tom explains why he never planned any of it, how a joke Twitter handle became his brand for years, and why he still presses publish every time expecting nobody to read it. You'll hear why Tom believes the best blog posts are the honest ones, including the post about his own OFSTED experience that cost him one speaking invitation and won him another. Tom shares his view on why anonymous social media accounts don't deserve a reply, why he refuses to criticise a school from the outside, and what he'd tell a school leader starting out today. If you've ever wondered whether putting your voice out there is worth the risk, this conversation will change how you think about it. Resources & Links Mentioned: Tom Sherrington's blog, teacherhead.com Teaching WalkThrus, with Oliver Caviglioli Episode Partners International Curriculum…

People in this episode

Host: Shane Leaning

Guest: Tom Sherrington

Topics covered

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Teaching WalkThrus

Books & works: Change Starts Here

Places: Shanghai

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