Step 5: Developing the Curriculum - A School Leadership Podcast with Ben Erskine

<p><b>Episode 1: Step 5 — Developing the Curriculum (with Ben Erskine)</b></p><p><b>The No Silver Bullets Podcast — Series 2: The Nine Steps to Executive Headship</b></p><p></p><p><b>What does it really take to build a coherent, equitable curriculum across multiple schools?</b> In this episode, Paul Ainsworth is joined by <b>Ben Erskine</b>, Executive Principal and now <b>CEO‑Designate</b> of the Four Cs MAT, to explore Step 5 of the <i>Nine Steps to Executive Headship</i>:</p><p></p><p><b>Developing the Curriculum</b>.</p><p>Ben leads four primary academies within a seven‑school trust, each with distinct contexts — from large inner‑city primaries to rapidly growing township schools. Drawing on his experience of system leadership, curriculum design and trust‑wide collaboration, Ben offers a grounded, highly practical look at what it means to shape curriculum at scale.</p><p></p><p>This conversation digs into:</p><ul><li><b>Curriculum equity vs professional autonomy</b> — how executive leaders strike the right balance</li><li><b>The power of trust‑wide collaboration</b> and why shared curriculum work reduces workload and increases quality</li><li><b>Sequencing, coherence and knowledge progression</b> — and why high‑level subject expertise matters</li><li><b>The role of the executive principal</b> in shaping curriculum across effective schools</li><li><b>Barriers to building a trust‑wide curriculum</b> — time, pace, workload, and how to overcome them</li><li><b>Developing leaders through cross‑school curriculum projects</b></li><li><b>Why pace is everything</b> — moving fast enough to maintain momentum, but slow enough to keep trust</li><li><b>Servant leadership, influence and system‑wide impact</b> — Ben’s advice for new and aspiring executive heads<p></p></li></ul><p>Ben also shares examples from the Four Cs MAT, including trust‑wide writing development, direct instruction approaches, and how collaboration across schools is becoming essential in a tightening financial landscape.</p><p></p><p>If you’re an executive head, CEO, senior leader or aspiring system leader, this episode offers <b>clear principles, practical strategies and honest reflections</b> on what it takes to build a curriculum that genuinely serves every child — regardless of school, postcode or teacher.</p><p></p><p><b>About the Series</b></p><p><b>This episode is part of the Nine Steps to Executive Headship series, supporting Paul’s forthcoming book: 📘 <i>Nine Steps to Executive Headship</i>, published by Routledge in Autumn 2026.</b></p><p></p><p><b>Connect</b></p><p><b>Follow Paul on LinkedIn: </b><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-k-ainsworth-20b0a41a/" target="_blank"><b>Paul K. Ainsworth | LinkedIn</b></a></p><p><b>Follow Paul on Instagram: </b><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/paulkainsworth" target="_blank"><b>Paul K Ainsworth (@paulkainsworth) • Instagram photos and videos</b></a></p><p><b>Follow Ben on LinkedIn: </b><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-erskine-7a9200338/" target="_blank"><b>Ben Erskine | LinkedIn</b></a></p><p><b>Follow Ben on Substack: </b><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://benerskine.substack.com/" target="_blank"><b>Ben Erskine | Substack</b></a></p><p><b>Read the companion blog: </b><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://paulkainsworth.wordpress.com/blog-2/" target="_blank"><b>Blog – Day in, day out, school improvement.</b></a></p>