ABSTRACT
In our profession there is never a shortage of people queuing up to point out the things that we could do better. The media, inspectors, observers and managers will no doubt all have a view on what can be improved. Clearly they are often right to a point; none of us are perfect and we can always improve. Advocating confi dence is not the same as defending blind arrogance; as Dylan Wiliam argues, ‘Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better’ (Wiliam 2012 cited in Tomsett 2013). Unfortunately the target driven culture that permeates the public sector forces us to dwell on those things that are not going well. We need to remind ourselves or have others remind us of all the good things we do each day.
