Z is for Zagging

When Everyone Is Doing What Makes Sense — Here’s Where Taking a Different Route Helps

Most decisions in schools are sensible.

They’re based on experience, shared practice, or what other schools are doing. They’re rarely wrong.

But sensible decisions, repeated often enough, can lead to the same patterns — more initiatives, more alignment, more pace, more change.

So, when everyone is zigging, how do you zag?

It's one of our mottos here at Milestone Education. But, zagging isn’t about doing the opposite for the sake of it...

It’s about recognising when the obvious response — the status quo, the standard approach — isn’t moving things forward, and choosing something more deliberate instead.

We saw this clearly in recruitment.

Most providers offer supply cover. That’s the model. And it does a job.

But it doesn’t address why so many schools need frequent supply cover in the first place.

If you want to reduce that reliance, you have to look earlier — at why people leave, why they go off sick, and what support is (or isn’t) in place.

That’s why we focus on recruitment, training and wellbeing together.

So the question is:

How can that same thinking apply to your day-to-day decisions in school?

Five Ways to Think Differently When the Default Isn’t Working

1. When Everyone Is Aiming for Consistency — Look for Intelligent Inconsistency

Consistency matters. It creates clarity and fairness.

But identical practice isn’t always the goal.

The same behaviour response won’t work for every pupil. The same teaching approach won’t land in every classroom.

Zagging here means holding on to consistent expectations, while allowing space for professional judgement in how they are applied.

2. When Everyone Is Trying to Solve Problems — Study What Isn’t a Problem

Schools spend a lot of time identifying gaps.

Less time is spent understanding why something is already working.

Pick a classroom, team or routine where things run smoothly and look closely:

• What is being repeated?

• What isn’t happening there?

• What do pupils do differently?

That’s often where the most transferable insight sits.

3. When Everyone Is Pushing for Pace — Slow One Thing Down

Improvement plans often emphasise momentum.

But not everything benefits from speed.

Choose one area — behaviour follow-up, CPD, feedback — and give it more time than usual:

• revisit it

• reinforce it

• check how it’s being applied

Depth in one area tends to have more impact than surface-level progress across several.

4. When Everyone Is Asking for More Clarity — Check What’s Being Ignored

It’s easy to assume that confusion is the issue.

Often, expectations are already clear.

What’s more revealing is what isn’t being followed:

• routines that are known but skipped

• systems that exist but aren’t used consistently

• expectations that are agreed but not prioritised

Zagging here means focusing less on explaining and more on follow-through.

5. When Everyone Is Trying to Improve Everything — Protect What’s Already Working

Improvement can sometimes lead to unnecessary disruption.

Strong routines, effective teams and reliable systems don’t always need adjusting.

Identify what is already working well and protect it deliberately:

• avoid layering new expectations onto it

• resist changing it for the sake of alignment

• allow it to continue doing its job

Stability in key areas creates confidence across the school.

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Where this leaves you

Most schools aren’t getting things wrong. They’re often doing what makes sense.

Zagging is about stepping back and asking whether the sensible response is actually the most useful one — and being willing to take a different route when it isn’t.

And you might just find that clarity tends to sharpen, and improvement becomes more deliberate.

If you’re reviewing how your priorities, systems and development approach are working across the school, it can be helpful to look at both what’s in place and how it’s being experienced.

You can download our Smart Steps Guide to the New EIF,  which outlines what inspectors are focusing on and how schools are aligning practice around it.

And if it’s useful to talk through how those areas connect in your setting, our Training Partnership Managers are always happy to explore how schools are using flexible CPD models such as SkillsBridge CPD Select to support consistent, practical improvement.

Discuss CPD Strategy