The serious subject of school leadership is no protective factor against poorly informed social media “influencers”.
Let’s take Principal Lamb as an example, who is an American (of course) school leader who posts well-polished provocations from within a school that mysteriously never seems to contain any students or teachers.
I’m very happy to make the assumption that he’s a real principal and also that he believes what he’s saying to his horde of online followers.
And ordinarily, I wouldn’t try to make another annoying influencer more popular by bringing him attention.
BUT, I’ve got three big problems with this his online “advice”:
- As is the need when you cram your message into something small enough for a Facebook reel, Lamb and his ilk oversimplify complex problems such as student behaviour.
- The target is to enlist, not to help. Lamb’s currency is likes and attention from disgruntled, embittered and struggling educators. His “role plays” (in which he always plays ALL the characters – I mean what Principal would have time for that!) belittle the principled, evidence-informed work of diligent school leaders everywhere. I’m yet to see a post yet where Lamb’s cartooning of school leaders and sappy hyper-advocacy for teachers doesn’t divide these two stakeholder groups even further.
- Lamb’s go-to is to devise a strawman argument by painting practices he doesn’t like (such as teachers even conversing with a student after wrongdoing) by dressing them up as something they aren’t … and then attacking his fictional depiction. Teachers deserve a better level of discourse than these self-serving, binary pisstakes.
The difference between a helpful debate and that which Lamb has popularised is that Lamb talks. In fact, he preaches. He’s not your friend or mentor.
A real mentor is somebody with the determination to listen, to understand and then to problem solve in the context of your daily lived experience.
Keep fighting that good fight,
P.S. I’ve just locked in my next online workshop! This one is called The Punishment Trap – it’s designed for school leaders who want to know how to stop staff slipping into reactive discipline, steer their school away from crackdowns and build a culture that actually teaches behaviour instead of punishing it.
The Punishment Trap Online Workshop
Tuesday 18 November 2025
4.00pm AEDT
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