Every year, I choose a single word to guide how I’ll show up at work. Some of you have been playing along with me for a few years now on this little crusade.
I try to choose something a bit different or quirky. Something that drags me out of the patterns and habits that the daily grind can institute.
Previous annual words have been blob, useful, footsteps, connect and roar. I’ll let you ponder what might have sat behind each.
My word for 2026 is Stand.
This year, I’m making a stand on behalf of teachers and school leaders who are being compelled to work further and further outside their purpose, while being told this is simply the new reality of schooling.
The teachers and leaders I know didn’t enter the profession to be case managers, counsellors, substitute parents and social workers rolled into one. Yet many systems have painted them into that corner. Teaching and leading are still expected, but they now sit beneath layers of responsibility, distraction and bureacracy.
In my upcoming book The Truth About Student Behaviour (yep, that’s a totally shameless plug!), I argue that this isn’t just exhausting, it’s unproductive. We’ve tried to solve systemic problems by pushing responsibility downward. We’ve individualised what should have remained collective. It’s our teachers and leaders in schools who are absorbing the cost.
So in 2026, I’m choosing to stand more clearly and speak more plainly. I stand for schools that protect the core work of teaching and leading instead of endlessly expanding it.
I stand for school cultures that carry complexity together, rather than outsourcing it to the most capable staff. I stand for honesty about what schools can and cannot do on their own.
This personalised, standing Lego figure was a Christmas gift and now sits on my desk as a reminder of where I’m planted. Standing doesn’t mean resisting change. It means steadfastly refusing to comply like some mindless lemming when the moments come that I must.
If you’ve been playing along with me, I’d love you to reply with your word for 2026.
Keep fighting that good fight,
P.S. I haven’t run an online workshop for school leaders in January before, but The Collapse of Trust seems an important and current topic.
There are reasons trust in teachers and school leaders has eroded over time – and they’re worth talking about.
There are downloadable blueprint resources and even a free ‘Charm Offensive Generator GPT’ that can ensure your school turns it around in 2026 – and they’re worth having.
There are ways to FIU when it comes to trust building in a school community too – and they’re worth avoiding.
And there are ways to contextualise all this for your school – and that’s worth discussing.
So join me for my first online workshop in 2026:
The Collapse of Trust
Monday 19 January 2026
2.00pm AEDT
Want to subscribe to Adam’s Home Truths? Simply subscribe here.