The rapid emergence of the knowledge age has provided both challenges and opportunities to reflect on how our organisations and institutions go about the work they do. The knowledge age through converging information and communication technologies (ICT) has seen the birth of powerful new tools which break the tyranny of the physical, and opens the world to virtual capability.

No wonder the pace and drive for change is so prevalent today.

We all feel the pressure and pace of this – none more so than those who work in and for schools.

There is much talk of an overcrowded curriculum and expanding expectations. There seems to be less time available to do the many things required. How do we manage it all while keeping our focus on the core work of learning and teaching?

I often refer to our coherent educational narrative: the mindset within which we find and express a clear and connected meaning as educators. What does it have to say about this widespread sense of overload?

Central to our narrative is the conceptualising of our work as a coherent whole. All aspects are related. All serve a common purpose – the delivery of quality learning and teaching in our schools.

This is challenged and weakened when we allow ourselves to become preoccupied with unrelated fragments, losing sight of what matters most in our work.

Sometimes we need to clear the decks of all the detritus that has accumulated around our central tasks.

This may be what the philosopher, Alfred North Whitehead, had in mind when he advised teachers: ‘Do less but do it better!’ The author, Henry Thoreau, echoed the sentiment: ‘Our life is frittered away by detail… Simplify, simplify!’

Such common-sense messages remind us to focus on what matters most, to identify the essence of what we are called to do, and to plan strategically to achieve our goals.

This focused mindset thrives in a reflective culture.

The pragmatist, so valued in another era because he could be relied upon to get the job done without too much thought or theorising, is downright dangerous in today’s world.

Only through intelligent reflection and serious discernment can we make sense of and manage the avalanche of expectations, pressures and fragments that can obscure our vision, consume our energy and silence our coherent narrative.