James Dand helps education professionals strengthen their mindset and boost wellbeing - and equips them with practical strategies to raise the aspirations, self-belief, and resilience of their students.
Do these sound familiar?
Staff are:
❎ Balancing heavy workloads while trying to make a real impact
❎ Unsure how to best support students struggling with motivation and confidence
❎ Lacking confidence when stepping into management or leadership roles
❎ Finding it hard to stay resilient and protect wellbeing under daily pressure
Students have:
❎ Low aspirations and limited drive to progress or achieve
❎ Poor resilience when facing setbacks, criticism, or exams
❎ Low self-esteem, confidence, and belief in what’s possible
❎ Anxiety about exams and uncertainty about future choices
But it doesn’t have to stay this way. When your staff shift how they see themselves, their role, and their students, challenges are turned into opportunities for growth.
Using the Inner Anthem System, James will help you build confident staff, resilient teams, and a culture where staff and students thrive together.
When your staff strengthen their mindset and learn practical strategies, the impact is felt across the whole learning community.
Staff will:
✅ Feel more confident, motivated, and resilient in their roles
✅ Better support students who struggle with motivation and self-belief
✅ Step into leadership or new responsibilities with greater self-belief
✅ Better manage stress, change, and daily challenges
Students will:
✅ Feel more motivated and engaged with their learning
✅ Grow self-esteem and belief in what’s possible
✅ Build resilience to handle setbacks, criticism, and exam pressure
✅ Develop clearer aspirations and greater career confidence
Together, these changes lead to happier staff, stronger student outcomes, and a learning community where everyone can thrive.
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Ways We Can Work Together:
Education Keynotes:
Inspiring talks for conferences, universities, colleges, and secondary schools that spark mindset shifts and empower staff and leaders to build confidence, resilience, and lasting impact.
Staff Development Workshops:
Engaging, practical sessions designed to equip your team with actionable strategies to boost wellbeing, student engagement, and positive culture.
Coaching & Consultancy:
Personalised support that develops educators, leaders, and teams through mindset growth and strategic tools - helping you embed lasting change and achieve your goals.
How It Works: Elevate Confidence and Capability in 3 Simple Steps:
Choose Your Format:
Whether it’s an inspiring keynote for a conference, a practical staff development workshop, or tailored coaching and consultancy, James will align everything to your unique goals and challenges.
Engage Your Staff:
James delivers personalised sessions that help your staff boost resilience, leadership, and wellbeing - while gaining practical strategies to better support the mindset and confidence of your students.
See Lasting Change:
Watch staff confidence, motivation, and leadership grow - while students develop stronger self-belief, resilience, and aspirations, creating a culture where everyone can thrive.
What Education Staff Say:
"We got much more than I was anticipating. It was incredibly powerful, and resonated with those within the group. The content of the sessions and the expertise that James possesses will make a positive difference to the individual, groups or wider organisations."
James Butterfill (Assistant Principal, North Kent College)
"From first contact, James was extremely easy to work with. The group loved him. His talk was entertaining, and his humour and connection with the attendees was remarkable. We would recommend James to anyone.”
Carly Pinnick (People Officer, Learning & Development, MidKent College)
"His ability to connect with participants, spark meaningful interaction, and maintain a strong focus throughout made the session both motivating and highly relevant. James is a confident and thoughtful speaker who brings energy and clarity to his message."
Dr. Mehwish Mufti (Lecturer Business & Management Bournemouth University)
Keynotes & Workshops:
Boosting Resilience: Equipping Students to Tackle Challenges with Confidence
In today’s educational climate, students are facing increasing personal, academic, and social pressures. Without resilience, these challenges can lead to disengagement, reduced wellbeing, and lower attainment.
This session will empower educational staff with insights and practical strategies to help students build resilience. By fostering a more confident, adaptable, and mentally strong mindset, staff can support students to navigate setbacks, manage stress, and sustain their motivation through difficulties.
Raising Potential: Strengthening Student Self-Worth, Confidence, and Belief
Did you know that student success is limited by their levels of self-worth, confidence and belief? Educational staff play a crucial role in fostering a strong and empowered student mindset. A lack of student self-worth, confidence and belief can result in low aspirations, mental health challenges and reduced attainment.
When you can effectively understand how your students’ mind’s work, and apply proven tools and strategies, you can empower them to thrive and reach their potential.
The Leadership Mindset: Elevate Your Influence & Organisational Culture
The success and impact of your organisation depend on strong leadership at all levels, from senior management to classroom staff. The quality and implementation of leadership throughout an organisation directly affects factors such as staff engagement, mental health, and student satisfaction and achievement. However, many educational leaders and staff struggle with challenges such as self-doubt, imposter syndrome, and loneliness. Others face burnout, low staff motivation, and negative team cultures, which impact both personal well-being and organisational success.
Inspired leaders embrace their influence and leadership potential. By using specific tools and practices, they create positive change - enhancing fulfilment, productivity, student attainment, and well-being for all. This session will provide you with many personal development tools and practices that you can use to enhance your leadership and people management skills.
Optimising Your Mindset for Career Success and Personal Growth
Ever had a day at work where nothing seems to go right?
Your level of job satisfaction, productivity and impact are dependent on your mindset. Without understanding how your mindset influences your results, you may find yourself struggling more with day-to-day tasks.
By optimising your mindset, you can handle challenges more effectively, enhance your wellbeing, and create a greater positive impact - both at work and in your personal life.
Balancing Perspectives: Using Mindset Strategies to Handle Challenges in Education
Working in education brings real challenges: high workloads, complex student needs, and constant change. It can feel overwhelming — but how we respond is shaped more by our mind than our circumstances alone. By understanding and actively managing your mindset, you can build resilience, handle challenges with greater calm, and protect your own wellbeing — while modelling these skills to your learners.
In this engaging and empowering session, you’ll explore how your thoughts, beliefs and inner dialogue affect stress and performance, and discover proven mindset tools to help you thrive, even in the toughest moments.
Why Choose James Dand:
Experience That Counts
With over two decades delivering college and university programmes - plus experience as a higher education manager - James deeply understands the pressures, culture, and everyday realities education staff face.
Built on the Inner Anthem System
Every keynote, workshop, and coaching session is underpinned by James’s unique Inner Anthem System - a practical framework of five Core Elements that help staff strengthen mindset, boost resilience, and confidently support students’ growth.
More Than Motivation
James goes beyond inspiring words. Sessions combine energising delivery with proven mindset strategies and actionable tools staff can use straight away - both for their own wellbeing and to better guide and motivate students.
Added Value for Your Organisation
To maximise impact and engagement, sessions can also include: needs surveys, promotional materials, practical content resources like PDFs and workbooks, evaluation feedback, follow‑up learning materials, and answers to staff questions after the event.