My Story
Nearly Thirty-Five Years of Thinking Together — About Anthony Haskell
Nearly Thirty-Five Years of
Thinking Together
Thinking Connections is built on a core belief developed over nearly thirty-five years of research and practice: schools become better places when teachers and leaders think more critically about their thinking. Everything I do flows from that idea.
Who I am
Built from Inside Schools
I founded Thinking Connections as an educator who had lived the complexity of school leadership firsthand. I knew that the gap between knowing what good practice looks like and actually embedding it in a school was vast — and that most professional development did little to bridge it.
So I built something different. A consultancy grounded in the realities of Australian schools, shaped by the latest research in leadership, learning, and organisational change — and delivered with the kind of honesty and care that only comes from someone who has stood where you stand.
Today, Thinking Connections works with primary schools, secondary schools, Catholic and independent schools, and system-level leaders across Australia. Programs are designed for educators at every career stage — from early career teachers developing their reflective practice, to middle leaders building their influence, to executive teams navigating whole-school transformation. My work is always tailored, always evidence-based, and always focused on building the internal capacity that outlasts our involvement.
Anthony Haskell
Founder, Thinking Connections
Biography
Educator. Leader.
Thinking Specialist.
I am an educator, leader, and leadership‑thinking specialist who has worked in Catholic Education in South Australia for more than three decades. My latter career has been shaped by a commitment to forming leaders who think clearly, act wisely, and serve the mission of Catholic schooling with integrity and purpose. For the past twenty‑five years, I have taught and led at Saint Ignatius' College, Adelaide, contributing to the development of staff, students, and emerging leaders across multiple dimensions of school life.
In addition to my school‑based leadership, I have contributed extensively to board governance across a range of sectors. My governance experience spans educational, community, and organisational boards, giving me a broad understanding of strategic oversight, regulatory environments, and the cognitive demands placed on leaders navigating complex systems. This breadth of governance work is currently represented through my membership of the Teachers Registration Board of South Australia (TRBSA), where I contribute to the regulation, professional standards, and strategic direction of the teaching profession in South Australia.
Whilst undertaking my Master of Education (Research) — a study focused on the relationship between classroom design and digital innovation — I began exploring how learning environments, technologies, and organisational structures shape the way people think, decide, and engage. This early research sparked a long‑standing interest in the cognitive dimensions of learning and leadership.
A pivotal period in my movement into consultancy work came through my leadership of the Early Career Teacher/Middle Leaders Program at Saint Ignatius' College. Working closely with teachers and leaders at different stages of their formation, I observed a consistent pattern: technical skill, goodwill, and even strong values were not enough. What differentiated flourishing teachers and leaders from those who struggled was the quality of their thinking — their capacity to reflect, discern, judge, and act with clarity in complex, relationally demanding environments.
These insights became the catalyst for the creation of Thinking Connections™. Through this work, I developed the Executive Thinking Assessment and the Clarity First Framework, two tools designed to make leadership thinking visible, measurable, and developable. Thinking Connections™ now provides a coherent capability architecture that links early‑career teacher formation, middle leadership development, and executive leadership thinking into a single, evidence‑informed pathway.
Across all my work, I remain committed to the belief that leadership is fundamentally a thinking act. When leaders think well — intentionally, reflectively, and in alignment with mission — they create the conditions for deep learning, relational trust, and sustainable improvement.
The Origin of CDIM™
How Thinking Connections
Came to Be
The framework didn't arrive fully formed. It emerged slowly — through hundreds of conversations, observations, and a question I couldn't stop asking.
The Pattern I Kept Seeing
After working for nearly thirty-five years as a teacher, leader, coach, and consultant, I kept noticing the same pattern: capable, committed educators who were working incredibly hard — but still feeling stuck. They weren't lacking effort or goodwill. What they were missing was a way of thinking about their thinking. I kept asking the same question: why do some educators grow quickly while others plateau, despite similar effort and support?
The Insight That Changed Everything
The answer, I came to believe, wasn't about skill or commitment. It was about the quality of thinking underneath the practice. Technical competence, strong values, and even deep experience weren't enough on their own — what differentiated flourishing educators from those who struggled was their capacity to reflect, discern, and act with clarity in complex, relationally demanding environments. That insight became the seed of everything that followed.
From Observation to Framework
The Cognitive Domains Integration Model — CDIM™ — was built to make that thinking visible, measurable, and developable. It isn't a theory I borrowed from a textbook. It's a framework forged from what I observed actually shifting practice in real classrooms and staffrooms, refined through years of coaching, mentoring, and research. CDIM™ gives educators a shared language for understanding not just what they do, but how they think about what they do.
Why Thinking Connections Exists
Thinking Connections was founded to put that framework to work — in real schools, with real educators, at every stage of their career. From early career teachers finding their footing, to middle leaders navigating the pressure between classroom and executive, to senior leaders shaping whole-school culture. The consultancy exists because I believe every educator deserves support that meets them where they are — and helps them think their way forward.
The Foundation
A Theory of Metacognitive Thinking
At the heart of everything Thinking Connections does is an empirically designed theory of metacognitive thinking — developed over three decades of research, classroom observation, and application in schools across Australia.
The theory is not a framework to be followed. It is a lens through which educators learn to examine their own thinking — and in doing so, transform their practice.
The Thinking Assessment Tool & Profile
Central to the theory is a purpose-built diagnostic instrument — the Thinking Assessment Tool and Profile. Developed and validated through decades of research and school-based application, it provides a rigorous, evidence-based picture of how an individual educator currently thinks about their practice.
The Profile maps thinking across key metacognitive dimensions, identifying strengths, blind spots, and the specific areas where targeted development will have the greatest impact. It is the starting point for all coaching and consulting engagements — because you cannot improve thinking you cannot first see.
"The Thinking Profile gives educators a mirror — often for the first time — to see not just what they think, but how they think."
"Schools become better places when teachers and leaders think more critically about their thinking."
Thinking is the Unit of Change
Most school improvement efforts focus on behaviour — what teachers do, what leaders decide. The metacognitive theory starts one level deeper: with the thinking that drives behaviour. Change the thinking, and the behaviour follows. This is why surface-level professional development rarely sticks.
Metacognition is Learnable
Thinking critically about your own thinking is not a personality trait — it is a skill that can be developed through structured reflection, deliberate practice, and the right kind of challenge. The theory provides a rigorous, empirically grounded pathway for developing this capacity in educators at every career stage.
Context Shapes Cognition
How educators think is inseparable from the environment in which they think. The theory accounts for the cultural, relational, and structural conditions that either enable or constrain metacognitive development — and provides a framework for building school cultures where better thinking becomes the norm.
Collective Thinking Multiplies Impact
Individual metacognitive development matters — but the theory's most powerful application is at the collective level. When whole teams and whole schools develop shared metacognitive habits, the impact on student learning is exponential. This is the ultimate goal of all Thinking Connections work.
What Guides my practice
My Values
Thinking About Thinking
Metacognition is not a strategy — it is a disposition. We help educators develop the habit of examining their own thinking as a core professional practice.
Evidence Over Trend
The theory underpinning our work has been developed and refined over three decades of research and application. We follow the evidence, not the latest buzzword.
Context is Everything
Metacognitive thinking looks different in every school. We invest time in understanding your community and culture before designing any approach.
Sustained, Not Sporadic
Developing metacognitive capacity takes time and consistency. We build long-term partnerships that walk alongside schools through every stage of the journey.
my Journey
Thirty Years of Research & Practice
Commenced teaching at Blackfriars Priory School, Adelaide — the beginning of a career-long inquiry into how educators think and learn
Moved to CBC Adelaide, deepening classroom practice and early thinking about the relationship between teaching, learning, and cognition
Appointed to first leadership role as Coordinator of Drama and English at CBC Adelaide — the beginning of a lived inquiry into how leaders think about their practice
Appointed Head of English at Saint Ignatius' College, Adelaide — deepening leadership practice and the research into metacognitive thinking in educational contexts
Undertook a Master of Education by research investigating the literacy implications of class design and implementation of digital technologies
Appointed inaugural Faculty Leader of Creative Arts at Saint Ignatius' College — overseeing the strategic development of Performing Arts and Visual Art and Design, and working closely with Curriculum Coordinators on their thinking practices and the impact on their departments
Appointed Deputy Member of the Teachers Registration Board of South Australia — stepping into executive governance at a system level, contributing to the regulatory and professional standards that shape teaching across the state
Concluded five years as Faculty Leader of Creative Arts, with a deepened understanding of how metacognitive thinking shapes curriculum leadership and departmental culture
Proposed and was appointed Coordinator of Teacher Coaching & Mentoring at Saint Ignatius' — a role built on the conviction that how teachers think about their practice determines everything. Focused on Early Career Teachers, emerging middle leaders, and Pre-Service Teachers, it put metacognitive thinking at the centre of professional formation from day one.
Appointed Full Member of the Teachers Registration Board of South Australia — a recognition of sustained executive and governance contribution to the profession, and a deepened platform for influencing the thinking practices that shape teaching standards statewide
Coaching Connections & Solutions
Founded Coaching Connections & Solutions — a coaching consultancy working primarily with Early Career Teachers and Middle Leaders, refining the metacognitive theories underpinning the Thinking Framework and developing the foundations of the Thinking Assessment Tool and Profile for both ECTs and Middle Leaders
Thinking Connections Launch
Founded Thinking Connections — the culmination of three decades of research, leadership, and practice. The Thinking Suite brings together the Thinking Assessment Tool and Profile for ECTs, Middle Leaders, and Executive Teams; the Clarity First Framework; and Thinking Moves cognitive triggers. Programs include Learning to Thrive, Leading from the Middle, and Renewing the Middle — each designed to develop the metacognitive capacity that transforms educators and the schools they lead.
Work With Us