Mapping Strengths, Not Judgement: Why We Built the Starlight StarMap

One of the hardest problems in professional development is not insight — it’s trust.

Teachers are rightly cautious about anything that looks like observation, evaluation, or performance management dressed up as support. And yet, schools also know that some of their greatest untapped potential lies in something far simpler:

Understanding and sharing the strengths that already exist within their teams.

This tension is what led us to build the Starlight Teaching Strengths StarMap.

The problem we wanted to solve

When schools roll out Starlight, we often see the same pattern:

• a small group of enthusiastic early adopters

• many teachers who are curious but hesitant

• others who simply don’t engage regularly

This isn’t resistance to reflection. It’s resistance to risk.

We realised that before Starlight could be experienced as a coaching tool, it first had to be experienced as something else entirely: safe, affirming, and human-centred.

Starting with celebration, not critique

StarMap is deliberately strengths-only.

It doesn’t score lessons.

It doesn’t identify gaps.

It doesn’t suggest targets.

Instead, it does three things:

1. It highlights what a teacher already does well

2. It makes those strengths visible and shareable

3. It helps schools build a collective picture of best practice

The aim is not to ask “How can this teacher improve?”

It’s to ask “What can we learn from each other?”

Why a star?

The metaphor matters.

Astronomers don’t use stars to rank or judge one another. They use them to orient, navigate, and understand patterns across vast spaces. A star map is descriptive, not evaluative.

So in StarMap, a real star from the Gaia catalogue is chosen and dedicated to each teacher — one of over a billion stars mapped across our galaxy. It’s a symbolic way of saying:

You belong here. Your practice has a place. Your strengths matter.

Each StarMap includes:

• a short, celebratory description of teaching strengths

• a “signature move” others could learn from

• a real astronomical reference, anchoring the metaphor in something tangible

It’s designed to feel meaningful when read on screen — and celebratory when exported as a PDF.

From individual insight to collective understanding

The most important part of StarMap isn’t the reflection itself. It’s what happens next.

Teachers are encouraged to share their StarMap with their Teaching and Learning Lead. Not for monitoring — but to help schools:

• celebrate their amazing teachers

• map strengths across departments

• identify opportunities for peer collaboration

• connect teachers with complementary expertise

• build trust through visibility of good practice

Over time, this creates something powerful: a skills and strengths map of the school, built from affirmation rather than appraisal.

A different starting point for professional growth

StarMap is intentionally positioned at the start of the Starlight journey.

Before coaching.

Before analysis.

Before anonymised, aggregated data dashboards.

After all, growth works best when people feel seen, not measured.

By beginning with celebration, we’ve seen teachers more willing to engage, more open to reflection, and more generous in sharing what they do well. And that’s when real professional learning starts.

Starlight has always been about insight — but insight only works when trust comes first. StarMap is our way of making that explicit.

You can find the 📑 Starlight Teaching Strengths StarMap in the systems templates library now.

Spark insight. Celebrate practice. Build trust — with Starlight.

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The Insight Engine is written by Adam Sturdee, co-founder of Starlight—the UK’s first AI-powered coaching platform—and Assistant Headteacher at St Augustine’s Catholic College. This blog is part of a wider mission to support educators through meaningful reflection, not performance metrics. It documents the journey of building Starlight from the ground up, and explores how AI, when shaped with care, can reduce workload, surface insight, and help teachers think more deeply about their practice. Rooted in the belief that growth should be private, professional, and purposeful, The Insight Engine offers ideas and stories that put insight—not judgment—at the centre of development.