Rethinking Education: Recent Episodes
Dr James Mannion
"Civilisation is a race between education and catastrophe." (HG Wells)
In this podcast, we take Wells at his word. Hosted by Dr James Mannion (UCL Institute of Education), Rethinking Education features long-form conversations with fascinating guests about how we might rethink, reform and rebuild the education system so as to avert catastrophe and transition to a more harmonious, less hair-raising state of world affairs.
If this sounds interesting to you, welcome to Rethinking Education: Education's Critical Friend. Also, please join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network, a global community of lovely people from all walks of life who want to rethink education: https://rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
to work-Being evidence-informed: why data is richer than numbers, the trouble with RCTs and the EEF toolkit, and engaging with research and in research-Interdisciplinary project-based learning – and the jaw-dropping story of the Ofsted inspector who withheld 'outstanding' because children didn't know their learning was called history-Can we teach and assess transferable competencies? And do we have to trade exam results for a broader education? (Spoiler: no)-Lessons from curriculum reform in Scotland, Wales and British Columbia – why transforming practice takes time, investment and serious professional development-Why we need revolution, not evolutionAbout the guestsLiz Robinson is co-founder and CEO of Big Education. She became a headteacher at 29, leading Surrey Square Primary in south London for many years, and created the Big Leadership Adventure. She advocates for – and models – an authentic, reflective and relational approach to leadership.Sarah Seleznyov is Strategic Project Lead at Big Education and leads the Rethinking School project. She has worked in London schools for over 25 years as a deputy head, school improvement consultant and teaching school director, and previously led research-informed leadership programmes at the UCL Institute of Education. Her research specialism is Japanese lesson study.LinksGet the book: A Practical Guide to a Big Education: Balancing Head, Heart and Hand – https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/practical-guide-to-a-big-education-9781801997928/Big Education: https://bigeducation.orgThe Rethinking School project (subsidised places available – get in touch!): https://bigeducation.org/rethinking-school/Rethinking Assessment: https://rethinkingassessment.comSupport the showThis podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. Get 20% off all titles at https://www.crownhouse.co.uk with the promo code REPOD20 (excludes bundles and existing promotions).Become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/repod or make a one-off donation at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod – and help us keep these conversations coming.
This might be the most important conversation we've had on this podcast.There's a science of how human beings actually learn – and much of what happens in schools runs against the grain of it. In this episode, James is joined by affective neuroscience specialist Mike Goves and returning guest Kate McAllister, founder of the Hive in the Dominican Republic, to make that case from two directions at once: the research that explains it, and a school already living it.The core idea is deceptively simple: we learn what we care about, not what we're told. Mike makes the scientific case that affect – the felt sense of how good or bad something is – is biologically primary to all learning and memory. Kate offers the living proof: an environment she built, long before she had the vocabulary for it, around children's genuine curiosity and a daily practice of checking in on how they feel. When the science and the lived practice line up this precisely, it's hard to look at a normal classroom the same way again.Along the way we get into:- Why memory prioritises emotional salience over semantic accuracy – and why we reconstruct memories rather than retrieve them- The 'seesaw' model of attention: task focus (the executive control network) at one end, reflection and daydreaming (the default mode network) at the other, with the salience network as the pivot- The research suggesting that keeping young people permanently in task-focus mode may inhibit their development – linked to brain growth, wellbeing and life satisfaction well into their twenties- How narratives bind learning into identity, and why 'a person, a place, a problem' makes kids care about electrolysis- What this looks like in practice, from the freedom of the Hive to the real constraints of a 2,000-pupil urban secondary- A rich, wide-ranging conversation about emotion, meaning and what education could be if we took the biology seriously.GuestsMike Goves – psychology and neuroscience graduate turned teacher and school leader, now working at a multi-academy trust in Oxfordshire, with a growing focus on affect and affective neuroscience. He runs the Affective Learning Lab and has authored a white paper, The affective foundations of human learning, on the science discussed in this episode.Kate McAllister – founder of the Hive in the Dominican Republic and a long-time intuitive practitioner of affect-led, unschooling-inspired education. She returns to the podcast around five years after her first appearance.LinksThe Affective Learning Lab - https://affectivelearninglab.comWhite paper: The affective foundations of learning: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bCQYKfm5xbYmlrqG68sPlbbcyVjHrOSg/view Support #repod The Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean. This podcast is a labour of love, with the emphasis on both the labour and the love. If you’d like to support the podcast and convey your appreciation for these conversations, you can:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Sophie Smith-Tong joins James and David to discuss her book Teacher Autonomy: Where Has It Gone and Why We Need It Back – and the conversation is as rich, funny, and urgent as the title suggests.Sophie is a teacher of 16 years and mental health and wellbeing lead, who came to the question of autonomy through noticing the human cost of a system built on fear. In this episode, she makes the case that the loss of teacher autonomy isn't just a professional grievance – it's a structural wound that affects children's learning, teachers' wellbeing, and the long-term health of the profession.In this episode we explore:- Why only 18% of teachers strongly agree they have freedom over how they do their work – and why Sophie thinks fear is at the root of it- James Callaghan's 'secret garden' speech and the long arc of tightening control since the 1970s- The 'fidelity' culture: from scripted lessons to approved emails to clocks as cognitive overload- Why wellbeing training is a sticking plaster – and what addressing the actual disease might look like- David's 'good tired vs bad tired' distinction, and why autonomy determines which one you get- Sophie's definition of autonomy: not self-rule without support, but self-governance within a collective direction- 'Aligned autonomy', 'connected autonomy', and the difference between tight purpose and loose practice- The curriculum and assessment review: evolution when revolution was needed?- Child autonomy in early years – and why it gets educated out of children by year one- Peter Gray's five educative instincts: curiosity, playfulness, sociability, willfulness, and planfulness- Practical starting points for leaders and teachers: noticing, getting curious, making small changes -The inner work required of controlling leaders – and why self-compassion is the first stepFind Sophie:teacherautonomy.com mindfulnessforlearning.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mforlearning/ Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-smith-tong-7b3891207/ Get the book: Teacher Autonomy: Where Has It Gone and Why We Need It Back by Sophie Smith-Tong https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1032874589 Support #repod The Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean. This podcast is a labour of love, with the emphasis on both the labour and the love. If you’d like to support the podcast and convey your appreciation for these conversations, you can:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Power is everywhere in schools – in classrooms, staffrooms, policies, and conversations. Yet it is rarely named, examined, or understood. In this episode, James Mannion and David Cameron are joined by Dee Nic Sitric to explore how power operates – often invisibly – and what becomes possible when schools begin to surface it.Drawing on systemic thinking, neurodivergent perspectives, and real-world examples, this conversation examines how power shapes behaviour, relationships, decision-making, and ultimately outcomes for children and young people.Key ideas explored-Why power dynamics are largely invisible but highly influential in schools-The distinction between control and genuine systemic thinking-How slice teams redistribute power and improve decision-making-The role of psychological safety in enabling challenge and curiosity-Why ‘voice’ without influence is not real participationHow power shows up in:behaviour systemsclassroom talk and oracystaff relationshipspolicy and consultation processesThe link between mattering (feeling valued + adding value) and powerWhy reflection – not compliance – is the engine of improvementStandout moments‘Power isn’t static – it moves, shifts, and often sits where we least expect it.’‘Who is allowed to ask questions? That’s where the power lies.’‘We cannot be curious and judgemental at the same time.’A vivid example of how a single interaction in an assembly can redistribute (or remove) power in secondsPractical implicationsCreate structures where multiple perspectives genuinely shape decisionsBuild psychological safety so staff and students can question and contributeMove from ‘consultation’ to co-productionUse reflection routines to examine:‘Why did we act that way?’‘Whose voice was missing?’Reframe behaviour and classroom talk as questions of power, not just techniqueAbout Dee Nic SitricDee is the founding director of Autism Champions, a neurodivergent-led organisation supporting schools and systems to better understand and respond to neurodivergent experiences. Her work focuses on systemic thinking, relational practice, and the lived realities of children, families, and staff navigating education systems.Call to actionReflect on your own setting:Who has the most power?Who feels able to speak?Whose perspectives are shaping decisions?LinksAutism Champions - https://www.autismchampions.co.uk Follow Dee on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dee-nic-sitric/ Support #repod The Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean. This podcast is a labour of love, with the emphasis on both the labour and the love. If you’d like to support the podcast and convey your appreciation for these conversations, you can:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
In this episode, James and David are joined by Sue Roffey – educational psychologist, researcher, and leading voice on wellbeing, social justice, and relational approaches to education.Sue traces her journey from working with young people facing emotional and behavioural challenges, through educational psychology and academia, to her current work developing the ASPIRE principles – a framework for reimagining education through agency, safety, positivity, inclusion, respect and equity.The conversation explores why wellbeing and learning are not competing priorities but deeply intertwined, and why many current approaches to behaviour and school improvement miss this fundamental point.Key themes include:- Why focusing on problems can limit progress – and the importance of vision-led change- The distinction between individual wellbeing and collective flourishing- The concept of ‘mattering’ – feeling valued and adding value- Why agency is essential for both students and teachers- How schools can create cultures of safety where mistakes support learning- The dangers of ‘exclusive belonging’ and the importance of inclusive communities- Practical examples from schools restoring pupils’ love of learning- The enduring relevance of UNESCO’s four pillars: learning to know, learning to do, learning to be, and learning to live togetherSue also shares insights from her recent Love of Learning project, involving deep dives into schools across the UK that are successfully building cultures of connection, curiosity and care.This episode offers both a critique of current systems and a hopeful vision of what education could become when relationships, agency and shared humanity are placed at the centre.LinksSue’s website - Growing Great Schools Worldwide - https://www.growinggreatschoolsworldwide.com/who-we-are/sue-roffey/ The primary school where every day starts with dancing - https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/videos/cgqe0pv8vepo Support #repod This podcast is a labour of love, with the emphasis on both the labour and the love. If you’d like to support the podcast and convey your appreciation for these conversations, you can:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod The Rethinking Education podcast is sponsored by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean.
“It’s not about teacher-centred or student-centred. I would argue it’s dialogue-centred.”In this episode of the Rethinking Education podcast, Dr James Mannion and The Read David Cameron explore these questions with Professor Rupert Wegerif, author of Rethinking Educational Theory: Education as Expanding Dialogue.Rupert has spent decades researching how dialogue shapes thinking and learning. Drawing on work with Neil Mercer and the Thinking Together programme, he shows how teaching children to reason and talk together can improve thinking, deepen understanding across subjects, and even transform classroom culture.But this conversation goes far beyond classroom strategies. Rupert argues that dialogue is not just a teaching technique – it is a fundamental way of understanding knowledge, identity, and even reality itself.In this wide-ranging discussion we explore:- Why teaching children how to talk together can dramatically improve learning outcomes- The origins of the Thinking Together programme and what the research found in classrooms- Why group work often fails – and how simple ground rules for dialogue can transform it- The relationship between oracy, dialogue and thinking- The idea of culture as a “living tradition” that students must learn to participate in- How dialogue can bridge the long-running divide between traditional and progressive education- Rupert’s concept of “double dialogue” – learning through conversation with both peers and disciplinary traditions- Why education should be dialogue-centred, rather than teacher-centred or student-centred- The deeper philosophical idea that knowledge and meaning emerge through dialogic space- What generative AI means for education – and why dialogic thinking may matter more than everAlong the way, the conversation ranges from classroom practice to philosophy, drawing on thinkers such as Vygotsky, Bakhtin, Paulo Freire, Michael Oakeshott and Merleau-Ponty.The result is a fascinating exploration of education as something far richer than the transmission of information – a process of entering, expanding and contributing to the ongoing dialogue of human culture.About Rupert WegerifProfessor Rupert Wegerif is Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge. His work focuses on dialogic education, thinking and learning, and the role of dialogue in human development. He has worked extensively with Neil Mercer and others on the Thinking Together programme, exploring how structured dialogue can improve reasoning, understanding and collaboration in classrooms.LinksRupert’s Substack - https://rupertwegerif.substack.com Rupert’s website - https://www.rupertwegerif.com Support #repod The Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean. This podcast is a labour of love, with the emphasis on both the labour and the love. If you’d like to support the podcast and convey your appreciation for these conversations, you can:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Why do so many lessons feel disconnected to students – even when the content is genuinely fascinating?In this episode, Dr James Mannion is joined by teacher and author Hywel Roberts to explore 'botheredness' – a way of teaching that draws students into learning through narrative, curiosity and shared imagination.They discuss why pupils often struggle to see the relevance of what they are learning, and how small shifts in pedagogy can transform a lesson from something students comply with into something they actively care about. As Hywel explains, the key is not entertainment or gimmicks, but creating context, tension and meaning around knowledge. The conversation explores practical techniques such as ‘let’s say’ narratives, teacher-in-role, and the use of story structures built around people, place and problem. These approaches help teachers bring abstract knowledge to life and ‘protect students into learning’ by making them feel safe, curious and invested in the lesson.James also reflects on the challenge many teachers face: delivering a knowledge-rich curriculum that can sometimes feel like a sequence of disconnected topics. Together they explore how storytelling and implementation thinking can help embed this approach into everyday classroom practice.They also introduce a new professional learning programme combining the pedagogy of botheredness with implementation science, designed to help teachers move from one-off inspiration to sustained classroom change.In this episode:- Why students often ask ‘Why are we learning this?’- The difference between engagement and investment in learning- How stories create curiosity, tension and motivation- The power of ‘let’s say…’ as an invitation into learning- What it means to ‘protect children into learning’- Using narrative as retrieval and assessment- The barriers that stop imaginative pedagogy becoming routine practice- How implementation thinking can help make botheredness stickLinks and resourcesHywel's website: https://botheredness.co.ukImplementing Botheredness 2026: https://www.makingchangestick.co/implementing-botheredness-2026Book a free 20-minute call: https://calendly.com/rethinkingjames/implementing-botheredness-chat-with-james-hywel
In this episode, featuring a webinar we ran this week, Tara Elie and Dr James Mannion explore a question that many school leaders are quietly wrestling with:Why do so many behaviour initiatives fail to deliver sustained change?Across the system, the signals are hard to ignore – rising suspensions, internal removals, persistent absence, staff exhaustion, and a growing sense that behaviour reform is absorbing huge energy without always shifting underlying patterns.In this conversation, we argue that two critical ideas are largely missing from the behaviour debate:- The psychology of mattering- Implementation and improvement scienceWhen combined, these lenses offer a more systemic, more hopeful way forward.Part 1: The psychology of matteringTara introduces the concept of mattering, drawing on the work of Morris Rosenberg and contemporary positive psychology. Mattering has two components: feeling valued, and adding value. We explore:- The difference between mattering and self-esteem- What staff mattering looks like in practice- What “anti-mattering” feels like in schools- The emotional and behavioural consequences of quiet disengagement- Why belonging is an outcome of mattering – not the target itself We discuss how staff who feel unseen, unheard or replaceable may withdraw effort, reduce collaboration, and disengage in subtle but powerful ways. Conversely, when staff feel significant and influential, resilience, agency and motivation follow.The same applies to students.Part 2: Why behaviour reform so often stallsJames explores a sobering question:What proportion of school improvement initiatives actually improve outcomes in a sustained way?We examine two core reasons change efforts frequently falter:- Teachers and leaders are rarely taught how to implement change effectively- Schools default to top-down, “black box” leadership modelsWe unpack the risks of:- Compliance cultures- Groupthink- ‘Us and them’ dynamics- Initiative fatigueAnd we introduce a more transparent alternative: the slice team – a representative cross-section of the school community that improves decision-making and strengthens buy-in.Root cause analysis: looking beneath the surfaceWe then turn to a practical example.A widely cited statistic suggests that seven minutes out of every thirty are lost to low-level disruption. Rather than treating this as a behaviour problem alone, we demonstrate how to conduct a root cause analysis:- Identifying the trunk (the presenting issue)- Mapping the consequences- Investigating the roots across physical, emotional, relational, cognitive, behavioural and navigational domainsThe key insight: the same visible behaviour can arise from very different root systems.Behaviour reform without diagnosis is guesswork.Key ideas explored:- Mattering as a driver of culture- Anti-mattering and quiet withdrawal- Why belonging runs downstream of mattering- Black box vs glass box leadership- Slice teams as a mechanism for distributed ownership- Root cause analysis in school improvement- Why policy launch is not implementation- Habit change and “tight but loose” planningIf behaviour is live in your contextWe are currently offering 20-minute Behaviour Strategy Calls for school leaders who would value a structured diagnostic conversation about behaviour, mattering and implementation.You can book here:https://calendly.com/rethinkingjames/chat-with-tara-jamesFurther resourcesDownload the Rethinking Behaviour guide - https://www.makingchangestick.co/rethinking-behaviour-free-guide Explore implementation science tools from Making Change Stick - https://www.makingchangestick.co
As the number of living Holocaust survivors declines, a profound question emerges: who carries these stories next – and how do we ensure they are heard, understood, and acted upon?In this episode, timed to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27th, James and David are joined by Hannah Wilson, Outreach Officer at the charity Generation to Generation, alongside two G2G speakers, Vivienne Cato and and Calum Isaacs, who share their own family histories as descendants of Holocaust survivors. (You can read about their stories herehttps://www.generation2generation.org.uk/the-story-of-mirjam-finkelstein and here https://www.generation2generation.org.uk/holocaust-survivor-eva-cato).Together, they explore how Holocaust education remains as important, powerful and relevant for young people today – not as mere knowledge of the history, but as lived experience passed from one generation to the next.Vivienne shares the story of her mother Eva, a Slovak Jewish survivor who spent years in hiding under a false identity, and reflects on her experience of growing up in the shadow of survival, luck, and loss. Calum tells the story of his grandmother Mirjam, who survived Nazi persecution through a series of extraordinary events – including a last-minute prisoner exchange – and considers how those near-misses shape identity, values, and responsibility across generations.The conversation also examines:Why Holocaust education matters more than everHow personal testimony cuts through misinformation, distortion, and online extremismThe role of ordinary people, bystanders, and complicity – not just dictators – in enabling atrocitiesWhy students often respond with quiet focus, empathy, and deep moral questioningHow Holocaust education connects to wider conversations about racism, antisemitism, democracy, and civic responsibility todayHannah reflects on what good Holocaust education looks like in practice, the challenges teachers face, and why grounding learning in real human stories helps young people develop critical thinking, empathy, and historical understanding – without reducing education to moral instruction or political indoctrination.This episode is about remembrance with purpose: how bearing witness is not only about preserving the past, but about shaping the kind of future we want to live in – and the small actions that can make a decisive difference.Support #repod The Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean. This podcast is a labour of love, with the emphasis on both the labour and the love. If you’d like to support the podcast and convey your appreciation for these conversations, you can:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
In this second episode of a two-part mini-series, Tara Elie turns the tables and interviews Dr James Mannion about the thinking behind Making Change Stick – and why so many school behaviour initiatives fail, even when the policy itself is sound.Following on from the previous episode on the psychology of mattering, this conversation explores what happens after the policy launch: how change is (or isn’t) implemented in real schools, and why top-down, ‘black box’ approaches so often lead to inconsistency, frustration, and drift.James traces jis 12-year journey into implementation science, drawing on lessons from healthcare, engineering and systems change – including a powerful case study from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital – to show how schools can dramatically improve uptake, consistency and outcomes by changing how decisions are made.Together, they explore:- Why behaviour is often led by a single senior leader – and why this rarely works in practice- The importance of slice teams: representative groups that bring together staff from across a school (and sometimes students and families) to design, test and refine change- How slice teams improve both decision-making and buy-in by redistributing power without undermining leadership- Why implementation is a process, not an event – and why policies need ongoing review, feedback and adaptation- The role of mattering in behaviour systems: how staff feeling heard, trusted and involved leads to greater consistency for pupils- Practical tools schools rarely use – but should – including root cause analysis, communications plans, pre-mortems and ‘tight but loose’ implementation- How understanding the root causes of behaviour issues can lead to unexpected but powerful solutions (including links to oracy, wellbeing and relationships)- Why fear-based compliance may look like ‘good behaviour’ on the surface, but often masks deeper problemsThis episode is for school leaders, behaviour leads, teachers and system leaders who are tired of rolling out initiatives that never quite stick – and who want a more humane, effective and sustainable way to improve behaviour, relationships and attendance.Support #repod The Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean. This podcast is a labour of love, with the emphasis on both the labour and the love. If you’d like to support the podcast and convey your appreciation for these conversations, you can:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
In this second episode of a two-part mini-series, Tara Elie turns the tables and interviews yours truly about the thinking behind Making Change Stick – and why so many school behaviour initiatives fail, even when the policy itself is sound.Following on from the previous episode on the psychology of mattering, this conversation explores what happens after the policy launch: how change is (or isn’t) implemented in real schools, and why top-down, ‘black box’ approaches so often lead to inconsistency, frustration, and drift.I trace my 12-year journey into implementation science, drawing on lessons from healthcare, engineering and systems change – including a powerful case study from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital – to show how schools can dramatically improve uptake, consistency and outcomes by changing how decisions are made.Together, we explore:- Why behaviour is often led by a single senior leader – and why this rarely works in practice- The importance of slice teams: representative groups that bring together staff from across a school (and sometimes students and families) to design, test and refine change- How slice teams improve both decision-making and buy-in by redistributing power without undermining leadership- Why implementation is a process, not an event – and why policies need ongoing review, feedback and adaptation- The role of mattering in behaviour systems: how staff feeling heard, trusted and involved leads to greater consistency for pupils- Practical tools schools rarely use – but should – including root cause analysis, communications plans, pre-mortems and ‘tight but loose’ implementation- How understanding the root causes of behaviour issues can lead to unexpected but powerful solutions (including links to oracy, wellbeing and relationships)- Why fear-based compliance may look like ‘good behaviour’ on the surface, but often masks deeper problemsThis episode is for school leaders, behaviour leads, teachers and system leaders who are tired of rolling out initiatives that never quite stick – and who want a more humane, effective and sustainable way to improve behaviour, relationships and attendance.Support #repod The Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean. This podcast is a labour of love, with the emphasis on both the labour and the love. If you’d like to support the podcast and convey your appreciation for these conversations, you can:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
What if the real driver of behaviour, attendance, engagement – and staff retention – isn’t rules, rewards, or even belonging… but mattering?In this deep, reflective conversation, James is joined by Tara Elie – former teacher, behaviour specialist, and positive psychology practitioner – to explore the powerful but often overlooked psychology of mattering: the feeling that you are valued and that you add value.Drawing on Tara’s Master’s research, coaching work with schools, and lived experience as a teacher, the conversation reframes some of education’s biggest challenges through a radically human lens.Together, James and Tara explore:Why belonging is not the starting point, but an outcome of something deeperHow low staff and student mattering shows up as disengagement, burnout, behaviour issues and poor attendanceThe two-part psychology of mattering – feeling valued and adding value – and why imbalance leads to compromised wellbeingWhy many behaviour systems unintentionally communicate ‘you don’t add value’How mattering connects to agency, resilience, engagement, meaning and purposeWhat psychologically safe schools do differently – for adults and young peoplePractical ways leaders can audit mattering in their schools without adding workloadThis episode is especially relevant for:Senior leaders responsible for behaviour, relationships or attendanceSchool leaders concerned about staff wellbeing and retentionAnyone frustrated by surface-level fixes to deep, systemic issuesIf you’ve ever felt that schools are chasing the wrong outcomes – or that something vital is missing from the behaviour conversation – this episode offers a language, a framework, and a hopeful way forward.‘Belonging isn’t something you can chase. It’s what happens when people genuinely matter.’The Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean. This podcast is a labour of love, with the emphasis on both the labour and the love. If you’d like to support the podcast and convey your appreciation for these conversations, you can:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
As 2025 draws to a close, James and David come together for a wide-ranging Christmas conversation that reflects on a turbulent year in education – and looks ahead to where hope, change, and renewal might yet be found.Kicking off with a powerful metaphor drawn from winter sea swimming, the discussion explores why schools currently feel so ‘choppy’, from behaviour and attendance to widening inequality and system-level pressures. Along the way, we reflect on what really matters in education – relationships, belonging, and being known – and why these often get squeezed out by accountability and assessment.The episode revisits key debates sparked by the Curriculum and Assessment Review, including the future of GCSEs, the limits of ‘manageable change’, and the uneasy separation of curriculum, assessment, and pedagogy.A detour into restorative justice, inspired by Punch and the story of Jacob Dunne, deepens the conversation about connection, responsibility, and what happens when people are truly seen. The parallels with schooling – and with how society treats its most vulnerable young people – are stark.The episode closes on a hopeful note, spotlighting examples of schools doing brave, relational, and imaginative work within the current system, and outlining plans for the podcast in 2026: fewer trench wars, more light-shining on practice that actually helps children and young people thrive.James also shares upcoming programmes and projects focused on oracy, behaviour, botheredness, and learning beyond subjects – all grounded in the belief that meaningful change is possible when we start with relationships and implementation.In this episode, we explore:- Why education feels ‘choppy’ – and what the winter swim metaphor reveals- Behaviour, discipline, and the limits of coercive models- Restorative justice, Punch, and the power of being known- What the Curriculum and Assessment Review did – and didn’t – make possible- GCSEs, adolescent development, and the problem of high-stakes exams at 16- Why relationships matter more than systems – and what the evidence says- Examples of hopeful practice already happening in schools- What’s next for the podcast in 2026Support #repod The Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean. This podcast is a labour of love, with the emphasis on both the labour and the love. If you’d like to support the podcast and convey your appreciation for these conversations, you can:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Assessment Review panel - workload, process, and pressuresWhy the review focused on evolution rather than revolutionThe hidden constraints baked into the review - political, practical, and systemicWhy post-16 recommendations matter more than many people realiseThe case for broadening pathways beyond a narrow academic routeHow oracy and the arts emerged as quiet winners in the final reportThe limits of assessment reform - and why GCSEs remain so hard to shiftHow evidence, professional judgement and lived experience were balancedWhat the review does not do - and why that has frustrated many criticsThis episode is essential listening for:School and college leadersTeachers and curriculum leadsPolicy-curious educatorsAnyone trying to make sense of what the review really changes - and what it doesn’tLinks Curriculum and Assessment Review - Final Report: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-final-report Follow Jon - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-hutchinson-b3bbb568/ Follow Lisa - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-o-loughlin-0637b553/ Follow David - https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-cameron-72061a15/ Follow James - https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjamesmannion Support #repod The Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean. This podcast is a labour of love, with the emphasis on both the labour and the love. If you’d like to support the podcast and convey your appreciation for these conversations, you can:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
In this energising and wide-ranging conversation, Dave Whitaker joins James and David to explore behaviour, belonging, learner effectiveness, and the courageous cultural work needed to create schools in which every child can thrive.Dave Whitaker is the Chief Education Officer at the Wellspring Academy Trust, working across 33 schools and alternative provisions in the north of England and Lincolnshire. A former geography teacher who moved through the pastoral route into leadership, Dave is known nationally for The Kindness Principle, his advocacy for relational practice, and his unwavering belief that children flourish when adults lead with compassion, consistency, and high expectations rooted in humanity. His Guardian-featured work on creating exclusion-free, restorative, relational schools challenged the national narrative on behaviour and ignited a conversation that still reverberates today.Across Wellspring’s mainstream, AP, SEMH and special schools, Dave supports leaders to build cultures of unconditional positive regard, trauma-informed practice, context-specific autonomy, and a strong collective commitment to inclusion. His work demonstrates that it is possible to run high-functioning, high-expectation schools without relying on zero-tolerance, punitive systems - but only if leaders invest in the three-to-five-year cultural journey required to get there.James and David share insights from the Education Policy Alliance and the urgent need to reconfigure systems that default to behaviourism, high-stakes testing, and top-down reform. They connect these ideas to the recent Everybody Thriving unconference and Wellspring’s Next Decade conference, examining how genuine change happens — and why it so often doesn’t.Together, they explore:Why kindness is not a soft option — and why it’s astonishing that this still needs sayingHow relational practice sits on a spectrum from zero-tolerance to “batter them with kindness”Why cultural transformation in schools takes 3-5 years, not weeksHow Wellspring has never had a permanent exclusionWhy some behaviour approaches become “selective by culture”The misconceptions that plague relational, restorative and trauma-informed practiceThe problem with national top-down reform, and why place-based change mattersWhy we need a more expansive definition of human development — beyond subjectsHow strong cultures give staff autonomy while holding shared values at the coreWhy bravery from leaders and trusts is essential in an Ofsted-driven systemThis is a hopeful, deeply practical conversation about culture, compassion, courage and what it really takes to build inclusive schools that work for ALL children.LinksThe Kindness Principle (Dave’s book): https://www.crownhouse.co.uk/the-kindness-principle Wellspring Academy Trust: https://wellspringacademytrust.co.ukDave on Twitter/X: https://x.com/davewhitaker246Guardian article - ‘We batter them with kindness’: schools that reject super-strict values- https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/feb/27/schools-discipline-unconditional-positive-regard School isolation rooms are damaging pupil wellbeing, new study warns - https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/school-isolation-rooms-are-damaging-pupil-wellbeing Wellspring’s Next Decade conference: https://thenextdecade.co.uk/ Support the podThe Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean.This podcast is a labour of love, and we love doing it. If you’d like to support the podcast and convey your appreciation for these conversations, you can:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repodBuy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Heard supports former pupils, works with schools, and campaigns for safer legislation- Why spoken language (oracy) is an overlooked equity issue- Why the system keeps “locating the problem in the child”- How learner-effectiveness, self-regulation, and holistic education can transform outcomes- The cultural assumptions baked into British schooling and politics- Why compassion-centred leadership matters now more than everThis is a deeply human, hopeful conversation about trauma, awareness, systemic change, and learning to live - and lead - with compassion.LINKS- Chris’s not for profit supporting the wellbeing of past pupils of boarding and independent day schools and their families – https://seenheard.org.uk- Chris’s not for profit supporting the wellbeing of present pupils of boarding and independent day schools and their families – https://seenheardschools.org.uk- Chris’s coaching business where I support men and women through 1-2-1’s and groups – https://growthwave.ukThe Compassionate Leader Pathway Course - designed to help people lead with purpose, perform with clarity and live with integrity. https://compassionateleadersglobal.comCREDITS- The Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean. - Outro track: How it is and how it should be by Grit ControlSUPPORT THE PODCAST:This podcast is a labour of love, with the emphasis on both the labour and the love. If you’d like to support the podcast or convey your appreciation for these conversations, you can:Become a patron: https://patreon.com/repod Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/repod
cohortId=231774178 Outro track: ‘How it is and how it should be’ by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean. Drop us a line at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact.CONVEY YOUR APPRECIATION FOR THE POD :)Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
We’re back for Season 6! In this reflective episode, James and David catch up after the summer and explore the “big idea” that’s been emerging across recent blogs and conversations: there is more to human development than learning about subjects.They discuss the need for schools to make space for personal growth, wellbeing, and learner effectiveness alongside subject learning – and why our current focus on a purely knowledge-rich curriculum isn’t enough to prepare young people for life beyond school.Along the way, they talk about theatre, conferences, politics, art, and the Everybody Thriving unconference in Manchester.⏱️ HighlightsCatching up after summer: Edinburgh Fringe, Fringe Review, and the Lost Lear play at the Traverse Theatre (00:01:00)James’s trip to the EARLI Conference in Austria and the international focus on learner effectiveness (00:07:00)Hundertwasser’s art and architecture in Vienna (00:09:00)Reflections on feedback from recent Rethinking Education episodes (00:11:00)The Supervision in Education Conference at St Mary’s University, Twickenham (00:12:00)The Everybody Thriving unconference in Manchester (00:19:00)Audrey Tang, the Taiwanese civic hacker and politician, and her ideas on digital democracy (Plurality, GovZero, Pol.is, and presidential hackathons) (00:24:00)The Education Policy Alliance and “slice politics” – bridging the gap between grassroots innovation and executive power (00:28:00)The “big idea”: more to human development than subjects – learner effectiveness, self-knowledge, wellbeing, and systems thinking (00:36:00)Why subject knowledge alone isn’t working: phones, attention, and the post-literate world (00:44:00)The Learning Skills Curriculum and Who Am I? project (00:47:00)The Welsh Government’s Learner Effectiveness Programme (00:49:00)The purpose of education: human development vs. transactional outcomes (00:57:00)Future guests: Dave Whitaker and Rupert Wegerith (01:05:00)DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean. Drop us a line at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact.SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
In this episode, David and James sit down with Jaz Ampaw-Farr to talk about her powerful new book Because of You, This is Me: The stories we tell, the stories we change and the power of everyday heroes. We explore the big themes of the book, including:The lies we’ve agreed to and how to rewrite themWhy we need a new vocabulary for educationAnd the everyday heroes who changed the ending for JazAlong the way we also touch on the importance of listening to voices of lived experience – a conversation that was sparked by Darren McGarvey’s work and led to some of Jaz’s most insightful reflections.This episode is a rich mix of personal story, educational insight and practical wisdom.Links and resources:Jaz’s book: https://www.crownhouse.co.uk/because-of-you-this-is-me Jaz’s TEDx talk ‘The power of everyday heroes’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3xoZXSW5yc Jaz’s website: https://jazampawfarr.com/ Find out more about the Open School: https://www.theopenschool.uk/ Enjoyed the episode?Please subscribe, leave a review, and share the episode with a friend or colleague. You can also support the podcast on Patreon: https://patreon.com/repod Outro track: ‘How it is and how it should be’ by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI The Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean.
In this wide-ranging and thought-provoking conversation, we're joined by teacher and researcher Richard Bustin, author of the fascinating new book What Are We Teaching?We delve deep into some of the biggest questions in curriculum and pedagogy today – from the concept of powerful knowledge to the ongoing tensions between progressivism and traditionalism in education. What does it mean to teach in a way that builds pupils' capabilities – not just their test scores? And how can we balance a knowledge-rich curriculum with professional teacher autonomy?Richard brings a rare blend of classroom insight, research rigour, and philosophical curiosity to this conversation. We discuss:What powerful knowledge is – and isn’tHow geography “went woke”Whether the progressivism vs traditionalism debate is helpful or reductiveWhy a focus on capabilities might offer a richer way forwardThe risks of top-down curriculum mandatesAnd why teacher professionalism and trust matter more than everThis is a rich and energising listen for anyone who cares deeply about what – and how – we teach.Richard Bustin is a secondary geography teacher and doctoral researcher with a focus on curriculum studies, powerful knowledge, and geo-capabilities. His book What Are We Teaching? (2025) is a compelling invitation to examine the deeper messages embedded in our teaching and to reclaim the professional agency of teachers as curriculum-makers.Links and resources:Follow Richard https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-bustin-165b7019b/ What are we teaching? https://www.crownhouse.co.uk/what-are-we-teaching Enjoyed the episode?Please subscribe, leave a review, and share the episode with a friend or colleague. You can also support the podcast on Patreon: https://patreon.com/repod Outro track: ‘How it is and how it should be’ by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI The Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean.
In this powerful and practical conversation, Dr James Mannion and The Real David Cameron are joined by the inspirational Amjad Ali – teacher, leader, inclusion expert, founder of Try This Teaching and author of A Little Guide for Teachers: SEND in Schools – to explore what it would take to fix the SEND crisis.With over 20 years of experience across a wide range of educational settings, Amjad brings a wealth of knowledge and deep compassion to the question of how we can better serve learners with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Together, we explore:Why the SEND system is currently under such immense pressureThe barriers that children, families and teachers face every dayWhat inclusion really means – and how to move beyond tokenismPractical ideas to create more equitable, compassionate classroomsThe mindset shifts needed at every level of the systemThis is a must-listen episode for anyone who wants to make education more inclusive, sustainable, and humane – not just for SEND learners, but for everyone.LINKSFollow Amjad - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amjadalitrythisteaching/ Outro track: ‘How it is and how it should be’ by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean.SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repodBuy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
In this joyful and thought-provoking episode, we’re joined by Tom Veck and Andy Hawkings from Rocktopus – the world’s greatest rock band for kids (and educators, as it turns out).At the last Rethinking Education conference, Tom and Andy did something truly remarkable: in front of a live audience of 500 people, they wrote a brand new song on the spot. With lyrics provided by the audience and four chords chosen entirely at random, they created a tune that’s both hilarious and haunting – and just wait until you hear it. Fair warning: it’s an absolute earworm.But this episode is more than a musical moment. Tom and Andy – both former teachers – use the lyrics of the song as a springboard for a fascinating conversation about the perks and peculiarities of the English education system. We explore the power of creativity, the limits of conformity, and what it might take to build a system that helps everyone to thrive.Whether you’re a teacher, parent, policymaker or student, this one’s for you.In this episode:A live songwriting experiment with audience participationWhy music and creativity matter more than ever in educationStories from the classroom – and why Tom and Andy left teachingReflections on control, compliance and how to do things differentlyWe have a narrow curriculum which squeezes out the arts - so let’s rethink educationThere is a lack of imagination and not enough fun - so let’s rethink educationChildren should be self directed showing us their way let them leadTransferable skills should be the core of what we teach learn for lifeSo let’s trustLet’s be brave Let’s do what’s right and not what is requiredLet’s have funLet’s explore Let’s bring back the love forget the fear of being fired!We're forced to rank the children as OFSTED ranks the schools - so let’s rethink educationWe have a lack of agency - we're trapped inside the system - so let’s rethink educationA place of transformation that embraces community school is the heartA place to dream a place to play a Place to think and love feeling freeSo let’s trustLet’s be brave Let’s do what’s right and not what is requiredLet’s have funLet’s explore Let’s bring back the love forget the fear of being fired!Outro track: ‘How it is and how it should be’ by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean.SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repodBuy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
In this short episode of the Rethinking Education podcast, James Mannion speaks with Dr Kulvarn Atwal – a highly respected headteacher leading not one, but two schools: Highlands Primary and Uphall Primary in East London.Kulvarn is the author of The Thinking School and The Thinking Teacher, and a long-time advocate of distributed leadership and research-informed practice. He shares insights into how his schools are developing cultures of continuous improvement through collaboration and genuine stakeholder engagement.This conversation focuses on the idea of slice teams – diverse, representative groups of staff, students, and other members of the school community who lead change initiatives together. Slice teams are a central feature of James's new book, Making Change Stick: A Practical Guide to Implementing School Improvement.Topics discussed include:What slice teams are and how they work in practiceWhy including pupils in these teams is so importantHow this approach can lead to more sustainable, system-wide changeWhether you’re a school leader, a classroom teacher, or someone interested in education reform, this is a thought-provoking discussion on how we can rethink leadership and change in schools.LINKSMaking Change Stick website - https://makingchangestick.co Making Change Stick book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Making-Change-Stick-Implementing-Improvement/dp/1398387487 Outro track: ‘How it is and how it should be’ by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repodBuy James a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
In this powerful episode, we speak with two leading commentators on education and children’s rights – Warwick Mansell, independent investigative journalist and founder of Education Uncovered, and Dr Naomi Fisher, clinical psychologist and author of Changing Our Minds. We dig into the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill currently making ita way through Parliament, and ask: who gets to decide what’s best for children?Warwick examines how the academies system has paved the way for growing inequality, secrecy, and reduced local oversight, while Naomi outlines how the Bill could ramp up state control over home education.From changes to local authorities to parental rights, this episode uncovers what’s at stake – and why we should all be paying attention.LINKSFollow Warwick - https://educationuncovered.co.uk Follow Naomi - https://naomifisher.co.uk/ Follow James - https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ Follow David - https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-cameron-72061a15 Outro track: ‘How it is and how it should be’ by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean.SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repodBuy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
In today’s episode, I bring you a fascinating conversation with John Tomsett and Mary Myatt – two people who’ve done so much to shape thinking about curriculum and leadership in schools over recent years.Mary Myatt is an education adviser, writer and speaker. She started out as an RE teacher and has written extensively about curriculum, leadership and school improvement – books like High Challenge, Low Threat, The Curriculum: Gallimaufry to Coherence and of course the original Huh.John Tomsett taught in state schools for over three decades, including 18 years as a headteacher. He’s written widely about leadership and mental health in schools, including Love Over Fear, Mind Over Matter, and Putting Staff First. He’s also one of the leading figures in the evidence-informed education movement and former leader of Huntington Research School in York.This conversation centres around their latest collaboration, AP Huh, which is part of their brilliant Huh series. The idea behind the Huh books is simple but powerful: to elevate the conversation around curriculum design by listening closely to the people doing the work – subject leaders, senior leaders, teachers, and in this case, those working in alternative provision.The term Huh comes from the Egyptian god of endlessness, creativity and regeneration – and that spirit runs through everything they write. The Huh books are deeply rooted in the real world of schools, but they always look to what’s possible, what’s better – what could be.Together, John and Mary bring a huge depth of experience, a deep moral commitment to young people, and a keen eye for what actually works. This was a really enjoyable conversation – and I hope you get as much out of it as I did.LINKSBuy AP Huh - https://www.johncattbookshop.com/products/alternative-provision-huh Follow John - https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-tomsett-38ba74b3/ Follow Mary - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marymyatt/ Follow James - https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ Outro track: ‘How it is and how it should be’ by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean. Drop us a line at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact.SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Lewis Wedlock is an academic, mental health professional and masculinities educator from Bristol, England. He has spent the last five years working with thousands of young men across the UK in secondary and higher education, engaging them in topics such as feminism, allyship, accountability, sexism, misogyny and VAWG. He has designed and delivered several interventions for schools looking to transform their masculinity school cultures, and has worked with hundreds of educators to support them in the journey towards supporting and empowering young men within their school spaces. His debut book “Masculinities in Schools” is due to be published by Sage in June. LINKSLewis’s TEDx talk ‘The crisis of masculinity’ - https://www.ted.com/talks/lewis_wedlock_the_crisis_of_masculinity Lewis’s book ‘Masculinities in school’ - https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/masculinities-in-schools/book291711 Lewis on bringing teachers on the journey towards anti-misogyny work in schools - https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7313467595809046529/?originTrackingId=vFhKtaFiTryFt2v9NuWMIA%3D%3D Lewis on safeguarding women and gender-fluid teachers in conversations relating to anti-misogyny work - https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7312383310528143360/?originTrackingId=%2B%2FDoao0qRka%2BXELJ%2BeWPdw%3D%3D Lewis on why we need to rethink showing Adolescence in schools - https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7310952725276446720/?originTrackingId=qEDxB5LuRYqggVUxMjo%2F%2FA%3D%3D Follow James - https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ Outro track: ‘How it is and how it should be’ by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean. Drop us a line at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact.SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
In this special episode, Dr James Mannion and The Real David Cameron take a look at the education systems in the four nations of the United Kingdom and ask: what can we learn from one another?Graham Donaldson has been central to development in Scotland as chief inspector, advising government as well as leading on quality assurance. And remarkably he has also been central to the development of Curriculum for Wales in the role of chief adviser to the Welsh Government.Tony Gallagher, from Queens University Belfast, has made a massive contribution to education in Northern Ireland and internationally. He is best known for his work on education in divided societies, a subject that, sadly, continues to be of vital importance.Lena Carter is the headteacher of two schools in Scotland, Glassary and Tayvallich, in Argyll and Bute, a challenge that Lena embraces with real energy, passion and a tremendous commitment to meeting every pupil’s needs.And Lucy Kirkham teaches geography at Bassaleg Comprehensive school near Newport in Wales. Lucy has a considerable track record in Environmental Education and has been a real driving force behind a series of conferences where young people can engage with the climate emergency on their terms.LINKSFollow Graham - https://www.linkedin.com/in/graham-donaldson-b8a9ba43 Follow Lena - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lena-carter-27748a39/ Follow Lucy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-kirkham-9b8699279/ Follow Tony - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-gallagher-a845ab9/ Follow David - https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-cameron-72061a15/ Follow James - https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/
This episode features an astonishing conversation by two remarkable educators, Hywel Roberts and Tim Taylor. Tim kindly stepped in as a guest host for this episode, to explore some of the big ideas that underpin Hywel’s excellent book, Botheredness: Stories, stance, pedagogy. LINKSBuy Botheredness - https://www.crownhouse.co.uk/botheredness Follow Hywel - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hywel-roberts-67ba032b/ Follow Tim - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-taylor-50358439/ Outro track: ‘How it is and how it should be’ by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean. Drop us a line at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact.SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
In this episode - our first rodeo as co-hosts - we are joined by Dr Debra Kidd, the author of A Curriculum of Hope, and by Tina Farr and Clare Whyles, the headteacher and deputy head of St. Ebbe’s Primary School in Oxford. Tina, Clare and the St Ebbe’s team have done some incredible work in recent years bringing a curriculum of hope to life for their learners, and spreading a little joy and belonging along the way. LINKSSt. Ebbe’s - https://st-ebbes.oxon.sch.uk/ Follow Tina - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tina-farr-8667952bb/ Follow Clare - https://www.linkedin.com/in/clare-whyles-86845955/ Follow Debbie - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-debra-kidd/ Buy A Curriculum of Hope - https://www.crownhouse.co.uk/a-curriculum-of-hope Read the EPA report ‘Everybody Thriving’ - https://www.educationpa.org/publications Outro track: ‘How it is and how it should be’ by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean. Drop us a line at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact.SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy us a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Welcome to this episode in which we get to know our new cohost, The Real David Cameron!David Cameron is an incredible educator, public speaker and human being whose work I have admired for many years now. He has been a teacher, a senior manager in schools and in local authorities, most recently as Director of Children’s Services for Stirling Council. He was President of the Association of Directors of Education Scotland and has been centrally involved in virtually every major development in Scottish education over the last 40 years. More recently he has been an independent speaker and consultant working across the UK and internationally.LINKSAbout David: https://therealdavidcameron.net/aboutBuy Unfinished Business: https://amzn.to/49G5Uid Buy Making Change Stick: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Making-Change-Stick-Implementing-Improvement/dp/1398387487 Subscribe to James’s Substack newsletters (which alternate fortnightly)Rethinking Education: https://drjamesmannion.substack.com Making Change Stick: https://makingchangestick.substack.com Repost about the book launch to be in with a change of winning prizes:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rethinkingjames.bsky.social/post/3lffz7ygg722y Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7283574500909088768/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@drjamesmannion/post/DEqIRjlMHEv X: https://x.com/RethinkingJames/status/1878060170397286715 Outro track: How it is and how it should be, by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted by Dr James Mannion and produced by Sophie Dean. You can contact James at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact.SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy James a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
In this episode I’m speaking with Mick Waters and David Cameron, two of the editors of a wonderful new book Unfinished Business: The life and legacy of Sir Tim Brighouse - a tribute and a call to action. It’s a long title and rightly so - there’s a lot to say about Tim and about the ideas he pursued throughout his remarkable career. Mick Waters is a former head teacher who works closely with teachers and leaders in schools, MATs and local authorities to support the development of teaching approaches and curriculum to ensure the best learning outcomes for children. For some years he was Director of Curriculum for England, based at the Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA), and before that held the post of Chief Education Officer for the City of Manchester. He is also invited to work at a policy level with government in different parts of the world. David Cameron has been a teacher, a senior manager in schools and in local authorities, most recently as Director of Children’s Services for Stirling Council. He was President of the Association of Directors of Education Scotland and has been centrally involved in virtually every major development in Scottish education over the last 40 years. More recently he has been an independent speaker and consultant working across the UK and internationally.LINKSBuy Unfinished Business: https://amzn.to/49G5Uid Buy ‘About Our Schools’ https://amzn.to/4ivsKgFOutro track: How it is and how it should be, by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted by Dr James Mannion and produced by Sophie Dean. You can contact James at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact.SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy James a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Clare Sealy currently works as the Head of Education Improvement for the states of Guernsey. Prior to this, she was the Headteacher of St Matthias Primary School in Tower Hamlets for 22 years. In 2018, the Times Education Supplement named her as one of the 10 most influential people in the world of education. In 2022, Clare was awarded an OBE for services to education. Oracy – in case you’re unfamiliar with the term – was coined in 1965 to put spoken language firmly on the map, giving it equal status to written literacy and numeracy. Fast forward nearly 60 years, and we’re still having this conversation. Just last month, the Oracy Education Commission published a report suggesting that oracy should be recognised as the ‘fourth R’ – alongside reading, writing, and arithmetic. It’s a sentiment I wholeheartedly support.These days, oracy is often thought of as having three dimensions: learning to talk, learning through talk, and learning about talk. If that idea intrigues you, the Oracy Cambridge website is full of thought-provoking blogs. Recently, the Oracy Cambridge team published a collective response to the Oracy Education Commission’s report, offering this updated definition: ‘Oracy is the ability to use the skills of speaking, listening, and non-verbal communication for a wide range of purposes.’Oracy is very much in the spotlight at the moment, especially here in the UK. The Labour government has repeatedly signalled a renewed emphasis on spoken language and communication skills, and we’re already seeing this shift in schools and classrooms. I think it’s an incredibly welcome change – though, as with any policy, not everyone agrees. Clare and I get into some of these differing perspectives in this episode.Clare and I also discuss a fascinating blog she wrote, titled ‘Talking floats on a sea of write’ – a clever inversion of James Britton’s famous statement that ‘writing floats on a sea of talk’. I found her ideas so compelling that I asked her to join me for this conversation – and, well, here we are!LINKSClare’s article that prompted this discussion: https://hwrkmagazine.co.uk/talking-floats-on-a-sea-of-write/ Clare’s blog: https://primarytimery.com/ Clare on X: https://x.com/claresealy Oracy Cambridge: https://oracycambridge.org/ Oracy Education COmmission report, We Need To Talk: https://oracyeducationcommission.co.uk/oec-report/ Outro track: How it is and how it should be, by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted by Dr James Mannion and produced by Sophie Dean. You can contact James at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact.SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy James a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
In this episode, my guest is Sir Anthony Seldon – a figure who truly needs no introduction in education. However, for those less familiar with his remarkable contributions, here’s a bit of context. Anthony has held some of the most influential roles in education, most recently as headmaster of Epsom College. Before this, he served as vice-chancellor of the University of Buckingham and was headmaster at Wellington College and Brighton College – among many other roles.Beyond his leadership in education, Anthony is a widely published author and renowned biographer, especially of political figures. For over 40 years, he has written extensively about British prime ministers, an 'impossible office,' as he titled one of his books. His most recent book was the number one Sunday Times bestseller, Truss at 10: How Not to Be Prime Minister - a hair raising read if ever there was one. Anthony has written on education as well, including his thought-provoking The Fourth Education Revolution: Will Artificial Intelligence Liberate or Infantilise Humanity?I recorded this conversation at Epsom College last year, prior to the latest change in government. Fittingly, this was also the day Sir Keir Starmer – then Leader of the Opposition – announced Labour’s intention to prioritise oracy in education, a topic we explore in depth.Our conversation is wide-ranging and rich with insights: we discuss oracy, why spoken language skills often flourish more in private schools than in state schools, the essential role of agency in education and life, and the transformative impact of meditation – a daily practice that both Anthony and I find invaluable.LINKSAnthony on X: https://x.com/anthonyseldon Truss at 10: https://linktr.ee/trussat10 Outro track: How it is and how it should be, by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted by Dr James Mannion and produced by Sophie Dean. You can contact James at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact.SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy James a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Welcome to the Rethinking Education podcast!In this episode I spoke with Curtis James from Class Divide, campaign group which recently ran a successful campaign to change the school admissions code in Brighton and Hove.But if anyone is looking at their local schools and thinking ‘School X has 15% of pupils eligible for free school meals, and School Y has over 60%. This doesn’t seem right. I wonder if there’s anything we can do to change that?” Well, there is - and in this episode, Curtis will explain how!LINKSClass Divide website: https://www.classdivide.co.uk/ Give us a (lovely!) review: https://www.tinyurl.com/raterepod Outro track: How it is and how it should be, by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI “Let’s Rethinking Education” jingle: Rocktopus DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted by Dr James Mannion and produced by Sophie Dean. You can contact James at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact.SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy James a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Welcome to the first episode of Season 5 of the Rethinking Education podcast!As you may be aware, Estonia has consistently been the highest performing European country in the PISA assessments in recent years. This episode features my recent conversation with Gunda Tire, Head of International Assessments (PISA & TALIS) at Estonian Education and Youth Board. Gunda very generously gave me almost 2 hours of her time to take a whirlwind tour around the Estonian education system - early childhood, curriculum, assessment, inspection (or the lack of it) - behaviour, attendance, technology - you name it, we cover it. In many cases, you’ll see that Estonia does things quite differently to how we do things in the UK. While you can’t just cut and paste education policies from one country to another and expect them to work effortlessly - there is plenty of food for thought here which I hope the Labour education team will give some serious thought to.LINKSFree lunches, brain breaks and happy teachers: why Estonia has the best schools in Europe: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/mar/27/free-lunches-brain-breaks-and-happy-teachers-why-estonia-has-the-best-schools-in-europe Gunda TIRE: "Estonians believe in education, and this belief has been essential for centuries": https://english.caucasianjournal.org/2020/02/gunda-tire-estonians-believe-in.html Gunda Tire - What is Estonia doing right? Presentation about PISA results for Estonia. British Council Education Conference: https://vimeo.com/207516457Give us a (lovely!) review: https://www.tinyurl.com/raterepod Outro track: 'How it is and how it should be' by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI “Let’s Rethinking Education” jingle: https://www.rocktopusmusic.com/ DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted by Dr James Mannion and produced by Sophie Dean. You can contact James at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy James a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of more than 100 scientific papers and 9 books, and the co-author of a further 6 books. His books have been published in 28 languages. And on ResearchGate, the largest scientific and academic online network, his Research Interest Score places him in the top 4% of scientists. It’s fair to say that Rupert is something of a controversial figure. This can be seen in the response to his first major work A New Science of Life, published in 1981, in which advanced the hypothesis of morphic resonance, the idea that there’s a kind of memory in nature. As we discuss in this episode, this book was described somewhat illiberally – on the front cover of Nature, no less, the world’s leading science journal – as a “book for burning”. It’s also fair to say that the controversy surrounding Rupert’s work has not really abated since then. Rupert’s work largely focuses on asking questions that probe at the edges of the materialist understanding of reality. This can be seen in his later books ‘seven experiments that could change the world, dogs that know when their owners are coming home, and the sense of being stared at. In this conversation we mainly discuss Rupert’s two most recent books, Science and Spiritual Practices and Ways to Go Beyond And Why They Work. This is a fascinating conversation in which we discuss the rather peculiar fashion within science education for using the passive voice - a test tube was taken, rather than I took a test tube… The horrors of being a biophile working in animal vivisection, an experience Rupert and I share… The way in which nature is structured as a kind of hierarchy of nested wholes - w h o l e s - each nested within the next level up… the way in which materialism eats itself… and what Rupert describes as the moral vacuum at the heart of education… and the fact that cancel culture is nothing new, and has in fact existed within science for several decades.Lots more fascinating controversy in other words. It’s rather a lot to squeeze into an hour, I’m sure you’ll agree.LINKSRupert’s website - https://www.sheldrake.org/ Rupert’s (banned) TEDx talk - British Pilgrimage - www.britishpilgrimage.org An interesting blog where Rupert responds to TED’s claims about his talk: https://blog.ted.com/open-for-discussion-graham-hancock-and-rupert-sheldrake/ Give us a (lovely!) review: https://www.tinyurl.com/raterepod Sign up for the Rethinking Ed Round-up: https://www.rethinkinged.beehiiv.com DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contactSUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy James a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
In the week that the general election was called, I bring you a timely conversation about some of the questions an incoming government needs to grapple with. Meena Kumari Wood is a former HMI and leader of FE colleges who now works across the British and International Education sectors. She held senior leadership positions in English schools and Further education colleges, including as Principal of a secondary academy and Principal of an Adult College. As a former adviser to the DfE and currently as an International Education Consultant, Meena emphasises the importance of placing learners’ aspirations and needs at the heart of curriculum. Meena has authored two books - Assessment of Prior Learning & Bilingual Learners (1995) and Secondary Curriculum Transformed: Enabling All to Achieve (2020). Secondary Curriculum Transformed argues for an equitable and diverse knowledge and skills based English curriculum, preparing young people for the changing global landscape of society and employment. She was recently appointed to the advisory board of the Chartered College of Teaching.This is a fascinating conversation in which we discuss curriculum reform, the incredible journey Meena and her family made to mode to this country in the 1960s, the way in which English education is very insular and would benefit from a little learning from other countries, and flying the flag for FE - Further Education - something we don’t talk about enough.It’s a slightly shorter episode than normal, but we pack a lot into just over an hour!LINKSGive us a (lovely!) review: tinyurl.com/raterepodSign up for the Rethinking Ed Round-up: rethinkinged.beehiiv.comMeena's book Secondary Curriculum Transformed: Enabling All to Achieve: https://www.routledge.com/Secondary-Curriculum-Transformed-Enabling-All-to-Achieve/Wood-Haddon/p/book/9780367900878 DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contactSUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: patreon.com/repodBuy James a coffee: buymeacoffee.com/repod
René Kneyber and Valentina Devid are two of the founders of Toetsrevolutie (Test Revolution), a teacher training cooperative based in the Netherlands which specialises in formative assessment, summative assessment and curriculum design. René and Valentina are also two of the four authors of an excellent new book - Formative Action - the English translation of which was published in April 2024. René was the first person to introduce formative assessment in the Netherlands. But while he could immediately see the benefits of this idea in his own classroom, when he started talking about it with other people, he soon found that the language was getting in the way. It's not really about assessment. It's about the actions teachers take in response to the assessment activities they undertake. So he changed the name to formative action, and created a model which overcomes many of the problems experienced previously in the field of formative assessment. The book is absolutely brilliant - concise, super-clear and practicable - and in this conversation we take a deep dive working our way through the five steps of the formative action model in its entirety. If you visit the website www.formative-action.com, you can access a free pdf of one of the chapters from the book, as well as a free online course which is really produced to a high standard and which I highly recommend. I also highly recommend an online course on self-regulated learning, made by myself, which is available to patrons of the podcast. This course looks at three of the big ideas in SRL - metacognition, self-regulation and oracy - and includes lots of practical strategies for how to put these powerful ideas into action in your classroom and indeed in your own life as a human being.To access this course, along with many other benefits, please visit www.patreon.com/repod. LINKSGive us a (lovely!) review: https://tinyurl.com/raterepod Sign up for the Rethinking Ed Round-up: https://rethinkinged.beehiiv.com Toetsrevolutie: https://toetsrevolutie.nl/ The Formative Action School: https://formative-action.com/ DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://rethinking-ed.org/contactSUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://patreon.com/repodBuy James a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/repod
Ife Obasa is an educational consultant, activist and sought-after speaker who advocates for greater representation in education - among many other strings to her bow. Ife spoke at the 2023 Rethinking Education conference about why we need representation in education more than ever - a topic that we discuss in some detail in this episode.Ife’s work centres around mentoring and empowering young people to make their voices heard and to get involved in shaping the decision-making processes that affect their lives. She also advises organisations looking to better attract and retain young talent as well as investing in and across the education space.Previously Ife was an Inter-Religious Commonwealth Youth Ambassador for the Commonwealth Jewish Council and a Council Member for The British Youth Council.In addition, Ife is a Fourth Year Law Student at the University of Southampton. She is an aspiring solicitor with first-hand corporate legal experience and is extremely passionate about helping the next generation of aspiring lawyers. In 2022, Powerlist Magazine recognised Ife as one of 150 Future Leaders of African/African-Caribbean Descent in the United Kingdom.In this conversation, we start out talking about work experience - a really important topic that doesn’t receive the attention it deserves. We then move on to discuss the importance of representation in education - what it means in theory, what it looks like in practice and how we might achieve it. And then toward the end of the conversation we discuss the role of faith in Ife’s life and work. This is new territory for the Rethinking Ed podcast, and I found this part of the conversation particularly enjoyable. So be sure to listen to the end!LINKSGive us a 5 star review: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/rethinking-education/id1546512828Sign up for the Rethinking Ed Round-up: rethinkinged.beehiiv.comIfe's website - https://ifeonetwork.com/DON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contactSUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: patreon.com/repodBuy James a coffee: buymeacoffee.com/repod
Peter Higgin is the Artistic Director and joint CEO of Punchdrunk Enrichment, a charity that creates transformational theatre for education, community and family audiences.Punchdrunk Enrichment is an independent charity which was founded in 2008 to take the pioneering practice of immersive theatre company, Punchdrunk, into schools and communities. Listed amongst the 50 most influential artists of the last 50 years (Sky Arts, 2022) alongside David Bowie, Sir Steve McQueen and Vivienne Westwood, Punchdrunk disrupts the theatrical norm, creating worlds in which audiences can rediscover the childlike excitement of exploring the unknown. Peter has been involved with Punchdrunk for his entire professional career. In 2000 he graduated from Exeter University and went on to become a founding member of Punchdrunk. He was pivotal in establishing the company’s early work during their rise to critical acclaim and global success. Peter has a powerful belief in the transformative power of engaging with the arts and creativity. He believes in the power of imagination as one of our greatest tools and has witnessed how access to immersive experiences can unlock our innate creativity. This episode of the podcast is (brilliantly) hosted by former podcast guest Tim Taylor, author of ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Mantle of the Expert’ and coauthor of ‘Try This: Unlocking Learning With Imagination’. LINKSPunchdrunk enrichment - https://www.punchdrunkenrichment.org.uk Punchdrunk - https://www.punchdrunk.com Sign up for the Rethinking Ed Round-up: https://rethinkinged.beehiiv.comDON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://rethinking-ed.org/contactSUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://patreon.com/repodBuy James a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/repod
Peps Mccrea is an award-winning teacher educator, designer and author. He is Director of Education at Steplab and author of the ultraconcise High Impact Teaching series, one of which - Motivated Teaching - is the main topic of this episode. On the side, he writes Evidence Snacks, a brilliant newsletter that we speak about at the top of this conversation, and composes excellent instructional threads on Twitter.Previously, Peps was a Dean at Ambition Institute, where he oversaw the design of programmes for teachers and teacher educators (eg. Masters in Expert Teaching, Teacher Education Fellows, and Early Career Teachers), he was a Senior Lecturer in Teacher Education at Brighton University, and teacher and leader at various schools.LINKSPeps Mccrea website: https://pepsmccrea.com/ Sign up for Evidence Snacks: https://snacks.pepsmccrea.com/ Sign up for the Rethinking Ed Round-up: https://rethinkinged.beehiiv.comDON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contactSUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://patreon.com/repodBuy James a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/repod
This episode features a fascinating conversation with Fiona Millar, a journalist and campaigner on education and parenting issues whose work I have admired for many years.Following a career in journalism, Fiona worked in the office of the Leader of the Opposition from 1995 to 1997, and as an adviser to Tony and Cherie Blair from 1995 to 2003. On leaving Downing Street, Fiona started writing a monthly column for The Guardian about education, and in 2004 she made a documentary film for Channel Four called The Best for My Child, examining how the quasi-market in schools was working in practice. In 2018, to mark the 30th anniversary of the Education Reform Act 1988, Fiona published a fascinating book with the same name as her earlier documentary - The Best for My Child: Did the schools market deliver? Of this book, Melissa Benn wrote: Fiona Millar combines a profound understanding of the way schools work on the ground with unrivalled political acumen. This insightful account of what the market revolution has really meant for England’s education system is an important and absorbing read.I whole-heartedly agree. It’s very well written and I think it’s really required reading for anyone who wants to understand the weirdly hierarchical, disjointed school system that we have today - and therefore how we might create a more equitable system that works for all young people.It’s also well worth reading back through Fiona’s many excellent articles in the Guardian, including her most recent setting out how Labour can fix the education system - a topic on which we alight in this conversation. There’s a link to her Guardian profile below and it’s well worth an hour of your time. LINKSFiona's Guardian articles: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/fionamillar Education Policy Alliance: educationpa.orgSign up to the Rethinking Education Round-up Newsletter: rethinkinged.beehiiv.comDON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contactSUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://patreon.com/repod Buy James a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/repod
In the last episode, almost 300 people tuned in to our first ever live podcast, when I was joined by Naomi Fisher, Ellie Costello and Ben Davis to talk about the attendance crisis. In case any of you listened to that and were wondering ‘Hey, who is this Ben Davis guy? Why don’t you do a full episode with him?’ Well, strap yourself in!Ben is the headteacher of St Ambrose Barlow RC High School in Salford. I’ve had the great pleasure to get to know Ben a little over the last year or so, as part of the Education Policy Alliance. He is one of the loveliest people you could wish to meet - and that view was echoed in many of the comments we received during last week’s episode. A passionate, principled headteacher who embodies the principles of public service, Ben has recently been one of the courageous headteachers who have raised their heads above the parapet to talk about the pernicious impact Ofsted has on schools and school leaders.LINKSFull video, audio, show notes: https://rethinking-ed.org/ben-davisEducation Policy Alliance: https://educationpa.orgSign up to the Rethinking Education Round-up Newsletter: https://rethinkinged.beehiiv.comDON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contactSUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://patreon.com/repod Buy James a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/repod
Since the COVID pandemic, persistent absenteeism in England has more than doubled, from 10% to 22%. According to recent reearch by the Centre for Social Justice, more than one in four parents agreed it is not essential for children to be in school every day.Both the major political parties have announced plans to tackle the attendance crisis. Often, there is an assumption that school is the best place for children to be, and blame is laid at the feet of the parents.What's going on? Why are so many young people voting with their feet? Are the politicians correct - is school the best place for young people to be? Do the parents have a point - is it 'essential' for children too attend school every day? How do we think about attendance currently - and how else could or should we think about it?In this interactive webinar, Dr James Mannion (Director, Rethinking Education) is in conversation with: * Ben Davis - Headteacher, St Ambrose Barlow RC High School in Salford Ellie Costello - Director of Square Peg and author of Square Pegs: Inclusivity, compassion and fitting in: A guide for schools Dr Naomi Fisher - Clinical psychologist, homeschooling parent and author of 'Changing our minds' and 'A different way to learn'LINKSNo to the surveillance state: notoschoolsbill.uk/surveillance-stateSquare Peg: teamsquarepeg.orgNaomi Fisher: naomifisher.co.ukEducation Policy Alliance: educationpa.orgSign up to the Rethinking Education Round-up Newsletter: rethinkinged.beehiiv.comDON'T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contactSUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://patreon.com/repodBuy James a pumpkin frappacino: https://buymeacoffee.com/repod
Eliza Fricker is a talented writer and illustrator who has written three books:'The Family Experience of PDA: An Illustrated Guide to Pathological Demand Avoidance''Can't Not Won't: A Story About A Child Who Couldn't Go To School'And most recently 'Thumbsucker: An illustrated journey through an undiagnosed autistic childhood'It’s the second of these books that we’re talking mostly about in this episode - Can’t Not Won’t. It’s a fascinating read - funny and heartbreaking in equal measure - and Eliza’s illustrations and wry observations really shine a light on what it’s like when your child finds that they are no longer able to attend school.It really should be recommended reading for any teachers and school leaders, as well as for young people with barriers to attendance, and their familiesThere is no shortage of young people who struggle to attend school of late - Eliza has cunningly tapped into a growing market.There are many lessons to learn from this conversation and I’d love to hear your thoughts. The best way to stay in touch is via the Rethinking Education newsletter, a monthly round-up of podcast, blogs, conference news and updates about the Education Policy Alliance. If you’re interested, sign up at the link below. And you can reply to those emails and let me know what’s going on for you. LINKS:Eliza’s website: https://missingthemark.co.uk/ Sign up to the Rethinking Education Round-up Newsletter: https://rethinkinged.beehiiv.com/DON’T BE A STRANGER:The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via a social platform of your choosing:Twitter: www.twitter.com/RethinkingJamesInsta: www.instagram.com/drjamesmannionLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repodBuy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Lord Jim Knight of Weymouth is a life peer and former Labour politician with a strong interest in education. He is also the chair of the Beyond Ofsted inquiry which recently published a fascinating report setting out an alternative vision for a schools accountability system.In this conversation we put the 'Beyond Ofsted' recommendations under the microscope, comparing them with the recommendations of the Education Policy Alliance.LINKS:Beyond Ofsted: https://beyondofsted.org.uk Education Policy Alliance: https://educationpa.orgActivate: https://crownhouse.co.uk/activate The Schools Guide: https://www.theschoolsguide.com/ DON’T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via a social platform of your choosing:Twitter: www.twitter.com/RethinkingJamesInsta: www.instagram.com/drjamesmannionLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repodBuy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
SHOW NOTESUntil recently, Calvin Henry was the headteacher of St. Mark’s C of E Primary School in North London. Last year, Calvin went through an experience that he describes as being “uncannily similar” to that of Ruth Perry, the headteacher of Caversham Primary School in Reading who tragically took her own life earlier this year following an Ofsted inspection that downgraded her school’s rating from “outstanding” to “inadequate”. Calvin has since left the teaching profession. In this episode, Calvin tells his story - which goes right to the heart of everything that is wrong with our current approach to schools accountability.LINKSSchoolsweek: “What Ofsted don’t seem to understand is the impact that single word has on people, and how it can destroy them” https://schoolsweek.co.uk/ofsted-left-head-feeling-powerless-weak-and-humiliated/ BBC News: Academy school bosses call for Ofsted rethink: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-65140383 DON’T BE A STRANGERThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via a social platform of your choosing:Twitter: www.twitter.com/RethinkingJamesInsta: www.instagram.com/drjamesmannionLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repodBuy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Christian Bokhove is a Professor in Mathematics Education, University of Southampton. He is a specialist on international comparisons in mathematics education, the use of technology, and innovative methodologies.In this episode we discuss domain knowledge, generic skills, a famous paper by Tricot and Sweller, the Maths wars - and much more besides… LINKSThe EEF evidence review on metacognition and self-regulation by Bokhove & Muijs - https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/evidence-reviews/metacognition-and-self-regulation Christian’s blog / website: https://bokhove.net/ The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via a social platform of your choosing:Twitter: www.twitter.com/RethinkingJamesInsta: www.instagram.com/drjamesmannionLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repodBuy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Dave McPartlin is the headteacher of Flakefleet Primary School in Lancashire. In this episode Dave speaks openly and candidly about the impact Ofsted has had on his mental health and that of his colleagues. He makes a compelling case for why Ofsted needs to change - and how.LINKSDave on BBC breakfast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMNRMQOBhL0 Flakefleet get the golden buzzer on BGT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itSbV3YiRkI Metro profile on Dave: https://metro.co.uk/2019/04/06/who-is-flakefleet-primary-school-headteacher-dave-mcpartlin-who-won-a-golden-buzzer-with-his-school-on-bgt-9126524/THE RETHINKING ED CONFERENCE 2023Sat 23rd September, LondonTickets: bit.ly/reconf23Speakers, sessions, bios: www.rethinking-ed.org/rethinked23Making Change Stick: makingchangestick.coThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via a social platform of your choosing:Twitter: www.twitter.com/RethinkingJamesInsta: www.instagram.com/drjamesmannionLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repodBuy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
SHOW NOTESRon Berger is Chief Program Officer for the non-profit school improvement network Expeditionary Learning, a national network of over 160 public project-based schools in 30 states in the US. Ron was as a public school teacher and carpenter in rural Massachusetts for 25 years. His writing and speaking centre on inspiring quality and character in students, specifically through project-based learning, original scientific and historical research, service learning, and the infusion of arts. He is the author of two books - An Ethic of Excellence and A Culture of Quality - the former of which is the focus of this podcast, in its 20th anniversary yearThis was a game-changing conversation in which Ron provides a way out of the trad-prog debate, and explains how to transform the culture of a school so that the students really start to care about their learning, and to consistently produce work to a staggeringly high standard.LINKSEL Education: https://eleducation.org/An ethic of excellence: https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/berger/ethic-of-excellence/9780325005966 THE RETHINKING ED CONFERENCE 2023 Sat 23rd September, London Tickets: https://bit.ly/reconf23Speakers, sessions, bios: https://www.rethinking-ed.org/rethinked23Making Change Stick: makingchangestick.coThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via a social platform of your choosing:Twitter: www.twitter.com/RethinkingJamesInsta: www.instagram.com/drjamesmannionLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repodBuy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Dennis Sherwood is a management consultant who specialises in creativity, innovation, and systems thinking. He has a Physics Masters from the University of Cambridge, an MPhil in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University and a PhD in biology from the University of California in San Diego. After being a consulting partner at Deloitte Haskins + Sells, and Coopers & Lybrand, he became an executive director at Goldman Sachs. He now runs his own business, The Silver Bullet Machine Manufacturing Company Limited, specializing in organizational creativity and innovation. He has been using systems thinking since 1984 and is one of the UK’s leading experts. In addition, he has authored 14 books on a variety of subjects, including systems thinking, creativity, innovation, and financial modelling. His most recent book is Missing the Mark: Why so many school exam grades are wrong - and how to get results we can trust - and this is the topic of this episode.
LINKS
Dennis's website: https://www.silverbulletmachine.com/
Rethinking Education conference - Sat 23rd September, London: https://bit.ly/reconf23
Making Change Stick: https://makingchangestick.co
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via a social platform of your choosing:
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/RethinkingJames Insta: https://www.instagram.com/drjamesmannion LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/
SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:
Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Ty Golding is the Headteacher of Holton Primary School, on Barry Island in South Wales. Ty has experience of teaching at every level of primary education, including nursery. He has worked with Welsh Government policy development and implementation, developing a national online platform for learners and most recently as Head of Curriculum Design & Development.
Cat Place grew up in Newport where she currently lives with her daughter. Cat is the headteacher of Jubilee Park Primary School in Newport, and had the privilege of opening the school in 2017 - a story you’ll hear all about in this episode.
In this episode we take a deep dive into the exciting developments that have been happening lately with the Curriculum for Wales. I was already excited about the Curriculum for ales, based on what little I knew of it, and this episode has only intensified that excitement. Based on the work of Professor Graham Donaldson, they have embraced a really bold vision for how to reform education and they’re going for it big time.
LINKS
The Oracy Curriculum: https://www.rethinking-ed.org/the-oracy-curriculum
Rethinking Education conference - Sat 23rd September, London: https://bit.ly/reconf23
Schools as learning organisations: https://www.oecd.org/education/school/school-learning-organisation.pdf
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via a social platform of your choosing:
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/RethinkingJames Insta: https://www.instagram.com/drjamesmannion LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/
SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:
Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Frank Norris is a former headteacher and HMI (His Majesty’s Inspector) with decades of experience leading and inspecting a wide range of schools and other settings including secure units, independent schools, prisons, initial teacher education as well as secondary and primary schools in England and abroad. From 2014-19, Frank was the CEO of the Coop Academies Trust. The Coop Trust is highly regarded and is one of the highest performing for disadvantaged students according to reports by the DfE, EPI and Sutton Trust. Frank was awarded an MBE in summer 2019 for his services to education. He is also the co-host of the Frank & Stan podcast. Julie Price Grimshaw is also a former HMI with a successful track record in supporting school improvement, particularly in teaching and learning. She is a school improvement advisor who has previously been an inspector of schools and initial teacher education, a PGCE course leader at Manchester Metropolitan University, an advisor to the Teacher Development AGency and the Department for Education, an external moderator for initial teacher education, and a teacher of English and Music. Julie started blogging about Ofsted in October 2021, and her website - julesmusings.blog - is well worth a visit. LINKS:Frank's website: https://frankwnorris.co.ukJulie's blog: https://julesmusings.blog/blog/Rethinking Education conference - Sat 23rd September, North London: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-rethinking-education-conference-2023-tickets-602718887417 Apply to speak: https://www.rethinking-ed.org/rethinked23 Metacognition in action - Fri 23rd June 2023, Central London: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/metacognition-in-action-tickets-591350293647 Making change stick: A practical guide to implementing school improvement - Wed 14th June, 4-5pm (FREE): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/making-change-stick-a-practical-guide-to-implementing-school-improvement-tickets-630709207217 The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via a social platform of your choosing:Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames Insta: https://www.instagram.com/drjamesmannion LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
An astonishing conversation with Derry Hannam, a fascinating thinker and writer and practitioner of democratic education, and the author of the brilliant book ‘Another Way is Possible - Becoming a Democratic Teacher in a State School’.In his 20 years as a teacher in English state secondary schools, Derry Hannam always tried to create environments where students could make choices about - and take control of - their own learning in a democratic and rights respecting context. Derry has been described as a ‘bridge person’ who tries to bring about dialogue between the mainly private democratic education movement with its 500+ schools worldwide and state or public school systems. This has at times involved supporting democratic schools in legal actions, a role that Derry has played in England, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. He is currently supporting start-up democratic schools in several countries, advising them how best to work with their respective state systems.LINKSAnother Way is Possible - Becoming a Democratic Teacher in a State SchoolEbook: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1029100 Paperback: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Another-Way-Possible-Democratic-Self-Directed/dp/B0942MSF5M Rethinking Education conference - Sat 23rd September, North London: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-rethinking-education-conference-2023-tickets-602718887417 Apply to speak: https://www.rethinking-ed.org/rethinked23 Metacognition in action - Fri 23rd June 2023, Central London: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/metacognition-in-action-tickets-591350293647 Making change stick: A practical guide to implementing school improvement - Wed 14th June, 4-5pm (FREE): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/making-change-stick-a-practical-guide-to-implementing-school-improvement-tickets-630709207217 The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via a social platform of your choosing:Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames Insta: https://www.instagram.com/drjamesmannion LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
This is the second in a series of episodes featuring headteachers and former heads talking about Ofsted.David Phillips is the headteacher of Chilwell school in Nottingham.He has been in senior leadership for over twenty years and a headteacher in both the academies and maintained sectors. He is one of the East Midlands representatives for his professional association and has a particular focus on leadership and governance. He has worked in schools throughout the East Midlands with projects in age range change, school partnership development and quality assurance.David has worked in schools since before the inception of OFSTED and has experienced the week long visits, the short novel reports, the progress in a lesson visits, the data focussed judgements and has experienced virtually the full range of OFSTED judgements.In short: David has a long and distinguished career, and has a richly informed perspective on the current debate about Ofsted, a controversy that is showing no signs of going away anytime soon.LINKS:Rethinking Ed Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co THE RETHINKING ED CONFERENCE 2023 Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-rethinking-education-conference-2023-tickets-602718887417 Apply to speak: https://www.rethinking-ed.org/rethinked23 The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via a social platform of your choosing:Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames Insta: https://www.instagram.com/drjamesmannion LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Martin Robinson is an educationalist, author, writer, consultant, orator and liberal artist. He worked in East London state schools for more than 20 years as a teacher, head of department, advanced skills teacher and school leader. For the last ten years he has worked as an education consultant delivering workshops and keynote speeches about curriculum design, teaching methodology and culture. He is a regular on the conference circuit both in the UK and internationally. In this - the second part of James's epic conversation with Martin (the fist part features in S3E8) - we also discussed character education, the importance of anarchy, the value of violence, his fascinating book ‘Athena vs the machine’, the canon, decolonising the curriculum, communities of inquiry - to name just a few juicy morsels. LINKS:Martin’s website: https://www.martinrobinson.net/Rethinking Ed Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co THE RETHINKING ED CONFERENCE 2023 Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-rethinking-education-conference-2023-tickets-602718887417 Apply to speak: https://www.rethinking-ed.org/rethinked23 The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via a social platform of your choosing:Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames Insta: https://www.instagram.com/drjamesmannion LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
This is the first in a series of interviews with headteachers and former heads talking about Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education - England's schools inspectorate).Rebecca Leek is an experienced strategic leader who has worked across a wide range of settings and organisations, and she’s currently the Executive Director of the Suffolk Primary Headteachers' Assocation. She has been a headteacher, executive headteacher, chief executive, a teacher and a Senco, and is a veteran of no fewer than 14 Ofsted inspections. She is a systems thinker, an innovator, and has been described as 'a harbinger of light'. She is increasingly in demand as a speaker, trainer and writer and brings with her a wealth of knowledge and insight from her involvement in a number of sectors including the arts, social enterprise, communications, permaculture and education.Rebecca describes herself as a holistic leader and is interested in systems and governance, belonging, and spiritual sustenance within schools. As we will hear several times in this conversation, Rebecca’s practice as a permaculturist informs much of what she does, and in particular the principles of valuing diversity and what happens at the margins.LINKS:Rebecca's website: https://www.rebeccaleek.com/Rebecca's recent article in the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/24/teachers-ofsted-inspections-schools-childrenRethinking Ed Conference 2023Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-rethinking-education-conference-2023-tickets-602718887417 Apply to speak: https://www.rethinking-ed.org/rethinked23The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via a social platform of your choosing:Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames Insta: https://www.instagram.com/drjamesmannion LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Melissa Benn comes from a long line of outspoken campaigners and prominent Parliamentarians. She was educated at Holland Park comprehensive and the London School of Economics where she graduated with a First in History, the first woman in a generation to do so.Melissa’s journalism has appeared in a wide range of publications, including the Independent, the Times, Public Finance, Marxism Today, London Review of Books, Cosmopolitan and the Financial Times. She is a regular contributor to the Guardian, the New Statesman, and Teach Secondary magazine, where she writes a regular column. Melissa has published nine books, including two novels. In her writing on education, Melissa has consistently tried to tackle contemporary myths about state education and to set out the case for a more equal system. With Fiona Millar she co-authored 'A Comprehensive Future: Quality and Equality For All Our Children', an influential pamphlet that challenged the drift towards the marketisation of state education within the then New Labour government and made the case for strong, non-selective, community schools.This was followed by School Wars: The Battle for Britain’s Education, described by the Observer as ‘a tremendous book.In it, Melissa sketched the history of, and struggles around, secondary education from the post-war period onward and offered a critique of the education policies of successive governments, in particular the Coalition government of 2010-2015. With Janet Downs, she co-authored, 'The Truth About Our Schools: Exposing the Myths, Exploring the Evidence', which tackled some increasingly prevalent and pernicious myths about state education. Caroline Lucas MP described it as a ‘hugely important book that should be required reading for every Education Secretary.’ In Life Lessons, Melissa set out the Case for a National Education Service, and this book was described by Guardian Education columnist Fiona Millar as ‘an eloquent and much needed blueprint for reform when radical ideas are in short supply.’ I find Melissa’s writing to be a uniquely refreshing contribution to the education debate. I recommend catching up on Melissa’s many excellent columns in the publications listed earlier. And her book School Wars, which remains incredibly relevant, 12 years after publication, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand why we have the weird, patchwork education system that we have.LINKSMelissa's website: https://melissabenn.co.uk/ Rethinking Metacognition tickets: https://bit.ly/rethinkmetacogMaking Change Stick - contact: https://www.makingchangestick.co/contactRethinking Ed Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via a social platform of your choosing:Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames Insta: https://www.instagram.com/drjamesmannion LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Martin Robinson is an educationalist, author, writer, consultant, orator and liberal artist. He worked in East London state schools for more than 20 years as a teacher, head of department, advanced skills teacher and school leader. For the last ten years he has worked as an education consultant delivering workshops and keynote speeches about curriculum design, teaching methodology and culture. He is a regular on the conference circuit both in the UK and internationally. Of his first book, Trivium 21C: Preparing young people for the future with lessons from the past, Melissa Benn wrote: "Martin Robinson sets out on a quest to discover the kind of education he wishes for his daughter and we all learn a great deal in the process. I love his writing: wise, well informed, provocative, thinking-out-loud. A terrific feat."Of his second book, Curriculum: Athena vs the Machine, Ben Newmark wrote: "While the dumb and brutal ugliness of instrumentalist education is all too familiar to many of us, never before has it been so clearly expressed or so convincingly unpicked and exposed... a beautifully written love letter to the very substance of education, a triumphant call to arms, and the manifesto on which the fightback against the Machine should be based."And of his most recent book, Curriculum Revolutions, Tom Sherrington wrote: "A powerful conceptual framework, designed with the artful craftsmanship of a beautiful clock and insightful understanding of how teachers thrive."LINKS:Martin’s website: https://www.martinrobinson.net/Rethinking Ed Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via a social platform of your choosing:Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames Insta: https://www.instagram.com/drjamesmannion LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Shout James a herbal tea: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Fiona Cuthbertson is a political lobbyist who has been involved in politics for many years. A former councillor and parliamentary candidate, Fiona now runs a public affairs agency where she works on a cross-party basis to help people get involved in the political process and to lobby on a range of issues that affect people’s lives - including, but not limited to, Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).She is also the author of a political thriller, Party Games, which reveals the dark arts of the political world.LINKS:Fiona’s website: https://www.keystone-consulting.co.uk/ Right support, right place, right time - the 2022 SEND green paper: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/send-review-right-support-right-place-right-time Valerie Hannon’s think piece on The Future School: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/departments-and-centres/centres/ucl-centre-educational-leadership/thinkpieces/future-school James’s TEDs talk ‘How to change the world’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvm9TYosmXo Making Change Stick: https://www.makingchangestick.co/ Rethinking Ed Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co The Rethinking Ed online conference (88 amazing talks): https://www.rethinking-ed.org/reconf22 The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or on a social platform of your choosing:.Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames Insta: https://www.instagram.com/drjamesmannion LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repodBuy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Dr Chris Bagley is a man with a dazzling variety of hats. He is psychologist, writer and musician with an interest in youth justice, educational transformation and systems change. He is Director of Research at the social enterprise States of Mind, and a lecturer and doctorate supervisor at the UCL Institute of Education. He also works part-time for South Gloucestershire psychology service, primarily in a Secure Children’s Unit and Pupil Referral Unit.Chris describes his purpose as being to co-develop psychologically healthy education systems alongside young people, families, professionals and creative thinkers. He started in education as a secondary school teacher and later trained as an Educational Psychologist. Chris developed a specialism in relation to Youth Justice, school exclusion and managed moves and practised as a specialist in a youth offending team for a number of years. He’s also an accomplished folk musician who has some really lovely music on his website - there are links in the show notes. As Director of Research at States of Mind and in collaboration with UCL, Chris conducts participatory action research to gather young peoples’ insights and place their voices at the centre of education reform. States of Mind have recently launched the ‘Education Futures in Action’ movement which aims to bring together innovators who are actioning education environments that genuinely respond to the diverse needs of young people.Chris is currently writing his first book - 'Shadow Cultures and the tyranny of school and state' - which is the topic of today’s conversation. It explores the history of UK education, and exposes some of the deeply entrenched, often invisible narratives that underpin the education system we see today.LINKS:Chris’s website: https://www.chrisbagley.co.uk/ States of Mind: https://www.statesofmind.org/ Chris’s talk on Shadow Cultures (and many other great speakers) https://www.educationfuturesinaction.com/ James’s TEDs talk ‘How to change the world’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvm9TYosmXo Making Change Stick: https://www.makingchangestick.co/ Rethinking Ed Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co The Rethinking Ed online conference (88 amazing talks): https://www.rethinking-ed.org/reconf22 James on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames Rethinking Ed Insta: https://www.instagram.com/rethinking.education/ James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repodBuy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
If you've come across Jaz Ampaw-Farr before, you'll know that you are in for an absolute treat. If you haven't ever heard Jaz speak before - well, what can I say? I could tell you that Jaz is an award-winning educator, teacher trainer, coach and speaker, and soon to be author of her first book. But that doesn't really scratch the surface. Listening back to this episode in the edit, it was noticeable that Jaz made me laugh way more than any previous podcast guest had ever done. She also brought me to the edge of tears on at least five occasions throughout this incredible conversation. But really I think it's her burning sense of moral purpose, combined with an uncanny way with words and crystal clarity of her thought, that makes Jaz such a formidable human being. So whatever you're doing as you listen to this podcast, I'd like to invite you to mentally and emotionally strap yourself in. This is quite the roller-coaster.I hope you enjoy this fascinating conversation with fearless chaos navigator, full-fat resilience ninja and previously underestimated everyday hero, Jaz Ampaw Farr.SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repodBuy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repodLINKS:Jaz’s website: https:jazampawfarr.comJaz’s TEDx talk ‘The power of everyday heroes’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3xoZXSW5yc James’s TEDs talk ‘How to change the world’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvm9TYosmXo Making Change Stick: https://www.makingchangestick.co/ James’s interview on the ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ podcast with Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd - How to fix our education system: https://www.cheerfulpodcast.com/rtbc-episodes/fixingeducation The Rethinking Ed online conference (88 amazing talks): https://www.rethinking-ed.org/reconf22 James on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames Rethinking Ed Insta: https://www.instagram.com/rethinking.education/ James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ Rethinking Education Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Today I am speaking with David Price OBE. David is the author of two books - ‘Open: How we'll work, live and learn in the future’ - and ‘The Power of Us: How we connect, act and innovate together’. It is this latter book that I’m mainly speaking with David about today. I listened to it recently as an audiobook and it’s absolutely fascinating. Here are some of the lovely things people have written about The Power of Us:‘The Power of Us is the first book that captures the cultural forces that power innovation, the structural elements to fuel people power, and the tool-kit to nurture mass innovation.’ (Annalie Killian, sparks & honey)‘…the closest thing we're going to get to a single handbook…of all of the things that we need to do and consider as organisations and leaders…Funny, helpful and engaging and full of actionable ideas and anecdotes. Do yourself and your organisation a favour and read this book!’ (Dave Coplin, CEO Envisioneers Ltd)‘Packed with fascinating case studies showing that innovation often comes from unexpected places and is the result of ordinary people who are willing to go against the grain. Essential reading if you want to imagine a better future and get inspired.’ (Sam Conniff Allende & Alex Barker, Be More Pirate)David is a thoroughly lovely man and an innovative thinker who has corralled together lots of ideas and case studies for how we can organise our lives and the wider world in a more fruitful and inclusive and less insane way. LINKSDavid’s website: https://www.davidpriceobe.com/ BOOK - The Power of Us: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54755641-the-power-of-us The Rethinking Ed online conference (88 amazing talks): https://www.rethinking-ed.org/reconf22 James on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames Rethinking Ed Insta: https://www.instagram.com/rethinking.education/ James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ Rethinking Education Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repodBuy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repodThe Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Sophie Christophy is a culture transformer, feminist, unschooling parent and activist. She works on deconstructing patriarchy, from childhood socialisation in education and family culture, and in organisational culture, by creating a shift to principles of consent and self-direction.
As a conduit for the emergence of a consent-based social and environmental paradigm, Sophie works with individuals and organisations on deschooling, integrating consent and self-direction based principles into practice, and on enhancing authenticity, integrity and transparency by aligning beliefs with behaviour. She also works these principles in her own life.
Sophie believes that consent-based self-direction is the key and pathway to self-actualisation and transcendence – something that all humans have the potential to experience in their life time – and, to being in right relationship with nature and planet of which we are part.
Since 2017 she has been running a Consent-Based Education course, working with people from all around the world on their transition from the dominant culture to this new emerging paradigm. In addition to this, she runs bespoke trainings and workshops, and is an inspiring guest speaker on themes including consent-based education and skillset, children’s rights, ethical change-making and paradigm shifting, and guidance for start-up founders of consent-based, self-directed settings.
In January 2018, she co-founded a consent-based, self-directed education setting called the Cabin, for home educated young people aged 5-11. To our knowledge, the Cabin is the first education setting for children in the UK to be explicitly designed through a lens of consent, self-direction and children’s rights. It is also the first to identify itself as Education Positive – a transdisciplinary education philosophy that breaks down traditional subject silos, hierarchy and gatekeeping, and instead is curiosity driven, problem-solving oriented, rooted in critical thinking, and an open access approach to learning based on children’s rights.
In 2021 she co-founded the Lodge, a follow on setting from the Cabin, a community for young people up to the age of 16.
For more details, visit sophiechristophy.com
Here's the Twitter thread mentioned in the introduction, detailing the impact of the Learning Skills curriculum: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames/status/1593365917886562314
The Rethinking Ed Conference (>90 videos): https://www.rethinking-ed.org/reconf22
James on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames
Rethinking Ed Insta: https://www.instagram.com/rethinking.education/
James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/
Rethinking Education Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co
Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repod
Buy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Ollie Lovell is a teacher, author and podcaster based in Melbourne, Australia, and the host of the Education Research Reading Room (ERRR) podcast.
In summer 2022, Ollie visited the UK on a whirlwind tour of three fascinatingly different educational institutions: Michaela School in North London, often described as the strictest school in the country; XP School in Doncaster, which places great emphasis on pastoral care, beautiful work and expeditionary learning; and the Self-Managed Learning College in Brighton, where the students (age 9-16) literally manage their own learning - 100% of the time.
In this conversation, we explore Ollie's reflections on his visits to Michaela, XP and SMLC.
LINKS:
ERRR podcast: https://soundcloud.com/ollielovell
Ollie's website: https://www.ollielovell.com/
Michaela: https://michaela.education/
SMLC: https://smlcollege.org.uk/
XP: https://xpschool.org/
The Rethinking Ed online conference (88 videos): https://www.rethinking-ed.org/reconf22
Rethinking Education Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co
James on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames
Rethinking Ed Insta: https://www.instagram.com/rethinking.education/
James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/
Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repod
Buy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion.
You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Sarah-Jayne Blakemore is Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge and co-director of the Wellcome Trust PhD Programme in Neuroscience at University College London.
She has been awarded a number of prizes over the last 20 years or so, including the British Psychological Society (BPS) Doctoral Award, the BPS Spearman Medal for outstanding early career research, and the Royal Society's Rosalind Franklin Award. She was also the winner of the 2018 Royal Society Prize for Science Books for her brilliant book 'Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain'.
I’ve wanted to speak with Sarah-Jayne for a really long time - not just about her brilliant work on the teenage brain, but because of her work with Rethinking Assessment, and a fascinating blog she wrote recently about how GCSEs are misaligned with what we know about how teenage brains develop (see below).
LINKS
SchoolsWeek review of the Rethinking Education conference: https://schoolsweek.co.uk/the-review-the-rethinking-education-conference/
Tina Farr blog: Mainstream educators and Unschoolers: Never the twain shall meet? - https://headlearnercom.wordpress.com/2022/09/26/mainstream-educators-and-unschoolers-never-the-twain-shall-meet/
Sarah Jayne’s book ‘Inventing ourselves - The secret life of the teenage brain’ - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inventing-Ourselves-Secret-Teenage-Brain/dp/1784161349/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1524214280&sr=1-1
Sarah Jayne’s TED talk ‘The mysterious workings of the adolescent brain’ - https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_jayne_blakemore_the_mysterious_workings_of_the_adolescent_brain
Sarah Jayne and Tamsin Ford's 'Neuroscience, adolescence and GCSEs - a misalignment?' - https://rethinkingassessment.com/rethinking-blogs/neuroscience-adolescence-and-gcses-a-misalignment/
The Rethinking Ed Conference (>90 videos): https://www.rethinking-ed.org/reconf22
Rethinking Education Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co
Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repod
Buy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
The final episode of Season 2 of the Rethinking Education podcast features a conversation with Jonny Hunt, an independent sex and relationships consultant and the author of Sex Ed for Grown Ups: How to talk to young people about sex and relationships.
NB: Contains strong language - not safe for work!
LINKS:
Everyone's invited: https://www.everyonesinvited.uk/
Jonny's book 'Sex Ed for Grown-Ups: How to talk to Children and Young People about Sex and Relationships' - https://www.waterstones.com/book/sex-ed-for-grown-ups/jonny-hunt/9780367641337
RETHINKING ED CONFERENCE LINKS
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lets-get-together-the-rethinking-education-conference-2022-tickets-226415834857
Social media links:
Trailer: youtu.be/JKz8ALX2QFM
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rethinking_Ed/status/1528046472444485638
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100004976851081/videos/706113054004294/
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/james-mannion_too-often-the-education-debate-is-dominated-activity-6933887283146207232-53h0/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cd1b__3svlV/
Tiktok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNNSFhrq/?k=1
Rethinking Education Mighty Network: rethinking-education.mn.co
Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repod
Buy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Peter Gray is a research professor at Boston College and the author of 'Free to Learn' and 'Psychology', a college textbook now in its 8th edition.
Here are some of the incredible things people have written about 'Free to Learn'::
“The modern educational system is like a wish made in a folk tale gone horribly wrong. Peter Gray's Free to Learn leads us out of the maze of unforeseen consequences to a more natural way of letting children educate themselves. Gray's message might seem too good to be true, but it rests upon a strong scientific foundation. Free to Learn can have an immediate impact on the children in your life.” (David Sloan Wilson)
“A compelling and most enjoyable read. Gray illustrates how removing play from childhood, in combination with increasing the pressures of modern-day schooling, paradoxically reduces the very skills we want our children to learn. The decline of play is serious business.” (Roberta Michnick Golinkoff)
“Peter Gray is one of the world's experts on the evolution of childhood play, and applies his encyclopedic knowledge of psychology, and his humane voice, to the pressing issue of educational reform. Though I am not sure I agree with all of his recommendations, he forces us all to rethink our convictions on how schools should be designed to accommodate the ways that children learn.” (Steven Pinker)
PETER GRAY LINKS
Peter's research and Psychology Today blog: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/contributors/peter-gray-phd
Alliance for Self-Directed Education: https://www.self-directed.org/
Let Grow: https://letgrow.org/
American Journal of Play - Guest Editor Peter Gray: https://www.museumofplay.org/journalofplay/issues/volume-3-number-4/
RETHINKING ED CONFERENCE LINKS
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lets-get-together-the-rethinking-education-conference-2022-tickets-226415834857
Trailer: youtu.be/JKz8ALX2QFM
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rethinking_Ed/status/1528046472444485638
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100004976851081/videos/706113054004294/
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/james-mannion_too-often-the-education-debate-is-dominated-activity-6933887283146207232-53h0/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cd1b__3svlV/
Tiktok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNNSFhrq/?k=1
Rethinking Education Mighty Network: rethinking-education.mn.co
Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repod
Buy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Emma Ann Hardy is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle since the 2017 general election. She is also the Shadow Minister for Further Education and Universities. Recently, Emma launched and chaired the Oracy All Party Parliamentary Group, which carried out an inquiry and published an excellent report, Speak for Change, in 2021.
LINKS
The Oracy APPG - https://oracy.inparliament.uk/about-us
Speak for Change - the report of the APPG - https://oracy.inparliament.uk/sites/oracy.inparliament.uk/files/2021-04/Oracy_APPG_FinalReport_28_04_21_4.pdf
Voice 21 thread on the Ofsted English Curriculum Research Review: https://twitter.com/voice21oracy/status/1529503318275497984
RETHINKING ED CONFERENCE:
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lets-get-together-the-rethinking-education-conference-2022-tickets-226415834857
Trailer: youtu.be/JKz8ALX2QFM
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rethinking_Ed/status/1528046472444485638
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100004976851081/videos/706113054004294/
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/james-mannion_too-often-the-education-debate-is-dominated-activity-6933887283146207232-53h0/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cd1b__3svlV/
Tiktok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNNSFhrq/?k=1
GENERAL RETHINKING EDUCATION STUFF:
Join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network: rethinking-education.mn.co
Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repod
Buy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
An interview with Rachel Sylvester on the findings of the Times Education Commission.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/society/education/education-commission
In this episode, Dr James Mannion - the creator of the Implementation Science for Schools programme - interviews two senior leaders, Kate Barry and Elaine Long, about their experience of the ISS pilot study at their school.
RETHINKING ED CONFERENCE LINKS
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lets-get-together-the-rethinking-education-conference-2022-tickets-226415834857
Social media links:
Youtube (trailer): https://youtu.be/JKz8ALX2QFM
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rethinking_Ed/status/1528046472444485638
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100004976851081/videos/706113054004294/
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/james-mannion_too-often-the-education-debate-is-dominated-activity-6933887283146207232-53h0
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cd1b__3svlV
ISS LINKS AND REFERENCES
To access the ISS community for free - including a free taster course - please visit https://implementation.mn.co/
ISS visual diagrams: https://rethinking-ed.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/ISS-VISUAL-DIAGRAMS.pdf
The Gatsby careers benchmarks - https://www.gatsby.org.uk/uploads/education/reports/pdf/gatsby-sir-john-holman-good-career-guidance-2014.pdf
Fixsen, D. L., Blase, K. A., Timbers, G. D., & Wolf, M. M. (2001). In search of program implementation: 792 replications of the Teaching-Family Model. In G. A. Bernfeld, D. P. Farrington & A. W. Leschied (Eds.), Offender rehabilitation in practice: Implementing and evaluating effective programs (pp. 149-166). London: Wiley.
Fixsen, D., Blase, K., Van Dyke, M. (2019). Implementation Practice and Science. Active Implementation Research Network. Chapel Hill, NC.
Hill, A., Mellon, L., Laker, B., Goddard, J. (2017) Research: How the Best School Leaders Create Enduring Change. Harvard Business Review, (5).
Kotter, J. (2008). A sense of urgency. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.
Moir, T. (2018). Why is implementation science important for intervention design and evaluation within educational settings? Frontiers in Education, July 25.
In this episode I am joined by Ian Cunningham, the founder of the Self-Managed Learning College (SMLC) in Brighton; Dr Naomi Fisher, a clinical psychologist who sends her children to SMLC; and Ellie Costello, the Director of Square Peg, a social enterprise that supports young people and families with barriers to attendance.
We are here to discuss the Schools Bill currently going through the English Parliament, which presents a significant challenge for people seeking to rethink education; indeed, if it goes through largely unamended, it looks like it will be a hugely retrograde step in many alarming ways, all of which we will get into in the podcast. And so, with apologies to international listeners, this episode is strongly Anglocentric.
RESEARCH LINKS:
The Munro Review of Child Protection: Final Report A child-centred system: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/175391/Munro-Review.pdf
Bilson et al - How child protection’s ‘investigative turn’ impacts on poor and deprived communities: http://bilson.org.uk/Family_Law_prepub.pdf
Contact your MP - or member of the House of Lords: https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-an-mp-or-lord/contact-your-mp
Petition - We must stop the Schools Bill: Act now to protect vulnerable families from persecution: https://www.change.org/p/updated-attendance-guidance-encourages-prosecution-and-fines-of-families-facing-barriers-to-attendance-undiagnosed-children-with-send-are-particularly-at-risk-time-for-positive-action-for-send-in-education
LET'S GET TOGETHER - THE RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE 2022:
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lets-get-together-the-rethinking-education-conference-2022-tickets-226415834857
Speaker applications: https://rethinking-ed.org/conference/
Share our social media links:
Youtube (trailer): https://youtu.be/JKz8ALX2QFM
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rethinking_Ed/status/1528046472444485638
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100004976851081/videos/706113054004294/
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/james-mannion_too-often-the-education-debate-is-dominated-activity-6933887283146207232-53h0
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cd1b__3svlV
In this episode, titans of education Mick Waters and Tim Brighouse talk about their sensational new book 'About our schools: Improving on previous best'.
Here are some of the breathless reviews the book has received::
"You can hear the passion, the decency, the anger, the compassion, and the hope in this insider–outsider story about England’s education policy over the past 45 years... the most exciting and exacting book I have read in a long time." (Professor John Hattie)
"It seems odd to refer to a book on education as a page-turner, but About Our Schools really is just that. Hardly surprising though, as it has been written by two of the greatest storytellers in the field, whose careers at the heart of the action mean that they know everyone and have a view on pretty much everything. They survey the past and critique current initiatives, always through the lens of the teacher and the child in the classroom. It’s full of anecdotes, balanced critiques and a surprisingly com- passionate appraisal of politicians. About Our Schools is a masterpiece, and I shall be returning to it again and again." (Mary Myatt)
In this podcast, they elaborate on their interviews with Secretaries of State from the last 45 years, and outline a vision for how we can improve on previous best and transition to an age of hope, optimism and collaborative partnerships.
LINKS:
RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE - TICKETS: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-rethinking-education-conference-2022-tickets-226415834857
RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE - SPEAKER APPLICATIONS: https://rethinking-ed.org/conference/
RETHINKING EDUCATION MIGHTY NETWORK: https://rethinking-education.mn.co/
BECOME A PATRON: https://www.patreon.com/repod
BUY ME A COFFEE: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Jon Hutchinson is the Head of Training and Development at the Reach Foundation, an educational charity that focuses on expanding the role of schools into the wider community through a cradle to career model.
Prior to this, Jon was an Assistant Headteacher at Reach Academy Felt-ham. He has taught across both KS1 and KS2, and also tutors on Ambition Institute’s Masters in Expert Teaching. Jon has taken part in expert panels for the Department for Education, Ofsted and the Standards and Testing Agency.
For the last ten years or so, Jon has been deeply involved in developing a knowledge-based curriculum at key stage two. Harking back to my recent conversation with Professor Michael Young, Jon describes this project as designing and creating resources and approaches that give every child access to the powerful knowledge they need to flourish, whilst reducing teacher workload and improving subject knowledge across the curriculum.
But we began our conversation talking about things we disagree on - and so if and if agreeable disagreement is your thing, you’ll find plenty to chew over here.
LINKS:
ARTICLE: What's your endgame? https://www.philanthropy.org.au/images/site/misc/Tools__Resources/Publications/2015/Winter_2015_Whats_Your_Endgame.pdf
RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE - TICKETS: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-rethinking-education-conference-2022-tickets-226415834857
RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE - SPEAKER APPLICATIONS: https://rethinking-ed.org/conference/
RETHINKING EDUCATION MIGHTY NETWORK: https://rethinking-education.mn.co/
BECOME A PATRON: https://www.patreon.com/repod
BUY ME A COFFEE: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Today I am delighted to be able to share with you my recent conversation with Andy Sprakes, the co-founder of XP school in Doncaster. I also had the opportunity to speak with two students from the school, Declan and Guraaj, who were absolutely lovely and insightful as you will soon discover.
There has been a lot of interest in XP school in recent months, partly following a very complementary profile of the school that was published in the Sunday Times magazine, entitled: ‘Is XP the school of the future?’ The article is below - paywalled unfortunately.
In case you haven’t heard of XP school before, it’s a free school that was set up in 2014 by two teachers - Andy Sprakes and Gwyn Ap Harri - who were inspired following a visit to some innovative schools in the US - notably, High Tech High in San Diego, and Ron Berger’s Expeditionary Learning schools.
They do things very differently at XP. The curriculum is organised into cross-curricular ‘expeditions’. Their pastoral system is second to none. And their results are astonishing. And they are rated by Ofsted as being outstanding in every category.
LINKS:
Article: Is XP the school of the future? (£) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/no-uniforms-no-detentions-no-maths-lessons-is-xp-in-doncaster-the-school-of-the-future-jnc6n80kq
Free e-book - How we XP: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yJy4-nn0cVaxFNaqBRMnoDemA3v3RvwH/view
RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE - TICKETS: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-rethinking-education-conference-2022-tickets-226415834857
RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE - SPEAKER APPLICATIONS: https://rethinking-ed.org/conference/
RETHINKING EDUCATION MIGHTY NETWORK: www.rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
BECOME A PATRON: www.patreon.com/repod
BUY ME A COFFEE: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Today I am speaking with John Higgs, the cultural historian and author of many excellent books, several of which we draw on in this conversation - especially:
Watling Street: Travels Through Britain and Its Ever-Present Past Stranger Than We Can Imagine: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century The Future Starts Here: An Optimistic Guide to What Comes Next William Blake versus The World
So this conversation draws together ideas from a number of John’s books, in an attempt to weave a positive narrative about the future and where we might be heading. We also spoke at length about private schools, and how - as John puts it - when you look at what goes on in the House of Commons, it’s hard not to conclude that there is something very wrong with private education.
Ultimately, this conversation builds into an optimistic, hopeful and yet realistic vision of the future.
LINKS:
John Higgs website: https://johnhiggs.com/
Future Crunch: https://futurecrunch.com/
John discussing the Beatles singles on I am the Eggpod: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-beatles-singles-john-higgs/id1335120302?i=1000540565032
RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE - TICKETS: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-rethinki…s-226415834857
RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE - SPEAKER APPLICATIONS: rethinking-ed.org/conference/
RETHINKING EDUCATION MIGHTY NETWORK: www.rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
BECOME A PATRON: www.patreon.com/repod
BUY ME A COFFEE: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Today I am speaking with Jay McTighe about Leading Modern Learning: A blueprint for vision-driven schools, the 2015 book that Jay co-authored with Greg Curtis.
Leading modern learning builds on Jay’s previous work on Understanding by Design, to guide the reader through the process of taking vision statements really seriously, and then backwards planning your school in such a way that you WILL produce the kinds of young people who will be able to thrive and flourish in this bewildering and rapidly changing world of ours.
LINKS:
BOOK: Leading Modern Learning - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Leading-Modern-Learning-Blueprint-Vision-Driven-ebook/dp/B012ETMIUE
RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE - TICKETS: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-rethinki…s-226415834857
RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE - SPEAKER APPLICATIONS: rethinking-ed.org/conference/
RETHINKING EDUCATION MIGHTY NETWORK: www.rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
BECOME A PATRON: www.patreon.com/repod
BUY ME A COFFEE: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Warwick Mansell is a long-time contributor to the Guardian and the Observer, and worked for many years at the TES - the Times Education Supplement. He writes blogs for Prospect union, and the National Education Union teacher magazine, among others. A few years ago, he was shortlisted for the Chartered Institute of Public Relations Education Journalist of the Year.
Warwick runs a subscription-based education news website, Education Uncovered, which has the strap-line "digging around in the undergrowth of schools reform in England". And what a murky, tangled subterranean web it is.
Warwick aims to hold the microscope the endless waves of reform which have hit England’s schools in recent years, and to hold policymakers and those with power to account for goings-on at ground level. Warwick is especially keen to engage with one potential strand of reporting which is not covered in any systematic way by national education media: the way education reform impacts on parents, teachers and communities, and the campaigns which spring up against it.
Warwick is also the author of a brilliant book about assessment in education, called ‘Education by Numbers: The Tyranny of Testing’. Although it was written in 2007. It remains highly relevant today - 15 years later. Here are some of the nice things people have said about the book:
"Unputdownable. I think the book should be required reading for everybody running a school." -- Mike Kent, head of Comber Grove primary school
"Warwick Mansell's meticulously researched analysis of the damage wrought by 'hyperaccountability' in the education system should be compulsory reading for all politicians. It shows how this government's obsession with tests, targets and league tables has perverted educational practice, dumbed down our public examinations, deskilled the teaching profession and damaged the education of a generation of children." -- Sue Palmer (author, Toxic Childhood)
If you want to understand the impact that the recent tsunami of school reforms have had in a number of areas - from free schools to financial irregularities, from to transparency to accountability, and from deregulation to the role of evidence (or indeed the lack of it) in policymaking - then strap yourself in.
LINKS:
EDUCATION UNCOVERED: https://www.educationuncovered.co.uk/
GOV.UK ARTICLE - 10 facts you need to know about academies: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/10-facts-you-need-to-know-about-academies
RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE - TICKETS: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-rethinki…s-226415834857
RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE - SPEAKER APPLICATIONS: rethinking-ed.org/conference/
THE RETHINKING EDUCATION MIGHTY NETWORK: www.rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
MIGHTY NETWORK WELCOME VIDEO: www.youtube.com/watch?v=47xZ73YPTNs
RETHINKING EDUCATION CAMPFIRE CONVERSATIONS: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ6mCUmebHJNC-qrWX9gMBCQJtHxoGNh2
BECOME A PATRON: www.patreon.com/repod
BUY ME A COFFEE: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Geraldine Rowe is an educational psychologist and former teacher, and a specialist in Parent Partnership and Behaviour and Attendance. She has taught in Primary and Middle Schools and been a member of the Senior Leadership Team of an alternative provision secondary school. Her 30-year career has taken her into 100 schools, and Geraldine is a really good example of someone who is outside the teaching profession, but who has immense experience and insight to share.
Geraldine recently published an absolutely fascinating book called It’s Out School, It’s Our Time: A Companion Guide to Whole-School Collaborative Decision-Making. The book is a highly readable account of Geraldine’s doctoral study, which features three case studies of teachers in mainstream schools who make decisions with their pupils, rather than for them.
The importance of choice and agency and autonomy in human development has come up again and again in this podcast, and it is often a key feature of teaching and learning in alternative schools and in international schools. But this book looks at what collaborative decision-making (CDM) can look like within mainstream settings - and there is no shortage of ways in which we can include children in making the decisions that affect their lives.
This is a conversation that goes right to the heart of the what I see as the main problem with the mainstream model of education - coercion isn’t good for kids, even if it gets results in the short term - and Geraldine offers lots of practical advice for teachers who want to move in a more collaborative, consent-based direction.
LINKS
BOOK: It’s Our School, It’s Our Time, by Geraldine Rowe: https://www.routledge.com/Its-Our-School-Its-Our-Time-A-Companion-Guide-to-Whole-School-Collaborative/Rowe/p/book/9780367859381
WEBSITE: Geraldine’s list of further reading for teachers: https://pupilparticipation.co.uk/teachers/
RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE - TICKETS: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-rethinking-education-conference-2022-tickets-226415834857
RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE - SPEAKER APPLICATIONS: https://rethinking-ed.org/conference/
THE RETHINKING EDUCATION MIGHTY NETWORK: www.rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
MIGHTY NETWORK WELCOME VIDEO: www.youtube.com/watch?v=47xZ73YPTNs
RETHINKING EDUCATION CAMPFIRE CONVERSATIONS: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ…WX9gMBCQJtHxoGNh2
BECOME A PATRON: www.patreon.com/repod
BUY ME A COFFEE: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Donald Clark is a man of many hats. He’s an EdTech entrepreneur who was formerly the CEO and one of the original founders of Epic Group, a pioneering company in online learning, and he is now the CEO of Wildfire Learning, an AI company. He is a Visiting Professor at the University of Derby. And he is the author of at least two books - Artificial Intelligence for Learning, and Learning Experience Design.
But today I am speaking with Donald about a different writing project. Over the last 20 years or so - and gathering pace in recent months - Donald has been collecting learning theorists. He has written an incredible series of blogs on 2500 years of learning theory - from the Greeks to the Geeks.
When we recorded this conversation a few short weeks ago, there were 160 blogs in the series. At the time of publication, he is now up to 200. Helpfully, Donald has created an index, where you can see a list of all 200 learning theorists grouped under different headings - the behaviourists, the assessors, the vocationalists and so on. There’s a link to this index below - you may find it useful to refer to it now and then as you listen to our conversation.
This was a conversation from which I learned a huge amount. It is also an episode that made me think harder than I’ve had to do in a long time. And it’s also one of the most political discussions I’ve had on the podcast to date. I’ll try not to make a habit of it.
LINKS
The index to Donald’s series of blogs on 2500 years of learning theorists: https://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2021/09/these-were-written-as-quick-readable.html
The Rethinking Education conference 2022 - tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-rethinking-education-conference-2022-tickets-226415834857
The Rethinking Education conference 2022 - speaker application form:
https://rethinking-ed.org/conference/
The Rethinking Education Mighty Network: www.rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
Mighty Network Welcome Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=47xZ73YPTNs
Rethinking Education Campfire Conversations playlist: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ…WX9gMBCQJtHxoGNh2
Become a Patron of the Rethinking Education project: www.patreon.com/repod
Buy James a pint, a coffee - or perhaps even a pint of coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or twitter.com/RethinkingJames.
Today I am speaking with behaviour specialist and volcano of positivity Adele Bates. As you will hear at the start of our conversation, I worked with Adele for a short period, and so I speak with experience when I say that the second you meet her, you immediately realise that you are dealing with an incredibly compassionate, thoughtful, unique human being.
Adele has recently written a fascinating, down to earth, warts-and-all book called 'Miss I don’t give a Sh*t: Engaging with Challenging Behaviour in Schools.'
Here are some of the lovely things people have said about the book:
“Looking for a breath of fresh air when it comes to behaviour management? Look no further. With wit and wisdom, passion and compassion, Adele Bates not only puts the relationships between teacher and young person at the heart of the educational endeavour, but also gives that young person a voice.” (Ian Gilbert)
“Adele Bates has written a highly readable book brimming with practical ideas, exuberant optimism and encouragement of experimentation. She urges practitioners to see beyond the so-called bad behaviour to the human being in context. This is a book that celebrates the importance of reflection, empathy and care, including the all vital task of self-care.” (Melissa Benn)
‘This book offers an in-depth, detailed and nuanced overview of the subject of behaviour, with a particular focus on building relationships, helping pupils to feel safe and on teacher self-care. It is a must read book for all teachers, and will be particularly helpful for those working in the most challenging contexts, staff in alternative provision and those working with children who have SEND and SEMH.’ (Sue Cowley)
At just over an hour, this is a shorter episode than usual. But there is loads packed into this conversation and you will come away with practical ideas for how to work with young people who present with challenging behaviour in schools. As someone who has worked in schools in which dealing with behaviour was a daily challenge, I really wish Adele’s book had been around when I entered the profession.
LINKS
Adele’s website: https://adelebateseducation.co.uk/
Adele’s book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/miss-i-dont-give-a-sh-t/adele-bates/9781529731569
Mighty Network Welcome Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=47xZ73YPTNs
Rethinking Education Campfire Conversations playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ6mCUmebHJNC-qrWX9gMBCQJtHxoGNh2
The Rethinking Education Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
Become a Patron of the Rethinking Education project: www.patreon.com/repod
Buy James a pint, a coffee - or perhaps even a pint of coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
This episode features a conversation with Harry Fletcher-Wood, who has written an absolutely fascinating book called Habits of Success: Getting every student learning.
Ground-breaking books about education don’t come around too often, but Habits of Success is truly pioneering. We’ve heard a lot about cognitive science in recent years - often a quite narrow interpretation of cognitive science which focuses largely on memorising stuff. But there has been another area of social science bubbling away in the background in recent years, slowly coming to the boil - the field of behavioural science.
A few years ago the UK government set up something called the Behavioural Insights Team - also known as the Nudge Unit - which focuses on how to change people’s behaviour not by telling them what to do (like ‘eat 5 fruit and veg a day’), but by nudging them in the right direction (like by putting attractive displays of fruit next to the checkout in a school canteen).
In Habits of Success, Harry applies insights from the world of Behavioural Science to the problem of how to help students build helpful habits for learning effectively, while breaking one or two unhealthy habits along the way.
I really enjoyed my conversation with Harry. About half-way through the podcast there’s a section where I ask him some taxing questions about the book, and his responses were really impressive. Harry has an enviable gift for expressing complex ideas in a really engaging, accessible way.
As always, this was a fascinating conversation which left me with many more questions than answers, which is always a good sign that you’ve hit a rich seam.
Link to the Fiorella paper on the Science of Habits Harry mentions paywalled unfortunately): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-020-09525-1
Mighty Network Welcome Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47xZ73YPTNs
Rethinking Education Campfire Conversations playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ…WX9gMBCQJtHxoGNh2
The Rethinking Education Mighty Network: https://www.rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
Become a Patron of the Rethinking Education project: https://www.patreon.com/repod
Buy James a pint, a coffee - or perhaps even a pint of coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Today I am speaking with Michael FD Young, Emeritus Professor of Sociology of Curriculum at the UCL Institute of Education. Michael has been a towering figure in the field of Sociology of Education for over five decades. He has written and edited many books throughout his career, including Knowledge and Control (1971), Bringing Knowledge Back In (20080) and Knowledge and the Future School (2014) - to name just a few. You may have noticed a theme in those book titles - Michael writes about knowledge a lot. Hence the title of the podcast.
A few weeks ago I met Michael for an enjoyable lunch in Russell Square, sitting under the trees with a lasagne and a beer and discussing life, the universe and everything. To my delight, Michael agreed that it would be a good idea to join me for an extended conversation about his remarkable career to date.
As always, this was an absolutely fascinating conversation. It’s also a conversation that I think many people will find surprising - both the hard-line traditionalists and the hard-core progressives among you. You know who you are. I look forward to hearing what people make of it - please do let me know what you think.
LINKS:
MIchael’s 2018 article in Impact: A knowledge-led curriculum: Pitfalls and Possibilities: https://impact.chartered.college/article/a-knowledge-led-curriculum-pitfalls-possibilities/
The Nature article MIchael mentions, by Paul Nurse - ‘Biology must generate ideas as well as data’: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02480-z
Mighty Network Welcome Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=47xZ73YPTNs&t=3s
Rethinking Education Campfire Conversations playlist: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ…WX9gMBCQJtHxoGNh2
The Rethinking Education Mighty Network: www.rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
Become a Patron of the Rethinking Education project: www.patreon.com/repod
Buy James a pint, a coffee - or perhaps even a pint of coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Earlier this year, through connecting with people in the Mighty Network, I hosted a series of six "campfire conversations". In contrast to the podcast, which features long-form, pre planned, recorded conversations with individuals, the campfire conversations were an attempt to bring more people into the conversation. These were live-streamed, shorter, more spontaneous conversations that usually included between 6 and 12 people at a time - always including young people, as well as parents and carers, psychologists and so on.
If you haven't seen any campfire conversations, they're all archived on YouTube, along with one or two juicy clips - there’s a link below. The fact that those campfire conversations included the voices of young people was absolutely wonderful, and kind of rare. The idea that we should include young people in discussions about education shouldn't really be a radical thing, should it. But, we are where we are.
Anyway, I am delighted to be able to say that in this episode, I speak with Yumna Hussen and Lottie Cooke from Pupil Power, an absolutely brilliant youth organisation dedicated to:
- raising awareness of young people’s perspectives on education;
- educating young people on how funding cuts have affected education provision in recent years; and
- campaigning for changes to educational policy and practice that take account of the experiences, views and desires of young people.
The very thought, listeners! Whatever next!
Yumna Hussen is currently studying A levels in Biology, Chemistry and Politics. in the lower sixth. She is the Youth MP for Birmingham, and the author of a wonderful book called Struggles of War, which she wrote when she was in Year 8. Like you do. She's also done a fabulous TEDx talk entitled 'Re-Imagining Education To Create An Impact In The World'.(Links below)
Lottie Cooke is currently a first year undergraduate at the University of Warwick. She is a young journalist and has published some brilliant articles and appeared on many a podcast setting out her vision for the future of education (link to article below).
It was an absolute joy and privilege to be able to spend a few hours in the company of Lottie and Yumna. There is so much wisdom and insight packed into this conversation that I had to keep pausing it and re-listening to whole sections. I think it will take me a couple more listens at least before I can take it all in properly. And although many of the issues we spoke about are deeply concerning and challenging, when you speak with young people like Lottie and Yumna you come away feeling like the future is in safe hands.
LINKS:
Mighty Network Welcome Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47xZ73YPTNs&t=3s
Rethinking Education Campfire Conversations playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ6mCUmebHJNC-qrWX9gMBCQJtHxoGNh2
James’s secret teacher article: https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2012/sep/08/secret-teacher-political-control-education-innovation-fatigue
The secret teacher archive: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/the-secret-teacher
Yumna’s book, Struggles of War: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Struggles-War-Yumna-Hussen-ebook/dp/B07FPS2PGF
Yumna's TEDs talk, 'Re-Imagining Education To Create An Impact In The World': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkpeN64AuLU&ab_channel=TEDxTalks
Article by Lottie Cooke setting out her vision for the future of education: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/innovatejournal/issues/innovate-journal-issue-2-485387?utm_campaign=Issue&utm_content=view_in_browser&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Innovate+Journal
The Rethinking Education Mighty Network: www.rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
Become a Patron of the Rethinking Education project: www.patreon.com/repod
Buy James a pint, a coffee - or perhaps even a pint of coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Today I’m speaking with Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, whose work is, I honestly think, the most important I’ve yet come across in all my years of dabbling in education research and trying to understand how young people learn and develop, what we should be doing in schools to help them, and what we should maybe stop doing as soon as is humanly possible.
Mary Helen is a Professor of Education, Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Southern California and the Director of Candle: the Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education, which, among many notable achievements, is surely the most successful academic acronym of all time.
Mary Helen and her team study the psychological and neurobiological development of emotion and self-awareness. In particular, her work highlights the importance of emotions, sociality and culture in young people’s social, cognitive and moral development. She uses cross-cultural, interdisciplinary studies of stories and the feelings they induce to shine a light on the neural networks that underpin identity, intrinsic motivation, and deep, meaningful learning. Mary Helen’s work often features children and adolescents from disadvantaged communities, and she often involves young people from these communities as junior scientists who are participants, as well as subjects, in her research.
A former public high-school science teacher, Mary Helen has a doctorate in human development and psychology from Harvard University, and she completed her postdoctoral training in social-affective neuroscience with Antonio Damasio, whose research has been incredibly important in shaping Mary Helen’s work.
In 2016, Mary Helen published a book, Emotions, Learning and the Brain, which summarises the key findings from the previous decade of her work. I can’t recommend this book highly enough to anyone with an interest in how children and adolescents learn. I really think it’s an incredibly important read, as is the work Mary Helen has done in the 5 years since the book was published.
Mary Helen has received numerous awards for her research and impact on education and society, including an Honor Coin from the U.S. Army, a Commendation from the County of Los Angeles, a Cozzarelli Prize from the Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and a host of early career achievement awards too numerous to mention.
Toward the end of the conversation, we talk about three networks of the brain - the default mode network, the salience network and the executive control network. Understanding what these three networks do, and how they interact, is absolutely central to understanding the importance of Mary Helen’s work. I was hoping that we would have time to discuss these three networks in the conversation, but unfortunately we ran out of time toward the end of the conversation. Fortunately however, Mary Helen recently co-authored a paper with her colleague Doug Knecht, which explains these three brain networks and how they work and interact in lay terms. The paper is called ‘Building Meaning Builds Teens' Brains’, and it’s well worth a read.
Links:
Building meaning builds teens’ brains: https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/building-meaning-builds-teens-brains
CANDLE (The Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education): https://candle.usc.edu/
The Rethinking Education Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
Contribute to the Rethinking Education project: https://www.patreon.com/repod
Buy James a pint, a coffee - or perhaps even a pint of coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
A trailer for Season 2 of the Rethinking Education podcast.
Website: https://rethinking-ed.org Email: enquiries@rethinking-ed.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/rethinking_ed Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rethinking.education/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtu5tET_5HwSEcuG0OwmsbA Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co/feed Campfire Conversations: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ6mCUmebHJNC-qrWX9gMBCQJtHxoGNh2 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rethinkinged
Rachel Lofthouse is a Professor of Teacher Education in the Carnegie School of Education at Leeds Beckett University. Rachel has a specific research interest in professional learning, exploring how teachers learn and how they can be supported to put that learning into practice.
The first part of the conversation - roughly the first hour or so - focuses on a controversy that is unfolding in England at the current time (summer 2021) which can reasonably be described as the government’s assault on providers of University-based Initial Teacher Training.
If you are listening in Summer 2021 and would like to help, you can respond to the government’s online consultation to share your views (deadline August 22, 2021). The consultation is long, and life is short, so there is also some guidance below on how you might wish to respond to the consultation without spending your entire summer holiday doing so.
LINKS:
The ITT Market Review: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-itt-market-review/initial-teacher-training-itt-market-review-overview
University of Cambridge website providing further information about the review and its implications for their ITT programmes: https://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/news/itt-market-review-facts-figures-information/
Statement from the Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of Faculty at the University of Cambridge: https://www.cam.ac.uk/notices/news/statement-on-the-uk-government-initial-teacher-training-itt-market-review-report
Blog looking at recent ITT inspections, but Terry Russell and Julie Price-Grimshaw: https://www.teachbest.education/a-look-at-recent-itt-inspections-by-terry-russell-and-julie-price-grimshaw/
Article in Times Higher Ed: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/universities-refuse-slavishly-follow-teacher-training-plans
Online consultation (deadline August 22, 2021): https://consult.education.gov.uk/itt-policy-unit/initial-teacher-training-itt-market-review-recomme/
What can you do to help?
Respond to the online consultation before the deadline of 22 August. Write to your local MP and explain why the continued delivery of university-based PGCE courses matters.
You could approach completion of the online consultation in one of several ways:
Give as full a response as possible based on your knowledge of the market review and your understanding of the sector. This is the best possible form of response, but it might include quite a lot of ‘not applicable’ responses to specific questions, because there is no way that you are able to answer some of them. This does not matter. What is important is giving your perspectives on elements of the consultation on which you do have expertise/views. The last question of the survey is of particular importance, as it asks you to summarise your views and asks about anything further you want to add. Where you have access to the responses of institutions, and you wish to mirror specific question responses with which you agree, use quotes acknowledging the source. Give a response that is a mixture of 1 & 2. Give a response in which your answer to every question is ‘Please see the views presented in response to the final question of the consultation’ (unfortunately you cannot simply leave a question blank). Then give a response in the final question which is an overview of your perspectives on the Market Review.
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
You can join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network here: https://rethinking-education.mn.co
Buy James a coffee here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Dr Naomi Fisher is a clinical psychologist with a doctorate in clinical psychology and a PhD in Developmental Cognitive Psychology, focusing on autism. She is also the mother of two self-directed learners, having decided not to send her children to school.
Naomi is the author of 'Changing our Minds: How children can take control of their own learning'. It's about self-directed learning and it's an absolutely brilliant read - I really can’t recommend it enough. We talk about the book in depth in this conversation.
Naomi also recently appeared in one of the Rethinking Education campfire conversations - a brilliant episode called Self-Directed Learning - Dare to give young people autonomy - which you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh2qgFo2C6c
LINKS:
TED talk with Molly Wright: https://www.ted.com/talks/molly_wright_how_every_child_can_thrive_by_five
Some of Naomi's recent articles:
The how and why of the classroom: https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/how-and-why-classroom
School's out(setting out some arguments for self-directed learning): https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-33/march-2020/schools-out
School's really out: https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/schools-really-out
Naomi's brilliant book, Changing our minds: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/naomi-fisher/changing-our-minds/9781472145505/
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
You can join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network here: https://rethinking-education.mn.co
Buy James a coffee here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
This is a cross-post of an episode of the Flourishing Education podcast, in which Fabienne Vailes interviewed James Mannion about, well, Rethinking Education. Fabienne is a brilliant, intuitive interviewer who lets the conversation go where it will. Which made for a fascinating and, in places, quite emotive conversation.
I would like to express my thanks to Fabienne for taking the time to speak with me. I’ve really enjoyed listening back to this conversation, and I hope you do too.
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted by Dr James Mannion, the Director of Rethinking Education. You can contact him at https://rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
To join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network, visit: https://rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
Dr Amelia Peterson is an LSE Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she teaches social policy, and she is soon to become a founding member of faculty at the London Interdisciplinary School. She completed her PhD in Education Policy and Program Evaluation at Harvard University, where she was an Inequality and Social Policy fellow. During her studies she was a junior visiting scholar at Nuffield College, Oxford and holds a masters degree in Human Development and Psychology, also from Harvard.
Amelia studies education and skills policies and their interactions with wider societal processes. Her dissertation traced the institutional changes associated with the de-vocationalization of upper secondary education, in the context of increased income inequality. She is interested in how political and social factors impact policy implementation and recently co-authored an absolutely brilliant book with Valerie Hannon, entitled: THRIVE - the purpose of schools in a changing world, which we discuss at length in this episode.
LINKS
Two brilliant Rethinking Assessment blogs by Amelia:
‘Moving beyond grades will be key to rethinking assessment’: https://rethinkingassessment.com/rethinking-blogs/moving-beyond-grades-will-be-key-to-rethinking-assessment/
‘We need a more flexible and useful assessment regime that will motivate young people’: https://rethinkingassessment.com/rethinking-blogs/we-need-a-more-flexible-and-useful-assessment-regime-that-will-motivate-young-people/
A recent Rethinking Education campfire conversation that involved Amelia on self-directed learning - "Dare to give young people autonomy": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh2qgFo2C6c
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted by Dr James Mannion, the Director of Rethinking Education. You can contact him at https://rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
To join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network, visit: rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
This is a cross-post of an episode of the podcast 'From Page to Practice', featuring the book Fear is the Mind Killer by Dr James Mannion and Kate McAllister.
The 'From Page to Practice' podcast features audio clips from readers who have translated the ideas from books in their practice. This episode is an international affair, featuring Freya in Italy, Dean and Mark in Shanghai, Caryl in Cambodia and Gina (not sure where in the world she is!)
Enjoy!
Welcome to episode 6 of the Rethinking Education Campfire Conversations. The theme of today’s episode is around supporting children and young people with mental health issues, and with barriers to school attendance more widely.
In this episode, we are joined by:
Fran Morgan - Founder, Square Peg (https://www.teamsquarepeg.org) Ellie Costello - Director, Square Peg Lydie (Ellie’s daughter) - age 12 Will Carter - a FullBright Scholar and a PhD student at Berkeley, California who recently appeared on This Morning with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby in a piece entitled - ‘Boy Who Overcame Severe Dyslexia Now Studying PhD’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLnUjgM7Pvk&ab_channel=ThisMorning Bea Herbert - A psychologist and the founder of States of Mind, an organisation dedicated to providing young people with the psychological skills, knowledge and self awareness that is required for them to thrive in the world (https://www.statesofmind.org) Lucy Lovett - a college student with an interest in autism and mental health Anna Allen - a Speech & Language Therapist, and the parent of a child who has struggled with school attendance Heidi Mavir - an Autistic Parent to an Autistic Teen. Heidi is also a public speaker, activist, advocate and mental health first aider, with a particular interest in supporting families whose children have barriers to education. (https://www.facebook.com/seNDSupport) Lottie Cooke - young journalist a student and member of Pupil Power Debra Nelson - Football Beyond Borders - an organisation that uses football to change the lives of young people (https://www.footballbeyondborders.org)
Campfire Conversations are hosted by Dr James Mannion, the Director of Rethinking Education and the host of the Rethinking Education podcast.
To view the video version of this conversation, visit: https://youtu.be/Ql9plUKXFUs
To join future live-streamed Campfire Conversations, join the (private) Rethinking Education Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rethinkinged
To join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network, visit: https://rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
To explore the Rethinking Education podcast, visit https://soundcloud.com/rethinking-ed-podcast - or search for 'Rethinking Education' wherever you get your podcasts :)
Episode 5 of Rethinking Education Campfire Conversations, a series of live-streamed, group conversations with people who want to rethink and reform education so as to bring about a more harmonious, less hair-raising state of world affairs.
Today's conversation features:
Naomi Fisher - author of Changing Our Minds: How children can take control of their own learning - https://twitter.com/naomicfisher Amelia Peterson - co-author of Thrive: The purpose of schools in a changing world - https://twitter.com/AKMPeterson Naomi Clarke - home educator - https://www.instagram.com/intersectio... Yumna Hussen - Youth MP for Birmingham. Member of Pupil Power. And former campfire guest! - https://twitter.com/Yumna_Hussen Asma Maloumi - Member of Pupil Power. Lox Pratt - Home schooler Aliyah York - Founder of Pupil Power - https://twitter.com/aliyahiyork Artemis D. Bear - Freedom to Learn Lead, Phoenix Education and Founder of The Garden (http://www.thegardenbristol.org/) - https://twitter.com/ArtemisDBear Kate McAllister - Principal, The Hive, Dominican Republic - https://twitter.com/Rethinking_Kate Rose Arnold - Home educator and editor, Suitable Education - https://suitable-education.uk/ Kath Pratt - Founder, Soweni - https://twitter.com/kathsoweni James Myklebust-Hampshire - PYPCo and homeroom teacher, Norway - https://twitter.com/MrJames_MH Dr James Mannion - Director, Rethinking Education - https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames
LINKS:
https://www.big-change.org/about/mission/
To view the comment feed, join the (private) Rethinking Education Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rethi...
To join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network, visit: https://rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
Welcome to this special, shorter than usual episode of the Rethinking Education podcast featuring my recent conversation with two previous guests - Tom Sherrington and Adam Boxer.
As with so many things these days, this episode came about because of a Twitter exchange I was involved in, in which Adam wrote: “as you know, I accept that there are many "prog" methods that can be excellent. the discussion though is about how easy it is to implement those, and whilst I have seen trad done bad, that's the vanishing minority of trad lessons that I've seen (and I've seen quite a few now). compare that to prog ones, there's a vanishing minority of ones that I've seen where I've thought "yeah that was ace.”
This made me think of a blog that Tom Sherrington once wrote, entitled ‘The groovy prog isn’t the issue; it’s the bad trad”, in which he observes that in the majority of lessons where he has seen a teacher struggling, it’s not because they’re doing progressive stuff that’s ineffective, but because they’re finding it difficult to do the trad stuff - explaining and questioning and providing feedback and whatnot - well.
Which isn’t quite the opposite of what Adam said, but it struck me that at the very least, there’s a conversation to be had here to explore this further. I responded “I’d love to have you and Tom on the podcast sometime to see if we can get to the bottom of this”. To my delight - and slightly to my surprise - they both agreed to take time out of their busy schedules to humour me, and well, here we are.
LINKS:
The Rethinking Education podcast on iTunes - please give us a 5 star review and leave a comment! - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/rethinking-education/id1546512828
Rethinking Education Campfire Conversations (video playlist): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ6mCUmebHJNC-qrWX9gMBCQJtHxoGNh2
Tom’s blog - ‘The groovy prog isn’t the issue: it’s the bad trad’ https://teacherhead.com/2019/11/25/the-groovy-prog-isnt-the-issue-its-the-bad-trad/
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
You can join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network here: rethinking-education.mn.co
In this episode I am joined by Fran Morgan and Ellie Costello from Square Peg, a social enterprise that was set up in 2019 to shine a light on the plight of the many young people who struggle to attend school for various reasons.
Fran and Ellie were inspired to set up Square Peg following their own experiences as parents of young people who have struggled to attend mainstream. As Fran points out in the conversation, one day her daughter refused to go to school, and it was like being plunged into freezing water - total shock, and an increasing awareness that there is scant help for the parents and carers of young people who struggle to go to school for any length of time. Fran and Ellie have since come to realise that the current situation – with school budget cuts, problems in the SEND and mental health systems and increasing anxiety amongst children and young people – means that things are far worse for families today than theft were even ten years ago. Working closely with another organisation, Not Fine In School, Square Peg has achieved an incredible amount in its first year, including appearances on various national television news programmes, articles in the mainstream and education press and questions being asked in parliament.
This is a eye-opening conversation in which we discussed Fran and Ellie’s experiences as parents of young people who were ‘not fine in school’; the jaw-dropping statistics around absenteeism, school refusal and exclusion; and School Differently, a new organisation that Fran and Ellie have set up with Ian Gilbert and others to look at how we might urgently rethink a school system that serves so many young people so poorly.
LINKS:
Square Peg: https://www.teamsquarepeg.org Poem - https://www.emilyperlkingsley.com/welcome-to-holland School Utopia - https://www.teamsquarepeg.org/school-differently Petition: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/create-a-new-absence-code-for-school-refusal Book: Changing our minds, by Naomi Fisher: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/naomi-fisher/changing-our-minds/9781472145505/ Not fine in school Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NotFineInSchoolPublicPage/ Book - Hey Warrior: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hey-Warrior-Karen-Young/dp/1912678004 Fran Morgan on Channel 4 news: https://www.channel4.com/news/parents-fined-because-their-sen-children-wont-go-to-school Fran Morgan on BBC Breakfast TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9An8doDKO8&t=3s School differently: https://www.schooldifferently.net/
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
You can join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network here: https://rethinking-education.mn.co
Episode 4 of Rethinking Education Campfire Conversations, a series of live-streamed, group conversations with people who want to rethink and reform education so as to bring about a more harmonious, less hair-raising state of world affairs.
Today, Dr James Mannion, Kate McAllister, Kath Pratt and Natalie Rothwell-Warn are joined by three young people from Pupil Power - Sephora, 18, Yumna, 16, and Zoya, who is in Year 10.
This is a powerful conversation in which we discuss, among other things: why education can’t simply be reformed; how children are treated as economic commodities - their words, not mine; and in which we pose the question: “What if… schools nurtured young imaginations?”
Here's a link to Yumna's TEDx talk, Re-Imagining Education To Create An Impact In The World: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkpeN64AuLU
To view the video version, visit: https://youtu.be/1hEOrzmXWLs
To view the comment feed, join the (private) Rethinking Education Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rethinkinged
To join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network, visit: https://rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
Tom Sherrington is one of those guests who probably needs no introduction, but in case his prolific output has somehow passed you by these last few years, here’s a quick one. A former teacher and school leader for over 30 years, more recently Tom has become a hugely popular blogger, author and training provider. His blog (teacherhead.com) has had approaching 7 million hits, and his recent books Rosenshine’s Principles in Action and the Teaching Walkthru series, co-authored with Oliver Caviglioli, are pretty much permanent fixtures at the top of the educational book charts. Tom also previous authored ‘The Learning Rainforest’, in which he set out his philosophy and vision for education.
In the first part of the conversation, you may notice that there were a few minor glitches due to faltering bandwidth. I’ve done my best to edit these out but some of them I’ve kept in, a) because you can tell what is being said, and b) it was interesting stuff. Anyway, whenever it happens, it’s a short lived problem, so please do not adjust your set.
I really enjoyed this wide-ranging and at times quite emotive conversation with Tom in which, among other things, we discussed Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction, the importance of effective behaviour management systems and why we need to stop grading schools.
LINKS:
Edugive https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/edugiveuk-curriculum-conference-tickets-154120832559
National baccalaureate consultation: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A6JELAzzkTAdihmrVS2I5GEp_pEF92tX3oDp-RGb9mw/edit
The Learning Rainforest: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Rainforest-Great-Teaching-Classrooms/dp/1911382357
Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rosenshines-Principles-Action-Tom-Sherrington/dp/1912906201
Teaching Walkthru Vol. 1: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaching-WalkThrus-Five-step-instructional-coaching/dp/1912906767
Teaching Walkthru Vol. 2: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaching-WalkThrus-Five-step-instructional-coaching/dp/1913622479
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
You can join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network here: https://rethinking-education.mn.co
Episode 3 of Rethinking Education Campfire Conversations, a series of live-streamed, group conversations with people who want to rethink and reform education so as to bring about a more harmonious, less hair-raising state of world affairs.
Today's episode features a conversation between James Mannion, Kate McAllister, Aliyah York, Lottie Cooke, Grace McAllister, Lox, Andreas, Olivia, Marcos, Sam and Eddie.
To view the video version, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7iOUZRqZWE.
To view the comment feed, join the (private) Rethinking Education Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/rethinkinged
To join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network, visit: rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
Today’s show features a conversation with four inspirational women who have taken matters into their own hands and set up alternative schools in recent years - 3 in the UK and one in the Dominican Republic. Avid listeners of the Rethinking Education podcast will probably know that the one in the DR is my good friend, co-author and Learning to Learn copilot Kate McAllister, who featured in Episode 9.
My other 3 guests today are people that I have come to know only very recently, as a result of having set up this podcast. They are Kath Pratt, who has set up an alternative school called Soweni, down on the cliffs of Cornwall; Hayley Peacock, who has set up a proudly progressive private school called Atelier 21, in Crawley; and Lucy Stephens, who has set up a democratic school in Croydon, known as the New School, which is free to attend because it is funded by private philanthropists, rather fascinatingly.
Links:
Soweni: https://www.soweni.com/landing-page
Hive: https://thehive.school/about
Atelier 21: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP80Nt5ynps
New School: https://www.thenewschool.org.uk/
Guardian article about the New School: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/13/a-community-of-equals-the-private-school-with-no-fees-set-up-by-a-south-london-teacher
First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ
Glossary of acronyms:
AP: Alternative provision IB: International Baccalaureate PYP: Primary Years Programme PWC: PricewaterhouseCoopers SCITT: School-centred Initial Teacher Training
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
You can join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network here: rethinking-education.mn.co
Episode 2 of Rethinking Education Campfire Conversations, a series of live-streamed, group conversations with people who want to rethink and reform education so as to bring about a more harmonious, less hair-raising state of world affairs.
Today's episode features a conversation between James Mannion, Kate McAllister, Kath Pratt, Sarah Fraser, Natalie Rothwell-Warn, and two special guests: Lottie Cooke, a member of Pupil Power, a community of young people who are working together to rethink education from the ground up; and Kulvarn Atwal, the head teacher of two schools in EastLondon, who is doing a really impressive job of reforming education from the top down.
To view the video, join the Rethinking Education Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rethinkinged
To join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network, visit: rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
Naheeda Maharasingam is the headteacher at Rathfern Primary School in London, the Leader of Rathfern Teacher Research Network, and a local leader of education. In this conversation, Naheeda outlines her homespun framework for school improvement - the 3 Ms - metacognition, malleable intelligence and moral purpose - and outlines how the curriculum at Rathfern is underpinned by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
LINKS
Naheeda's talk to the Chartered College of Teaching on diversifying and decolonising the curriculum: https://my.chartered.college/2020/07/webinar-diversifying-and-decolonising-the-curriculum/
Ash Sarkar's critique of the race report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DR0fTtTlf0
The opera Rathfern scholars made recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1ab9If7cY8
An article about the opera Rathfern scholars made recently: https://www.dramaandtheatre.co.uk/features/article/everything-is-possible-a-boat-in-an-endless-blue-sea
An article by Naheeda on teaching through the UN Sustainable Goals https://impact.chartered.college/article/implementing-sustainable-development-goals-social-action-london-primary-school/
A recent article by Lottie Cooke from Pupil Power, detailing her vision for the future of education: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/innovatejournal/issues/innovate-journal-issue-2-485387
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
You can join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network here: https://rethinking-education.mn.co
Episode 1 of the Rethinking Education Campfire Conversations. A series of fortnightly fireside chats spontaneous, unplanned group conversations to run alongside the podcast.
Today's episode features a conversation between James Mannion, Kate McAllister, Kath Pratt, Sarah Fraser, Grace McAllister and Natalie Rothwell-Warn.
To view the video, visit: https://youtu.be/13Isyk_MzgA
To join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network, visit: https://rethinking-education.mn.co/feed
Professor Guy Claxton is a hugely influential academic, thinker and author of over 30 books on learning, intelligence and creativity, including Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind, Wise Up, What’s the point of school, Intelligence in the flesh, Educating Ruby and The Learning Power Approach. Guy previously appeared on the Rethinking Education podcast, an episode you can access here: https://soundcloud.com/rethinking-ed-podcast/re07-guy-claxton.
Guy’s latest book, The future of teaching and the myths that hold it back, is a blistering critique of what is increasingly a neotraditional orthodoxy. Here are some of the incredible things people have written about the book:
"So much simplistic nonsense is being touted about “direct instruction” and the “knowledge rich curriculum”, it is great to see someone finally talking sense. As a practising cognitive scientist, Guy Claxton in perfectly equipped to take us beyond the familiar slanging-match between traditionalists and progressives. He illuminates, with his trademark wit and style, complex issues such as the function of knowledge, the psychology of creative and critical thinking, the true nature of memory, the culture of the classroom, and the many purposes of education. A timely tour de force." (John Hattie, Laureate Professor, Melbourne Graduate School of Education)
"This is the book I’ve been longing to read for at least six years. The surgical dismantling of myths and misinformation, the clarity of explanation of complex ideas, the clear examples from real schools, and the humour peppered throughout had me punching the air, laughing, and then thinking hard to process those ah-ha moments. I’ll read it again and again." (Dr Debra Kidd, author of A Curriculum of Hope)
"This is the book that was crying out to be written. Systematically, and with refreshing clarity, Guy challenges many of the assumptions that have held sway in education for the last decade. I defy anyone not to be challenged, stimulated, and inspired by the breadth of Guy’s expertise. His is no cheap or superficial assault on current orthodoxy but a fair-minded, forensic pulling apart of partial, lazy or simply wrong-headed thinking that too many have fallen for in the desire for simple truths." (Peter Hyman, co-founder of School 21 and Big Education)
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Kath Murdoch is a well known and hugely popular teacher, writer, university lecturer and consultant who has worked for many years with teachers and students in schools all over the planet. The author of 15 books and numerous articles for teachers – including the best selling ‘The Power of Inquiry’ (2015) - Kath is widely respected for her work in the field of inquiry-based learning in which she has taught, researched and published for well over 30 years. In fact, so popular is Kath’s work in the field of inquiry learning that she was recently described to me by a teacher in an International School as the Beyonce of the PYP (the Primary Years Programme, the International Baccalaureate curriculum for 3 to 12 year olds).
Here's where you can buy 'The Power of Inquiry':
UK: https://store.kortext.com/the-power-of-inquiry-793815
Australia: https://www.kathmurdoch.com.au/where-to-buy
USA: https://www.follettibstore.com/search
Here's Kath's website: https://www.kathmurdoch.com.au/
And here's her TED talk, The Power of Ummmm...: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFt15Ig64Yg
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Rachel Macfarlane is the Director of Education Services at Herts for Learning, providing the strategic lead for all education services to schools across all phases. Prior to joining Herts for Learning, Rachel was the Principal of Isaac Newton Academy in Ilford, in the London borough of Redbridge. She opened this non-selective all-through academy for 4-18 year olds in 2012, the school was rated Outstanding by Ofsted when inspected in 2014, and when they received their first set of results in 2017, they went straight into the top 1% of schools in the country.
Rachel has recently written a fantastic book about how to close the disadvantage gap, called Obstetrics for Schools. Since the invention of obstetrics, the infant mortality rate has decreased by several orders of magnitude. In the book, Rachel makes a compelling case that if we can import some of this thinking into education, maybe we do the same for the disadvantage gap, and perhaps even get beyond the point where one third of young people leave school after 12 years branded a failure.
Here are a few of the really quite astonishing things people have written about Rachel’s book:
"Obstetrics for Schools takes a bleak account of poverty, disadvantage and underachievement and – using real-life case studies and data – shows that it doesn’t have to be like this. If ever there were a time to recalibrate our education system around equity, it’s now. If ever there were a book to help us to do it, it’s this one." (Geoff Barton, General Secretary, Association of School and College Leaders)
"It is a disgrace that we can accept that a third of our children will fail at school. Such a rate of attrition, and such inequity, is no longer tolerated in childbirth, and it should not be tolerated in schools. Medicine has developed robust procedures to make sure this doesn’t happen – but where are the equivalents in education? Thankfully, they are right here, in Rachel Macfarlane’s brilliant Obstetrics for Schools. Wise, passionate, compassionate and, above all, practical, this book is an intimate guide to reducing the poverty gap in education. Every head teacher, administrator and minister of education should read it and be judged on their responses to it. If this doesn’t happen, it will only show that we as a society still don’t really care, and that intellectual and ethical torpor still rule the roost." (Guy Claxton, author of The Learning Power Approach: Teaching Learners to Teach Themselves)
"Rachel Macfarlane’s book is exactly what we all need right now. The perfect antidote to COVID-19 gloom, it’s a stirring call to arms in the fight against education inequality. Rachel counters the defeatist acceptance that the education system will inevitably fail some students and, through a series of case studies, shows how it is possible to ensure that every student receives a great education. Accessible, practical and inspiring, Obstetrics for Schools is a great read for anyone who cares about education." (Lucy Heller, Chief Executive, Ark)
Here are some articles either by or about Rachel:
https://arkonline.org/blog/rachel-macfarlane-how-our-brand-new-school-went-straight-top-1
https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/jul/01/leaders-schools-g2g-g4g-talking-heads
https://www.headteacher-update.com/best-practice-article/knowledge-and-skills-how-you-can-achieve-both-in-your-school-guy-claxton-education-1/228451/
https://bigeducation.org/lfl-content/the-responsibility-of-educators-to-nurture-strong-relationships-with-learners-and-their-families/
https://www.hertsforlearning.co.uk/news/great-expectations-new-herts-learning-leadership-programme-launches-hertfordshire-schools
https://theeducation.exchange/the-role-of-the-teacher-as-facilitator-of-out-of-school-learning/
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Ian Gilbert is a globally renowned educational thinker, innovator, entrepreneur, speaker and award-winning editor and writer, who was listed by the IB magazine as one of their top 15 ‘educational visionaries’.
Ian has authored many brilliant books including the Little Book of Thunks, Independent Thinking and Why do I need a teacher when I’ve got Google? - all three of which we discuss in this conversation. He is also a skilled editor and has curated and edited many more excellent tomes, including notably The Working Class: Poverty, Education and Alternative Voices.
This is a fascinating conversation in which we discuss thunks - Ian’s brilliant invention for making children’s brains hurt; neoliberalism, the ideology that underpins so many of our educational woes; and our shared love of philosophy for children, an approach that has been in the headlines this week for all the wrong reasons. To name just a few juicy morsels.
Here are some of the books we talked about in this podcast:
The Little Book of Thunks - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005R25LKK/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0
A tin of thunks - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/A-Tin-of-Thunks-by-Ian-Gilbert-/164501869061?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5337839255&customid=&toolid=10001
Independent thinking - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00GY5781Y/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p2_i5
Why do I need a teacher when I've got Google? - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LC9DHT4/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p2_i3
The Working Class: Poverty, Education and Alternative Voices - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07BB8GP3F/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Adam Boxer is Head of Science at what he describes as a “great” secondary comprehensive school in North London, and a prolific tweeter and blogger. His blog, A Chemical Orthodoxy, recently tipped over a million readers, and considering Adam only joined the fold of bloggers fairly recently, that’s really quite impressive. As you will hear, this is the thin end of the wedge of Adam’s prodigious output, and he is a rare example of someone who has been able to have a significant impact on the school system while teaching full-time.
This, as ever, is a fascinating conversation in which we discuss neotraditionalism, practical tips on behaviour management and reducing workload, and the thin slither of Twitter beef that led to his coming on the show.
Links to interesting stuff we talked about:
Adam’s blog - A Chemical Orthodoxy: https://achemicalorthodoxy.wordpress.com/
Adam’s YouTube channel of Science videos - Boxer’s shorts: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBHqVPDozD6Dg3tRN1-JSgg/videos
Cog Sci Sci, the organisation Adam founded for science teachers with an interest in cognitive science: https://cogscisci.wordpress.com/resources/
Carousel Learning - a website app based on retrieval roulette: https://app.carousel-learning.com/teacher/access
Adam’s videos and blogs on behaviour: https://achemicalorthodoxy.wordpress.com/behaviour/
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Ross McGill really needs no introduction. Through his alter ego Teacher Toolkit, Ross is something of a publishing powerhouse, with a quarter of a million followers on Twitter - by far the biggest following of anyone in education. A teacher and school leader with decades of experience, Ross now works as a consultant and has worked in over 200 schools, colleges and universities across the UK and around the world. Ross also has one the most influential education blogs on the planet, with around 12 million hits. He has also published five books, the most recent being Mark Plan Teach 2.0.
This is a fascinating, wide-ranging conversation in which we discuss the perils of EduTwitter; the way in which teaching is becoming a much more sure-footed, evidence-informed profession; and the trouble with Ofsted, an organisation Ross refers to as the Grim Reaper.
Here's a link to the verbal feedback report and toolkit Ross developed alongside Mark Quinn at UCL Institute of Education: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/widening-participation/teachers-and-education-professionals/teacher-research-projects/verbal-feedback-project. And here's a blog by Mark Quinn outlining the key findings: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/tag/verbal-feedback-in-schools/.
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Tim Taylor is a writer and freelance teacher who works on promoting and developing innovative practices in primary schools. He is also the author of 'A Beginner's Guide to Mantle of the Expert', an approach to teaching and learning that involves engaging the children in a process of what Tim describes as ‘imaginative enquiry’. Working with Luke Abbott and others, Tim has helped grow a sizeable community of practice around the approach in recent years, and it’s well worth a visit to the Mantle of the Expert website: https://www.mantleoftheexpert.com.
This is a fascinating conversation in which we discuss some of the ludicrous educational fads and bizarre beliefs that have gripped the teaching profession in recent years; the powerful potential of mantle of the expert, of course; and the troubling fact that if you were going to change the education system, you wouldn’t want to start from here.
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Kate McAllister is a force of nature, and a dear friend of the Rethinking Education podcast. Kate worked as a French teacher for 14 years, and has over 10 years’ experience in school leadership roles. She first worked on creating a Learning to Learn curriculum in 2005, with the aim of helping pupils develop the knowledge and skills they need to navigate the often-difficult transition from primary to secondary school. She then spent the next 15 years refining and improving both the methodology and the results, culminating in the publication of Fear is the Mind Killer: Why Learning to Learn deserves lesson time - and how to make it work for your pupils in 2020 (co-authored by James Mannion, the host of the Rethinking Education podcast). In 2015, Kate took Learning to Learn to new frontiers when she set up the School Bus Project, a charity providing mobile education for refugees. Kate crowd-funded the purchase of a double decker bus, installed solar panels on the roof and spent 6 months working in refugee camps in Calais, providing much-needed education and support for people living in displacement. Following the closure of the Calais camps, Kate set up the Human Hive, a global community of organisations and individuals working together to create a more welcoming and inclusive world. In 2020, Kate sold her house and set out to travel the world with her daughter, studying alternative education models. Finding herself in the Dominican Republic when the covid pandemic hit, Kate decided to stay and open her dream school! The Hive School is now open, and going from strength to strength...
This is a fascinating conversation that covers worldschooling - what Kate describes as her "Alice through the looking glass moment' - the importance of #WomenEd in helping her find her voice, and how she is 'rethinking education' by building her dream school!
Here are some links to interesting stuff we talked about:
WEBSITE: The Hive School, Cabrera, Dominican Republic: https://thehive.school/
MIGHTY NETWORK: The Human Hive: https://the-human-hive.mn.co/
MIGHTY NETWORK: Rethinking Education: https://rethinking-education.mn.co/
PODCAST: James Mannion and Kate McAllister on the Education Research Reading Room with Ollie Lovell: https://www.ollielovell.com/errr/james-mannion-kate-mcallister-learning-skills/
BOOK: Fear is the Mind Killer: Why Learning to Learn deserves lesson time - and how to make it work for your pupils: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fear-Mind-Killer-teaching-Learning/dp/1911382772
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Priya Lakhani, OBE, is the founder and CEO of Century Tech, an award-winning Artificial Intelligence Ed Tech company. Century is the global leader in AI-powered learning tools for schools and families, working in dozens of countries across the world. She is also the author of a book called INADEQUATE: THE SYSTEM FAILING OUR TEACHERS AND YOUR CHILDREN, recently published by John Catt. Reviewing the book, Sir Anthony Seldon wrote: “Priya Lakhani is a visionary thinker. Yesterday, her words seemed speculative. Today, they are coming into being. Tomorrow, educators, parents and politicians will be left behind if they haven’t listened to her.”
In 2008, Priya left her job as a barrister to set up a philanthropic cooking sauce company. Through its charitable foundation, Masala Masala provided millions of meals and thousands of vaccinations to the underprivileged in India and Africa, and funded several schools. A few years later, Priya pivoted again, this time setting up Century Tech. In 2018, Century won the prestigious MIT SOLVE award for Education, and in 2019 Priya was named Economic Innovator of the year by The Spectator.
Priya embodies many of the autodidactic dispositions that we want all young people to leave school with: she is a gifted communicator with a strong moral purpose, somebody who doesn’t take no for an answer and who is able to retrain and gain mastery of new knowledge and skills in a short space of time, under her own steam.
This is a fascinating conversation in which we explore why we need to embrace learning to learn; the importance of fighting for education, and not taking no for an answer; and the transformative potential of AI in education.
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Professor Guy Claxton is a hugely influential academic, thinker and author of over 30 books on learning, intelligence and creativity, including Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind, Wise Up, What’s the point of school, Intelligence in the flesh, Educating Ruby and the Learning Power Approach.
Guy’s latest book, The future of teaching and the myths that hold it back, is a blistering critique of what is increasingly a neotraditional orthodoxy. It is scheduled for release in Spring 2021, and Guy has very kindly agreed to come back on the show when the book comes out to discuss the issues he raises in detail. In this episode, we have a much more expansive conversation about education, and about our shared passion – teaching young people how to teach themselves.
Guy has an enviable knack for expressing ideas about Learning to Learn that I have thought about for years but struggled to express. To give you a flavor, I will end this introduction with a couple of short excerpts from his recent book, The Learning Powered Approach:
“Schools should be preparing kids to flourish in a complicated and demanding world. Just trying to squeeze better test scores out of them is not enough. We know that, in the long run, character counts for more than examination results. To prosper – to live good lives – today’s students will need curiosity, determination, concentration, imagination, camaraderie, thoughtfulness and self-discipline as well as literacy, numeracy, general knowledge, and the best possible grades. These attributes contribute hugely to people’s success and fulfilment in life. And we also know that they are capable of being intentionally developed – or unintentionally stifled. The desire to cultivate them has to be at the heart of every school’s endeavour.”
And here is the second excerpt, in which Guy suggests that the question of how to develop these character traits is cultural rather than curricular:
“Such dispositions cannot be ‘taught’ directly. Of course they can be made explicit and talked about, and that helps, but merely understanding the concept of ‘resilience’, say, and even being able to write an A-grade essay about it, does not by itself make you any more resilient. Character is a constellation of habits, and habits are tendencies that are built up over time. If you regularly find yourself in a culture – a family, for example – where the people you look up to continually model, value and expect politeness, honesty or curiosity, you are likely to grow towards those qualities, as a plant grows toward the sun. Such habits begin to become part of your natural way of being.”
Here are a few links to things we discuss:
BOOK: On becoming a person, by Carl Rogers: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/on-becoming-a-person/9781845290573
BOOK: What’s the point of school, by Guy Claxton: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/what-s-the-point-of-school-rediscovering-the-heart-of-education/9781851686032
VIDEO: The Scary Guy Combats Bullying on Teachers TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js8Hrqvk8QM
BOOK: Fear is the Mind Killer: Why Learning to Learn deserves lesson time - and how to make it work for your pupils, by James Mannion and Kate McAllister: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fear-Mind-Killer-teaching-Learning/dp/1911382772
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Kulvarn Atwal is the headteacher - or rather, head learning leader - of two schools in Essex, and the author of The Thinking School. Kulvarn completed his doctorate in 2016, His thesis focuses on the factors that impact upon teacher engagement in professional learning activities, with a particular focus on action research - a topic close to my heart that we barely even touch upon in this conversation. His research draws on theories of workplace learning to provide a practical, powerful, proven framework for school improvement. His ideas are now being used by schools throughout the UK and Europe. This is a fascinating conversation in which we discuss why we should be more positive about our education system, and recognise how effective and inclusive it is; why we need to rethink how we capture and evaluate and celebrate the achievements of young people; and how to transform a school by focusing on the professional learning and development of teachers.
Links to interesting stuff we talk about:
BOOK: The Thinking School, by Kulvarn Atwal: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-thinking-school-developing-a-dynamic-learning-community/9781912906024
RESEARCH ARTICLE: What Makes a School a Learning Organisation?, by Kools & Stoll (2016, OECD Working Paper): https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/5jlwm62b3bvh-en.pdf
BOOK: The Fifth Discipline, by Peter Senge: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-fifth-discipline-the-art-and-practice-of-the-learning-organization-second-edition/9781905211203
BOOK: Situated Learning, by Jean Lave & Etienne Wenger: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZVogAwAAQBAJ
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
The first part of James's interview with Ross McGill, aka @TeacherToolkit.
Ross has worked in over 200 schools, colleges and universities across the UK, including schools in Belarus, Canada, Cyprus, China, Germany, Malaysia, Spain, Switzerland and the UAE. Known online as @TeacherToolkit, the ‘most followed educator on social media in the UK’, Ross has built one the most influential education websites on the planet, sharing resources with 11+ million readers across the world. He has also sold over 60,000 books, the most recent being '60-second CPD: 239 ideas for busy teachers'.
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Dr Ian Cunningham has published seven books and over 120 articles and papers on topics relating to education, learning, leadership and organisational change. His latest book is ‘Self Managed Learning and the New Educational Paradigm’ (2020, Routledge). Ian is the founder, and chair of governors, of the Self Managed Learning College in Brighton, a democratic educational community for young people aged 9 to 16. His most recent academic post has been as Visiting Professor in Organisational Learning at Kodolányi János University of Applied Science, Székesfehérvár, Hungary. Other previous academic posts have included visiting professorships in education at the University of Utah, Middlesex University and the Technical Teacher Training Institute, Bhopal. Ian was also Chief Executive of the Roffey Park Management Institute from 1987 to 1993. Ian chairs Strategic Developments International Ltd. In this capacity, he has acted as a learning consultant to most of the world’s largest international companies as well as to the National Health Service, government departments, local authorities and the BBC. Most recently, Ian’s work has involved developing senior coaches at Tottenham Hotspur Football, and developing senior leaders at St George’s, University of London. Ian is a dancer with the Three Score Dance Company in Brighton. His last educational qualification (2011) was to qualify as an oxy-acetylene welder.
Links to interesting stuff mentioned in the podcast:
SMLC on Meridian news: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ4e6uorNSo SML in schools – part 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZgq0WbeqnY SML at Uckfield – part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2OaLsfc3t0 TEDx talk - Sam Watling on 'Our antique education': www.dailymotion.com/video/x2s1dnx The best thing about SML College: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkHcPEPUlBk Life at SML college: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZUi6Kxriqw The research Ian mentioned showing that adult literacy rates are better than younger students - www.jrf.org.uk/press/5-million-a…d-numeracy-skills. Social: Why our brains are wired to connect – the book by Matthew Lieberman Ian mentions toward the end of Episode 4: www.amazon.co.uk/Social-Why-brain…ct/dp/0199645043
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
In this episode, James shares two excerpts from 'On becoming a person' by the pioneer of person-centred psychotherapy, Carl Rogers. The first is a definition of 'significant learning', a concept at the heart of the Rethinking Education podcast, and the second is an explosive speech Rogers gave at Harvard University in 1952, entitled 'Personal thoughts on teaching and learning'. A transcript of this talk can be found here: http://www.rawfoodsupport.com/read.php?11,178404.
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Dr Ian Cunningham has published seven books and over 120 articles and papers on topics relating to education, learning, leadership and organisational change. His latest book is ‘Self Managed Learning and the New Educational Paradigm’ (2020, Routledge). Ian is the founder, and chair of governors, of the Self Managed Learning College in Brighton, a democratic educational community for young people aged 9 to 16. His most recent academic post has been as Visiting Professor in Organisational Learning at Kodolányi János University of Applied Science, Székesfehérvár, Hungary. Other previous academic posts have included visiting professorships in education at the University of Utah, Middlesex University and the Technical Teacher Training Institute, Bhopal. Ian was also Chief Executive of the Roffey Park Management Institute from 1987 to 1993. Ian chairs Strategic Developments International Ltd. In this capacity, he has acted as a learning consultant to most of the world’s largest international companies as well as to the National Health Service, government departments, local authorities and the BBC. Most recently, Ian’s work has involved developing senior coaches at Tottenham Hotspur Football, and developing senior leaders at St George’s, University of London. Ian is a dancer with the Three Score Dance Company in Brighton. His last educational qualification (2011) was to qualify as an oxy-acetylene welder.
Links to interesting stuff mentioned in the podcast:
SMLC on Meridian news: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ4e6uorNSo SML in schools – part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZgq0WbeqnY SML at Uckfield – part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2OaLsfc3t0 TEDx talk - Sam Watling on 'Our antique education': https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2s1dnx The best thing about SML College: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkHcPEPUlBk Life at SML college: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZUi6Kxriqw The research Ian mentioned showing that adult literacy rates are better than younger students - https://www.jrf.org.uk/press/5-million-adults-lack-basic-literacy-and-numeracy-skills. Social: Why our brains are wired to connect – the book by Matthew Lieberman Ian mentions toward the end of Episode 4: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Social-Why-brains-wired-connect/dp/0199645043
The Rethinking Education Podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.
Dr Debra Kidd is an experienced educator and a truly original thinker with some fascinating insights into what great education looks like, where things are going wrong currently, and how teachers and school leaders can work together to create a more hopeful, equitable future. She has taught in a range of settings across the sector, from primary schools to universities, for almost three decades. She now works with schools in the UK and internationally to develop innovative approaches to curriculum. Debbie has a PhD in education and is the author of four books, the most recent being A Curriculum of Hope. This is a fascinating conversation that explores our collective 'Stockholm syndrome' with regard to exams, the trouble with social mobility and why we should think instead about social growth, and Debbie’s call for what she refers to as 'pedagogical activism'.
The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.