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.

LINKS

Rupert’s website - https://www.sheldrake.org/

Rupert’s (banned) TEDx talk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TerTgDEgUE

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/

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DON'T BE A STRANGER

The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact

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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!

LINKS

Give us a (lovely!) review: tinyurl.com/raterepod

Sign up for the Rethinking Ed Round-up: rethinkinged.beehiiv.com

Meena'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 STRANGER

The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact

SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:

Become a patron: patreon.com/repod

Buy 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.

LINKS

Give 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 STRANGER

The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://rethinking-ed.org/contact

SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:

Become a patron: https://patreon.com/repod

Buy 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!

LINKS

Give us a 5 star review: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/rethinking-education/id1546512828

Sign up for the Rethinking Ed Round-up: rethinkinged.beehiiv.com

Ife's website - https://ifeonetwork.com/

DON'T BE A STRANGER

The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact

SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:

Become a patron: patreon.com/repod

Buy 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’.

LINKS

Punchdrunk enrichment - https://www.punchdrunkenrichment.org.uk

Punchdrunk - https://www.punchdrunk.com

Sign up for the Rethinking Ed Round-up: 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 https://rethinking-ed.org/contact

SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:

Become a patron: https://patreon.com/repod

Buy 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.

LINKS

Peps 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.com

DON'T BE A STRANGER

The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact

SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:

Become a patron: https://patreon.com/repod

Buy 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.

LINKS

Fiona's Guardian articles: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/fionamillar 

Education Policy Alliance: educationpa.org

Sign up to the Rethinking Education Round-up Newsletter: 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 rethinking-ed.org/contact

SUPPORT 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.

LINKS

Full video, audio, show notes: https://rethinking-ed.org/ben-davis

Education Policy Alliance: https://educationpa.org

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 rethinking-ed.org/contact

SUPPORT 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'

LINKS

No to the surveillance state: notoschoolsbill.uk/surveillance-state

Square Peg: teamsquarepeg.org

Naomi Fisher: naomifisher.co.uk

Education Policy Alliance: educationpa.org

Sign up to the Rethinking Education Round-up Newsletter: 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 rethinking-ed.org/contact

SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:

Become a patron: https://patreon.com/repod

Buy 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 families

There 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/RethinkingJames

Insta: www.instagram.com/drjamesmannion

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/

SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:

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