Rethinking Education

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-children

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

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.

LINKS

Melissa's website: https://melissabenn.co.uk/

Rethinking Metacognition tickets: https://bit.ly/rethinkmetacog

Making Change Stick - contact: https://www.makingchangestick.co/contact

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

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/repod

Buy 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/repod

Buy 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/repod

Buy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod

LINKS:

Jaz’s website: https://jazampawfarr.com

Jaz’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.

LINKS

David’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/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.

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.