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.