The Well-being Classroom

How can international schools stay ahead of rapidly evolving AI threats to protect their students' safety and emotional well-being?

Today, I’m delighted to welcome Sian Jorgensen back to The Well-being Classroom for Part 2 of our two-part special within the AI in Education mini-series!

As the Director of Encompass Safeguarding, Sian partners with schools around the world to build confident, capable safeguarding teams and transform how communities respond to complex child protection concerns. Having led safeguarding and therapeutic care across international schools in the UK, Malaysia, and Indonesia—most notably as Lead Counsellor at British School Jakarta—she brings a wealth of practical, hands-on experience to our discussion today.

In this episode, we tackle the dark side of AI in education and the urgent child protection challenges schools are facing today. We discuss the rise of AI nudification apps and deepfakes, the surprising reality of peer-on-peer abuse, and why educators must confront their own biases during investigations. We also unpack the growing trend of AI-driven school extortion scams, explore how teachers themselves are being targeted with voice-cloning technology, examine the impact of social media bans, and highlight practical steps schools must take to update their anti-bullying policies for the digital age—and much more!

How to contact Sian:

📧 [email protected]

🌐 www.encompass-safeguarding.com

How can international schools stay ahead of rapidly evolving AI threats to protect their students' safety and emotional well-being?

Today, I’m delighted to welcome Sian Jorgensen back to The Well-being Classroom for Part 2 of our two-part special within the AI in Education mini-series!

As the Director of Encompass Safeguarding, Sian partners with schools around the world to build confident, capable safeguarding teams and transform how communities respond to complex child protection concerns. Having led safeguarding and therapeutic care across international schools in the UK, Malaysia, and Indonesia—most notably as Lead Counsellor at British School Jakarta—she brings a wealth of practical, hands-on experience to our discussion today.

In this episode, we tackle the dark side of AI in education and the urgent child protection challenges schools are facing today. We discuss the rise of AI nudification apps and deepfakes, the surprising reality of peer-on-peer abuse, and why educators must confront their own biases during investigations. We also unpack the growing trend of AI-driven school extortion scams, explore how teachers themselves are being targeted with voice-cloning technology, examine the impact of social media bans, and highlight practical steps schools must take to update their anti-bullying policies for the digital age—and much more!

How to contact Sian:

📧 [email protected]

🌐 www.encompass-safeguarding.com

What separates leaders who leave a lasting legacy from those who simply stay busy?

Today, I’m delighted to welcome Janine Stratford back to The Well-being Classroom. Janine is the Founder of Coaching Focus, recipient of the 2024 Most Influential Educator Award, and a highly respected leadership coach, career strategist, and consultant.

With 28 years of experience in education, she helps teachers, middle leaders, and school executives achieve meaningful career growth while leading with clarity, purpose, and confidence. Janine is also the author of the highly acclaimed book Leading for Tomorrow Today: School Leadership with Purpose, Alignment and Lasting Impact, which forms the foundation of today’s conversation.

In this episode, we explore why so many leaders become trapped in day-to-day firefighting and how they can shift their focus toward creating lasting impact. We unpack Janine’s practical BRAND Leadership Blueprint, discuss why leaders should focus on managing their attention before their time, examine the difference between activity and value, and explore how educators can build influence, create alignment, make their contributions visible, and develop a leadership legacy that extends far beyond their role. We also discuss career progression, strategic thinking, coaching, continuous growth, and what it truly means to be a leader who adds value to a school—and much more!

Buy Janine Stratford’s new book- Leading for Tomorrow, Today: https://www.amazon.com/Leading-Tomorrow-Today-Leadership-Alignment/dp/1923403664

Janine’s website: https://coachingfocus.com.au/about/

In this episode of The Wellbeing Classroom, I sit down with Professor John Hattie, one of the world’s most influential education researchers. His Visible Learning work has shaped evidence-based practice globally and had a profound impact on my own approach to teaching and leadership.

This episode concludes our Adaptive Teaching mini-series and features powerful questions from previous guests, bringing together diverse perspectives in one rich conversation.

Together, we explore adaptive teaching not as a collection of strategies, but as a deeper understanding of how students think, process, and learn. Professor Hattie challenges the common misconception that adaptation is about adjusting tasks for performance, arguing instead that it should focus on developing adaptive learners who can take ownership of their learning.

We discuss the power of metacognition—knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do—and why diagnosis, not just feedback, is often the missing piece in learning. From finding the right level of challenge to creating classrooms where mistakes drive growth, Professor Hattie redefines what effective learning looks like and much more!

Welcome to The Wellbeing Classroom.

What if staff wellbeing isn’t about reducing workload—but about how valued people feel at work?

In this episode of The Wellbeing Classroom, I sit down with Dr. Helen Kelly, a leading voice in educator wellbeing and school culture, whose experience as an international school principal, researcher, and former workplace health and safety lawyer brings a powerful and unique lens to one of the most pressing challenges in education today.

Together, we explore her work around recognition, appreciation, and feedback, and why these are often misunderstood in schools. Helen shares how something as simple as feeling genuinely seen can completely shift how staff experience their workload, and why many of the well-intentioned approaches used by leaders—awards, shoutouts, and quick fixes—often miss the mark.

We also explore the importance of understanding individual preferences, as well as the gap between what leaders believe they are doing and how it is actually experienced by staff… and much, much more.

Is human thinking becoming the most valuable currency in the age of AI?

Today, I’m joined by Miguel Rodriguez, founder of MR | ThinkLab, where he designs thinking-focused learning systems and AI-powered tools aimed at developing reasoning, reflection, and decision-making that truly last. His work sits at the intersection of cognitive science, instructional design, and AI, challenging a growing tension in education—where we’re getting better at producing outputs, but not always better at developing real understanding.

In this episode, we explore why so-called “soft skills” aren’t soft at all, why thinking may be the real differentiator in the future, and what it really takes to design learning that goes beyond task completion to build deep, transferable understanding—especially in classrooms where scaling that kind of thinking for every student is a real challenge… and much more!

Get in touch with Miguel:

mrthinklab.com

Personal linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miguelrodriguez86/

MR | ThinkLab linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mr-thinklab/?viewAsMember=true

MR | ThnkLab facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575462880163

MR 1 ThinkLab instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrthinklab/

#Education #Leadership #AIinEducation #FutureOfLearning #CriticalThinking #Metacognition #EdTech #SchoolLeadership #LearningDesign

What really drives meaningful and lasting teacher growth in international schools?

Today, I’m thrilled to welcome Dr. Addie Christian, a seasoned educator and principal at an IB International School in China. With over two decades of experience, Dr. Christian has dedicated her career to designing strategic frameworks and cultivating leadership capacity that drives meaningful organizational change.

In this episode, we start our conversation by looking back at her transformative time as an instructional coach. We explore how her early inspiration from sports coaching shaped her core leadership belief: that true, sustainable change requires a collaborative group effort rather than a top-down mandate. We dive deep into the nuance of her career, from navigating the high-stakes environment of international education in India to leading in Beijing.

Most importantly, we examine the vital intersection between professional growth and staff health. We’ll dive deep into why trust and relationships are the essential foundation for any successful school transformation, how to navigate the challenges of instructional coaching across different cultural contexts, the role of PLCs in empowering teacher-leaders to own their practice—and much more!

Welcome to the Well-being Classroom

How can primary school leaders look past the noise and build adaptable, stakeholder-driven digital policies that confidently prepare their classrooms for the future?

Today, I’m joined by Tom Millinchip, a Deputy Head of Primary, curriculum and policy specialist, and a passionate leader in leveraging technology for evidence-based learning environments. With 15 years of primary education experience across the UK and internationally, Tom is a prominent voice in the ed-tech space. He is the founder of AI Ready Bahamas and the author of an upcoming AI book specifically designed for primary educators. Tom specializes in building true community ownership—fostering deep buy-in from teachers, parents, and students alike to ensure a successful digital transition.

In this episode of our special mini-series, we dive into Tom's practical approach to building a comprehensive, dual-layered AI policy framework. We discuss how he used AI to pull together different global benchmarks to build a solid foundation, his strategies for creating a jargon-free companion guide that teachers can digest easily, and how to maintain an active, evolving policy that school leaders can easily update as the technology shifts—and much more!

Welcome to The Well-being Classroom.

Link to Tom’s Substack: https://tommillinchip.substack.com?utm_source=navbar&utm_medium=web

How is the process of IB accreditation already being transformed into a genuine service that drives active growth and future-ready school communities?

Today, I’m joined by Dr. Ildiko Murray, an experienced Head of School in China with over 25 years of international educational leadership. Following her doctoral studies, she was engaged by the IB as a Subject Matter Expert to help create and develop some of the training protocols and practices that are actively reshaping how schools undergo accreditation around the globe today.

In this episode, we pull back the curtain on the world of school accreditation. We dive into why context must always be king, how schools are shifting from a mindset of "dramaturgical compliance" to authentic self-reflection, and how we must look to the future by leveraging strategic leadership, AI, and global citizenship to proactively guide our schools forward... and much more!

Welcome to The Well-being Classroom.

Why is it that even the most brilliant educational initiatives often fail to take root in our schools?

Today, I’m thrilled to welcome back Becca Silver. At the time of releasing this episode, Becca’s new book- The Resistance Solution has been released, please see the link in the description. In our previous episode, we diagnosed the source of resistance; today, we’re focussing on the concept of ‘buy-in’

We’ll be diving deep into Becca’s new framework to understand why shifting from "compliance" to "ownership" is the key to sustainable transformation. We’ll also explore why the word "should" is a red flag for leaders and how to move past a culture of permission-seeking—and much more!

Welcome back to The Well-being Classroom.

Link to Becca Silvers new book- amzn.to/4tWELQC.

Here is more information, if you would like to get in touch with Becca:

Website

Coaching the Whole Educator Podcast

LinkedIn

The Resistance Playbook