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.

⏱️ Highlights

Catching 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)

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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. Drop us a line at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact.

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