On this episode of The Tattooed Teacher Podcast, I chat with Glenn Solomons, founder of Cheeky Learning and education consultant, about his journey from architecture student to classroom teacher, and eventually to one of the most interesting questions in professional learning: what actually changes when people walk back into school on Monday?

Glenn shares how a creative background in art and design gave him a tolerance for failure that most leadership roles don't teach you, and how a single Monday afternoon PD session sparked an obsession that eventually took him out of the classroom and into his own consulting business.

We explore what really matters when you're trying to make professional learning stick:

• why most PD is still an information dump and what to do instead

• the implementation gap: the distance between what you learn at a workshop and what you actually do when you get back to your desk

• acknowledging the collective genius in the room and why 200 years of teaching experience shouldn't be ignored

• what it actually takes to go from teacher to consultant, and why having something genuinely different to say is the only thing that matters

• being comfortable with failure, whether you're mixing paint colours wrong, teaching HTML to a class who knows more than you, or trying to find your first consulting client

We also get into the education buzzword problem, why design and art teachers have been doing critical and creative thinking for decades before it had a name, and the real reason most professional development doesn't change anything.

A key thread throughout the episode is simple but important, whether it's a student in your classroom or a teacher in your workshop, the best learning happens when you acknowledge what people already know and build from there.

This is a rich, honest conversation for classroom teachers, school leaders, and anyone thinking about how to make professional learning actually work.

#education #professionallearning #leadership #PD #educationconsulting #teacherdevelopment #edtech #thetattooedteacher #podcast

You can find Glenn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenn-solomons-5a3373128/

cheekylearning.com.au

cheekymousedesign.com.au

you can find me on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-murdoch-%F0%9F%A4%99-68a846b1/

YouTube

https://youtube.com/@thetattooedteacher01?si=tJy1U6Huz684CtZE

Follow DJ Fruit Salad:

https://www.instagram.com/djfruitsaladofficial/

Sponsored byThe BUSY School

This episode is brought to you by The BUSY School— a network of special assistance schools for Year 11 and 12 students who've disengaged from mainstream education. Small classes, real industry connections, and completely free for students.

If you know a young person who needs a different kind of school, The BUSY School could be exactly what they're looking for. The BUSY School is part ofThe BUSY Group — an Australian not-for-profit approaching its 50th year, operating across Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

Find out if there's a BUSY School near you at ⁠⁠busyschools.edu.qld.au⁠⁠

Supported by

The Design & Technologies Resource Site

An Australian platform built to help creators, educators, and podcasters increase their visibility and connect with Design & Technologies educators.

https://andacod.com.au/

TeacherPD Australia

https://teacherpd.com.au/

Australia's Premier Teacher PD Directory