The Learnit Podcast

As Director General of Alianza Educativa, a non-profit organization which runs 11 charter schools across Colombia, Pablo Jaramillo Quintero provides examples of what's been lost during the pandemic and ideas on how to regain it. Serving 12,000 children in some of the most challenging neighbourhoods, Pablo discusses rebuilding trust, supporting teachers and finding the balance of assisting students in need whilst re-establishing high expectations and behavioural norms.Show notes:More about Alianz Educativa: http://alianzaeducativa.edu.co/actualizacion/ Reflections on reopening schools: https://www.globalschoolsforum.org/page/LessonsfromschoolreopeninginColombia More on social and emotional learning for teachers - The Learnit Podcast with Ellen Mahoney: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/29-ellen-mahoney-ceo-co-founder-circulus-institute/id1518322612?i=1000526769666 Favourite book about learning: ‘Visible Learning’, John Hattie, https://visible-learning.org/ Favourite book not about learning: ‘100 Years of Solitude’, Gabriel García Márquez, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/320.OneHundredYearsofSolitude Binge watching: Encanto, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2953050/

As Partnerships Director at ACS International Schools, Graeme Lawrie is transforming what partnership in schools can be. Having established the UK’s largest school-based festival of science, he’s now organising a STEAM day for 10,000 children at the amusement park Thorpe Park. We talk about how his autism is a superpower which enables him to focus and prepare for the scale of these projects, his video series documenting neurodiversity from all perspectives and the many useful hacks he developed to support his autistic son Joe.Show notes:More about Graeme Lawrie: https://www.acs-schools.com/graeme-lawrie-mbeMore about ACS schools: https://www.acs-schools.com/Live link to International Space Station: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKMKGSt8W4kMore about neurodiversity video project: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F7Zxjuyphd6MNYF4E0HOlSCvHyk4SXX6WiJQ38LXU/edit

aeioTU, a social enterprise in Colombia, provides high-quality early childhood education and care, trains educators, creates resources and advocates for early learning to local regional and national governments.As Executive Director, Maria Adelaida Lopez talks about how they’ve scaled to reach over half a million children, how they work outside the formal system to drive change within and how their vision of learning that is anchored in play, looks to transform communities in an innovative and sustainable way.Show notes:More about aeioTU - https://www.aeiotu.com/ More about Maria’s work: https://www.globalschoolsforum.org/news/465501/Maria-Adelaida-Lopez-on-the-power-of-early-childhood-education-to-transform-lives.htm More about early education in Colombia: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/9789264250604-en/1/2/2/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/9789264250604-en&_csp_=d30737202605961d33149cd3306c57f3&itemIGO=oecd&itemContentType=book Longitudinal study on impact in EC - https://nieer.org/research/aeiotu-longitudinal-study Favourite book about learning: ‘How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum’, Keri Smith, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3090109-how-to-be-an-explorer-of-the-world Favourite book not about learning: ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’, Gabriel García Márquez, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/320.One_Hundred_Years_of_Solitude

As former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham and former Head of Wellington College, Sir Anthony Seldon is one of Britain’s leading voices calling for radical change in education. He wants to move from what he calls the third education revolution – which was marked by homogenisation, heavy administrative burdens and little social mobility – to a fourth education revolution, one that embraces AI to personalise learning and frees up teachers to focus on relationships, developing student agency and offering everyone more autonomy. We talk about why he’s confident the pace of change is accelerating, why every human should get to experience university and why wellbeing must be a priority.Show notes:More about Sir Anthony Seldon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Seldon More about Action For Happiness: https://www.actionforhappiness.org/ 10 days of happiness programme: https://10daysofhappiness.org/ The Fourth Education Revolution: How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the Face of Education: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40093369-the-fourth-education-revolution Books by Anthony Seldon: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/211589.Anthony_Seldon Favourite book about learning: ‘Le Grand Meaulnes’ by Alain-Fournier https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/794779.LeGrandMeaulnes

Why do university faculty at Carnegie Mellon University - an institution renowned for its learning sciences and advances in technology enhanced learning - so often fail to adopt them? As anthropologist at CMU, specialising in faculty culture and use of technology, Lauren Herckis offers key insights, and useful advice on how leaders might navigate reluctance from their own teams to embrace new technologies. We talk about her many surprising findings and whether the recent acceleration of edtech will be sustained.Show notes:- More about Lauren Herckis: http://www.laurenherckis.com/- Lauren’s research: http://www.laurenherckis.com/research/- Favourite book about learning: ‘How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching’, Susan A. Ambrose, Michael W. Bridges, Michele DiPietro, Marsha C. Lovett, Marie K. Norman, Richard E. Mayer https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7036409-how-learning-works- Favourite book not about learning: ‘The Gold Bug Variations’, Richard Powers https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23012.TheGoldBug_Variations

Transcend is a non-profit addressing the lack of R&D departments for education, by working with schools to figure out what they want to change and then helping them do it. Jeff Wetzler, Co-Founder and Jenee Henry Wood, Partner, discuss how their guiding principles will shift schools from an industrial model of mass production which sorts and ranks, to one whose purpose and design point toward equity and positive student experience.Show notes:- More about Transcend: https://www.transcendeducation.org/- Edgecombe County & Transcend case study (incl. academic success, page 9): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pI5MECv2g7ayKpWN26UnPoWYiM2sB4W1/view - Book: Forrest Carter, ‘The Education of Little Tree’ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116236.TheEducationofLittleTree - Book: Frederic Laloux ‘Reinventing Organisations’. https://www.reinventingorganizations.com/ - Book: John Steinbeck, ‘East of Eden’ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4406.EastofEden - Book: Mark Twain, ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2956.TheAdventuresofHuckleberryFinn

The Luminos Fund is an education non-profit that aims to get the most marginalized students into mainstream schools in Ethiopia, Liberia, Lebanon, and Ghana. Caitlin Baron and Alemayehu Hailu Gebre shed light on how the accelerated learning program packs 3 years of learning into 10 months by building a learning mindset and involving the community in a successful, joyful learning process.Show Notes:More about Luminos: https://luminosfund.org/UNESCO’s research on the number of teachers required to teach those out of school: http://uis.unesco.org/en/document/world-needs-almost-69-million-new-teachers-reach-2030-education-goalsFavourite books about learning: ‘Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning’, Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel and ‘The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures’, Anne FadimanFavourite books not about learning: ‘The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant’, Graham Hancock & ‘Homegoing’, Yaa Gyasi

Launched in September 2021, Boris Walbaum founded Forward College, a pan-European university designed to develop all forms of human intelligences and skills. Students learn in small groups with full-time teachers, a high dose of formative assessment, and one-to-one tutoring. Boris believes that education should be the most meaningful experience for students but also for the world at large. With students demanding an opportunity to have an impact, and with a sense of urgency, Forward College aims to help them develop the skills to practice this. Show notes: - More about Forward College: https://forward-college.eu/ - Favourite book about learning: Jo Boaler, Limitless Mind, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42940498-limitless-mind - Favourite book not about learning: Marcel Proust, 'À la Recherche du Temps Perdu' https://www.goodreads.com/series/55129-la-recherche-du-temps-perdu

As former acting education minister of Afghanistan, Rangina Hamidi committed to reforming teacher training, modernizing the massive education department, and implementing a national education policy. We discuss her decision to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban’s takeover, and how to effect change from outside the system, when she had so clearly decided the best way to reform Afghanistan was internally.Show notes:Hamidi’s considerations on whether to remain in Kabul: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2021/08/14/npr-afghan-education-minister-talks-about-future-of-afghanistanHamidi’s reflections on the future for Afghanistan: https://twitter.com/BBCWorld/status/1426930398546776070U.S. exit from Afghanistan: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/18/us/politics/zalmay-khalilzad-afghanistan.htmlRangina Hamidi speaking at Learnit Live, March 2021: https://learnit.world/on-demand

As former head of Wuhan Yangtze International School, Erika Carlson now heads up iSC Academy, an all online school, primarily for Chinese nationals abroad, which has since attracted many Chinese families too. Erika and I talk about how to better integrate digital learning, how to achieve community and relationships online, and what's driving the most recent crackdown in the education sector in China.Show notes:More about iSC Academy: https://learnwithisca.com/en/about/overviewMore about international schools consortium: https://ldi.global/iscMore about Leadership International Development: https://ldi.global/leadership