Clare Sealy currently works as the Head of Education Improvement for the states of Guernsey. Prior to this, she was the Headteacher of St Matthias Primary School in Tower Hamlets for 22 years. In 2018, the Times Education Supplement named her as one of the 10 most influential people in the world of education. In 2022, Clare was awarded an OBE for services to education. Oracy – in case you’re unfamiliar with the term – was coined in 1965 to put spoken language firmly on the map, giving it equal status to written literacy and numeracy. Fast forward nearly 60 years, and we’re still having this conversation. Just last month, the Oracy Education Commission published a report suggesting that oracy should be recognised as the ‘fourth R’ – alongside reading, writing, and arithmetic. It’s a sentiment I wholeheartedly support. These days, oracy is often thought of as having three dimensions: learning to talk, learning through talk, and learning about talk. If that idea intrigues you, the Oracy Cambridge website is full of thought-provoking blogs. Recently, the Oracy Cambridge team published a collective response to the Oracy Education Commission’s report, offering this updated definition: ‘Oracy is the ability to use the skills of speaking, listening, and non-verbal communication for a wide range of purposes.’ Oracy is very much in the spotlight at the moment, especially here in the UK. The Labour government has repeatedly signalled a renewed emphasis on spoken language and communication skills, and we’re already seeing this shift in schools and classrooms. I think it’s an incredibly welcome change – though, as with any policy, not everyone agrees. Clare and I get into some of these differing perspectives in this episode. Clare and I also discuss a fascinating blog she wrote, titled ‘Talking floats on a sea of write’ – a clever inversion of James Britton’s famous statement that ‘writing floats on a sea of talk’. I found her ideas so compelling that I asked her to join me for this conversation – and, well, here we are! LINKS Clare’s article that prompted this discussion: https://hwrkmagazine.co.uk/talking-floats-on-a-sea-of-write/ Clare’s blog: https://primarytimery.com/ Clare on X: https://x.com/claresealy Oracy Cambridge: https://oracycambridge.org/ Oracy Education COmmission report, We Need To Talk: https://oracyeducationcommission.co.uk/oec-report/ Outro track: How it is and how it should be, by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI DON'T BE A STRANGER The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted by Dr James Mannion and produced by Sophie Dean. You can contact James at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact. SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST: Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy James a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod

In this episode, my guest is Sir Anthony Seldon – a figure who truly needs no introduction in education. However, for those less familiar with his remarkable contributions, here’s a bit of context. Anthony has held some of the most influential roles in education, most recently as headmaster of Epsom College. Before this, he served as vice-chancellor of the University of Buckingham and was headmaster at Wellington College and Brighton College – among many other roles. Beyond his leadership in education, Anthony is a widely published author and renowned biographer, especially of political figures. For over 40 years, he has written extensively about British prime ministers, an 'impossible office,' as he titled one of his books. His most recent book was the number one Sunday Times bestseller, Truss at 10: How Not to Be Prime Minister - a hair raising read if ever there was one. Anthony has written on education as well, including his thought-provoking The Fourth Education Revolution: Will Artificial Intelligence Liberate or Infantilise Humanity? I recorded this conversation at Epsom College last year, prior to the latest change in government. Fittingly, this was also the day Sir Keir Starmer – then Leader of the Opposition – announced Labour’s intention to prioritise oracy in education, a topic we explore in depth. Our conversation is wide-ranging and rich with insights: we discuss oracy, why spoken language skills often flourish more in private schools than in state schools, the essential role of agency in education and life, and the transformative impact of meditation – a daily practice that both Anthony and I find invaluable. LINKS Anthony on X: https://x.com/anthonyseldon Truss at 10: https://linktr.ee/trussat10 Outro track: How it is and how it should be, by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI DON'T BE A STRANGER The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted by Dr James Mannion and produced by Sophie Dean. You can contact James at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact. SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST: Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy James a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod

Welcome to the Rethinking Education podcast! In this episode I spoke with Curtis James from Class Divide, campaign group which recently ran a successful campaign to change the school admissions code in Brighton and Hove. But if anyone is looking at their local schools and thinking ‘School X has 15% of pupils eligible for free school meals, and School Y has over 60%. This doesn’t seem right. I wonder if there’s anything we can do to change that?” Well, there is - and in this episode, Curtis will explain how! LINKS Class Divide website: https://www.classdivide.co.uk/ Give us a (lovely!) review: https://www.tinyurl.com/raterepod Outro track: How it is and how it should be, by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI “Let’s Rethinking Education” jingle: Rocktopus DON'T BE A STRANGER The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted by Dr James Mannion and produced by Sophie Dean. You can contact James at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact. SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST: Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy James a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod

Welcome to the first episode of Season 5 of the Rethinking Education podcast! As you may be aware, Estonia has consistently been the highest performing European country in the PISA assessments in recent years. This episode features my recent conversation with Gunda Tire, Head of International Assessments (PISA & TALIS) at Estonian Education and Youth Board. Gunda very generously gave me almost 2 hours of her time to take a whirlwind tour around the Estonian education system - early childhood, curriculum, assessment, inspection (or the lack of it) - behaviour, attendance, technology - you name it, we cover it. In many cases, you’ll see that Estonia does things quite differently to how we do things in the UK. While you can’t just cut and paste education policies from one country to another and expect them to work effortlessly - there is plenty of food for thought here which I hope the Labour education team will give some serious thought to. LINKS Free lunches, brain breaks and happy teachers: why Estonia has the best schools in Europe: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/mar/27/free-lunches-brain-breaks-and-happy-teachers-why-estonia-has-the-best-schools-in-europe Gunda TIRE: "Estonians believe in education, and this belief has been essential for centuries": https://english.caucasianjournal.org/2020/02/gunda-tire-estonians-believe-in.html Gunda Tire - What is Estonia doing right? Presentation about PISA results for Estonia. British Council Education Conference: https://vimeo.com/207516457 Give us a (lovely!) review: https://www.tinyurl.com/raterepod Outro track: 'How it is and how it should be' by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI “Let’s Rethinking Education” jingle: https://www.rocktopusmusic.com/ DON'T BE A STRANGER The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted by Dr James Mannion and produced by Sophie Dean. You can contact James at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST: Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy James a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod

Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of more than 100 scientific papers and 9 books, and the co-author of a further 6 books. His books have been published in 28 languages. And on ResearchGate, the largest scientific and academic online network, his Research Interest Score places him in the top 4% of scientists. It’s fair to say that Rupert is something of a controversial figure. This can be seen in the response to his first major work A New Science of Life, published in 1981, in which advanced the hypothesis of morphic resonance, the idea that there’s a kind of memory in nature. As we discuss in this episode, this book was described somewhat illiberally – on the front cover of Nature, no less, the world’s leading science journal – as a “book for burning”. It’s also fair to say that the controversy surrounding Rupert’s work has not really abated since then. Rupert’s work largely focuses on asking questions that probe at the edges of the materialist understanding of reality. This can be seen in his later books ‘seven experiments that could change the world, dogs that know when their owners are coming home, and the sense of being stared at. In this conversation we mainly discuss Rupert’s two most recent books, Science and Spiritual Practices and Ways to Go Beyond And Why They Work. This is a fascinating conversation in which we discuss the rather peculiar fashion within science education for using the passive voice - a test tube was taken, rather than I took a test tube… The horrors of being a biophile working in animal vivisection, an experience Rupert and I share… The way in which nature is structured as a kind of hierarchy of nested wholes - w h o l e s - each nested within the next level up… the way in which materialism eats itself… and what Rupert describes as the moral vacuum at the heart of education… and the fact that cancel culture is nothing new, and has in fact existed within science for several decades. Lots more fascinating controversy in other words. It’s rather a lot to squeeze into an hour, I’m sure you’ll agree. LINKS Rupert’s website - https://www.sheldrake.org/ Rupert’s (banned) TEDx talk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TerTgDEgUE British Pilgrimage - www.britishpilgrimage.org An interesting blog where Rupert responds to TED’s claims about his talk: https://blog.ted.com/open-for-discussion-graham-hancock-and-rupert-sheldrake/ Give us a (lovely!) review: https://www.tinyurl.com/raterepod Sign up for the Rethinking Ed Round-up: https://www.rethinkinged.beehiiv.com DON'T BE A STRANGER The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST: Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod Buy James a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod

In the week that the general election was called, I bring you a timely conversation about some of the questions an incoming government needs to grapple with. Meena Kumari Wood is a former HMI and leader of FE colleges who now works across the British and International Education sectors. She held senior leadership positions in English schools and Further education colleges, including as Principal of a secondary academy and Principal of an Adult College. As a former adviser to the DfE and currently as an International Education Consultant, Meena emphasises the importance of placing learners’ aspirations and needs at the heart of curriculum. Meena has authored two books - Assessment of Prior Learning & Bilingual Learners (1995) and Secondary Curriculum Transformed: Enabling All to Achieve (2020). Secondary Curriculum Transformed argues for an equitable and diverse knowledge and skills based English curriculum, preparing young people for the changing global landscape of society and employment. She was recently appointed to the advisory board of the Chartered College of Teaching. This is a fascinating conversation in which we discuss curriculum reform, the incredible journey Meena and her family made to mode to this country in the 1960s, the way in which English education is very insular and would benefit from a little learning from other countries, and flying the flag for FE - Further Education - something we don’t talk about enough. It’s a slightly shorter episode than normal, but we pack a lot into just over an hour! LINKS Give us a (lovely!) review: tinyurl.com/raterepod Sign up for the Rethinking Ed Round-up: rethinkinged.beehiiv.com Meena's book Secondary Curriculum Transformed: Enabling All to Achieve: https://www.routledge.com/Secondary-Curriculum-Transformed-Enabling-All-to-Achieve/Wood-Haddon/p/book/9780367900878 DON'T BE A STRANGER The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST: Become a patron: patreon.com/repod Buy James a coffee: buymeacoffee.com/repod

René Kneyber and Valentina Devid are two of the founders of Toetsrevolutie (Test Revolution), a teacher training cooperative based in the Netherlands which specialises in formative assessment, summative assessment and curriculum design. René and Valentina are also two of the four authors of an excellent new book - Formative Action - the English translation of which was published in April 2024. René was the first person to introduce formative assessment in the Netherlands. But while he could immediately see the benefits of this idea in his own classroom, when he started talking about it with other people, he soon found that the language was getting in the way. It's not really about assessment. It's about the actions teachers take in response to the assessment activities they undertake. So he changed the name to formative action, and created a model which overcomes many of the problems experienced previously in the field of formative assessment. The book is absolutely brilliant - concise, super-clear and practicable - and in this conversation we take a deep dive working our way through the five steps of the formative action model in its entirety. If you visit the website www.formative-action.com, you can access a free pdf of one of the chapters from the book, as well as a free online course which is really produced to a high standard and which I highly recommend. I also highly recommend an online course on self-regulated learning, made by myself, which is available to patrons of the podcast. This course looks at three of the big ideas in SRL - metacognition, self-regulation and oracy - and includes lots of practical strategies for how to put these powerful ideas into action in your classroom and indeed in your own life as a human being. To access this course, along with many other benefits, please visit www.patreon.com/repod. LINKS Give us a (lovely!) review: https://tinyurl.com/raterepod Sign up for the Rethinking Ed Round-up: https://rethinkinged.beehiiv.com Toetsrevolutie: https://toetsrevolutie.nl/ The Formative Action School: https://formative-action.com/ DON'T BE A STRANGER The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://rethinking-ed.org/contact SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST: Become a patron: https://patreon.com/repod Buy James a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/repod

Ife Obasa is an educational consultant, activist and sought-after speaker who advocates for greater representation in education - among many other strings to her bow. Ife spoke at the 2023 Rethinking Education conference about why we need representation in education more than ever - a topic that we discuss in some detail in this episode. Ife’s work centres around mentoring and empowering young people to make their voices heard and to get involved in shaping the decision-making processes that affect their lives. She also advises organisations looking to better attract and retain young talent as well as investing in and across the education space. Previously Ife was an Inter-Religious Commonwealth Youth Ambassador for the Commonwealth Jewish Council and a Council Member for The British Youth Council. In addition, Ife is a Fourth Year Law Student at the University of Southampton. She is an aspiring solicitor with first-hand corporate legal experience and is extremely passionate about helping the next generation of aspiring lawyers. In 2022, Powerlist Magazine recognised Ife as one of 150 Future Leaders of African/African-Caribbean Descent in the United Kingdom. In this conversation, we start out talking about work experience - a really important topic that doesn’t receive the attention it deserves. We then move on to discuss the importance of representation in education - what it means in theory, what it looks like in practice and how we might achieve it. And then toward the end of the conversation we discuss the role of faith in Ife’s life and work. This is new territory for the Rethinking Ed podcast, and I found this part of the conversation particularly enjoyable. So be sure to listen to the end! LINKS Give us a 5 star review: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/rethinking-education/id1546512828 Sign up for the Rethinking Ed Round-up: rethinkinged.beehiiv.com Ife's website - https://ifeonetwork.com/ DON'T BE A STRANGER The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at rethinking-ed.org/contact SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST: Become a patron: patreon.com/repod Buy James a coffee: buymeacoffee.com/repod

Peter Higgin is the Artistic Director and joint CEO of Punchdrunk Enrichment, a charity that creates transformational theatre for education, community and family audiences. Punchdrunk Enrichment is an independent charity which was founded in 2008 to take the pioneering practice of immersive theatre company, Punchdrunk, into schools and communities. Listed amongst the 50 most influential artists of the last 50 years (Sky Arts, 2022) alongside David Bowie, Sir Steve McQueen and Vivienne Westwood, Punchdrunk disrupts the theatrical norm, creating worlds in which audiences can rediscover the childlike excitement of exploring the unknown. Peter has been involved with Punchdrunk for his entire professional career. In 2000 he graduated from Exeter University and went on to become a founding member of Punchdrunk. He was pivotal in establishing the company’s early work during their rise to critical acclaim and global success. Peter has a powerful belief in the transformative power of engaging with the arts and creativity. He believes in the power of imagination as one of our greatest tools and has witnessed how access to immersive experiences can unlock our innate creativity. This episode of the podcast is (brilliantly) hosted by former podcast guest Tim Taylor, author of ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Mantle of the Expert’ and coauthor of ‘Try This: Unlocking Learning With Imagination’. LINKS Punchdrunk enrichment - https://www.punchdrunkenrichment.org.uk Punchdrunk - https://www.punchdrunk.com Sign up for the Rethinking Ed Round-up: https://rethinkinged.beehiiv.com DON'T BE A STRANGER The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://rethinking-ed.org/contact SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST: Become a patron: https://patreon.com/repod Buy James a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/repod

Award-winning teacher educator Peps Mccrea discusses motivated teaching, evidence snacks, concise teaching styles, the significance of attention in learning, enhancing communication, fostering motivation, the power of social norms, and reimagining education for a transformative learning environment.