Rethinking Education

Dr Chris Bagley is a man with a dazzling variety of hats. He is psychologist, writer and musician with an interest in youth justice, educational transformation and systems change. He is Director of Research at the social enterprise States of Mind, and a lecturer and doctorate supervisor at the UCL Institute of Education. He also works part-time for South Gloucestershire psychology service, primarily in a Secure Children’s Unit and Pupil Referral Unit. Chris describes his purpose as being to co-develop psychologically healthy education systems alongside young people, families, professionals and creative thinkers. He started in education as a secondary school teacher and later trained as an Educational Psychologist. Chris developed a specialism in relation to Youth Justice, school exclusion and managed moves and practised as a specialist in a youth offending team for a number of years. He’s also an accomplished folk musician who has some really lovely music on his website - there are links in the show notes. As Director of Research at States of Mind and in collaboration with UCL, Chris conducts participatory action research to gather young peoples’ insights and place their voices at the centre of education reform. States of Mind have recently launched the ‘Education Futures in Action’ movement which aims to bring together innovators who are actioning education environments that genuinely respond to the diverse needs of young people. Chris is currently writing his first book - 'Shadow Cultures and the tyranny of school and state' - which is the topic of today’s conversation. It explores the history of UK education, and exposes some of the deeply entrenched, often invisible narratives that underpin the education system we see today. LINKS: Chris’s website: https://www.chrisbagley.co.uk/ States of Mind: https://www.statesofmind.org/ Chris’s talk on Shadow Cultures (and many other great speakers) https://www.educationfuturesinaction.com/ James’s TEDs talk ‘How to change the world’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvm9TYosmXo Making Change Stick: https://www.makingchangestick.co/ Rethinking Ed Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co The Rethinking Ed online conference (88 amazing talks): https://www.rethinking-ed.org/reconf22 James on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames Rethinking Ed Insta: https://www.instagram.com/rethinking.education/ James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter. SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST: Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repod Buy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod

If you've come across Jaz Ampaw-Farr before, you'll know that you are in for an absolute treat. If you haven't ever heard Jaz speak before - well, what can I say? I could tell you that Jaz is an award-winning educator, teacher trainer, coach and speaker, and soon to be author of her first book. But that doesn't really scratch the surface. Listening back to this episode in the edit, it was noticeable that Jaz made me laugh way more than any previous podcast guest had ever done. She also brought me to the edge of tears on at least five occasions throughout this incredible conversation. But really I think it's her burning sense of moral purpose, combined with an uncanny way with words and crystal clarity of her thought, that makes Jaz such a formidable human being. So whatever you're doing as you listen to this podcast, I'd like to invite you to mentally and emotionally strap yourself in. This is quite the roller-coaster. I hope you enjoy this fascinating conversation with fearless chaos navigator, full-fat resilience ninja and previously underestimated everyday hero, Jaz Ampaw Farr. SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST: Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repod Buy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod LINKS: Jaz’s website: https://jazampawfarr.com Jaz’s TEDx talk ‘The power of everyday heroes’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3xoZXSW5yc James’s TEDs talk ‘How to change the world’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvm9TYosmXo Making Change Stick: https://www.makingchangestick.co/ James’s interview on the ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ podcast with Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd - How to fix our education system: https://www.cheerfulpodcast.com/rtbc-episodes/fixingeducation The Rethinking Ed online conference (88 amazing talks): https://www.rethinking-ed.org/reconf22 James on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames Rethinking Ed Insta: https://www.instagram.com/rethinking.education/ James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ Rethinking Education Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.

Today I am speaking with David Price OBE. David is the author of two books - ‘Open: How we'll work, live and learn in the future’ - and ‘The Power of Us: How we connect, act and innovate together’. It is this latter book that I’m mainly speaking with David about today. I listened to it recently as an audiobook and it’s absolutely fascinating. Here are some of the lovely things people have written about The Power of Us: ‘The Power of Us is the first book that captures the cultural forces that power innovation, the structural elements to fuel people power, and the tool-kit to nurture mass innovation.’ (Annalie Killian, sparks & honey) ‘…the closest thing we're going to get to a single handbook…of all of the things that we need to do and consider as organisations and leaders…Funny, helpful and engaging and full of actionable ideas and anecdotes. Do yourself and your organisation a favour and read this book!’ (Dave Coplin, CEO Envisioneers Ltd) ‘Packed with fascinating case studies showing that innovation often comes from unexpected places and is the result of ordinary people who are willing to go against the grain. Essential reading if you want to imagine a better future and get inspired.’ (Sam Conniff Allende & Alex Barker, Be More Pirate) David is a thoroughly lovely man and an innovative thinker who has corralled together lots of ideas and case studies for how we can organise our lives and the wider world in a more fruitful and inclusive and less insane way. LINKS David’s website: https://www.davidpriceobe.com/ BOOK - The Power of Us: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54755641-the-power-of-us The Rethinking Ed online conference (88 amazing talks): https://www.rethinking-ed.org/reconf22 James on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames Rethinking Ed Insta: https://www.instagram.com/rethinking.education/ James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ Rethinking Education Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repod Buy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.

Sophie Christophy is a culture transformer, feminist, unschooling parent and activist. She works on deconstructing patriarchy, from childhood socialisation in education and family culture, and in organisational culture, by creating a shift to principles of consent and self-direction. As a conduit for the emergence of a consent-based social and environmental paradigm, Sophie works with individuals and organisations on deschooling, integrating consent and self-direction based principles into practice, and on enhancing authenticity, integrity and transparency by aligning beliefs with behaviour. She also works these principles in her own life. Sophie believes that consent-based self-direction is the key and pathway to self-actualisation and transcendence – something that all humans have the potential to experience in their life time – and, to being in right relationship with nature and planet of which we are part. Since 2017 she has been running a Consent-Based Education course, working with people from all around the world on their transition from the dominant culture to this new emerging paradigm. In addition to this, she runs bespoke trainings and workshops, and is an inspiring guest speaker on themes including consent-based education and skillset, children’s rights, ethical change-making and paradigm shifting, and guidance for start-up founders of consent-based, self-directed settings. In January 2018, she co-founded a consent-based, self-directed education setting called the Cabin, for home educated young people aged 5-11. To our knowledge, the Cabin is the first education setting for children in the UK to be explicitly designed through a lens of consent, self-direction and children’s rights. It is also the first to identify itself as Education Positive – a transdisciplinary education philosophy that breaks down traditional subject silos, hierarchy and gatekeeping, and instead is curiosity driven, problem-solving oriented, rooted in critical thinking, and an open access approach to learning based on children’s rights. In 2021 she co-founded the Lodge, a follow on setting from the Cabin, a community for young people up to the age of 16. For more details, visit sophiechristophy.com Here's the Twitter thread mentioned in the introduction, detailing the impact of the Learning Skills curriculum: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames/status/1593365917886562314 The Rethinking Ed Conference (>90 videos): https://www.rethinking-ed.org/reconf22 James on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames Rethinking Ed Insta: https://www.instagram.com/rethinking.education/ James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ Rethinking Education Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repod Buy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.

Ollie Lovell is a teacher, author and podcaster based in Melbourne, Australia, and the host of the Education Research Reading Room (ERRR) podcast. In summer 2022, Ollie visited the UK on a whirlwind tour of three fascinatingly different educational institutions: Michaela School in North London, often described as the strictest school in the country; XP School in Doncaster, which places great emphasis on pastoral care, beautiful work and expeditionary learning; and the Self-Managed Learning College in Brighton, where the students (age 9-16) literally manage their own learning - 100% of the time. In this conversation, we explore Ollie's reflections on his visits to Michaela, XP and SMLC. LINKS: ERRR podcast: https://soundcloud.com/ollielovell Ollie's website: https://www.ollielovell.com/ Michaela: https://michaela.education/ SMLC: https://smlcollege.org.uk/ XP: https://xpschool.org/ The Rethinking Ed online conference (88 videos): https://www.rethinking-ed.org/reconf22 Rethinking Education Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co James on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RethinkingJames Rethinking Ed Insta: https://www.instagram.com/rethinking.education/ James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mannion/ Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repod Buy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore is Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge and co-director of the Wellcome Trust PhD Programme in Neuroscience at University College London. She has been awarded a number of prizes over the last 20 years or so, including the British Psychological Society (BPS) Doctoral Award, the BPS Spearman Medal for outstanding early career research, and the Royal Society's Rosalind Franklin Award. She was also the winner of the 2018 Royal Society Prize for Science Books for her brilliant book 'Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain'. I’ve wanted to speak with Sarah-Jayne for a really long time - not just about her brilliant work on the teenage brain, but because of her work with Rethinking Assessment, and a fascinating blog she wrote recently about how GCSEs are misaligned with what we know about how teenage brains develop (see below). LINKS SchoolsWeek review of the Rethinking Education conference: https://schoolsweek.co.uk/the-review-the-rethinking-education-conference/ Tina Farr blog: Mainstream educators and Unschoolers: Never the twain shall meet? - https://headlearnercom.wordpress.com/2022/09/26/mainstream-educators-and-unschoolers-never-the-twain-shall-meet/ Sarah Jayne’s book ‘Inventing ourselves - The secret life of the teenage brain’ - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inventing-Ourselves-Secret-Teenage-Brain/dp/1784161349/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1524214280&sr=1-1 Sarah Jayne’s TED talk ‘The mysterious workings of the adolescent brain’ - https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_jayne_blakemore_the_mysterious_workings_of_the_adolescent_brain Sarah Jayne and Tamsin Ford's 'Neuroscience, adolescence and GCSEs - a misalignment?' - https://rethinkingassessment.com/rethinking-blogs/neuroscience-adolescence-and-gcses-a-misalignment/ The Rethinking Ed Conference (>90 videos): https://www.rethinking-ed.org/reconf22 Rethinking Education Mighty Network: https://rethinking-education.mn.co Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repod Buy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.

The final episode of Season 2 of the Rethinking Education podcast features a conversation with Jonny Hunt, an independent sex and relationships consultant and the author of Sex Ed for Grown Ups: How to talk to young people about sex and relationships. NB: Contains strong language - not safe for work! LINKS: Everyone's invited: https://www.everyonesinvited.uk/ Jonny's book 'Sex Ed for Grown-Ups: How to talk to Children and Young People about Sex and Relationships' - https://www.waterstones.com/book/sex-ed-for-grown-ups/jonny-hunt/9780367641337 RETHINKING ED CONFERENCE LINKS Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lets-get-together-the-rethinking-education-conference-2022-tickets-226415834857 Social media links: Trailer: youtu.be/JKz8ALX2QFM Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rethinking_Ed/status/1528046472444485638 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100004976851081/videos/706113054004294/ Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/james-mannion_too-often-the-education-debate-is-dominated-activity-6933887283146207232-53h0/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cd1b__3svlV/ Tiktok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNNSFhrq/?k=1 Rethinking Education Mighty Network: rethinking-education.mn.co Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repod Buy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.

Peter Gray is a research professor at Boston College and the author of 'Free to Learn' and 'Psychology', a college textbook now in its 8th edition. Here are some of the incredible things people have written about 'Free to Learn':: “The modern educational system is like a wish made in a folk tale gone horribly wrong. Peter Gray's Free to Learn leads us out of the maze of unforeseen consequences to a more natural way of letting children educate themselves. Gray's message might seem too good to be true, but it rests upon a strong scientific foundation. Free to Learn can have an immediate impact on the children in your life.” (David Sloan Wilson) “A compelling and most enjoyable read. Gray illustrates how removing play from childhood, in combination with increasing the pressures of modern-day schooling, paradoxically reduces the very skills we want our children to learn. The decline of play is serious business.” (Roberta Michnick Golinkoff) “Peter Gray is one of the world's experts on the evolution of childhood play, and applies his encyclopedic knowledge of psychology, and his humane voice, to the pressing issue of educational reform. Though I am not sure I agree with all of his recommendations, he forces us all to rethink our convictions on how schools should be designed to accommodate the ways that children learn.” (Steven Pinker) PETER GRAY LINKS Peter's research and Psychology Today blog: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/contributors/peter-gray-phd Alliance for Self-Directed Education: https://www.self-directed.org/ Let Grow: https://letgrow.org/ American Journal of Play - Guest Editor Peter Gray: https://www.museumofplay.org/journalofplay/issues/volume-3-number-4/ RETHINKING ED CONFERENCE LINKS Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lets-get-together-the-rethinking-education-conference-2022-tickets-226415834857 Trailer: youtu.be/JKz8ALX2QFM Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rethinking_Ed/status/1528046472444485638 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100004976851081/videos/706113054004294/ Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/james-mannion_too-often-the-education-debate-is-dominated-activity-6933887283146207232-53h0/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cd1b__3svlV/ Tiktok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNNSFhrq/?k=1 Rethinking Education Mighty Network: rethinking-education.mn.co Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repod Buy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.

Emma Ann Hardy is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle since the 2017 general election. She is also the Shadow Minister for Further Education and Universities. Recently, Emma launched and chaired the Oracy All Party Parliamentary Group, which carried out an inquiry and published an excellent report, Speak for Change, in 2021. LINKS The Oracy APPG - https://oracy.inparliament.uk/about-us Speak for Change - the report of the APPG - https://oracy.inparliament.uk/sites/oracy.inparliament.uk/files/2021-04/Oracy_APPG_FinalReport_28_04_21_4.pdf Voice 21 thread on the Ofsted English Curriculum Research Review: https://twitter.com/voice21oracy/status/1529503318275497984 RETHINKING ED CONFERENCE: Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lets-get-together-the-rethinking-education-conference-2022-tickets-226415834857 Trailer: youtu.be/JKz8ALX2QFM Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rethinking_Ed/status/1528046472444485638 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100004976851081/videos/706113054004294/ Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/james-mannion_too-often-the-education-debate-is-dominated-activity-6933887283146207232-53h0/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cd1b__3svlV/ Tiktok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNNSFhrq/?k=1 GENERAL RETHINKING EDUCATION STUFF: Join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network: rethinking-education.mn.co Become a patron: www.patreon.com/repod Buy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/repod The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.

An interview with Rachel Sylvester on the findings of the Times Education Commission. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/society/education/education-commission