
Education On Fire - Sharing creative and inspiring learning in our schools
Do you feel the education system is sucking the life out of you and the pupils you serve? I think many of us wish we could click our fingers and make it fit for purpose. A place of growth with shared learning that empowers pupils to be their best selves, so they can create a world they want to inhabit now and in the future.
While a magic wand or a visionary politician might sound like the answer I believe change is already happening. Educators are changing futures one conversation at a time. New technology and the environments where we learn are beginning to look different both in and out of the classroom. I hope you are seeing this first hand and are excited about what you can share with your pupils. We are having conversations, sharing organisations and communities that are supporting education in a way that you may have not experienced.
Educational change will come from us all working in way that supports the best interests of each of our pupils, personalised learning. Governments and policy makers will follow when they see fully how it can be different. So let us teach, coach, mentor and create an environment that fuels every child with feedback, inspiration, resilience and empowerment. The Education on Fire community is shining the torch, so no matter where you are in the world or how you are supporting children this podcast is here for you.
‘Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.’
Latest episodes

Nov 27, 2023 • 60min
371: How to create a compelling and unique CV with Graeme Jordan
Graeme helps people to understand and communicate their value to their next employer. Delivering workshops in schools, he encourages students to recognise the achievements they already have and the value of the things they are already doing so that their CV can be compelling and unique.With 11 years experience as a CV writer across 6 continents, Graeme has worked with people from apprentice to CEO level.He applies a combination of experience from recruitment consultancy, business management, consulting, research, and being an employer and a level 7 qualified Chartered Marketer.www.thekasacommunity.com/project/graeme-jordanWebsitewww.GraemeJordanCV.comSocial Media Informationwww.linkedin.com/company/graemejordancvwww.facebook.com/GraemeJordanCVShow Sponsor – National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)www.nape.org.uk/rosemary-evans-award-2023For support with podcasting & video please visit www.educationonfire.com/media Watch the Education on Fire Live Show every Tuesday www.educationonfire.com/youtube

Nov 20, 2023 • 52min
370: Online mentoring program for tweens from I believe in Me
Katie, Becky, and Allie are three moms who know what it's like to raise a family, with a total of 17 children between them, they are in the trenches of motherhood. But along with being a mom, with their education and professional backgrounds in business, health, and beauty, these 3 women came together to create a company called I Believe in Me- which is an online mentoring program for tweens. For over 30 years, these women have worked in their communities, online and at special events to help girls strengthen their confidence and realize their potential. And now, with statistics of sadness and the harms of social media, they are more determined than ever to help parents and girls face the challenges today. "I Believe in Me," promotes self-motivation and resilience through tools and daily habits to foster growth. Becky, Katie and Allie are working to strengthen the hearts and minds of young girls.Websitewww.bloomfully.com/ibelieveinmeSocial Media InformationInstagram: @ibelieveinmegirlsFacebook: ibelieveinmeResources MentionedMiracle Morning Show Sponsor – National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)www.nape.org.uk/rosemary-evans-award-2023For support with podcasting & video please visit www.educationonfire.com/media Watch the Education on Fire Live Show every Tuesday www.educationonfire.com/youtube

Nov 13, 2023 • 48min
369: ONVU Learning with Matthew Tiplin
ONVU Learning is a 360-degree video lesson capture system that helps teachers reflect, collaborate and analyse their entire teaching and learning process. It creates a community space where teachers can share best practice and learn easily with their coaches and peers.When Matt was an Ofsted inspector, he decided that something drastic needed to change in the way we both judged and developed teachers.Teacher CPD was always something that was ‘done to’ teachers and not ‘done by’ them. And lesson observations were disruptive, costly and ineffective.He set about creating a more supportive, teacher-led CPD programme as a senior leader in a multi-academy trust and has brought that passion and experience to his role at ONVU Learning.Matt is a founding fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching, has a master’s degree in Education and a National Professional Qualification for Executive Leadership. He is also passionate about music and literature and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.Websitewww.onvulearning.comSocial Media Information@ONVULearning - TwitterOnvu Learning - Facebookwww.linkedin.com/company/onvulearning/Resources MentionedThe Infinite Monkey CageShow Sponsor – National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)Watch Mark Taylor interview Al Kingsley – ‘Creating Digital Strategies for Schools’ from the Primary Education Summit – ‘Visions for the Future’ – 2023Get access to all 20 videos from the the summit at www.nape.org.uk/summitFor support with podcasting & video please visit www.educationonfire.com/media Watch the Education on Fire Live Show every Tuesday www.educationonfire.com/youtube

Nov 6, 2023 • 34min
368: More Than A Score with Alison Ali
Children are More Than A ScoreMore Than A Score is here to change the way children are assessed and schools are judged.Primary school children in England are let down by a system that cares more about measurement than education. It’s damaging, and they deserve better.We want pupils to enjoy an exciting learning experience and then move on to secondary school with a love of learning. We don’t want them spending months cramming for government tests. We believe schools should be judged on the overall quality of education they provide, not the results of a narrow set of standardised tests.Our campaign supports school leaders and teachers who want to stimulate young minds and expand their knowledge and creative problem-solving skills, rather than having to “teach to the test”.It’s time to fundamentally change the high-stakes, high-pressure assessment system in primary schools and make good mental health the basis for good learning.But the evidence against the current system is growing. Parents, teachers and heads are united in calling for change.In 2022, only 3% of heads wanted SATs to go ahead. 89% of parents say they would support an alternative. And 1 in 10 year 6 pupils didn’t sleep well in the run-up to the tests.SATs and other government tests don’t help learning and cause unnecessary stress and pressure.Let’s speak out for children.Alison Ali Director/Owner Can Can CampaignsAlison began her career in journalism, moving into international consumer publishing. Her experience runs from human rights and global finance reporting, to launching premium multilanguage magazines and digital platforms for household brand names. She has run her own successful creative agency Can Can Creative since 2006 and, in 2019, launched sister agency Can Can Campaigns to harness the collective’s exceptional skills for greater good.Websitewww.morethanascore.org.ukSocial Media InformationFB @morethanascoreT @MoreThanScoreInsta @morethanascoreTikTok @morethanascore_Show Sponsor – National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)www.nape.org.uk/rosemary-evans-award-2023Get access to all 20 videos from the 'Visions for the Future' summit 2023 www.nape.org.uk/summitFor support with podcasting & video please visit www.educationonfire.com/media Watch the Education on Fire Live Show every Tuesday www.educationonfire.com/youtube

Oct 30, 2023 • 54min
367: Positive Mindset Habits for Teachers with Grace Stevens
A former corporate girl, Grace quit her VP life to pursue her dream job as a public school teacher. After 20 years in the classroom, she now focuses full-time on helping educators have a more positive teaching experience.Grace combines her signature mantra, “Your energy teaches more than your lesson plans,” with two decades of study in behavioral therapy, positive psychology, and NLP to create science-based habits for overwhelmed educators. She is the author of the best-selling Positive Mindset Habits for Teachers and the One New Habit book series.Websitewww.gracestevens.comSocial Media InformationTikTok: @gracestevensteacherwww.facebook.com/GraceStevensTeacherResources MentionedStephen Covey -7 Habits of Highly Effective Peoplehttps://www.gracestevens.com/happyShow Sponsor – National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)Watch Mark Taylor interview Al Kingsley – ‘Creating Digital Strategies for Schools’ from the Primary Education Summit – ‘Visions for the Future’ – 2023Get access to all 20 videos from the the summit at www.nape.org.uk/summitFor support with podcasting & video please visit www.educationonfire.com/media Watch the Education on Fire Live Show every Tuesday www.educationonfire.com/youtubeMentioned in this episode:NAPE Al Kingsley Summit PromoWatch Mark Taylor interview Al Kingsley about 'Creating Digital Strategies for Schools' as part of the Primary Education Summit 2023 - Visions for the Future - presented by National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)
https://www.educationonfire.com/creating-digital-strategies-for-schools/

Oct 23, 2023 • 43min
366: Little Troopers with Louise Fetigan
Little Troopers is a registered charity supporting service children who have parent(s) serving in our British Armed Forces, regular or reserve. These children often face unique challenges including frequent house and school moves, as well as regular periods of separation from their serving parent(s) for varying lengths of time due to exercises, training, operations and other service commitments.As a charity, Little Troopers ensures our British Armed Forces children and their families have access to child-focused support wherever they are in the world and whatever community they live in. They provide fundamental resources and initiatives to help ease repeated separation periods and keep parent and child connected even when miles apart. They are the only charity in the UK dedicated to celebrating just how special all our Little Troopers out there really are.Louise Fetigan, founder, is a British Army veteran who saw active service in Kosovo. Her husband was also a serving soldier for 24 years, and undertook seven operational tours of duty. Together they have a daughter who spent her whole childhood as a military child and is the inspiration behind the charity, Little Troopers.Websitewww.littletroopers.netSocial Media InformationFacebook @littletroopersathomeInstagram @littletroopers_ and @louiselittletroopersTwitter @littletroopers_Resources Mentionedwww.littletroopers.net/teen-podcast/Show Sponsor – National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)Watch Mark Taylor interview Al Kingsley – ‘Creating Digital Strategies for Schools’ from the Primary Education Summit – ‘Visions for the Future’ – 2023Get access to all 20 videos from the the summit at www.nape.org.uk/summitFor support with podcasting & video please visit www.educationonfire.com/media Watch the Education Live Show every Tuesday www.educationonfire.com/youtubeMentioned in this episode:NAPE Al Kingsley Summit PromoWatch Mark Taylor interview Al Kingsley about 'Creating Digital Strategies for Schools' as part of the Primary Education Summit 2023 - Visions for the Future - presented by National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)
https://www.educationonfire.com/creating-digital-strategies-for-schools/

Oct 16, 2023 • 44min
365: The Socratic Experience with Michael Strong
Michael Strong is the most experienced developer of innovative educational programs in the US and the Founder of The Socratic Experience, an online school based on Socratic dialogue that emphasizes personalized and purpose-driven education for students in grades 3-12.His remarkable career in education spans over three decades, and includes creating many high-performance school programs that promote critical thinking, creativity, and entrepreneurship in students across the country.Some of Michael's notable projects include a public school program in which minority female students gained four years' worth of critical thinking gains in four months (on the Watson-Glaser) and Moreno Valley High School, a Paideia charter high school, which was ranked the 36th-best US public high school by Newsweek.He also created The Winston Academy, where middle school students passed Advanced Placement (AP) exams, making it the most academically advanced school in the US at the time. Thousands of his students have been admitted to top universities, including Harvard, Stanford, Georgetown, and many other post-secondary institutions.Michael's impact on education extends beyond the classroom, as he is also the author of The Habit of Thought: From Socratic Seminars to Socratic Practice and Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World's Problems, which includes a foreword by John Mackey, the Co-Founder and former CEO of Whole Foods Market, with whom he has collaborated on initiatives related to conscious capitalism and entrepreneurship.He has spoken at Harvard, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, the University of Chicago, and dozens of other universities, and his work has been featured in academic journals. Websitewww.socraticexperience.comSocial Media Informationwww.facebook.com/socraticexperiencewww.instagram.com/thesocraticexperience/?hl=enwww.youtube.com/channel/UCvu2SVvM4aj-nzAiuuq5iHA/featuredtwitter.com/socraticexpwww.linkedin.com/school/socraticexperience/Resources MentionedTeaching with your mouth shut - Donald L. FinkelShow Sponsor – National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)Watch Mark Taylor interview Al Kingsley – ‘Creating Digital Strategies for Schools’ from the Primary Education Summit – ‘Visions for the Future’ – 2023Get access to all 20 videos from the the summit at www.nape.org.uk/summitFor support with podcasting & video please visit www.educationonfire.com/media Mentioned in this episode:NAPE Al Kingsley Summit PromoWatch Mark Taylor interview Al Kingsley about 'Creating Digital Strategies for Schools' as part of the Primary Education Summit 2023 - Visions for the Future - presented by National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)
https://www.educationonfire.com/creating-digital-strategies-for-schools/

Oct 9, 2023 • 1h 1min
364: Are you stuck? Try BREAKTHROUGHS with Keith Nelson
Keith Nelson, with academic foundations from Harvard, Yale, Stanford, New School for Social research, and Penn State University, discusses the concept of creativity and the importance of engaging students through narratives and experiments. They also explore the impact of innovative teaching methods on improving literacy for deaf children and emphasize the significance of small actions and collaborative skills in the classroom.

Oct 2, 2023 • 52min
363: Global Equality Collective with Nic Ponsford
After working in education for over 20 years as a teacher, school leader, trainer, and coach, Nic wanted to find an accessible means to make ordinary classrooms extraordinarily inclusive. Nic is passionate about creating a level playing field for everyone in education, but especially those from underserved groups. In 2017, Nic set up the Global Equality Collective (GEC) to address 'one of the biggest issues in education' - diversity and inclusion. The Global Equality Collective (GEC) – a global multi-award-winning grassroots movement of over 13,000 changemakers and a collective of 300-plus DEI subject matter experts. The GEC also created the world’s first D&I platform for schools and educational organisations, which is a knowledge-based, benchmarking tool to audit and improve D&I progress. Following a leadership-led Self-Assessment process, ‘GEC Platform’ members then access 360, academically tested surveys for both Staff and Students, capturing their unique perspectives and needs like never before. Analytical results are provided alongside QAed recommendations, for every question and statement, together with an action plan to drive improvement for their very own DE&I ecosystem. All data quality is assured by the Global Equality Collective. The GEC Platform recently won the 'DEI Platform of the Year’ - Women in IT (UK) - where the judges were blown away by the simplicity and success of the DEI technology. The GEC Platform was also runner-up in the Global Edtech Startup Awards 2023.Nic is dedicated to transforming the lives of underrepresented young people and ‘usualising’ difference. She is an experienced interviewee and speaker, a Doctorate Researcher #CEMPDOC, a Fellow of both the RSA and IESE for work in education and inclusion, Award-winning ed-tech leader with a demonstrated history both in the classroom and in the e-learning industry.Nic is also a Harvard-published author and a Director of EdtechUK as well as a Judge for UK EdTech50. Nic was headhunted to work on the DfE Edtech Demonstrator Programme onboarding 11k schools to get online during the pandemic lockdown. Nic has since been headhunted to lead on further Dfe projects based on edtech and inclusion, such as the Assistive Technology (AT) Pilot and Programme with nasen and Microlink. Nic is also Co-Deputy Head of Education, where she is leading the change in advancing AT training and professional development, as part of the transformative ‘Be ThAT Teacher’ initiative). Back in 2005, Nic won a Pearson Teaching Award for ‘Outstanding New Teacher’ Since this, Nic most recently has been recognised as one of Europe's top 50 women in tech through the #InspiringFiftyEurope2022 award, gained a Rising Star Award (Education and Academia) and was a finalist for BETT 2023 ‘Innovator of the Year’.Websitewww.thegec.educationSocial Media Information@GECCollect - Twitter | Instagram | FacebookLinkedIn = https://www.linkedin.com/company/gec-educationResources MentionedDame Stephanie Shirley CHwww.steveshirley.com/books/Show Sponsor – National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)Watch Mark Taylor interview Al Kingsley – ‘Creating Digital Strategies for Schools’ from the Primary Education Summit – ‘Visions for the Future’ – 2023Get access to all 20 videos from the the summit at www.nape.org.uk/summitFor support with podcasting & video please visit www.educationonfire.com/media

Sep 25, 2023 • 57min
362: New communication strategies for parents of teens with Jeanine Mouchawar
Jeanine Mouchawar is a life coach for parents of teenagers. She helps make parenting easier by teaching new communication strategies that stop the battles and create a calm, peaceful home. Parents learn how to teach their teens cooperation, responsibility, and critical life skills to empower them for success. In the process, they create the positive, meaningful relationship they always imagined.Jeanine earned her B.A. from Stanford University and is a certified professional life coach. She is married and has 3 adult children.Websitewww.jeaninemouchawar.comSocial Media Informationwww.instagram.com/jeaninemouchawarcoaching/www.facebook.com/jeaninemouchawarcoachingwww.tiktok.com/@jeaninemouchawarcoachingResources Mentionedhttps://eckharttolle.com/Resources from JeanineHow to Talk So Your Teen ListensNo More Battles with Your TeenShow Sponsor – National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)Watch Mark Taylor interview Al Kingsley – ‘Creating Digital Strategies for Schools’ from the Primary Education Summit – ‘Visions for the Future’ – 2023Get access to all 20 videos from the the summit at www.nape.org.uk/summitFor support with podcasting & video please visit www.educationonfire.com/media Mentioned in this episode:NAPE Al Kingsley Summit PromoWatch Mark Taylor interview Al Kingsley about 'Creating Digital Strategies for Schools' as part of the Primary Education Summit 2023 - Visions for the Future - presented by National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)
https://www.educationonfire.com/creating-digital-strategies-for-schools/