The Learning Future Podcast with Louka Parry

Can we strategically bounce forward instead of bouncing back? Could a detailed and perceptive experience of remote learning help mark-out intentional particular goals for learning?Joanna Moe is Assistant Director of Professional Learning K-12 at Qatar Foundation, Education Development Institute (EDI).Originally from Aotearoa, New Zealand, Joanna currently leads a team of pre-K-grade 12 learning designers at the Education Development Institute (EDI) in Qatar. She has worked in a variety of educational contexts in Hong Kong and New Zealand, leading in-school projects and professional learning across a range of learning and teaching areas. Joanna's areas of interest in education and research include the complexities around transcultural professional learning, advocating for multilingual education and researching the application of effective approaches to learning and teaching using continuous improvement models. MA in Education and joins me from the Middle East today.

Would some students benefit better from teachers that guide and assist? What experience are there in having positive success with headstrong “at-risk” students?Sizolwenkosi Fuyana (Sizol) is a businesswoman, podcaster, youth advocate and law student.After overcoming her own adversities and mental health issues, small business owner Sizol now devotes her life to supporting disadvantaged young people who are at risk of entering the justice system.Sizol is the founder and Director of Fuyana Support. It’s a youth-oriented consultancy that provides social and emotional wellbeing to young people, equipping them with skills to help them be more effective members of communities.Sizol has partnered with the City of Palmerston to develop a ‘Youth Info Map’, with the project leading to freelance work with Joblink. She also works with youth at Don Dale Youth Detention Centre. Sizol’s podcast, The Reality Change, is about personal growth and facing adversity. She is also Chair of the 2021 Northern Territory Youth Round Table, which aims to make the government aware of key issues that are important to young people.A law and psychology student who has volunteered for many working groups, Sizol was recently named the 2022 NT Young Australian of the Year.

To what extent do we each view the world through rose-coloured glasses? How much of our ecosystems have a 'darker' side that we might benefit from accepting and powerfully protest in place? In this episode; Tyson Yunkaporta offers a valuable indigenous inspired perspective on education, including the more concerning problems faced by communities around the world. His unique perspective gives insight into areas and problems that are often hidden in plain sight, and his awareness of the causes and consequences of these guide his strategy in teaching, academia, and life.Tyson is an Indigenous thinker, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University, and author of Sand Talk.Tyson is an academic, an arts critic, and a researcher who is a member of the Apalech Clan in far north Queensland. He carves traditional tools and weapons and also works as a senior lecturer in Indigenous Knowledges at Deakin University in Melbourne. He lives in Melbourne.

How much of our education is still entrenched in a factory-style model? How do we step back and take what we've learned 150 years of understanding about humanity in challenging our assumptions and values? Ulcca Joshi Hansen is a mother, educator, researcher and advocate whose two-and-a-half decade career has spanned classrooms, non-profit leadership, philanthropy and consulting. She is driven by a vision of education that attends to and supports the development of young people’s humanity and creates learning experiences that help them realise their unique potential - the place where who they are and what the world needs intersect. An internationally-recognised expert on educational transformation at the level of instruction, assessment, organisational design and policy systems, she brings a diverse set of experiences working with educators, funders, policymakers, researchers, legislators, business leaders and community advocates in the US and internationally. Her work is aimed at helping transform the foundational values of our educational, cultural and social systems, and building the capacity of educators, families, communities and advocates to work with young people toward new ways of being in the world. A two-time TED speaker, Ulcca holds a BA in Philosophy and German from Drew University and a certificate in early childhood and elementary education with a focus on special education. She earned her PhD from Oxford University and a JD from Harvard Law School. She has been recognised for her leadership as a Harry S. Truman Scholar; a British Marshall Scholar and a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow.

Do our younger generations have faith in the current quality of representative democracies? Are there changes that we can take advantage on to re-power our social systems, what really matters?In this episode; David Price shares vast insight about the concerns and specific examples of the ingenuity of our future leaders and innovators.David Price, OBE, is an expert in organisational learning for a complex future. He writes, talks, trains and advises, around the world, on some of the biggest challenges facing business, education and society: solving the problems of employee, student and civic disengagement; maximising our potential to be creative, innovative and fulfilled citizens, and understanding the global shift towards open organisations, and systems oflearning.His first book, "OPEN: How We'll Work, Live and Learn In The Future" has been an Amazon best-seller since its publication, securing around 40,000 sold copies. Goodreads readers voted it the most influential book on education in 2016.His new book is The Power Of Us: How We Connect, Act And Innovate. The three years of research/writing involved interviews with leaders of organisations in the UK, USA, Cambodia, Australia and Malaysia.In 2009 he was awarded the O.B.E. By Her Majesty the Queen, for services to education.

What if you got paid to learn for the rest of your life? In this bonus episode Louka Parry shares The Future City podcast episode featuring co-host Eyal Halamish and guest Jackson Smith.On this episode of the Future City Podcast we speak with storyteller, learner, and technology architect Jacksón Smith. Jacksón is Co-Founder and the CTO of the Learning Economy Foundation, a U.S. based non-profit organization with a global mission to prepare citizens to be future-skilled, address inequity with student and employee centric models and put innovation at the centre of our communities. Jacksón speaks with us about having a vested interest in the place that educated you, carrying a learner “wallet” and envisioning what a learning economy might look like beyond the university years.

What is the moral purpose of education now and is it shifting? How useful are the foundations teachers provide young people?Dr. Jean Clinton is renowned internationally as an advocate for children’s issues. She is a Clinical Professor in Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University and her special interest lies in brain development, and the crucial role relationships and connectedness play. Jean champions the development of a national, comprehensive child well-being strategy including a system of early learning and care for all young children and their families. She is equally committed to ensuring that children’s and youths’ needs and voices are heard and respected. Dr. Clinton has also authored her first book, Love Builds Brains which can be ordered online through Tall Pines Press, on Amazon and in book stores everywhere.She is on staff at McMaster Children’s Hospital with cross appointments in Pediatrics and Family Medicine, and an Associate in the Department of Child Psychiatry at Sick Children’s Hospital. She is a Fellow of the Child Trauma Academy, as well as a Zero to Three Academy Fellow since 2013. She has been a consultant to children and youth mental health programs, child welfare, and primary care for over 30 years. Dr. Clinton was appointed as an education advisor to the Premier of Ontario and the Minister of Education 2014 - 2018.

What obstacles does new thinking face in systems that are rarely malleable to change? How can we position adaptation in education to be set for success and adoption?Annie Kidder says there is hope in the work of equity in education, and changing how we educate young people is something to keep us going, it’s a job that is hopeful.Annie is a passionate education advocate, a systems thinker, and the Executive Director of People for Education, a Canadian non-profit. The organisation is building networks, providing evidence, and engaging the public to support system change in education from early childhood to post-secondary. The goals of the organisation's work are both to ensure that all students have an equitable opportunity to graduate with the skills and competencies they need to succeed whatever path they choose, and to empower Canada's next generations to provide and build a fair, prosperous and sustainable society.

Is there a social contract that teachers work by, and if so what is it and what would we ask to be changed? What is it that really stays with students and makes them remember you and your lessons? In this episode of The Learning Future Podcast, Melodie Potts shares how she believes we can make teaching memorable. She says the role of a teacher will likely always be an augmenter of the delivery of content and information, but there is more we can do to ignite passion in the content and provide a relational experience of learning.Melodie Potts is founder and CEO of Teach For Australia. She is a disruptor and a problem-solver, driven by a vision for Australia where education gives every child, regardless of background, greater choice for their future. Melodie has made it her mission to champion better educational outcomes for our most vulnerable children in Australia. In the past 12 years, the work of TFA has helped more than 350,000 students in 220 schools, while building a community of 1200-plus teachers and leaders who are bringing about change inside and out of the classroom.Melodie was awarded an Order of Australia for her service to education and teacher development in 2021 and holds a Master of Public Policy from Harvard, and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Originally from rural Appalachia, Melodie lives in Melbourne with her husband Sam and young son Harrison, affectionately dubbed ‘Harry the Hurricane’, and their dog, Jack ‘The Ripper’ Russell.

What will our broader understanding of education, collaboration, and our ability to fuse and synthesise information look like in 10 years, and how might it affect our decisions? How might education futher the purpose of knowing who we are and what we do?David shares his unique perspective about what it is to be educated, that it is knowing a place in a community. Education is in part sharing knowledge, but it is also the enablement of the ability to pursue contributions towards common good.David Adams is the Chief Executive Officer of The Urban Assembly (UA). He started with the UA in 2014 as the Director of Social-Emotional Learning, where he created the Resilient Scholars Program (RSP), a unique approach to integrating SEL into curriculum and classroom practices across the UA network. RSP has grown into a national program, serving schools and districts in Los Angeles, Houston, Syracuse, and other cities. As the Senior Director of Strategy, David led the expansion of the organization into a model provider of school support, with an emphasis on innovation and equity in public education. David sits on the board of CASEL and is an author of The Educator’s Practical Guide to Emotional Intelligence, and a co-author of the textbook, Challenges to Integrating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Programs in Organizations. He is a Civil Affairs Officer in the Army Reserve and holds an M.Ed in Educational Psychology from Fordham University.