The Learning Future Podcast with Louka Parry

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.

Hear part 2 of this episode podcast at Coconut Thinking!https://coconut-thinking.captivate.fm/episode/we-are-human-beings-not-humans-doings-ft-louka-parryHow comfortable are you with not knowing, how often do you change your mind? How do cultures of personalised learning arise? What happens when the boundaries of disciplines dissolve, replaced with meaningful projects that can have an impact on themselves, others, and the world?Benjamin is the co-founder of Coconut Thinking, whose ambition is to create spaces for purposeful thinking and action that contribute to the welfare of the bio-collective. Coconut Thinking imagines learning ecosystems that extend beyond physical and conceptual walls. They would be inter-generational and collaborative. Alongside future-ready skills, they would teach future-saving ethics such as “practice eco-reciprocity,” “stand up for justice,” “share with solidarity,” and “act with kindness.”Benjamin is also the Whole School Leader of Learning and Teaching, Prem Tinsulanonda International School in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Benjamin focuses on the ‘lived’ curriculum: on pedagogy, and what classroom practice looks like. He thinks about how to develop a culture of active learning, where the boundaries of disciplines start to disappear and learners engage projects that are meaningful and have an impact on themselves, others, and the world.Benjamin speaks English and French natively, Spanish fluently, and German, Japanese, and Vietnamese, all at intermediate levels.He holds a Ph.D. in History from the National University of Singapore (2013), a MSc of Education from Mercy College (2015), an MBA of International Business from the Thunderbird School of Global Management (2000), an MA of International Relations from the University of Denver, Joseph Korbel School of International Studies (1997), among other bachelor and graduate diplomas.

Why is it that sometimes even the most rudimentary tasks seem hard?How can we convince ourselves and others to improve our teaching, will it take a revolution or something more practical, and what happens if we imagine “what would make this easy”?In this episode Louka speaks with Dr Karen Edge about school leadership and school improvement strategies. She is known for her ability to blend theory and evidence-based strategy with practical insights and humour.Dr Karen Edge is a researcher, leader and author and is currently a Reader in Educational Leadership at UCL Institute of Education and recently served as Pro-Vice Provost (International) at University College London, UK. She has conducted research in over 30 countries including a 6 jurisdiction study of teacher motivation and retention.Karen's Global City Leaders Project worked with Generation X school leaders in London, New York City and Toronto to understand more about their work, lives and ambitions. Karen is also preparing two books on Generation X leader and City-based education policy contexts and the influence on school leaders.Karen’s PhD focussed on knowledge management and educational reform at the Ontario Institute Education/University of Toronto.She sits on ESRC (UK), Danish and Swiss National Research Review Panels and the Advisory Panel for International School Leadership Principals [http://internationalschoolleadership.com/] in Ontario.She is Past Editor-in-Chief of Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability (EAEA) and a current Editorial Board Member for EAEA, School Leadership and Management and Leadership and Policy in Schools.

Hunter Johnson is the Founder & CEO of two purpose-driven organisations.Hunter leads The Man Cave, an emotional intelligence charity that has impacted the lives of 20,000 young men across Australia.Hunter is also the CEO of STUFF™, a men's personal care brand that champions healthy masculinity. He also works as an Advisor to The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust (QCT), a charity supporting young people throughout the Commonwealth alongside Prince Harry.Hunter's work has led him to speak around the world including presenting at the United Nations, Government House, Human Rights Commission, Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Town Hall, Graduation Ceremonies and various Universities. Hunter has been recognised as a Finalist for the 2020 Young Australian of the Year Awards (VIC), listed as one of Harper's Bazaar's "Visionary Men of 2019", named a 2018 Queen's Young Leader by Her Majesty The Queen, and 2018 Winner of the EY Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award (Southern Region).

Today we don't have a guest, we have a whole team, one that believes educational expertise lies in a collective rather than an individual. We have 6 amazing humans from the Educational Experiences Team from the School of Cybernetics at Australian National University!Their mission is to take cybernetics to the world, through creating and delivering innovative, research-informed educational experiences for industry, government and our communities.Featuring Amy McLennan, Adrian Schmidt, Andrew Meares, Jess Thompson, Ben Swift, & Kelly Frame. If you’ve run out of questions about your toaster, check out Simone Rebaudengo’s Brad the Toaster Addicted products: The story of Brad the Toaster. Connect with them at https://3ainstitute.org/.

Why would a country cut 25 - 50% of its curriculum from schools? And what are the most powerful learning experiences to place in this new space of autonomy? Discover what Portugal is doing at a National level to build future skills through social emotional development programs from one of its chief architects of change. In this episode Louka speaks with Pedro Cunha, who served as Deputy Director-General for Education in Portugal across four governments (2010-2017), where he was responsible for school improvement, ECEC, early school leaving, Health and Wellbeing, Inclusive Education, Curricula Enrichment, Psychology and support services. Pedro is now Director of the Gulbenkian Program for Knowledge at the Gulbenkian Foundation, and holds a Degree, Masters and Ph.D (ongoing) in the Psychology of Education. He started his career as a school psychologist, and as coordinator of social innovation programs on substance abuse, community development and social exclusion, was Program Director and Head of Education at the Aga Khan Foundation Portugal (2003-2010) and taught at Teachers College (2008-10).He has worked as expert at the European Commission, UN, UNICEF and the OECD. He is part of a Think Tank at the National Professional Association of Psychologists and an Observatory at the University of Minho.

Ross Hall is strategist with a fixation on transforming education into thriving learning ecosystems. He is currently co-lead of the Jacobs Foundation’s Learning Societies Portfolio, jacobsfoundation.org, which creates trustful and dynamic communities using evidence based resource allocation. Based in Zurich, Switzerland. Ross Hall co-founded The Weaving Lab that aims to advance leadership practices that are prerequisites to creating and sustaining learning ecosystems, healthy interdependence, and ultimately universal wellbeing. See more at https://weavinglab.org.

What routines and methods do you use to innovate? And how can you design for more creativity and experience idea flow? In this episode, Louka speaks with Perry Klebahn and Jeremy Utley who lead Stanford University's d.school Executive Education. We cover innovation, learning, leadership and the concept of Ideaflow: an experience built on discrete repeatable practices that can increase your creativity and a forthcoming book. Take a listen to hear how you can become more creative in the way you contribute at work, in school and in society and check out https://www.ideaflow.design.On our guests: When it comes to startups, corporations and executive leadership, Perry’s seen just about everything. He's a seasoned entrepreneur, product designer, chief executive and co-founding member of the d.school faculty with over 20 years of experience. He also loves math, motorcycles and making things. Perry brought two out of three of those interests to bear when he created a new category of sportswear by way of a high-performance shoe — a snowshoe — for his product design master’s thesis. He went on to found the Atlas Snowshoe Company, which remains the leader in snowshoe design and technology. Perry sold Atlas and became the head of Sales and Marketing for the clothing brand, Patagonia in 2000. He then went on to be named the CEO of the iconic bag company, Timbuk2 in 2007. Both opportunities gave him extensive experience in brand turn-around, design and innovation. Despite his years running startups and corporations, Perry’s true calling is teaching. He leverages the breadth and depth of his experience as he pushes his students to bring rigor and precision to their fast-paced design work. His students often tell him that, while they were intimidated by him during the course, they're grateful for the pressure he placed on them to exceed their own expectations. Perry is a founding teaching team member for the d.school’s startup gauntlet class, Launchpad, the innovation leadership course, d.leadership and the week-long executive education intensive, Bootcamp. He is also on the teaching teams for the personal development course, Designer in Society and the organizational change course, d.org. In every class, Perry guides his students to look back in order to discover what to do next and works from the unshakeable belief that it’s always possible to see a problem differently.Perry is an Adjunct Professor and Director of Executive Education at the d.school. He holds a B.A. in Physics from Wesleyan University (1988) and a Master’s degree in Product Design from Stanford University (1991).Jeremy never expected to be a designer. On his 10th birthday, his father asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. Jeremy replied,”I want to be one of the people who carry boxes with handles.” A little over a decade later, Jeremy became a briefcase-carrying management consultant focusing on economic development. Then, in 2008, d.school derailed him completely. His time as a student and a fellow at the d.school showed him that “how” he worked was more important than “what” he did. Today, Jeremy is dedicated to helping others along the same path to becoming a designer. He helps people change their deeply-engrained behaviors and discover, as he did, that it is possible for them to make a difference. He does this through teaching as well as through growing alongside his students to become better in his own life and work every day.Jeremy is the Director of Executive Education at the d.school. He is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin’s Red McComb’s School of Business (2005) and the Stanford University Graduate School of Business (2009).