Rethinking Education

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

In this episode, Dr James Mannion - the creator of the Implementation Science for Schools programme - interviews two senior leaders, Kate Barry and Elaine Long, about their experience of the ISS pilot study at their school. RETHINKING ED CONFERENCE LINKS Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lets-get-together-the-rethinking-education-conference-2022-tickets-226415834857 Social media links: Youtube (trailer): https://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 ISS LINKS AND REFERENCES To access the ISS community for free - including a free taster course - please visit https://implementation.mn.co/ ISS visual diagrams: https://rethinking-ed.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/ISS-VISUAL-DIAGRAMS.pdf The Gatsby careers benchmarks - https://www.gatsby.org.uk/uploads/education/reports/pdf/gatsby-sir-john-holman-good-career-guidance-2014.pdf Fixsen, D. L., Blase, K. A., Timbers, G. D., & Wolf, M. M. (2001). In search of program implementation: 792 replications of the Teaching-Family Model. In G. A. Bernfeld, D. P. Farrington & A. W. Leschied (Eds.), Offender rehabilitation in practice: Implementing and evaluating effective programs (pp. 149-166). London: Wiley. Fixsen, D., Blase, K., Van Dyke, M. (2019). Implementation Practice and Science. Active Implementation Research Network. Chapel Hill, NC. Hill, A., Mellon, L., Laker, B., Goddard, J. (2017) Research: How the Best School Leaders Create Enduring Change. Harvard Business Review, (5). Kotter, J. (2008). A sense of urgency. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press. Moir, T. (2018). Why is implementation science important for intervention design and evaluation within educational settings? Frontiers in Education, July 25.

In this episode I am joined by Ian Cunningham, the founder of the Self-Managed Learning College (SMLC) in Brighton; Dr Naomi Fisher, a clinical psychologist who sends her children to SMLC; and Ellie Costello, the Director of Square Peg, a social enterprise that supports young people and families with barriers to attendance. We are here to discuss the Schools Bill currently going through the English Parliament, which presents a significant challenge for people seeking to rethink education; indeed, if it goes through largely unamended, it looks like it will be a hugely retrograde step in many alarming ways, all of which we will get into in the podcast. And so, with apologies to international listeners, this episode is strongly Anglocentric. CORRECTION: Regarding Andy Bilson's research: 44% of all children will be referred to children's (social) services before their 16th birthday. RESEARCH LINKS: The Munro Review of Child Protection: Final Report A child-centred system: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/175391/Munro-Review.pdf Bilson et al - How child protection’s ‘investigative turn’ impacts on poor and deprived communities: http://bilson.org.uk/Family_Law_prepub.pdf MacDonald & MacDonald - Safeguarding: A Case for Intelligent Risk Management: https://academic.oup.com/bjsw/article-abstract/40/4/1174/1631451 Munro - Predictive analytics in child protection: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332528200_Predictive_analytics_in_child_protection Hardy (2017) - In Defence of Actuarialism: Interrogating the Logic of Risk in Social Work Practice: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02650533.2017.1394828 Contact your MP - or member of the House of Lords: https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-an-mp-or-lord/contact-your-mp Petition - We must stop the Schools Bill: Act now to protect vulnerable families from persecution: https://www.change.org/p/updated-attendance-guidance-encourages-prosecution-and-fines-of-families-facing-barriers-to-attendance-undiagnosed-children-with-send-are-particularly-at-risk-time-for-positive-action-for-send-in-education LET'S GET TOGETHER - THE RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE 2022: Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lets-get-together-the-rethinking-education-conference-2022-tickets-226415834857 Share our social media links: Youtube (trailer): https://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

In this episode, titans of education Mick Waters and Tim Brighouse talk about their sensational new book 'About our schools: Improving on previous best'. Here are some of the breathless reviews the book has received:: "You can hear the passion, the decency, the anger, the compassion, and the hope in this insider–outsider story about England’s education policy over the past 45 years... the most exciting and exacting book I have read in a long time." (Professor John Hattie) "It seems odd to refer to a book on education as a page-turner, but About Our Schools really is just that. Hardly surprising though, as it has been written by two of the greatest storytellers in the field, whose careers at the heart of the action mean that they know everyone and have a view on pretty much everything. They survey the past and critique current initiatives, always through the lens of the teacher and the child in the classroom. It’s full of anecdotes, balanced critiques and a surprisingly com- passionate appraisal of politicians. About Our Schools is a masterpiece, and I shall be returning to it again and again." (Mary Myatt) In this podcast, they elaborate on their interviews with Secretaries of State from the last 45 years, and outline a vision for how we can improve on previous best and transition to an age of hope, optimism and collaborative partnerships. LINKS: RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE - TICKETS: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-rethinking-education-conference-2022-tickets-226415834857 RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE - SPEAKER APPLICATIONS: https://rethinking-ed.org/conference/ RETHINKING EDUCATION MIGHTY NETWORK: https://rethinking-education.mn.co/ BECOME A PATRON: https://www.patreon.com/repod BUY ME A COFFEE: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.

Jon Hutchinson is the Head of Training and Development at the Reach Foundation, an educational charity that focuses on expanding the role of schools into the wider community through a cradle to career model. Prior to this, Jon was an Assistant Headteacher at Reach Academy Felt-ham. He has taught across both KS1 and KS2, and also tutors on Ambition Institute’s Masters in Expert Teaching. Jon has taken part in expert panels for the Department for Education, Ofsted and the Standards and Testing Agency. For the last ten years or so, Jon has been deeply involved in developing a knowledge-based curriculum at key stage two. Harking back to my recent conversation with Professor Michael Young, Jon describes this project as designing and creating resources and approaches that give every child access to the powerful knowledge they need to flourish, whilst reducing teacher workload and improving subject knowledge across the curriculum. But we began our conversation talking about things we disagree on - and so if and if agreeable disagreement is your thing, you’ll find plenty to chew over here. LINKS: ARTICLE: What's your endgame? https://www.philanthropy.org.au/images/site/misc/Tools__Resources/Publications/2015/Winter_2015_Whats_Your_Endgame.pdf RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE - TICKETS: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-rethinking-education-conference-2022-tickets-226415834857 RETHINKING EDUCATION CONFERENCE - SPEAKER APPLICATIONS: https://rethinking-ed.org/conference/ RETHINKING EDUCATION MIGHTY NETWORK: https://rethinking-education.mn.co/ BECOME A PATRON: https://www.patreon.com/repod BUY ME A COFFEE: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://www.rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter.