Thirteen Years Well Spent

Negative life experiences, like being picked on in school, sometimes lead to positive attitudes like care and empathy. But if you were able to choose to have or miss those experiences, what would you choose? I wouldn't.  Kayla's is a story where university does not necessarily lead to a job that uses the degree you get. She is happy enough in what she does, but would prefer to be working...

Kieran’s story is so unnecessarily tragic! Kieran was bullied and the teachers didn't help. Add to that an autistic neurology, anxiety and depression and no one will be surprised that Kieran did not do well at school. But passing only one subject at his GCSEs (General Certificate of School Education) this was not the end of Kieran's story! With grit and a sense of proving everyone wrong,...

Confidence is emerging as a theme for the people who have been successful (in the broad sense) in their lives. For Tara, school activities such as theatre, music and public speaking were part of developing the sort of confidence where she is able to 'bring people along' with her story and in her work.  Tara did love school and was successful in the traditional sense of passing exams well...

The extraordinary Guy Claxton, Professor Emirate, prolific author and one of the most influential thinkers in the education research space of our generation. Guy Claxton, the person whose words sat with me 'would young adults say it was 12 years well spent' and were the impetus for this podcast and project. After having conversations in my head with Guy through reading his books, 'W...

Brad cried when he read a book that pivoted his life. It found out what he didn't know he didn't know because school didn't teach it. While Brad, as many guests, are grateful for the basic literacy and numeracy that school established for them, there is much that he feels could have been included in both the content and the pedagogy of school based education.  In many ways this felt...

Time collapsing and learning through family and sports clubs rather than school is what Mick attributes to the skills he has acquired to be successful in life. Mick says that reading writing and maths, particularly at primary school, was very much part of school years well spent. However the later years at secondary he said there was a lot of "fluff". He asks teachers to be relevant to y...

Ella's story is a very important piece of the puzzle. She is the school success story. The schools she went to really did set her up for success in life, and Ella brings depth to what that means. The empathy, curiosity and agency she talks about seemed to have been very deliberately cultivated by the schools she attended with specific programs like the Year 12 mentor program. Ella suggests mo...

Tom's story brings to the fore 'relationships, relationships, relationships'. He explains why he got into and out of teaching as well as his own experiences as a student. For me, in particular, is the consideration of 'work-life balance' from a student's perspective. Is it reasonable for a competent student to not be pushed to be better than their age-expected knowled...

Learning can happen in the noise. Not always, but perhaps the teacher's need for control sometimes misses the learning that is occurring through those peer interactions. Cameron's story gives voice to the perspective of young people who are chatty, and points out that this is exactly the source of his success in life. 

Dr Matt Pitman's name has become synonymous with "connection" in Education. His books " The Connection Curriculum " and " The Connection Connundrum " and the " Digital Literacy Handbook: How to Think, Act and Stay Smart Online " are all available through Matt's website.   Guests have frequently shared their appreciation of teachers who 'saw&ap...

Riley's story offers insight into how anxiety came up for him, the thinking and attitudes that he himself, his family and his teachers found that enabled him to work with and his incredibly high level swimming achievements. Riley was able to leverage both the pressure and the competition of sports to help with learning at school. It is through relationship first that motivated him to improve,...

I wasn’t expecting Sof’s response to what to take out of school. - judgement!  Right. Sof talks about how grades are judgements. As I read through educational research, especially in an era where ‘evidence based practice’ is expected, the evidence is nearly always spoken of in terms of student outcomes - in other words grades. I wonder if that increases teacher tendency to push for better grades,...

Yes, a duck. One of Lucy’s memories was being told off, strongly, for drawing a duck on the ‘blank’ page of her test. It was not until her late 20s that Lucy received a dyslexic diagnosis, and everything made sense.  Lucy’s story reveals that even with dyslexia a child can ‘crack the code’ of school and be successful in tests, but post school had to unlearn the assumption that your identity and wo...

Jazz wants teachers to know about neurodivergence and how to support it in ways that are respectful and helpful to the people in the room. She has some great ideas, some of which come from less than optimal experiences.

Every story is part of the picture, and this one gives the perspective of lived SEND experience. (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities). Rebecca offers important insights into the different ways school both enabled and disabled her. She describes bullying and some rocketing successes! 

This is the first of our educator episodes. The aim is that every five episodes an educator and I chat about the previous guests stories, bringing our perspectives, experiences and actions. In this episode Christian and I notice the incredible variation in the five stories so far. We reflect on the connection, ATAR, competition and life skills. And, I reveal a hatchling plan, seeking feedback from...

Liam thought his years in school based education were well spent, but not because he got good grades, because he had great friends that he still regularly goes camping with. Liam has some great ideas for how existing subjects like English and Maths could be re-mastered towards skills that are more relevant for life. 

Clair does not think her years at school were well spent. She sees herself as not cut out for school, but did get a lot in terms of social interactions and sport achievements. Clair joins other guests in suggesting that schools teach more life maths particularly in terms of shopping, counting back change, buying houses and tax. While Clair did not feel successful at school, she is proud to be a bu...

Jonathan tells us about the choices he made, quite deliberately, to either get good grades or put his energy into being social. He talks about the importance of working at his level of competence and how grateful he was when teachers were able to do this effectively. Jonathan was very specific and explicit that the real point of school is to prepare young people for the world after school. Like Be...

Grace tells us about the importance of listening and watching the people in our rooms so we can respond well to them as individual humans. While she talks about content levels, it is being seen and cared for that made the difference. She describes gentle communication and 'nudges', suggesting that some of these communications skills as well as some more general financial and political li...

Bella tells us about the value of social skills and practical knowledge like cooking. She discusses struggles with the school system, feeling overwhelmed by tasks and the pressure to compare oneself to peers. Bella emphasizes the importance of self-discovery and happiness, suggesting schools focus on personal growth rather than comparison. She advocates for more awareness and support for neurodive...