Rethinking Education

In this special episode, Dr James Mannion and The Real David Cameron take a look at the education systems in the four nations of the United Kingdom and ask: what can we learn from one another? Graham Donaldson has been central to development in Scotland as chief inspector, advising government as well as leading on quality assurance. And remarkably he has also been central to the development of Cur...

This episode features an astonishing conversation by two remarkable educators, Hywel Roberts and Tim Taylor. Tim kindly stepped in as a guest host for this episode, to explore some of the big ideas that underpin Hywel’s excellent book, Botheredness: Stories, stance, pedagogy. LINKS Buy Botheredness - https://www.crownhouse.co.uk/botheredness Follow Hywel - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hywel-roberts...

In this episode - our first rodeo as co-hosts - we are joined by Dr Debra Kidd, the author of A Curriculum of Hope, and by Tina Farr and Clare Whyles, the headteacher and deputy head of St. Ebbe’s Primary School in Oxford. Tina, Clare and the St Ebbe’s team have done some incredible work in recent years bringing a curriculum of hope to life for their learners, and spreading a little joy and belong...

Welcome to this episode in which we get to know our new cohost, The Real David Cameron! David Cameron is an incredible educator, public speaker and human being whose work I have admired for many years now. He has been a teacher, a senior manager in schools and in local authorities, most recently as Director of Children’s Services for Stirling Council. He was President of the Association of Directo...

In this episode I’m speaking with Mick Waters and David Cameron, two of the editors of a wonderful new book Unfinished Business: The life and legacy of Sir Tim Brighouse - a tribute and a call to action. It’s a long title and rightly so - there’s a lot to say about Tim and about the ideas he pursued throughout his remarkable career. Mick Waters is a former head teacher who works closely with teach...

Clare Sealy currently works as the Head of Education Improvement for the states of Guernsey. Prior to this, she was the Headteacher of St Matthias Primary School in Tower Hamlets for 22 years. In 2018, the Times Education Supplement named her as one of the 10 most influential people in the world of education. In 2022, Clare was awarded an OBE for services to education. Oracy – in case you’re unfam...

In this episode, my guest is Sir Anthony Seldon – a figure who truly needs no introduction in education. However, for those less familiar with his remarkable contributions, here’s a bit of context. Anthony has held some of the most influential roles in education, most recently as headmaster of Epsom College. Before this, he served as vice-chancellor of the University of Buckingham and was headmast...

Welcome to the Rethinking Education podcast! In this episode I spoke with Curtis James from Class Divide, campaign group which recently ran a successful campaign to change the school admissions code in Brighton and Hove. But if anyone is looking at their local schools and thinking ‘School X has 15% of pupils eligible for free school meals, and School Y has over 60%. This doesn’t seem right. I wond...

Welcome to the first episode of Season 5 of the Rethinking Education podcast! As you may be aware, Estonia has consistently been the highest performing European country in the PISA assessments in recent years. This episode features my recent conversation with Gunda Tire, Head of International Assessments (PISA & TALIS) at Estonian Education and Youth Board. Gunda very generously gave me almost 2 h...

Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of more than 100 scientific papers and 9 books, and the co-author of a further 6 books. His books have been published in 28 languages. And on ResearchGate, the largest scientific and academic online network, his Research Interest Score places him in the top 4% of scientists. It’s fair to say that Rupert is something of a controversial figure. This can be...

In the week that the general election was called, I bring you a timely conversation about some of the questions an incoming government needs to grapple with. Meena Kumari Wood is a former HMI and leader of FE colleges who now works across the British and International Education sectors. She held senior leadership positions in English schools and Further education colleges, including as Principal o...

René Kneyber and Valentina Devid are two of the founders of Toetsrevolutie (Test Revolution), a teacher training cooperative based in the Netherlands which specialises in formative assessment, summative assessment and curriculum design. René and Valentina are also two of the four authors of an excellent new book - Formative Action - the English translation of which was published in April 2024. Ren...

Ife Obasa is an educational consultant, activist and sought-after speaker who advocates for greater representation in education - among many other strings to her bow. Ife spoke at the 2023 Rethinking Education conference about why we need representation in education more than ever - a topic that we discuss in some detail in this episode. Ife’s work centres around mentoring and empowering young peo...

Peter Higgin is the Artistic Director and joint CEO of Punchdrunk Enrichment, a charity that creates transformational theatre for education, community and family audiences. Punchdrunk Enrichment is an independent charity which was founded in 2008 to take the pioneering practice of immersive theatre company, Punchdrunk, into schools and communities. Listed amongst the 50 most influential artists of...

Peps Mccrea is an award-winning teacher educator, designer and author. He is Director of Education at Steplab and author of the ultraconcise High Impact Teaching series, one of which - Motivated Teaching - is the main topic of this episode. On the side, he writes Evidence Snacks, a brilliant newsletter that we speak about at the top of this conversation, and composes excellent instructional thread...

This episode features a fascinating conversation with Fiona Millar, a journalist and campaigner on education and parenting issues whose work I have admired for many years. Following a career in journalism, Fiona worked in the office of the Leader of the Opposition from 1995 to 1997, and as an adviser to Tony and Cherie Blair from 1995 to 2003. On leaving Downing Street, Fiona started writing a mon...

In the last episode, almost 300 people tuned in to our first ever live podcast, when I was joined by Naomi Fisher, Ellie Costello and Ben Davis to talk about the attendance crisis. In case any of you listened to that and were wondering ‘Hey, who is this Ben Davis guy? Why don’t you do a full episode with him?’ Well, strap yourself in! Ben is the headteacher of St Ambrose Barlow RC High School in S...

Since the COVID pandemic, persistent absenteeism in England has more than doubled, from 10% to 22%. According to recent reearch by the Centre for Social Justice, more than one in four parents agreed it is not essential for children to be in school every day. Both the major political parties have announced plans to tackle the attendance crisis. Often, there is an assumption that school is the best...

Eliza Fricker is a talented writer and illustrator who has written three books: 'The Family Experience of PDA: An Illustrated Guide to Pathological Demand Avoidance' 'Can't Not Won't: A Story About A Child Who Couldn't Go To School' And most recently 'Thumbsucker: An illustrated journey through an undiagnosed autistic childhood' It’s the second of these books that we’re talking mostly about in thi...

Lord Jim Knight of Weymouth is a life peer and former Labour politician with a strong interest in education. He is also the chair of the Beyond Ofsted inquiry which recently published a fascinating report setting out an alternative vision for a schools accountability system. In this conversation we put the 'Beyond Ofsted' recommendations under the microscope, comparing them with the recommendation...

SHOW NOTES Until recently, Calvin Henry was the headteacher of St. Mark’s C of E Primary School in North London. Last year, Calvin went through an experience that he describes as being “uncannily similar” to that of Ruth Perry, the headteacher of Caversham Primary School in Reading who tragically took her own life earlier this year following an Ofsted inspection that downgraded her school’s rating...

Christian Bokhove is a Professor in Mathematics Education, University of Southampton. He is a specialist on international comparisons in mathematics education, the use of technology, and innovative methodologies. In this episode we discuss domain knowledge, generic skills, a famous paper by Tricot and Sweller, the Maths wars - and much more besides… LINKS The EEF evidence review on metacognition a...

Dave McPartlin is the headteacher of Flakefleet Primary School in Lancashire. In this episode Dave speaks openly and candidly about the impact Ofsted has had on his mental health and that of his colleagues. He makes a compelling case for why Ofsted needs to change - and how. LINKS Dave on BBC breakfast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMNRMQOBhL0 Flakefleet get the golden buzzer on BGT https://www....

SHOW NOTES Ron Berger is Chief Program Officer for the non-profit school improvement network Expeditionary Learning, a national network of over 160 public project-based schools in 30 states in the US. Ron was as a public school teacher and carpenter in rural Massachusetts for 25 years. His writing and speaking centre on inspiring quality and character in students, specifically through project-base...

Dennis Sherwood is a management consultant who specialises in creativity, innovation, and systems thinking. He has a Physics Masters from the University of Cambridge, an MPhil in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University and a PhD in biology from the University of California in San Diego. After being a consulting partner at Deloitte Haskins + Sells, and Coopers & Lybrand, he becam...