Too often simplistic arguments against educational change are that providing more opportunities for increased agency for young people (following their own questions, inquiries, cares etc) means less rigour, depth and intellectual stretch… Michael Strong is one of the most experienced innovative school program designers in the U.S.

This strange thing called ‘knowledge’ has always been a battleground in educational conversations - for example, in lots of loud calls for “knowledge-rich” curricula! Personally I’m very much in favour of knowledge and knowing, part of the buzz of following curiosity and inquiries! It’s just the KIND of knowledge and knowing that we have been conditioned to value over others that I have an issue with! Minna Salami has been deeply challenging this hierarchy of knowing through her extensive work and amazing concept and book of the same title, Sensuous Knowledge. Her work coming from the tradition of African Feminism is to trouble the hierarchies, not simply invert them.

We need to ask ourselves some really tough questions about what our education systems are really doing to support young people to live in a climate changed world of at least 2 degrees of warming. What are the hands-on skills that they will need, but also how are we supporting them to regulate difficult emotions, and build community as we relocalise. This week, Ginie Servant-Miklos is returning to the podcast, this time with her colleague Rutger Engels, to talk about what they are learning through their work implementing critically important ideas in their Bildung Climate School pilots with young people across Rotterdam. 

If you’ve been listening to the podcast for a while now, you will know that creating conversational spaces full of possibility as an antidote to polarisation and crisis is something I really value, whether that’s on a podcast, online, or even better, in person! 

So it was such a joy to sit down with Doline Ndorimana to talk about her amazing work doing just that...

For new parents and early years educators, there’s a wealth of guidance and support for how to understand what’s happening for our babies and toddlers, but when it comes to the stories we tell about adolescence, an equally important period of significant change, sometimes it’s more just get your head down and get through it! As millions of young people make the big transition to Middle School, I was very curious to learn from Chris Balme, one of the real experts, not only of the patterns of change and development at this time, but also of how to create educational environments that really take these young people seriously! 

Carol Sanford is one of the most important thinkers of the last few decades. Like no-one else, her work calls out the deeply damaging effects of Behaviourism on all aspects of our lives, especially learning and education, and advocates for a living systems approach to business, education and community.

As you will have heard on previous episodes with Sandra Milligan, Yong Zhao, folks from Mastery Transcript Consortium and Rethinking Assessment, standardised tests and assessments are often one of the biggest barriers to change in education as these credentials and school-leaving certificates often hold the key that opens up the next door or higher education for many young people.

In his book, The Good Ancestor, Roman challenged us all to consider the rights of future species and future citizens in the face of our current catastrophic obsession with short-term thinking. Now, Roman is leading us into the past to ask what can we learn from history in his fantastic new book History for Tomorrow: Inspiration from the Past for the Future of Humanity.

What does it really mean to have 'agency' and how might we create more opportunities for young people to step into their agency in meaningful ways? Indra Adnan has been exploring this concept in communities around the world as well as in grassroots political organising.

Wakanyi Hoffman is a storyteller, author, keynote speaker specialized in ubuntu philosophy, a scholar of indigenous knowledge, and narrative weaver of wisdom in AI. She was born and raised in Kenya before embarking on an adventure around the world and has so far lived in 8 countries on 4 continents.

Simply trying to avoid or remove uncertainty and complexity from the lives of our young people (and our own) just isn't a viable strategy anymore! So what do we do instead? How might we intentionally build our adaptive capacity to thrive in the face of these dynamics?

Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner are internationally renowned social learning theorists and consultants. Their pioneering writing and consulting is influential in diverse fields including learning theory, business, government, international development, healthcare, and education.

What does it mean for those in culturally Eurocentric school systems around the world to learn from and with indigenous peoples about the role of education in community and connected with place? Should we even, after the horrors inflicted upon indigenous communities by settlers? These are delicate but important questions and it was a huge privilege to be able to sit down with Dr Marie Battiste to discuss them.