Episodit

  • In this week’s conversation, with Professor Rex Li and Dr Clara Cheng, we take a wide-ranging look at how we can take inspiration and ideas from past educational projects, such as those of John Dewey and Howard Gardner, as we develop education into the future. But also learning from their experience at GT College in Hong Kong, how can we use research and inquiry themselves as practices to enable students and educators to deepen their own learning and growth as individuals, but also as part of a broader learning community.

    Professor Rex Li (https://www.profrexli.com/ ) is a psychologist and a prominent educator of the gifted in Hong Kong. He is the Founder and Curriculum Director of GT (Ellen Yeung) College, Hong Kong and founder of the Gifted Education Council. He is the author of ‘Rediscovering John Dewey: How His Psychology Transforms Our Education’ (2020): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rediscovering-John-Dewey-Psychology-Transforms/dp/9811579407  and many other books on gifted education and multiple intelligences: https://www.gtcollege.edu.hk/books-publications/ 

    Dr Clara M. L. Cheng is the Head of Research and Training, English Language Panel Head (Senior Form) and Vice Head of International Exchange Group at GT (Ellen Yeung) College: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clara-cheng-632aa7a1/ 

    Social Links
    GT (Ellen Yeung) College - ⁠https://www.gtcollege.edu.hk/⁠
    Contact Prof. Li at https://www.profrexli.com/

  • Homa Tavangar (https://homatavangar.com/ ) is an incredible educator and leader. She is the co-founder of the Oneness Lab with Eric Dozier (https://www.onenesslab.com/ ) where she helps schools and companies go ‘deeper than diversity,’ as well as the Big Questions Institute, (https://bigquestions.institute/) where, with her co-founder Will Richardson, she leads professional learning opportunities to build capacity and design the future with fearless inquiry for individuals, schools, and many other education-related organisations.

    Homa is the author of widely-acclaimed books, including Growing Up Global: Raising Children to Be At Home in the World (Random House, 2009), Global Kids: 50+ Games, Crafts, Recipes & More from Around the World (Barefoot Books, 2019), The Global Education Toolkit for Elementary Learners (Sage/Corwin, 2014), co-author of a 3-book series with Professor Yong Zhao on educating creative, entrepreneurial World Class Learners (Corwin, 2016), and contributor to Mastering Global Literacy, by Heidi Hayes-Jacobs, ed. (Solution Tree, 2013). Most recently she co-authored 9 BIG Questions Schools Must Answer to Avoid Going “Back to Normal” (*Because “Normal” Wasn’t That Great to Begin With).

    Social Links

    LinkedIn: @homatavangar - https://www.linkedin.com/in/homatavangar/

    Instagram: @homatavangar - https://www.instagram.com/homatavangar/

    X: @homatav - https://twitter.com/homatav?lang=en

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  • How are the knowledge and skills that we choose to teach or not teach implicated in the power structures and political histories of the places in which we live?

    Professor Jonathan Jansen (⁠https://www.jonathanjansen.org/⁠ ) is Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. He is currently President of the South African Academy of Science and the Knight-Hennessey Fellow at Stanford University (2020).

    In his work, Professor Jansen explores how we keep radical ideas alive in bureaucratic structures. Is there a destination we arrive at called a decolonised curriculum or is it an ongoing process of meeting power structures and institutionalised biases? What's the role of language in the decolonising process if we can't even communicate with each other? What is the role of education in constructing national identities in ways that are inclusive of the diversity of people in most communities?

    A selection of his most recent books:

    Decolonisation in Universities: The Politics of Knowledge (2019) - https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Decolonisation_in_Universities/efWADwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

    The Decolonization of Knowledge: Radical Ideas and the Shaping of Institutions in South Africa and Beyond [with Cyrill A. Walters] (2022) - https://www.google.fr/books/edition/The_Decolonization_of_Knowledge/KNduEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

    Corrupted: A study of chronic dysfunction in South African universities (2023) - https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Corrupted/saeUEAAAQBAJ

    Social Links

    X: @JJ_Stellies - https://twitter.com/JJ_Stellies⁠

    LinkedIn: @jonathan-jansen - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-jansen-543123b1/

  • This week’s episode is a conversation about the importance of play and playfulness with the fantastic Dr. Jane Hession and Ronan Healy. Based on their extensive research and expertise of the Lego Serious Play method, Jane and Ronan are successfully reintroducing play to learning and work environments as an invitation to qualitatively different modes and types of experiences for teams. We also talk about the way in which play using boundary objects such as Lego, can enable inclusive learning environments.

    Ronan and Jane are the Co-founders of How Might We, a Limerick-based design consultancy. Jane is a published author whose book ‘Women In The Modern Workplace’ examines how family, finance, networking and mentoring affect women’s decisions to establish a business. Jane and Ronan are also the hosts of the Seeking Play podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/42Rp28RCD0DmyjjA1vQQIU?si=620ca36a318a413b

    Social Links

    Web: www.howmightwe.ie

    Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-might-we-service-design

    X: https://twitter.com/howmightwe

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howmightwe.ie/

  • Professor Natalia Kucirkova is Professor of Reading and Early Childhood Development at the University of Stavanger.

    She researches children’s use of media and technologies. She is especially interested in children’s use of e-books and literacy apps, particularly in relation to the use of personal data (digital personalization) and evidence-based approach to EdTech. Her latest project "Sensory Books" is about reading that engage children's sense of smell.

    She is a passionate advocate for social justice, women leadership and embedded research impact.

    Natalia is also CEO and Co-Founder of WiKIT which is a university spin-out based in Norway, with a global network of specially trained researchers, to match scientists with ethical EdTech and enable properly evidence-driven edtech products.

    She is also the author of The Future of the Self: Understanding Personalization in Childhood and Beyond’.

    Social Links

    LinkedIn: @natalia-kucirkova

    YouTube: @edtechchildrenliteracy

  • ⁠Yong Zhao⁠ is a Foundation Distinguished Professor in the ⁠School of Education at the University of Kansas⁠ and a professor in Educational Leadership at the Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne in Australia. He previously served as the Presidential Chair, Associate Dean, and Director of the Institute for Global and Online Education in the College of Education, University of Oregon, where he was also a Professor in the Department of Educational Measurement, Policy, and Leadership. Prior to Oregon, Yong Zhao was University Distinguished Professor at the College of Education, Michigan State University, where he also served as the founding director of the Center for Teaching and Technology, executive director of the ⁠Confucius Institute⁠, as well as the US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence. He is an elected member of the ⁠National Academy of Education⁠ and a fellow of the ⁠International Academy of Education⁠.

    In this conversation we chat about why the US should abandon PISA - the "nonsensical global academic horse race": https://dianeravitch.net/2024/02/12/yong-zhao-why-doesnt-the-u-s-scrap-pisa/

    "If ChatGPT had taken the 2022 PISA, it is highly likely that it would outscore all the students in the world.”

    We also discuss why countries generally should stop comparing and borrowing from each other, and why diversity and localisation and personalisation are Yong’s keys to how the educational landscape needs to develop in the future.

    Recent books and articles:

    Duck and Cover: Confronting and Correcting Dubious Practices in Education with Rick Ginsberg (2023)

    'Shifting the Education Paradigm: Why International Borrowing is No Longer Sufficient for Improving Education in China' (2018).

    '“Testing treats students as enemies and are often launched against them in an ambush”, wrote Mao in 1964, “It works against the active and lively development of youth morally, intellectually, and physically”'

    Learning for Uncertainty: Reach for greatness (2023)

    Social Links

    LinkedIn: @yong-zhao

    X: @YongZhaoEd

  • Alicia Juarrero, is Co-Founder and President of VectorAnalytica and Professor Emerita of Philosophy at Prince George’s Community College (MD).

    She is the author of Context Changes Everything: How Constraints Create Coherence, published last year: https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/5600/Context-Changes-EverythingHow-Constraints-Create⁠

    Her other books are Dynamics in Action: Intentional Behavior as a Complex System (MIT 1999) and co-editor of Reframing Complexity: Perspectives from North and South (ISCE Publishing, 2007), and Emergence, Self-Organization and Complexity: Precursors and Prototypes (ISCE Publishing, 2008).

    Alicia was named the 2002 U.S. Professor of the Year by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; in 2003 she received the Edward T. Foote Alumnus of Distinction Award of the University of Miami; in 1995 the Distinguished Humanities Educator Award of the Community College Humanities Association. In 1992 Alicia was appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to the Advisory Board of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) where, from 1992-2000 she served as NEH’s Chair of Council Committee on State Programs. In that capacity she was responsible for the oversight of approximately $32 million in NEH funds distributed annually to the States Humanities Councils.

    Born in Cuba, Alicia has played a leading role in introducing complexity concepts and theory to that island nation and currently serves as Secretary-Treasurer of Friends of Havana’s January Complexity Seminars, a 501(c)3 not for profit organization which supports the work of complexity scholars in Cuba.

  • Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath is an award-winning cognitive neuroscientist, best-selling author and renowned keynote speaker with an expertise in human learning, memory, and brain stimulation.

    Jared has published 6 books, including most recently with co-author David Bott: 10 THINGS SCHOOLS GET WRONG (and how we can get them right)

    Other books include:

    ⁠Stop Talking, Start Influencing: 12 Insights From Brain Science to Make Your Message Stick⁠

    From the Laboratory to the Classroom with Jason Lodge and John Hattie

    Jared is the Director of LME Global, host of the popular Youtube channel, From Theory to Practice, and previously honorary researcher at the University of Melbourne and St. Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne.

    Jared’s research has been featured in The New York Times, WIRED, BBC, The Economist, PBS's Nova and ABC’s Catalyst.

    Social Links

    LinkedIn: @jared-cooney-horvath

    Instagram: @jared.cooney.horvath

  • It is increasingly clear that recruiting, developing and retaining teachers is a very real issue around the world. Dr. Rachel Lofthouse is at the forefront of thinking through how we might be able to address some of these challenges.

    Rachel is the Professor of Teacher Education in the Carnegie School of Education at Leeds Beckett University. She has established the Research and Practice hub, CollectivED: Centre for Coaching, Mentoring and Professional Learning.

    Rachel’s research interests focuses on the transformation of professional learning through partnerships of scholarship and practice development. She is keen to find out how educational workplaces can both offer, and constrain, professional learning, with a current focus on coaching and lesson study and the inter-relationships between practice, well-being, professional learning and leadership.

    We also talk about Rachel's recent involvement in the Reimagining A Positive Direction for Education (RAPIDE) project designed to understand through narratives underline the enormous energy of educators to adapt to external disruptions.

    Social Links

    X: @DrRLofthouse

    LinkedIn: ⁠@rachel-lofthouse⁠

  • As an elementary teacher by training, Dr. Gary Stager has taught students from preschool through doctoral studies. In 1990, Gary led professional development in the world’s first laptop schools and played a major role in the early days of online education. Gary is the founder of the Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute for educators.

    Gary is co-author of Invent To Learn – Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, called the “bible of the maker movement in schools,” by Larry Magid of CBS and The San Jose Mercury News. Invent To Learn has been translated into nine languages. Gary’s most recent book is Twenty Things to Do with a Computer Forward 50: Future Visions of Education Inspired by Seymour Papert and Cynthia Solomon’s Seminal Work.

    When Jean Piaget wanted to better understand how children learn mathematics, he hired Seymour Papert. When Dr. Papert wanted to create a high-tech alternative learning environment for incarcerated at-risk teens, he hired Gary Stager. This work was the basis for Gary’s doctoral dissertation and documented Papert’s most-recent institutional research project.

    Gary’s work has earned a Ph.D. in Science and Mathematics Education and he collaborated on a project that won a Grammy Award. Recently, Gary was invited by Fondazione Reggio Children to lead public seminars, and even teach children, in Reggio Emilia, Italy.

    Gary was also on the advisory board of the NSF-funded project, BJC4NYC: Bringing a Rigorous Computer Science Principles Course to the Largest School System in the US. Gary also maintains the world’s largest archive of text and multimedia by Seymour Papert at The Daily Papert.





    X: @garystager

  • Today’s guest has been doing amazing work in this areas alongside Peter Senge, Daniel Goleman and colleagues at the IB, through the Center for Systems Awareness at MIT. Dr Mette Miriam Böll is the is the Co-founder and Executive Director of the centre, as well as the co-founded of The MIT Systems Awareness Lab with Peter Senge.

    Her academic background is as a biologist specialized in the evolution of complex social systems, mammalian play behavior and philosophy of nature. Mette has a Ph.D. in organizational ethology and holds additional degrees in contemplative leadership and the philosophy and history of science.

    She uses her training in these diverse areas to research how emotions and feelings are transmitted in social relations and how the resulting relational fields in turn shape the larger systems human beings are parts of, with a particular focus on education.

    Mette previously held a position as head of research at Metropol University College, a teachers’ college in Copenhagen and before that she taught neuroscience of emotions.

    You can find out more about the Compassionate Systems Framework and upcoming trainings here: https://systemsawareness.org/introduction-to-compassionate-systems-framework-in-schools/

    Social Links

    LinkedIn: @mette-miriam-rakel-böll

    Instagram: @centerforsystemsawareness

  • Professor Barbara Oakley is a Distinguished Professor of Engineering at Oakland University. Barbara’s research has been described as “revolutionary” in the Wall Street Journal. She is New York Times best-selling author who has published in outlets as varied as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. Her book A Mind for Numbers, on effective learning in STEM disciplines, has sold over a million copies worldwide.

    Together with Terrence Sejnowski, the Francis Crick Professor at the Salk Institute, Barbara co-teaches Coursera’s “Learning How to Learn,” one of the world’s most popular massive open online courses with some four million registered students, along with a number of other leading MOOCs.

    Barbara has adventured widely through her lifetime. She rose from the ranks of Private to Captain in the U.S. Army, during which time she was recognized as a Distinguished Military Scholar. She also worked as a communications expert at the South Pole Station in Antarctica, and has served as a Russian translator on board Soviet trawlers on the Bering Sea.

    Barbara's latest books:

    Uncommon Sense Teaching: Practical Insights in Brain Science to Help Students Learn

    Learn Like a Pro: Science-Based Tools to Become Better at Anything

    Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying; A Guide for Kids and Teens

    You can find others here: https://barbaraoakley.com/books/

    Social Links

    LinkedIn: @barbaraoakley

    Instagram: @barb_oakley

  • Nicole Dyson is a multi-award-winning educator and entrepreneur, and a global authority on project-based learning and youth entrepreneurship. With an extensive background in school teaching and leadership in the public education system in Australia, she is the founder of Future Anything, an award-winning education provider that works with 15000+ young people (and their educators) each year. Nicole also founded YouthX, Australia’s only startup accelerator program for school-aged entrepreneurs, and Catapult Cards, a design thinking toolkit for classrooms and corporates that donates 50% of its profits back to providing micro-grants for youth-led startups.

    Future Anything was the winner of the Xero Outstanding Micro-Business Award at the 2021 Lord Mayor’s Business Awards and was listed as one of only ten initiatives around the globe realizing the employment and entrepreneurship ambitions of young people in the Prince’s Trust Group’s Report (2021) on The Future of Work. Future Anything was also the winner in the 2023 Business Champion Awards for Oustanding Education Services.

    Nicole was listed in the inaugural 40 Under 40 for Queensland in 2023, as well as winning the ‘Gamechanger Award’, recognizing a person who has “re-written the rules of business to challenge, inspire and spark significant change.” She was also recognized in The Educator’s “Most Influential” list for 2023, acknowledging 45 educators significantly influencing culture and reform within Australia’s education sector, and was the recipient of SBE’s ‘Unsung Hero’ Award in 2022.

    Social Links

    LinkedIn: @nicdyson

    Instagram: @nicdyso_ / @Future_Anything

    X: @nicoledyson

  • Formerly Principal of an award-winning international school in the Middle East, and with a long and varied career in school leadership both in the UK and internationally, Matthew Savage now works closely with premium schools and school groups worldwide, helping them to use data wisely and well.

    In recent years, he has worked face-to-face or remotely with thousands of educators across hundreds of schools in more than 60 countries, exploring the intersection of wellbeing and DEIJ through the prism of triangulated, "warm" and "street" data.

    His keynotes and workshops have featured in educational conferences worldwide, including for COBIS, BSME, ECIS, TAISI, 21st Century Learning and Outstanding Schools.

    He writes regularly for numerous, international magazines and blogs, including for Wellbeing in International Schools Magazine, International School Leader, School Management Plus, International Teacher Magazine, SchoolRubric, the International Schools Network, Diverse Educators, Teach Middle East and CIS.

    He has been interviewed for numerous podcasts, including Teach Middle East, Flourishing at School, WISEducation, ISC Research, and Noonchi, for which he is a Thought Partner. He is also the host of The Data Conversation and Jack and Me podcasts himself.

    Matthew is proud to be an Associate Consultant for LSC Education, in which role he coaches senior leaders in the UK and internationally, and also leads governance training with international school boards.

    He is also fortunate to be one of the Editors of InterACT magazine, in which role he aims to be a lightning rod for the most valuable and least heard voices in the sector.

    In addition, for the past ten years, he has loved being a trainer for GL Education globally, both face-to-face and online, through which work he continues to make and build connections worldwide.

    Matthew is a passionate advocate for and ally of DEIJ worldwide, and member of ECIS’ DEIJ team and the Global Equality Collective; a member of the Diverse Educators network, and contributor to their 2022 book.

    In this work, he helps schools both in the UK and around the world review their intersectional #DEIJ journey through the personal lenses of gender identity and disability.

    Social Links

    LinkedIn: @savageeducation

    Web: https://monalisaeffect.me/

    Email: [email protected]

  • It’s hard to disagree that critical thinking is an essential skill for young people faced with a complex and uncertain future. And yet, everyone from everywhere on the pedagogical spectrum says that they’re developing it in their students!

    So are they all succeeding?

    What are the specific and explicit thinking moves that you are asking and guiding your learners to make?

    How does this also develop metacognition and self-regulation?

    Roger is one of the world’s leading authorities on Philosophy for Children (P4C) and philosophical education. Roger trained under Professor Matthew Lipman, the pioneer of Philosophy for Children (P4C), and @DialogueWorks with Nick Chandley to provide P4C training around the world, and developing Philosophical Teaching and Learning. https://dialogueworks.co.uk/philosophical-teaching-and-learning-ptl-pedagogy-for-the-21st-century/

    He was a founder and President of SAPERE, the UK charity promoting P4C, and President of the International Council for Philosophical Inquiry with Children. He graduated in Philosophy and Modern Languages at Oxford, and has taught at primary and secondary level.

    Roger has spent the last decade developing Thinking Moves A-Z www.thinking-moves.com, a transformative scheme scaffolding critical thinking for both teachers and students.

    Contacts

    Email: [email protected]

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-sutcliffe-9557b817/

  • Odunayo Aliu is an Education Specialist and Development Practitioner with experience in transforming the education landscape in rural and marginalized communities. She is the Founder of Bramble Network, a nonprofit organization that provides equitable educational opportunities to children and youth in rural and marginalized communities. Through her leadership, Odunayo has also been instrumental in the establishment and management of several EdTech and social enterprise initiatives, utilizing cutting-edge technology and community organizing to influence mindsets and cause societal change. Her ultimate aim is to democratise access to learning and transform education for millions of young people across Africa.

    Social Links

    LinkedIn: @odunayoaliu

    Instagram: @odunayoaliu / @bramblenetwork

  • Dor Abrahamson is Professor of Secondary Mathematics Education in the area of Cognition and Development at University of California, Berkeley and a member of faculty at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education. Dor has been pioneering a design-based approach to research called embodied design. In his Embodied Design Research Laboratory (https://edrl.berkeley.edu ) Dor and his team look at cognition and learning of mathematics through the body. As one of his fascinating articles from 2016 is entitled, Learning is Moving in New Ways.

    A recent book summarising research in this exciting area of embodied cognition to which Dor has contributed is linked here: Macrine, S. L., & Fugate, J. M. (Eds.). (2022) Movement Matters: How Embodied Cognition Informs Teaching and Learning: https://edrl.berkeley.edu/lab-blog-posts/macrine-s-l-fugate-j-m-eds-2022-movement-matters-how-embodied-cognition-informs-teaching-and-learning/

    Social Links

    LinkedIn: @dor-abrahamson

  • In this episode, Ms Liew Wei Li, the Director-General of Education for the Ministry of Education in Singapore shares her insights into the many reasons for this success, including Singapore’s restless commitment to improvement and innovation.

    Ms Liew has been the appointed Director General since April 2022, overseeing K-12 education in Singapore. She had school experience as a Chemistry teacher and school leader, and has headed a division to develop school curriculum for primary, secondary and pre-university levels. Previously, she was Deputy Director-General of Education (Schools) and concurrently Director of Schools for five years, where she led a team of school zonal directors and cluster superintendents with oversight of some 350 mainstream schools.

    More information on the Enhanced 21CC Framework and other topics discussed in this episode: https://www.moe.gov.sg/news/press-releases/20230920-more-support-for-schools-and-students-to-shape-the-future-of-learning

    Social Links

    LinkedIn: @wei-li-liew; @moesingapore

  • Dr. Brad Kershner is a school leader and independent scholar, currently serving as the Head of School at Kimberton Waldorf School. His research, teaching, and writing cover a wide range of interdependent topics, including education, leadership, parenting, cultural diversity, technology, integral theory, meditation, complexity, and developmental psychology. He received his graduate education at The University of Chicago and Boston College, and he is a longtime student of multiple Buddhist lineages. He is a co-founder of The Reconstitution Project, a meta-political think-tank, (www.thereconstitution.com), and his first book is Understanding Educational Complexity: Integrating Practices and Perspectives for 21st Century Leadership.

    A recent article Brad has written for Integral Life, which he references at the end of our conversation, is Diversity, Empathy, and Integration: Reframing and Reclaiming a Movement Toward Healing and Wholeness.

    Social Links

    LinkedIn: @bradkershner

    X (formerly Twitter): @bradkershner

  • Daniela Papi-Thornton is an educator, facilitator, and author whose work focuses on systems-led leadership: an approach to social innovation that centers on systems understanding. Daniela has served as a Lecturer at Yale School of Management, Watson Institute, and Oxford’s Saïd Business School where she was also the Deputy Director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship. She designed an educational tool called the Impact Gaps Canvas used at accelerator programs and social impact education initiatives around the world and launched Map the System, a contest now running at 50+ global institutions. Daniela has served as a consultant, advisor, and leadership training facilitator at a range of enterprises, from public companies to private foundations. Daniela’s work builds upon six years of emerging market entrepreneurial experience in Cambodia, running a hybrid educational organization. She co-authored a book, Learning Service: The essential guide to volunteering abroad and an influential report on "Tackling Heropreneurship" and her TEDx talk on Reclaiming Social Entrepreneurship highlights some of her thinking.

    Social Links

    LinkedIn: @danielapapi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielapapi/

    X (formerly Twitter): @danielapapi: https://twitter.com/danielapapi