The Learnit Podcast

With a career spanning education minister and employment minister, to digital technology executive, the Rt Hon Lord Jim Knight of Weymouth is advocating for greater climate education. We discuss a number of models of sustainable citizenship, changes to national funding formulas, the new British natural history GCSE and the role of legislation to make sustainable citizenship more equitable.Show notes:- Suklaa Education: Teach the Future: Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education: Lorenzo Fioramonti’s work: The Eden Project’s teaching resources: Aim Hi Earth: David Dixon, ‘Leadership for Sustainability: Saving the Planet One School at a Time’: Stephen Heppell’s Learnometer: Favourite book about learning: Ken Robinson, ‘Finding Your Element’- Favourite book not about learning: Vikram Seth ‘A Suitable Boy’

Building on our last episode, this week we talk to Sbusisiwe Myeni, Co-founder and CEO of Imbeleko Foundation, a South African charity based in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, running after-school programmes for children with academic promise but who face challenges getting an education. We discuss creative ways non-profits like hers can partner with platforms like UCT Online (a digital high school in partnership with the University of Cape Town) to fill critically important gaps, the difficulties of bringing online education to poor, rural communities, and what works (and what doesn’t) for vulnerable children.Show Notes:More about Imbeleko Foundation: about UCT Online High School: previous episode:

With the need for new schools far outstripping the available budget to build them, how can South Africa meet the needs of its growing student population? As Founder and CEO of Valenture Institute, Rob Paddock is working to address this imbalance by scaling quality education through online learning. We discuss how the rise in online schooling during Covid resulted in a pivot in their business model, how their solution addresses the massive teacher shortage, lightens the load on teachers and how a coordinated partnership with University of Cape Town gets high quality learning to thousands of students across South Africa, at an affordable price point.Show notes:More about Valencia: about UCT High School: about GetSmarter: book about learning: ‘The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle’ by Steven PressfieldFavourite book not about learning: ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’, Paramahansa Yogananda

Does the UK education system help learners develop a love of learning, acquire life skills and develop knowledge? As High Mistress of St Paul’s Girls’ School, a high achieving independent school in London, and Co-Director of Big Education, a multi-academy trust and social enterprise, Sarah Fletcher and Peter Hyman are convinced we need to change the way we assess students in the UK. We examine the condemning data which backs the case for change, what we should be assessing and what we can do to get closer to an education of head, heart and hand.Show notes:More about St Paul’s Girls’ School: about Big Education: about School 21: survey on curriculum and assessment:

As CEO of Coursera, Jeff Maggioncalda has witnessed the open online course provider grow from 42 million learners pre pandemic to over 80 million. We discuss the future of learning and work, the ways the two intersect and the impact increased remote working has had on diversifying workforces. We also examine the edtech market, current valuations and Coursera’s own stock price.Show notes:More about Coursera: 2021 Global Skills Report: ‘book’ about learning: ‘Learning How to Learn’ course on Coursera, book not about learning: ‘The Big Picture’ by Sean Carroll,

Awarded North Carolina’s 2022 Superintendent of the Year, Dr. Valerie Bridges’ is dedicated to innovation and providing students with the rich experiences to inspire their learning and give them a voice in their education. As Superintendent of Edgecombe County, a rural, high needs district serving 14 schools and 6,000 students, Valerie discusses how their micro school has allowed them to test some of their ideas - a different kind of school day, a different kind of curricula - and how she is scaling that success.Show notes:Case study on Edgecombe County Public Schools & Transcend: study video: about Edgecombe County Public Schools: @ECPS_DrBFavourite book about learning: ‘The Listening Leader: Creating the Conditions for Equitable School Transformation’, Shane SafirFavourite book not about learning: Anything by John Grisham“Leading with love”, Learnit Podcast episode featuring Michael Sorrell:

As Director General of Alianza Educativa, a non-profit organization which runs 11 charter schools across Colombia, Pablo Jaramillo Quintero provides examples of what's been lost during the pandemic and ideas on how to regain it. Serving 12,000 children in some of the most challenging neighbourhoods, Pablo discusses rebuilding trust, supporting teachers and finding the balance of assisting students in need whilst re-establishing high expectations and behavioural norms.Show notes:More about Alianz Educativa: Reflections on reopening schools: More on social and emotional learning for teachers - The Learnit Podcast with Ellen Mahoney: Favourite book about learning: ‘Visible Learning’, John Hattie, Favourite book not about learning: ‘100 Years of Solitude’, Gabriel García Márquez, Binge watching: Encanto,

As Partnerships Director at ACS International Schools, Graeme Lawrie is transforming what partnership in schools can be. Having established the UK’s largest school-based festival of science, he’s now organising a STEAM day for 10,000 children at the amusement park Thorpe Park. We talk about how his autism is a superpower which enables him to focus and prepare for the scale of these projects, his video series documenting neurodiversity from all perspectives and the many useful hacks he developed to support his autistic son Joe.Show notes:More about Graeme Lawrie: about ACS schools: link to International Space Station: about neurodiversity video project:

aeioTU, a social enterprise in Colombia, provides high-quality early childhood education and care, trains educators, creates resources and advocates for early learning to local regional and national governments.As Executive Director, Maria Adelaida Lopez talks about how they’ve scaled to reach over half a million children, how they work outside the formal system to drive change within and how their vision of learning that is anchored in play, looks to transform communities in an innovative and sustainable way.Show notes:More about aeioTU - about Maria’s work: about early education in Colombia: study on impact in EC - book about learning: ‘How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum’, Keri Smith, book not about learning: ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’, Gabriel García Márquez,

As former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham and former Head of Wellington College, Sir Anthony Seldon is one of Britain’s leading voices calling for radical change in education. He wants to move from what he calls the third education revolution – which was marked by homogenisation, heavy administrative burdens and little social mobility – to a fourth education revolution, one that embraces AI to personalise learning and frees up teachers to focus on relationships, developing student agency and offering everyone more autonomy. We talk about why he’s confident the pace of change is accelerating, why every human should get to experience university and why wellbeing must be a priority.Show notes:More about Sir Anthony Seldon: More about Action For Happiness: 10 days of happiness programme: The Fourth Education Revolution: How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the Face of Education: Books by Anthony Seldon: Favourite book about learning: ‘Le Grand Meaulnes’ by Alain-Fournier

Why do university faculty at Carnegie Mellon University - an institution renowned for its learning sciences and advances in technology enhanced learning - so often fail to adopt them? As anthropologist at CMU, specialising in faculty culture and use of technology, Lauren Herckis offers key insights, and useful advice on how leaders might navigate reluctance from their own teams to embrace new technologies. We talk about her many surprising findings and whether the recent acceleration of edtech will be sustained.Show notes:More about Lauren Herckis: research: book about learning: ‘How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching’, Susan A. Ambrose, Michael W. Bridges, Michele DiPietro, Marsha C. Lovett, Marie K. Norman, Richard E. Mayer book not about learning: ‘The Gold Bug Variations’, Richard Powers

Transcend is a non-profit addressing the lack of R&D departments for education, by working with schools to figure out what they want to change and then helping them do it. Jeff Wetzler, Co-Founder and Jenee Henry Wood, Partner, discuss how their guiding principles will shift schools from an industrial model of mass production which sorts and ranks, to one whose purpose and design point toward equity and positive student experience.Show notes:More about Transcend: County & Transcend case study (incl. academic success, page 9): Book: Forrest Carter, ‘The Education of Little Tree’ Book: Frederic Laloux ‘Reinventing Organisations’. Book: John Steinbeck, ‘East of Eden’ Book: Mark Twain, ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’

The Luminos Fund is an education non-profit that aims to get the most marginalized students into mainstream schools in Ethiopia, Liberia, Lebanon, and Ghana. Caitlin Baron and Alemayehu Hailu Gebre shed light on how the accelerated learning program packs 3 years of learning into 10 months by building a learning mindset and involving the community in a successful, joyful learning process.Show Notes:More about Luminos: research on the number of teachers required to teach those out of school: books about learning: ‘Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning’, Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel and ‘The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures’, Anne FadimanFavourite books not about learning: ‘The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant’, Graham Hancock & ‘Homegoing’, Yaa Gyasi

Launched in September 2021, Boris Walbaum founded Forward College, a pan-European university designed to develop all forms of human intelligences and skills. Students learn in small groups with full-time teachers, a high dose of formative assessment, and one-to-one tutoring. Boris believes that education should be the most meaningful experience for students but also for the world at large. With students demanding an opportunity to have an impact, and with a sense of urgency, Forward College aims to help them develop the skills to practice this.Show notes:- More about Forward College: Favourite book about learning: Jo Boaler, Limitless Mind, Marcel Proust, À la recherche du temps perdu,

As former acting education minister of Afghanistan, Rangina Hamidi committed to reforming teacher training, modernizing the massive education department, and implementing a national education policy. We discuss her decision to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban’s takeover, and how to effect change from outside the system, when she had so clearly decided the best way to reform Afghanistan was internally.Show notes:Hamidi’s considerations on whether to remain in Kabul: reflections on the future for Afghanistan: exit from Afghanistan:

As former head of Wuhan Yangtze International School, Erika Carlson now heads up iSC Academy, an all online school, primarily for Chinese nationals abroad, which has since attracted many Chinese families too. Erika and I talk about how to better integrate digital learning, how to achieve community and relationships online, and what's driving the most recent crackdown in the education sector in China.Show notes:More about iSC Academy: about international schools consortium: about Leadership International Development:

As founder of GoStudent, a 1:1 video tutoring platform operating in 17 countries, Felix Ohswald believes the biggest problem in education is a lack of access to great teachers. Having raised €291M, the platform connects 7000 tutors to 18,000 students. We discuss whether online 121 tutoring is more effective than in-person, whether tutoring can reduce equity gaps rather than exacerbate them and how GoStudent analyzes its data to understand what makes for effective learning.This episode is sponsored by SMART Technologies: Notes:More about GoStudent: Favourite ‘book’ about learning: the Richard Feynman Lectures,

As Co-founder and Co-CEO of MeeToo, Suzi Godson has built an app that allows young adults aged 11 to 25 to anonymously seek and offer advice from peers in their age range. With real life moderators making sure the advice is sound and supported, 50k students now use MeeToo and they’ve recently launched a mirror version, to support teachers. We discuss what different age groups are worried about and the support teachers need, for themselves and to better support their students.This episode is sponsored by SMART Technologies: Notes:MeeToo app via the NHS site: Connect App (for teachers): about Suzi Godson: of their data on mental health stats in the UK: books: ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ by Bernadine Evaristo, ‘Shuggie Bain’, by Douglas Stuart and ‘Detransition, Baby’ by Torrey Peters,

As Principal of rural comprehensive Ansford Academy, Shonogh Pilgrim spent the last 7 years designing for and around student agency. We discuss how the pandemic accelerated the move toward giving students independence, why every school should have a flexi schooling option and an entirely different approach to student exclusion. This episode is sponsored by SMART Technologies: notes:More about Ansford Academy: More about Whole Education: More about Ansford’s coaching model: More about Kunskapsskolan: Favourite book about learning: ‘Craft of the Classroom’, Michael Marland Favourite book: ‘Start With Why’, Simon Sinek,

Omega Schools is a network of 35 low cost, pay as you go, private schools in Ghana, serving 8,500 students. Joining as interim CEO in 2014, Alain Tanefo was brought in to turn around the business. Last year, Rising Academies bought Omega. We discuss the challenges with the low fee private school model, ways they stay committed to the most marginalized kids, and how Omega managed to increase its enrolment after the pandemic.This episode is sponsored by SMART Technologies: notes:More about Omega Schools: about Rising Academy Network: of expenditure on education: book about learning: James Tooley, ‘The Beautiful Tree: A Personal Journey Into How the World's Poorest People Are Educating Themselves’