Thirteen Years Well Spent
What was school like for you? This podcast chats to young adults about what, from school they use in life and what they have learnt since. In the cumulative stories of real people, lets find out if school is doing as it claims - prepare young people for life.
Episodes
22 episodes
22 Alexis
What if someone doesn't attend school for most days from year 8 onward? Alexis didn't. Yet she is "successful" in terms of having a job that she thrives in, a family, a work ethic and a sense of purpose. In fact, she suggests that she ended up ...
21 Kayla
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...
20 Kieran
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...
19 Tara
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 ab...
18 Guy Claxton
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 year...
17 Brad
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,...
16 Mick
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 m...
15 Ella
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 abou...
14 Tom
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...
13 Cameron
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 cha...
12 Matt Pitman Educator Reflection
Dr Matt Pitman's name has become synonymous with "connection" in Education. His books "The Connection Curriculum" and "The Connection Connundrum...
11 Riley
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 le...
10 Sof
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...
9 Lucy
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 rev...
8 Jazz
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.
7 Rebecca
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 d...
6 Christian Williams
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 ...
5 Liam
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 M...
4 Clair
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 ...
3 Jonathan
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 ...