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Stan speaks to May Ling Thomas about Integrity. What does it mean as a parent, a teacher or a human, to stay true to one’s values? May Ling is a home-educating Mum with powerful parenting convictions. She believes in letting go of damaging expectations about how things “should” be done so that we can put the love back in our relationships. What does integrity mean for parents? Should we care what other people think? Should we worry for our children’s futures? Does integrity mean staying true to your feelings or to your intellectual ideals?

Guest Thomas Godfrey-Faussett turns a critical eye to season 3 of About Learning. The discussion centres around “balance”. How much autonomy should children have? What are the limits of democratic parenting? Is there a place for indoctrination in education? A former teacher, Thom recently completed an MA in Comparative Education at Oxford and is now involved in a number of research projects.

Rosalyn Spencer, author of “Why I Started a Small School”, shares her experience. What’s so good about small schools? What can be achieved within the state school system? What is human scale education? Setting up a small school: online workshop https://1abf28c1-2610-4f9d-adbf-9ef0182664e4.filesusr.com/ugd/1ad436_f9ac205ee9194cab8d987190a84573a8.docx?dn=new%20flyer.docx Why I Started a Small School by Rosalyn Spencer: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Started-Small-School-nurturing-ebook/dp/B00C0XU3GQ

English schools are becoming more authoritarian. In this panel discussion, a group of educators discuss the reasons for this disturbing trend, and ask: what can we do to fight back? The panel: Emily Charkin, founder of Wilderness Wood. Meena Wood, former HMI and Principal and author of 'Secondary Curriculum Transformed' Derry Hannam, advocate of school democracy and former OFSTED inspector. Nicole Levy, Sociology & Economics teacher studying for an MA in Social Justice & Education at UCL.

Stan welcomes Emily Charkin who runs Wilderness Wood in East Sussex. The wood presents a radical alternative to school, providing space in which home-educated children learn, work and play. The discussion is wide-ranging: do schools help or hinder a sense of community? Is state education too academic? Are projects like WW just a middle-class indulgence? https://www.wildernesswood.org/ Mentioned In this episode: the Peckham Experiment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6aiCK3PGfs

Is free speech under threat in our universities? Stan speaks to Piers Benn, author of Intellectual Freedom and the Culture Wars, about cancel-culture, student activism and the recent Kathleen Stock scandal. Piers teaches Philosophy at Roehampton University and has been a lecturer in St Andrews, Leeds, Imperial College London and King’s College London. His introductory book Ethics is found on many Philosophy reading lists.

Stan speaks to Fran McCarthy, who has dedicated her career to schools in which children are free. Fran is a behaviour expert, runs workshops on conflict management, and is founding a democratic school for some of Sydney’s most disadvantaged young people. What is a democratic school? How can a school function when children have autonomy? How can learning be measured without exams? Can disadvantaged children handle freedom? Learn more about Fran’s latest project: www.communityxchange.com.au

Stan talks to Max Noble about Anarchism and education. Based in Canada, Max runs a radical project that gives children free rein to play and create collaboratively. What is Anarchy? What does an Anarchist education look like? How can we create non-coercive learning environments? Read more about Max’s Creation Stations here: https://www.tmaxrd.education/ Read Stan’s recent article about Anarchy and Education: https://stanpinsent.wordpress.com/2021/09/04/the-case-for-anarchy-in-schools/

Around the world, young people are cooped up in classrooms. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Stan Pinsent speaks to a series of experts to see how we can set learners free.

Most people in Education agree that schools are far from perfect. Should we be making small changes, or do we need a radical rethink?  In a conversation with his partner Zoë Guzy-Sprague, Stan talks about the influence of self-directed learning and unschooling on his thinking. He looks back the past few months and asks “what next?” for the podcast, his career and for Education in general. Also, Zoë gives her thoughts before she enters teacher training in the UK. Listen to the end for the bit when they accidentally get talking about having kids.

How do we decide whether schools are doing a good job? Stan sits down with three students at School 21 who have been asking whether the British inspection system is fit-for-purpose. Their project examines the mental health impact of school inspections, and questions the assumption that third-party oversight is a good thing. At the end Stan reflects on the power of project-based learning and offers a hopeful message to teenage students. Music: Tape Star by Shane Ivers - silvermansound.com

I speak to Margaret Wang about the role of a teacher. Can teachers be apolitical? Can they be trusted to take lessons off-piste? How can education policy better support teachers? At the end of the show I reflect on recognising Pride month with my students. Even with a good cause like Pride, is there danger in expecting students to adopt beliefs uncritically? Links: Subject to Climate: subjecttoclimate.org Rose Luckin on AI and human intelligence: ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/mar/opinion-ai-education-will-help-us-understand-how-we-think No Outsiders (teaching tolerance in UK schools): no-outsiders.com/about-us Music: Dark 'n' Stormy by Shane Ivers - silvermansound.com