Welcome to Education Sense, a new podcast from the team behind The Rest is Education!

This week's episode is brought to you by David Marshall and Isabel Rich. Together with teacher, Steph Vega, we'll be discussing Daniel Willingham's seminal education text Why Don't Students Like School? We will summarise what the book is about and also tease out some of the practical tips about how we can all become better classroom teachers. It's an episode that covers theory about how the brain learns but also some usable strategies for all.

Resources:

The first edition of Why Don't Students Like School? came out in 2009 with a new updated edition published in 2021: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55874986-why-don-t-students-like-school

Brief mention is also made of Daniel Willingham's new book, Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy. We recommend this book as a great resource for FE students and those studying for higher level exams: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59366180-outsmart-your-brain

In this episode, we use a Thinking Routine from Harvard Project Zero to guide the discussion and enable us to get to the heart of some of the cognitive principles raised in the book. We chose CONNECT, EXTEND, CHALLENGE as our Thinking Routine: https://pz.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Connect%20Extend%20Challenge_0.pdf

Steph is EDIJ coordinator and Head of Constructive Thinking at a primary school in North London. You can find out more about Harvard Project Zero, beloved of Steph and our teacher learning community: https://pz.harvard.edu/

How do we make space for the curious child?

In a society where we are eroding subjects such as music, art and dance from the curriculum, where knowledge and achievement are valued above play and creativity, how do we encourage curiosity in children and allow it to thrive inside and outside the classroom?

Ross Borthwick, Isabel Rich and David Marshall approach the question of curiosity in Episode 5 of Season 3 with...well, curiosity. It's something all schools want to promote - or say they want to promote - but what exactly is it, and how do we keep the spark alive in the children we teach, particularly in an age of instant access knowledge?

Episode Links & Other Things

• Article from The Atlantic: How the Ivy League Broke America, a thought-provoking look at the way exclusivity in education has increased the divide in the States. Essential reading for anyone involved in education, with lots of relevance to the UK system: https://bit.ly/4iibPOw
• Michael Rosen's Book of Play is wonderful, not just because of all the creative ideas but because of Rosen's own commentary on the ideas behind play, referencing Jean Piaget among others: https://wellcomecollection.org/books/michael-rosen-s-book-of-play
• Francis Alÿs' study of different children's games around the world explores play across different countries. Following the exhibition at The Barbican Centre earlier this year, you can find videos on this site showing different games in different countries, a window into the ingenuity of children everywhere: https://francisalys.com/category/childrens-games/
• How to Develop Curiosity in Kids: 9 engaging ideas from the International School in Ho Chi Minh City: https://bit.ly/3BAxcdd
• For anyone alive in the 90s, Dorling Kindersley (DK) were the go-to for information and fact-based learning, especially their cross-section books: https://www.dk.com/uk/book/9780241379783-stephen-biestys-incredible-cross-sections/
• We also love the range of non-fiction books you can get today. Flying Eye is one of the best around, with plenty to inspire curiosity: https://flyingeyebooks.com/
• Dunkeld Cathedral in Perthshire can be visited all year round: https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/dunkeld-cathedral/

The Rest is Education is a podcast created by teachers for teachers, parents and anyone interested in education. Please follow, share and recommend whenever you can. You can email us at therestiseducation@gmail.com or find us on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening!

Part two of our mini-series on school curriculum sees co-hosts Isabel Rich and Ross Borthwick interview Neil Burch, Senior Master and former Deputy Head Academic at Bradfield College, a leading independent senior school.

Neil has been teaching for over twenty years having worked in both state and independent sector, here in the UK and overseas. His role has enabled him to be involved with, amongst other things, curriculum design. He has also been a governor at The Willink which is a comprehensive school in Berkshire and at an international school in France.

Isabel is a former Head of English, current educational consultant and visits a multitude of schools in her role as an educational consultant.

Ross has worked in independent prep and senior schools across the UK, was an Assistant Head at a leading independent prep school in London, Scholars' Master at a former independent boarding 'Prep School of the Year' in the South-East of England and is now a Housemaster at a leading independent boarding senior school in Scotland where he is part of the team responsible for curriculum development.