Free school in Wembley, Greater London
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This episode was originally recorded in May 2024."What we have in common is what is taking us forward." — Lola Tinubu In May 2024, the High Court ruled that Michaela Community School's “prayer ban” did not unlawfully interfere with students' rights to religious freedom. This landmark decision reaffirmed the importance of secular education in promoting social cohesion — and raised questions about how schools should handle religion in increasingly diverse societies.In this episode, Audrey Simmons and Lola Tinubu — co-leaders of the Association of Black Humanists and long-time Central London Humanists members — apply their legal and education expertise to unpack the implications of the case for humanists, educators, and advocates of a secular society.Key Topics CoveredThe background of Michaela Community School and its secular ethosWhy the court upheld the school's ban under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human RightsThe tension between parental influence, religious identity, and student rightsWhy secular school environments can better accommodate diversity within religionsHow education must focus on shared humanity to address collective global challengesWhy this ruling gives schools confidence to protect inclusive and evidence-based educationEpisode resources:BBC News: Michaela School: Muslim student loses prayer ban challengeHumanists UK: Humanists UK respond to Michaela School ‘prayer ban' rulingSend us a textSupport the showSupport us on Patreon Advertising opportunitiesClick here to submit questions, nominate guest & topics. Follow Humanism Now @HumanismNowPod YouTube Instagram TikTok X BlueSky Threads Humanism Now is produced by Humanise Live Contact us at hello@humanise.live
In this episode, I'm joined by Jeanette Breen — Learning Specialist at Templestowe Heights Primary School and Head of Global Partnerships at No More Marking — to unpack insights from her recent tour of some of the highest-performing schools across the UK. From standalone primaries to schools within trusts like Ark Academy, and even the renowned Michaela Community School, where she met Katharine Birbalsingh, Jeanette explored what's making a real impact in classrooms and leadership teams. What makes this conversation truly unique is not just Jeanette's sharp eye for what works — it's that you'll also hear directly from the educators she met along the way, thanks to recordings made on-site during her journey. You'll hear from: Andrew Percival and Jess Rennie - Stanley Road Primary School, Oldham Madeleine Roberts, David Williams, Jonathan Howlett and Ellen Clarke - Ark Curriculum team Matt Burnage - Ark Soane Claire Stoneman - 4 Dwellings Academy, Birmingham Michael Eggleton - Charles Dickens Primary Stuart Houghton - Ribbon Academy, Murton Dr Haili Hughes - Professor of teacher coaching & mentoring, Academica University oas, Director of Education, IRIS Connect. ECF & NPQ facilitator Bruno Reddy - CEO Times Tables Rock Stars and former head of Mathematics at King Solomon Academy If you're looking to sharpen your teaching, rethink your curriculum, or get inspired by what's working in leading schools abroad, this episode is packed with gold. Resources mentioned: Daisy Christodoulou - Seven myths in education and Making good progress The Rose report StepLab Teach Like A Champion New wave maths books The Writing Revolution TimesTable Rockstars Grattan report on multi-school organisations Think Forward Educators Core knowledge units Numeracy screener being trialed by the Center for Independent Studies (CIS) White Rose Maths What Works Series ResearchED No More Marking You can connect with Jeanette: X/Twitter: @jettybe3 Linkedin e-mail: jeanette.breen@education.vic.gov.au or jeanette@nomoremarking.com You can connect with Brendan: X/Twitter: @learnwithmrlee Linkedin: @brendan-lee-kft Facebook: @learningwithmrlee Website learnwithlee.net Substack: knowledgeforteachers.substack.com/ Support the Knowledge for Teachers Podcast: https://www.patreon.com/KnowledgeforTeachersPodcast About Jeanette Breen Jeanette is an experienced teacher, presenter, and liaison for the creation of partnerships and professional learning opportunities. In addition to her school-based role at Templestowe Heights PS Victoria, Jeanette works with UK company No More Marking as the bridge for schools using innovative writing assessment. She leads a Writing Network with Think Forward Educators and is a founding member of Sharing Best Practice. Jeanette holds a Professional Certificate in Clinical Teaching and Masters in Instructional Leadership. Becoming a Better Maths Teacher: Craig Barton's Aussie Tour with Ollie Lovell For the first time ever, the UK's most celebrated mathematics teacher, podcaster, and author, Craig Barton, is coming to Australia for a nationwide tour. Craig will be joined by Australia's own Ollie Lovell for an unforgettable day of professional learning designed to transform your teaching practice. Don't miss your chance to be part of this transformative event! Four dates, four cities: Perth: Friday, June 20, 2025 Melbourne: Monday, June 23, 2025 Sydney: Wednesday, June 25, 2025 Adelaide: Friday, June 27, 2025 Seats are limited—secure your spot today and take your mathematics teaching to the next level!
This is the audio from a video we have just published on our YouTube channel – an interview with Katharine Birbalsingh. To make sure you never miss great content like this, subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@spiked Labour is about to destroy England's top-performing state schools. That's the stark warning of Katharine Birbalsingh, head of the Michaela Community School, often dubbed ‘Britain's strictest headteacher'. Here, Birbalsingh recalls her clashes with Bridget Phillipson, the Labour education secretary. She explains why the government's new schools bill will drive down academic standards, let bad behaviour slip and make it harder for kids to get into a decent state school. She also discusses the dangers of ‘decolonising' the curriculum and why schools must cultivate a sense of national belonging. Celebrate 25 years of spiked. Donate £25 or more to get a year's membership of spiked supporters for half the usual price: https://www.spiked-online.com/donate/ Support spiked: https://www.spiked-online.com/support/ Sign up to spiked's newsletters: https://www.spiked-online.com/newsletters/ Order Brendan O'Neill's After the Pogrom now from:
A famously strict head teacher in the UK says modern parents are being infantilised and they must take charge if they want to raise successful adults. To tell us more Katharine Birbalsingh is founder and head teacher of the Michaela Community School in Wembley.
Katharine Birbalsingh, who has become known as Britain's strictest headteacher, has accused Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson of being a “Marxist” who “hates academies”.The head of Michaela Community School in Wembley, she wrote an open letter to Phillipson after they met this week to discuss Labour's plans to reform the academy system. And it clearly didn't go well.Kamal and Camilla speak to a clearly angry Ms Birbalsingh about what happened at the meeting, why the government wants to centralise control of education and why standards will be ‘hit badly' under Labour's planned reforms.Plus, the Bank of England has cut interest rates from 4.75 to 4.5% - Kamal explains why this is good for our mortgages, but bad for Rachel Reeves...Vote here in our poll on whether Kemi Badenoch is doing a good job at Conservative leaderProducer: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganPlanning Editor: Venetia RaineyExecutive Producer: Louisa WellsSocial Media Producer: Ji-Min LeeVideo Editor: Andy MackenzieEditor: Camilla TomineyOriginal music by Goss Studio Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It's the second coming of the Donald as President Trump is inaugurated to the Oval Office for his second term, but what do your co-pilots make of the political antics across the pond?Closer to home, co-pilot Pearson delivers her thoughts from this week's trial of the Southport killings, which she believes demonstrates a ‘mass coverup' by the government.Joining your co-pilots this week is 'Britain's strictest' Headteacher, of Michaela Community School, Katherine Birbalsingh who explains the reasons behind her recent letter to the Education Secretary, Bridget Philipson.And co-pilot Halligan gives a glimpse behind the curtain from his recent appearance on Question Time.Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ |Read Allison: Why we Brits envy the US having Donald Trump': https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/22/britain-jealous-of-us-donald-trump/|Read Allison: ‘Starmer's mealy-mouthed statement shows he's no leader':https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/21/starmer-southport-axel-rudakubana-jo-cox-thomas-mair/ |Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |Email: planetnormal@telegraph.co.uk |For 30 days' free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/normal | Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Katharine Birbalsingh has many monikers: the founder and headmistress at Michaela Community School; chair of the Social Mobility Commission, an advisory body in England's Department for Education; Commander of the Order of the British Empire; honorary fellow at New College, Oxford; Britain's strictest headmistress; and of course, Miss Snuffy.In 2010, she was tapped to give a speech at Britain's Conservative Party conference, after which she was asked not to return to the school where she was employed. She eventually resigned and established her own school in 2014. A decade later, The Michaela Community School, a British free school comparable to an American charter school, which serves roughly 800 students ranging from eleven to eighteen, regularly boasts the highest growth scores of any K–12 educational institution in England. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Matt and Femi talk to Katharine Birbalsingh, founding member and head teacher of the Michaela Community School in Wembley Park.
Note: This episode originally aired in June 2023.What does a good school look like? How does a good school operate? What does a good school do differently? There are probably many correct answers to these questions, but on this episode of The Report Card we want to narrow it down and focus on one particular school, Michaela, that has a very particular set of answers to these questions. Located near London's Wembley Stadium, Michaela is a free school that opened its doors in 2014 and today has the highest GCSE value-added score in all of England. Michaela is known for its strict behavioral practices, its unique school culture, and its unabashed promotion of small-c conservative values.On this episode of The Report Card, Nat speaks with Katharine Birbalsingh, the founder and head teacher of Michaela Community School. Nat and Katharine discuss school culture, the importance of values in education, school lunches, cell phones in schools, discipline and student behavior, teacher feedback and observation, and more.Show Notes:Michaela: The Power of CultureBattle Hymn of the Tiger Teachers: The Michaela WayBritain's Strictest Headmistress
Joining us today is Katharine Birbalsingh, the headmistress of Michaela Community School in London and a name synonymous with innovation and excellence in education. Known for its high standards and strict discipline policies, Michaela fosters an environment where traditional values, personal responsibility, and strong discipline lead to academic and personal success. Enjoy this conversation as we discuss Katharine's journey, the principles that guide her, and her thoughts on the future of education.In this episode:Katharine shares her educational ideologyThe philosophy of Michaela Community SchoolThe importance of hierarchies and responsibilitiesChallenges in modern educationThe problem with individual learning plansCombating victimhood in childrenConnect with Katharine Birbalsingh:Michaela Community School websiteConnect with Clare: Instagram YouTubeFacebook LinkedInWebsite More about On the Couch with Clare:Come take a seat On the Couch with Clare, your weekly dose of common sense and raw conversations, where psychology meets everyday life. It's a show aimed to bring scientific insights, engaging conversations and never shies away from the tough topics across health, relationships, politics, parenting and everyday life. You'll hear from guests from diverse backgrounds, including media personalities, authors, and health professionals. Expect a blend of professional wisdom, personal anecdotes and political correctness - free zone. Clare's straightforward and honest approach delivers shame-free practical solutions, new perspectives, and actionable advice. Keeping it real, she addresses everything from fitness struggles, ADHD and digital addictions to mental health challenges and the dating scene. So, whether you're sipping coffee or enjoying your favourite wine, prepare for your weekly meet-up with a friend who's here to show you that the only battle you're truly facing is with yourself—and it's a battle you can win.Clare Rowe is a dynamic Sydney-based psychologist with a Masters in Educational & Developmental Psychology. Heading up a leading Child & Adolescent Psychology clinic, Clare's career spans from the therapy room to the courtroom and the media spotlight, offering practical solutions for parents regaining confidence, individuals navigating life post-divorce, and anyone trying to balance the demands of a fast-paced world.Dropping every Thursday, "On the Couch with Clare" will unfold with season 1 launching in July 2024.
Matt debriefs Femi on his visit to The Michaela Community School. They discuss teaching and learning, students, staff, family lunch and yard time, curriculum, routines, culture and much more.
Glen Scrivener interviews Britain's strictest headmistress Katharine Birbalsingh about Michaela Community School, original sin and the prayer ban controversy.See 321: http://321course.com/Subscribe to the Speak Life YouTube channel for videos which see all of life with Jesus at the centre:youtube.com/SpeakLifeMediaSubscribe to the Reformed Mythologist YouTube channel to explore how the stories we love point to the greatest story of all:youtube.com/@ReformedMythologistDiscord is an online platform where you can interact with the Speak Life team and other Speak Life supporters. There's bonus content, creative/theological discussion and lots of fun. Join our Discord here:speaklife.org.uk/giveContact the show: info@speaklife.org.ukSpeak Life is a UK based charity that resources the church to reach the world.Learn more about us here:speaklife.org.ukSupport the Show.
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson sits down with the headmistress of the Michaela Community School, Katharine Birbalsingh. They discuss the importance of K-12 education, why it matters more than the universities in regard to the formation of thinking minds, how children can pursue both excellence and a life of dignity, and why strictness, absent tyranny, is the best form of education. Katharine Birbalsingh is Headmistress and co-founder of Michaela Community School and former Chair of the Social Mobility Commission. She is known as “Britain's Strictest Headmistress”, following the ITV documentary about Michaela. Michaela's Progress 8 score placed the school top in the country the last two years. In 2023, OFSTED graded the school as “Outstanding” in every category. Birbalsingh read “Philosophy & Modern Languages” at the University of Oxford and has always taught in inner London. She has made numerous appearances on television, radio, and podcasts and has written for several publications. Birbalsingh has also written two books and edited another two, the last of which is “The Power of Culture,” which is about Michaela. Birbalsingh was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2020 and Honorary Fellow of New College, Oxford in 2021. This episode was recorded on June 15th, 2024 - Links - For Katharine Birbalsingh: On X https://x.com/miss_snuffy Documentary on the Michaela school www.strictestheadmistress.com Website for the Michaela Community school in Wembley, London. Here you can sign up for a visit www.michaela.education
Recording of the Academy of Ideas Education Forum discussion on 25 April 2024 in central London. ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION A High Court judgement hangs over Michaela Community School for banning ritual prayer. A Wakefield school suspended pupils for damaging a copy of the Quran. Two recent studies claim that faith schools select against poor and SEN children. Two thirds of the liberal Alliance Party in Northern Ireland want Catholic schools banned. Three years after showing pupils images of the Prophet Muhammad, a teacher in the north of England remains in hiding. It seems undeniable that schools are a new crucible for religious and social conflict. How do we navigate between tolerance and intolerance in these disputations? How does the right of faith communities to exercise their beliefs reconcile with established wider freedoms? Should the right to pray be available to all – even in non-religious schools? Should we defend a parent's right to send their child to a faith school? Or is that tantamount to a defence of privilege? Have we lost sight of whether faith-based liberties impinge on secular freedoms or vice versa? Who are the liberals and illiberals here? ‘What kind of school environment could so easily be destroyed by one group of students publicly expressing their religion for a mere few minutes a day?', asks author and teacher Nadeine Asbali. She describes the ban on Muslims praying in school as ‘a dystopian, sinister vision of multiculturalism'. Yet commentator Tim Black thinks, ‘we are witnessing not quiet displays of faith, but loud all-too-visible assertions of Muslim identitarianism … with little to do with Islam'. Has tolerance become too abstract and impoverished to deal with concrete forms of cultural and religious difference? What do you think: are our schools fighting an age-old battle between sacred and secular visions of society, or are they on the front line of a new culture war? SPEAKERS Khadija Khan journalist and commentator Adam Eljadi Media Studies teacher, NEU workplace representative and British Muslim. He speaks here in a personal capacity. Gareth Sturdy former teacher and religious affairs journalist CHAIR Kevin Rooney teacher and Education Forum convenor
On Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, a Muslim student has lost a legal challenge against Michaela Community School's 'prayer ban'. Former Armed Forces Minister James Heappey is live in the studio. Nick speaks to Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Paediatricians urge a law change to ban smacking in England and Northern Ireland. All of this and more on the Nick Ferrari Whole Show Podcast.
Katharine Birbalsingh is a British teacher and education reform advocate. She is the founder and Headmistress of Michaela Community School, a free school established in 2014 in Wembley Park, London.Despite achieving remarkable results for students, Michaela faces political resistance due to its traditional approach, and prioritizing hard work and academic rigor over identity politics. Katharine discusses this opposition (which mostly comes from the political left) as well as the importance of integration among students. The discussion extends to broader societal issues at the intersection of race and education. Katharine instituted a prayer ban at the school, and an incident between a Muslim student and the school was taken to the High Court of Justice. On April 16th, 2024, the High Court ruled in Katharine's favor. Watch this episode on YouTube.
A high court judge has ruled that a prayer ban at one of the highest-performing state schools in England - run by ‘Britain's strictest headteacher' - was not unlawful.Following the decision, Katharine Birbalsingh, who founded Michaela Community School, a free school in Brent, posted on social media saying it was a "victory for all schools".It comes on the same day that primary school places are announced. Almost 10,000 children failed to get a place at their first choice primary school despite a drop in applications partly caused by families fleeing London.The Evening Standard's Education Editor Anna Davis shares her insight & analysis.Follow us on X or on Threads. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Katharine Birbalsingh, headteacher of the Michaela Community School, discusses the High Court case against the Michaela school, why she banned prayer and the importance of secular education. Order Brendan O'Neill's A Heretic's Manifesto now from:
Dubbed ‘The World's Strictest Teacher', Katharine Birbalsingh CBE is the founder and head teacher of Michaela Community School, a free school established in 2014 in Wembley Park, London. She is an advocate for education reform and Chair of the Social Mobility Commission. The Michaela website: https://michaela.education/ We are proud partners with GiveSendGo - a world-leading crowdfunding platform that believes in free speech. Go to givesendgo.com and raise money for anything important to you. SPONSOR: Try Verso's incredible longevity products and get 15% off by using code TRIGGER at VER.SO Verso Scientific References: 1. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.868640/full 2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35844164/ 3. https://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/10/6/456 Join our exclusive TRIGGERnometry community on Locals! https://triggernometry.locals.com/ OR Support TRIGGERnometry Here: Bitcoin: bc1qm6vvhduc6s3rvy8u76sllmrfpynfv94qw8p8d5 Music by: Music by: Xentric | info@xentricapc.com | https://www.xentricapc.com/ YouTube: @xentricapc Buy Merch Here: https://www.triggerpod.co.uk/shop/ Advertise on TRIGGERnometry: marketing@triggerpod.co.uk Join the Mailing List: https://www.triggerpod.co.uk/#mailinglist Find TRIGGERnometry on Social Media: https://twitter.com/triggerpod https://www.facebook.com/triggerpod/ https://www.instagram.com/triggerpod/ About TRIGGERnometry: Stand-up comedians Konstantin Kisin (@konstantinkisin) and Francis Foster (@francisjfoster) make sense of politics, economics, free speech, AI, drug policy and WW3 with the help of presidential advisors, renowned economists, award-winning journalists, controversial writers, leading scientists and notorious comedians.
Church of England vicars with a difference Daniel French, Thomas Pelham and Jamie Franklin sit down to talk about the most pressing matters of church and state. This time:- The establishment has apparently decided that war with Russia and various other nuclear superpowers is inevitable and that this may include conscription. Have the ruling elites finally completely lost their minds?- The WEF Conference is back with Lord Cameron talking up war and Ursula von Der Layen saying that countering disinformation is the way to rebuild trust with the unwashed massed. - Finally, the high-achieving Michaela Community School's headteacher and board of governors have been taken to court because they wouldn't allow Muslim pupils to pray in their secular school. All that and much much more as always. Enjoy!Please Support!Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/irreverend) or Buy Me a Coffee (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/irreverend). Subscribe to Jamie's Blog here: https://jamiefranklin.substack.comLinks:“Prepare for War”: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/01/18/nato-warns-of-war-with-russia-putin-next-20-years-ukraine/Grant Shapps Tweet: https://twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1746931070270865917WEF Conference Summary Article: https://dailysceptic.org/2024/01/22/davos-elites-ve-vont-to-protect-you-from-dis-information/WEF Creepy Witchcraft: https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1747726039139107033Yuval Harari Twits on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MythinformedMKE/status/1749780190111072446Notices:Find links to our episodes, social media accounts and ways to support us at https://www.irreverendpod.com!Find me a church: https://irreverendpod.com/church-finder/Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/irreverendpod/Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/IrreverendPodJoin our Telegram group: https://t.me/irreverendpodThursday Circles: http://thursdaycircle.comJamie's Good Things Substack: https://jamiefranklin.substack.comIrreverend Sermon Audio: https://irreverendsermonaudioSupport the show
In this episode, Adam and Amy open with a discussion around behaviour policies and the importance of holding the line. They then spend some time discussing the recent events at Michaela Community School, dissecting the issues around their non-existent prayer room and the resulting legal and political fallout.
In this special episode on Teachers Talk Radio, Tom Rogers is joined by Katharine Birbalsingh, Headteacher of Michaela Community School, to discuss the high court challenge emanating from the school's ban on Islamic Prayer Rituals. In this must listen interview, Katharine explains her views on secularism and multiculturalism, OFTSED and the role of government in school intervention, Michaela culture and the story behind this court case.
Over the holidays, we're looking back at some of the best episodes of 2023, a year that saw massive controversy over the state of Canada's schools. At Katharine Birbalsingh's inner-city free school in London, students are not to speak in the hallways. Discipline is strict. The kids, heavily drawn from minority groups, memorize knowledge and learn duty. It's what used to be considered a typical education. But as Birbalsingh tells Brian Lilley this week, she's now considered a “radical.” The results? The students at Michaela Community School are excelling and parents are delighted. Birbalsingh explains what she thinks educators in Canada are getting so wrong. (Recorded September 28, 2023) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Replays of Roy's best interviews of 2023. Take some lessons from Britain's Strictest Headmistress, Katharine Birbalsingh. Originally aired on October 8, 2023 Teachers across Canada experiencing violence and harassment from students. Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario reports 77% of ETFO members have personally experienced or witnessed violence against staff members. We talk to Britain's 'strictest headmistress' about how students must behave in school or face consequences. Also, how at her inner city London school the emphasis is on the 3R's. The approach is yielding great success. although not without its critics. Guest: Katharine Birbalsingh. Headmistress, Michaela Community School, Wembley, London, UK (spent some years of her youth in the Toronto area attending school here). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Take a look back at Roy's best interviews of 2023 with our end-of-year encore presentations of the Roy Green Show! Today's presentation includes: Rents across Canada have achieved unaffordable status for many. Perhaps none more so than Toronto sisters Yumna and Khadeja Farooq. Their 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment where they have lived for 3 years and for which they most recently have been paying $2,500 monthly rent was suddenly raised by $7,000 to $9,500 per month, to begin November 1, 2023. The sisters sought legal advice and will join us to share what they have found out. (Their building was constructed after 2018 making it exempt from rent control.) Guests: Yumna and Khadeja Farooq. Originally aired Sept. 16, 2023. Teachers across Canada experiencing violence and harassment from students. Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario reports 77% of ETFO members have personally experienced or witnessed violence against staff members. We talk to Britain's 'strictest headmistress' about how students must behave in school or face consequences. Also, how at her inner city London school the emphasis is on the 3R's. The approach is yielding great success. although not without its critics. Guest: Katharine Birbalsingh. Headmistress, Michaela Community School, Wembley, London, UK (spent some years of her youth in the Toronto area attending school here). Originally aired Oct. 8, 2023. Reflections on 2023 National Truth and Reconciliation Day with artist Adrian Sutherland. Guest: Adrian Sutherland. Lifelong resident of Attawapiskat First Nation. International award-winning singer/songwriter. Most recent song Notawe (Father), sung entirely in Adrian's first Cree language. Recorded and mastered by multi Grammy Award winning producer Colin Linden and mastered by another multi Grammy Award winner Greg Calbi. - Adrian as well addresses issues facing First Nations and life at Attawapiskat where homes are barely insulated against freezing winter temperatures and drinking water remains unsafe. Originally aired Sept. 30, 2023. The massive appeal of Taylor Swift and 31 million attempts to purchase tickets to her concerts in Toronto in November of 2024. As well, why do some artists become multi-decade successes while others have an occasional hit over the same period of time and yet others are so-called 'one hit wonders'? Guest: Eric Alper (thatericalper.com). 16-time JUNO Award winner and nominated six times as Publicist Of The Year during Canadian Music Week. Originally aired Aug. 27, 2023. Let's look at the Online News Act which Canadians have been commenting on. Let's cut to the chase. Where do you get your news, sports, social commentary today? Then a bit of nostalgia. What did you grow up with? Radio, television, newspapers? What do you miss? And frankly, who needs the tech "giants?" Just go to the websites of the individual Canadian news outlets and forget about Meta and Google. Guest: Joe Warmington. Columnist. PostMedia. Originally aired Jul. 15, 2023. Hollywood on strike! What is this strike about and why is this one described as very serious. And: Another blockbuster for Tom Cruise with the latest Mission Impossible movie. Is he the most successful Hollywood actor ever? Guest: Murray Pomerance. Is an independent scholar and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at RMIT University, Melbourne. His most recent book, just out in paperback, is COLOR IT TRUE: Impressions of Cinema. One of the most respected authors of books about film and the actors and directors. Originally Aired Jul. 16, 2023 --------------------------------------------- Host/Content Producer – Roy Green Technical/Podcast Producer – Tom Craig Podcast Co-Producers – Tom McKay and Matt Taylor If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Roy Green Show, subscribe to the podcast! https://globalnews.ca/roygreen/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Teachers across Canada experiencing violence and harassment from students. Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario reports 77% of ETFO members have personally experienced or witnessed violence against staff members. We talk to Britain's 'strictest headmistress' about how students must behave in school or face consequences. Also, how at her inner city London school the emphasis is on the 3R's. The approach is yielding great success. although not without its critics. Guest: Katharine Birbalsingh. Headmistress, Michaela Community School, Wembley, London, UK. (spent some years of her youth in the Toronto area attending school here) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Today's Podcast: From Efrat, suburb of Jerusalem, on the day following the murderous assault on Israel by Hamas. Guest: Caroline Glick. Senior contributing editor of Jewish News Syndicate and host of the Caroline Glick Show on JNS. Also the diplomatic commentator for Israel's Channel 14, as well as columnist for Newsweek. Teachers across Canada experiencing violence and harassment from students. Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario reports 77% of ETFO members have personally experienced or witnessed violence against staff members. We talk to Britain's 'strictest headmistress' about how students must behave in school or face consequences. Also, how at her inner city London school the emphasis is on the 3R's. The approach is yielding great success. although not without its critics. Guest: Katharine Birbalsingh. Headmistress, Michaela Community School, Wembley, London, UK. (spent some years of her youth in the Toronto area attending school here) Heading into the Thanksgiving weekend, Federal Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says his drive to lower grocery prices has resulted in discounts, price freezes and price-matching offers, but didn't have any answers on how quickly grocery prices may in fact fall. Meanwhile in Britain food prices have marginally for the first time in 2 years as grocery chains compete. And: how a $20 minimum wage is reshaping the fast food industry in California where in May of 2024 the minimum wage for fast-food industry workers will be raised to $20 an hour. Not all good news says our guest. Guest: (on both issues) Professor Sylvain Charlebois. Head of the Dalhousie University Agri-Foods laboratory and Dalhousie Univ professor. Canada's 'catch and release' federal and provincial criminal justice reality. From Vancouver a chronic offender released for the 14th time and subsequently arrested again. And: NCR, 'Not Criminally Responsible' again makes headlines. A Toronto judge ruled Thursday that a Toronto woman who shoved a stranger onto subway tracks is guilty of attempted murder and aggravated assault. However, because of mental health issues is Not Criminally Responsible (NCR). Guest: Scott Newark. Former Alberta Crown prosecutor, executive director of the Canadian Police Association, senior policy advisor to federal and Ontario Public Safety Minister, Vice-chair of the Ontario Office for Victims of Crime. --------------------------------------------- Host/Content Producer – Roy Green Technical/Podcast Producer – Tom Craig Podcast Co-Producer – Matt Taylor If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Roy Green Show, subscribe to the podcast! https://globalnews.ca/roygreen/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
At Katharine Birbalsingh's inner-city free school in London, students are not to speak in the hallways. Discipline is strict. Students wear uniforms, sit in rows and listen to instruction. It's teacher-led learning, not child-centred. The kids, heavily drawn from minority groups, memorize knowledge and learn duty. It's what used to be considered a typical education. But as Birbalsingh tells Brian this week, she's now considered a “radical.” The results? The students at Michaela Community School are excelling and parents are delighted. Birbalsingh discusses what she thinks educators in Canada are getting very wrong — and why the ones paying most dearly for it are disadvantaged children. (Recorded September 28, 2023) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Welcome back to The Closet podcast. For this episode, we have an amazing guest, Katharine Birbalsingh CBE. Katharine is a British teacher and education reform advocate who is the founder and head teacher of Michaela Community School, a free school established in 2014 in Wembley Park, London. Politically, she identifies as a small-c conservative. Come and join me in The Closet, a place for intimate conversations, self-expression, and connection when we need it the most. Make sure you subscribe to my show and rate it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you're listening. And make sure you follow me on social media! Sit back and get inspired. Here's Katharine. Find Katharine online: twitter.com/Miss_Snuffy
What does a good school like? How does a good school operate? What does a good school do differently? There are probably many correct answers to these questions, but on this episode of The Report Card we want to narrow it down and focus on one particular school, Michaela, that has a very particular set of answers to these questions. Located near London's Wembley Stadium, Michaela is a free school that opened its doors in 2014 and today has the highest GCSE value-added score in all of England. Michaela is known for its strict behavioral practices, its unique school culture, and its unabashed promotion of small-c conservative values.On this episode of The Report Card, Nat speaks with Katharine Birbalsingh, the founder and head teacher of Michaela Community School. Nat and Katharine discuss school culture, the importance of values in education, school lunches, cell phones in schools, discipline and student behavior, teacher feedback and observation, and more.Show Notes:Michaela: The Power of CultureBattle Hymn of the Tiger Teachers: The Michaela WayBritain's Strictest Headmistress
0:00 - Dan & Amy react to the indictment of Donald Trump in document case 10:51 - Dan & Amy continue their discussion on Trump's most recent legal troubles 31:40 - Dan & Amy turn to the flip side and the bribery charge against Biden 49:02 - Former Chief Asst. U.S. Attorney & Contributing Editor at National Review, Andrew McCarthy, breaks down the Trump indictment. Be sure to check out Andy's most recent book Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency 01:09:46 - Britain's Strictest Headmistress and co-founder of Michaela Community School in Wembley, London, Katharine Birbalsingh, on thinking conservative in the world of teaching. Watch the documentary on Katharine at strictestheadmistress.com 01:28:29 - Dan & Amy take reaction to their interview with Katharine Birbalsingh 01:47:25 - Scott McKay, publisher of the Hayride & contributing editor at the American Spectator: It's Time to Cancel Pride Month. Check out Scott's book The Revivalist Manifesto 02:06:01 - OPEN MIC FRIDAY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dubbed 'Britain's strictest headteacher', Katharine Birbalsingh's no-nonsense approach to education has won her both fans and critics. But the Michaela Community School she founded in inner city London has proven itself with outstanding results. Katharine talks to Justin and Belle about why, even though she does not profess faith herself, she sees the value of the Christian worldview in education.For Re-Enchanting: https://www.seenandunseen.com/podcastThere's more to life than the world we can see. Re-Enchanting is a podcast from Seen & Unseen recorded at Lambeth Palace Library, the home of the Centre for Cultural Witness. Justin Brierley and Belle Tindall engage faith and spirituality with leading figures in science, history, politics, art and education. Can our culture be re-enchanted by the vision of Christianity? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode of the Knowledge for Teachers Podcast, Brendan Lee had the opportunity of visiting Marsden Road Public School and then speaking to the Principal, Manisha Gazula. Marsden Road has recently featured in a number of reports from the Grattan Institute on role-model schools from around the country. This is the first of a two part series on the school. In the next episode, you will hear from Deputy Principal Troy Verey. Manisha's leadership style has been compared to Katherine Birbilsingh from Michaela Community School in the UK. However, in this conversation you will hear how Manisha's clear vision, high expectations and relentless care have turned the schools results and culture around. Manisha also details their behaviour curriculum called The Marsden Way and their whole school curriculum - the Core Program. Resources mentioned: Joanne Dooner - www.training247.com.au/ Dan Willingham Mark Seidenberg The Grattan Institute - Jordana Hunter and Amy Haywood How to implement a whole-school curriculum approach Ending the lesson lottery: How to improve curriculum planning in schools You can connect with Manisha: Twitter: @manisha_gazula You can connect with Brendan: Twitter: @learnwithmrlee Facebook: @learningwithmrlee Website: learnwithlee.net
Katharine Birbalsingh is the founder and headmistress of the Michaela Community School. She is known for promoting 'small-c' conservative values in the her school, and has subsequently been dubbed Britain's Strictest Headmistress, which later became the title of an ITV documentary exploring her and her methods. She spoke about the underlying philosophy of Michaela Community School, her journey from being a ‘lefty' to now a ‘small-c' conservative, and the lessons she learnt from her dad's parenting. Read the full transcript here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2023/02/22/katharine-birbalsingh-on-smallc-conservatism-and-the-philosophy-of-michaela-community-school ***** The Sacred is a podcast produced by the think tank Theos. Be sure to connect with us below to stay up-to-date with all our content, research and events. CONNECT WITH THE SACRED Twitter: https://twitter.com/sacred_podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sacred_podcast/ CONNECT WITH ELIZABETH OLDFIELD Twitter: https://twitter.com/ESOldfield Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethsaraholdfield/ CONNECT WITH THEOS Theos monthly newsletter: https://confirmsubscription.com/h/d/E9E17CAB71AC7464 Twitter: https://twitter.com/Theosthinktank Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theosthinktank LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theos---the-think-tank/ Website: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/ CHECK OUT OUR PODCASTS The Sacred: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-sacred/id1326888108 Reading Our Times: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/reading-our-times/id1530952185
Katharine Birbalsingh CBE is a British teacher and education reformer who is the founder and head teacher of Michaela Community School, a free school established in 2014 in Wembley Park, London. Ideologically, she identifies as a small-c conservative. Fr Alex is the vicar St Matthew's Burnley, and is the author of a brand new book entitled 'Our Daily Bread Argos To The Altar. A Priest's Story which be ordered here, Our Daily Bread: From Argos to the Altar – a Priest's Story eBook : Frost, Father Alex, Campbell, Alastair: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store or follow him on Twitter @alexdjfrost
For this archive debate from 2019, we invited a panel of top speakers to discuss the motion: The West Should Pay Reparations For Slavery. Should there be a broad programme of reparations – not just financial compensation, but acknowledgement of the crimes committed and the lasting damage caused by slavery? Or would this just worsen social tensions by reopening old wounds? Arguing for the motion were Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University; and Esther Stanford-Xosei, reparations activist and lawyer. Arguing against the motion were Katharine Birbalsingh, headmistress and co-founder of Michaela Community School in London; and Tony Sewell, educational consultant and CEO of the charity Generating Genius. The debate was chaired by social historian, author and academic, Emma Dabiri. ... Did you know that Intelligence Squared offers way more than podcasts? We've just launched a new online streaming platform Intelligence Squared+ and we'd love you to give it a go. It's packed with more than 20 years' worth of video debates and conversations on the world's hottest topics. Tune in to live events, ask your questions or watch back on-demand totally ad-free with hours of discussion to dive into for just £14.99 a month. Visit intelligencesquaredplus.com to start watching today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this week's episode, Ricky and Jon interview Katherine Birbalsingh. Katherine is the founder and head teacher of Michaela Community School, a free school established in 2014 in Wembley Park, London. The inner city school is renowned for its rigorous behavior standards and its outstanding academic achievements.---ARTICLES AND LINKS DISCUSSEDFollow Katherine Birbalsingh on Twitter@Miss_Snuffy---Britain's Strictest Head Mistress:https://www.strictestheadmistress.com/---SUPPORT THE NEW FLESHBuy Me A Coffee:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thenewflesh---Instagram: @thenewfleshpodcast---Twitter: @TheNewFleshpod---Follow Ricky: @ricky_allpike on InstagramFollow Jon: @thejonastro on InstagramFollow AJ: @_aj_1985 on Instagram---Logo Design by Made To Move: @made.tomove on InstagramTheme Song: Dreamdrive "Chase Dreams"
On this episode Andrew and Beth interview “Britain's Strictest Headmistress,” Kathrine Birbalsingh. Kathrine speaks about the state of education in the U.K., which we compare with our own experiences in the U.S. She discusses what led her to a career in teaching and to forming her own school in London, Michaela Community School. She also […]
On this episode Andrew and Beth interview “Britain's Strictest Headmistress,” Kathrine Birbalsingh. Kathrine speaks about the state of education in the U.K., which we compare with our own experiences in the U.S. She discusses what led her to a career in teaching and to forming her own school in London, Michaela Community School. She also shares her views on woke education and how a culture of victimhood is harming children, especially lower income and inner city children. She explains what being “strict” really means and discusses the challenges of hiring and training teachers in a school environment that values knowledge, discipline and responsibility. Katharine Birbalsingh is Headmistress and co-founder of Michaela Community School in London and Chair of the Social Mobility Commission. Katharine read Philosophy & Modern Languages at The University of Oxford and has always taught in inner London. She has made numerous appearances on television, radio, podcasts and has written for several publications. Katharine has also written two books and edited another two, the last of which is The Power of Culture, about Michaela. Katharine was appointed Honorary Fellow of New College, Oxford in 2021 and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this episode, I have the pleasure of interviewing Britain's "strictest" headmistress, Katharine Birbalsingh. Katharine is the founder of Michaela Community School, a secondary school in London that always seems to be mired in controversy. As other school leaders have sought to innovate their programs by opting for child-led learning and a softer touch to … Continue reading S2E12: Katharine Birbalsingh on Discipline and Traditional Education
Katharine is a leading figure in education practice and policy and founder as well as principal of London's Michaela Community School. It's no secret that Australian schools' performance has been in decline for many years. That's not for a lack of funding, nor a lack of commitment from countless dedicated educators. But more can be done to advance the learning of all students, no matter their background. It's a culture of high expectations, consistently well-managed classes, high behavioural standards, and commitment to explicit teaching that are the not-so-secret sauce behind educational success. There is no better example of this in the world than the London-based, Michaela Community School. Despite serving mostly disadvantaged students, they've delivered exceptional outcomes. More than half of their school leavers have achieved the equivalent of an A grade — more than 2.5 times better than the national average — helping to earn Michaela international praise.
John is joined in conversation by Katharine Birbalsingh, described by many as ‘Britain's' strictest teacher'. Birbalsingh's passion for high-quality education provides for insightful and challenging perspectives on the state of our current school system and what can be done to improve it.
Should mindfulness and happiness take their place on the school curriculum alongside maths and literacy? Thomas Dixon asks whether 200-year-old ideas about love, emotions, and primary education are still relevant today. He visits three schools with different approaches to emotions, and meets experts on mental health and wellbeing - asking whether there is a crisis in young people's mental health today, whether schools should be part of the solution, and if so what that solution might look like. Katharine Birbalsingh talks to Thomas about the "tough love" approach at Michaela Community School, and discusses whether it is harsh, or loving, to try to instil an ethos of Stoicism and individual resilience: "You say it's mean, I say it's love." Adrian Bethune is a primary school teacher, the author of "Wellbeing in the Primary Classroom" and founder of “Teachappy”, an organisation committed to putting wellbeing and happiness at the heart of education. @AdrianBethune Dr Lucy Foulkes is a Senior Research Fellow at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families and an honorary lecturer in psychology at UCL. She is the author of "What Mental Illness Really Is… (and what it isn't)". @lfoulkesy Dr Alex Turner is Applied Research Lead at The Children's Society @DrAlexLTurner Louis Weinstock is a psychotherapist and the author of "How the World is Making Our Children Mad and What to Do About It" Michael Eggleton is Headteacher of the Charles Dickens Primary School and Nursery, a research school in Southwark, where he leads their wellbeing curriculum @Michael_cdps Katharine Birbalsingh is Headmistress of Michaela Community School, Wembley, and Chair of the government's Social Mobility Commisssion. @Miss_Snuffy "Living With Feeling" is produced by Natalie Steed for Rhubarb Rhubarb, and supported by the Wellcome Trust. It is brought to you by the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions. Find out more about our work at The Emotions Lab website.
Should mindfulness and happiness take their place on the school curriculum alongside maths and literacy? Thomas Dixon asks whether 200-year-old ideas about love, emotions, and primary education are still relevant today. He visits three schools with different approaches to emotions, and meets experts on mental health and wellbeing - asking whether there is a crisis in young people's mental health today, whether schools should be part of the solution, and if so what that solution might look like. Katharine Birbalsingh talks to Thomas about the "tough love" approach at Michaela Community School, and discusses whether it is harsh, or loving, to try to instil an ethos of Stoicism and individual resilience: "You say it's mean, I say it's love." Adrian Bethune is a primary school teacher, the author of "Wellbeing in the Primary Classroom" and founder of “Teachappy”, an organisation committed to putting wellbeing and happiness at the heart of education. @AdrianBethuneDr Lucy Foulkes is a Senior Research Fellow at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families and an honorary lecturer in psychology at UCL. She is the author of "What Mental Illness Really Is… (and what it isn't)". @lfoulkesyDr Alex Turner is Applied Research Lead at The Children's Society @DrAlexLTurnerLouis Weinstock is a psychotherapist and the author of "How the World is Making Our Children Mad and What to Do About It"Michael Eggleton is Headteacher of the Charles Dickens Primary School and Nursery, a research school in Southwark, where he leads their wellbeing curriculum @Michael_cdpsKatharine Birbalsingh is Headmistress of Michaela Community School, Wembley, and Chair of the government's Social Mobility Commisssion. @Miss_Snuffy"Living With Feeling" is produced by Natalie Steed for Rhubarb Rhubarb, and supported by the Wellcome Trust. It is brought to you by the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions. Find out more about our work at The Emotions Lab website. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Katharine Birbalsingh, chair of the Social Mobility Commission and headteacher of the Michaela Community School, returns to The Brendan O'Neill Show to talk about the culture war in the classroom. Donate to spiked: https://www.spiked-online.com/donate/ Sponsored by: Noom https://noom.com/brendan
Should there be a broad programme of reparations – not just financial compensation, but acknowledgement of the crimes committed and the lasting damage caused by slavery? Or would this just worsen social tensions by reopening old wounds? That's the theme of this week's Sunday Debate. Arguing for the motion were Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University; and Esther Stanford-Xosei, reparations activist and lawyer.Arguing against the motion were Katharine Birbalsingh, headmistress and co-founder of Michaela Community School in London; and Tony Sewell, educational consultant and CEO of the charity Generating Genius.The debate was chaired by social historian and presenter Emma Dabiri. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
This week's guest is Katharine Birbalsingh, Headmistress of the Michaela Community School in London. They follow up on their conversation from last year and Charles asks her what has changed in the last year. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Ayaan speaks with Katharine Birbalsingh about the importance of schools providing both a classical education and a place of belonging for children. Katharine explains how and why she established Michaela Community School. They also discuss the American obsession with race and how that is affecting education. Katharine Birbalsingh is Headmistress and co-founder of Michaela Community School in... Source
Ayaan speaks with Katharine Birbalsingh about the importance of schools providing both a classical education and a place of belonging for children. Katharine explains how and why she established Michaela Community School. They also discuss the American obsession with race and how that is affecting education. Katharine Birbalsingh is Headmistress and co-founder of Michaela Community School in Wembley, London. Michaela is known for its tough-love behavior systems, knowledge curriculum and teaching of kindness and gratitude. In 2017, the British Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills graded the school as “Outstanding” in every category. Katharine studied Philosophy & Modern Languages at The University of Oxford and has always taught in inner London. She has made numerous appearances on television and radio and has written for several UK publications. Katharine has written several books. Her latest came out in August, titled The Power of Culture. Follow her on Twitter @Miss_Snuffy. Follow Ayaan on Twitter @Ayaan. Subscribe to support Ayaan’s podcast at ayaanhirsiali.com.
Ayaan speaks with Katharine Birbalsingh about the importance of schools providing both a classical education and a place of belonging for children. Katharine explains how and why she established Michaela Community School. They also discuss the American obsession with race and how that is affecting education. Katharine Birbalsingh is Headmistress and co-founder of Michaela Community […]
Welcome to More Christ, where we seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions. In this seventeenth episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by the brilliant Katharine Birbalsingh. Katharine is a British education reformer and headteacher. She is the founder and headmistress of Michaela Community School, a free school (charter school) established in 2014 in Wembley Park, London. Birbalsingh is the author of two books, Singleholic (2009) and To Miss with Love (2011), and editor of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Teachers: The Michaela Way (2016) and Michaela: The Power of Culture (2020). She also hosts a blog, To Miss with Love, where she writes about the education system. In 2017 she was included by Anthony Seldon in his list of the 20 most influential figures in British education, and in 2019 she was awarded the Contrarian prize.
Barry Smith is a founding senior leader of Michaela Community School, former Headteacher of Great Yarmouth Charter Academy and Regional Director of Community Schools Trust in London. Barry and I discuss how to improve teaching and pupil buy in, what really good behaviour looks like, how to get staff buy in and how to build a culture of genuine mutual respect. Barry also shares his aim to have the 'most relaxed school in the country'.
Children need adults. They need them for guidance, for discipline, for inspiration, and of course, formal education. But often when we talk about education, our attention is almost exclusively focused on those adults. What are they doing right? What are they doing wrong? What are they doing too much or too little of, and how can we stop them? And we too often lose sight of how the children are actually performing. Michaela Community School founder and headmistress Katharine Birbalsingh shares how her staff have gone about providing underserved children the ability to change their stars.Michaela Community SchoolThe Power of Culture: The Michaela Way, edited by Katharine BirbalsinghControversial Michaela Free School Delights in GCSE Success - The GuardianSuccess Academy Charter SchoolsThe Butterfly of Freedom, by Edward MonktonMichaela student achieves perfect GCSE scores - reaction video@Miss_Snuffy----------Email: newliberalspodcast@gmail.comTwitter: @NewLiberalsPod
Katherine Birbalsingh joins us in the Teacher's Lounge to discuss her journey from teacher to headmistress of a free/charter school in London, UK. We talk discipline, grade policy, and online school practices. Check out the Michaela Community School's books: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Teachers: The Michaela Way Michaela: The Power of Culture Watch the episode in full at www.thechalkboardreview.com! Chalkboard Review, 2021.
For much of the past year, across Europe and the wider world, schools have been closed. Was this a morally justifiable policy?Freddie Sayers spoke to teachers and one former teacher, now MP, to find out: what is the reality on the ground? What is the impact on children's lives? At the end of it do we think it was the right decision? Katharine Birbalsingh, Headmistress of the Michaela Community School in northwest London. Miriam Cates MP, Conservative MP and former science teacher and Alex Gutentag, a public school teacher from Oakland in California.Each of them comes to a different conclusion but they agree on one thing: the impact on children of such an extended period of school closures is very grave.Many thanks to Katharine, Miriam and Alex for sharing their thoughts so candidly.https://unherd.com/thepost/special-report-is-closing-schools-immoral/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
"What I'm saying is, is that because they're not aware of their unconscious bias, they think they actually believe that what they're doing is right... There are a lot of people who disagree with me, not just the people on the left or the right, because many people on the right refuse to recognise how complex racism is.... People in the middle recognise that racism isn't just black and white, it's actually far more complex. And it reveals itself unconsciously, in all kinds of ways, both on the right and on the left. We tend to just think people on the right are racist people and people on the left are not... I'm saying, no, what they're doing is signalling virtue, they are not actually being virtuous." Katharine Birbalsingh is the Headmistress and co-founder of Michaela Community School in Wembley, London. Michaela is known for its high standards of discipline, tough-love behaviour systems, knowledge curriculum and teaching of kindness and gratitude. In 2017, OFSTED the Office for Standards in Education, graded the school as “Outstanding” in every category. Katharine read Philosophy & Modern Languages at The University of Oxford and has always taught in inner London. She has made numerous appearances on television and radio and has written for several UK publications. Katharine has written two books, edited a third and a fourth called Michaela: The Power of Culture has just been published. Whether you agree with Katharine or not, she will make you think. In the 2020 Birthday Honours, Katherine was awarded CBE. Follow Katharine on Twitter: @Miss_Snuffy
Award-winning British education reformer Katharine Birbalsingh joins us to tell the story of Michaela Community School, the highly successful yet controversial and divisive traditionalist London school that has been central to the story of the UK education sector in recent years.
Katharine Birbalsingh is the founder and head of Michaela Community School. She and her staff wrote the book, “Michaela: the Power of Culture” which you can find anywhere books are sold. Michaela is a different kind of school. High standards of discipline - silent corridors Knowledge is our goal in the classroom Why don’t people do things to get the results - People are critical of just focusing on the test. Public appreciation during family lunches. What tests should be like. Cutting the crap - kids usually learn in pretty much the same way. We’ve assumed that the differences of the subject also apply to the differences of the students. Personalized learning is where we disagree. Teachers don’t spend all their time chasing naughty behavior. Teachers aren’t inventing what they teach, they’re sharing and pulling them. How to plan ahead, making sure people have time to do that. No support staff, so there are fewer staff Turn down teachers for doing things for five kids. Personalized learning - The power of saying no. Most staff want to be heard I seek out the ideas of staff all the time. I depend on you to tell me when they Bribing people to tell me what is wrong. You’ve got to inspire people and win hearts and minds. Sorting out behavior - start with the small things. You need consistency throughout your schools. You’re pretending that kids are learning when they’re not in a progressive classroom. Small c conservative vs. progressive approaches. Personal responsibility, duty to community, Dressing well, having a sense of decency about yourself. Having pride in yourself for the right reasons. Far too much negativity. Gratitude. They see themselves as victims. Free schools started only in 2010. I remember what I’m in it for. How to be a transformative principal? You’ve got to have courage. You have to not mind being disliked. You must never think I want people to be happy. Do the right thing. Sponsors TeachFX Innovative school leaders across the country have started tracking online student participation using TeachFX because it’s one of the most powerful ways to improve student outcomes during COVID — especially for English Learners and students of color. Learn more about TeachFX and get a special offer at TeachFX.com John Catt Today’s Transformative Principal sponsor, John Catt Educational, amplifies world-class voices on timeless topics, with a list of authors recognized globally for their fresh perspectives and proven strategies to drive success in modern schools and classrooms. John Catt’s mission is to support high-quality teaching and learning by ensuring every educator has access to professional development materials that are research-based, practical, and focused on the key topics proven essential in today’s and tomorrow’s schools. Learn more about professional development publications that are easy to implement for your entire faculty, and are both quickly digestible and rigorous, by visiting https://us.johncattbookshop.com/. Learn more about some of the newest titles: Michaela: The Power of Culture by Katharine Birbalsingh Teaching WalkThrus: Visual Step-by-Step Guides to Essential Teaching Techniques by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli Putting Staff First: A blueprint for revitalising our schools by John Tomsett and Jonny Uttley The Teaching Delusion: Why Teaching In Our Schools Isn’t Good Enough (And How We Can Make It Better) by Bruce Robertson Stop Talking About Wellbeing: A pragmatic approach to teacher workload by Kat Howard John Catt is also proud publisher of the new book from Transformative Principal host Jethro Jones: SchoolX: How principals can design a transformative school experience for students, teachers, parents – and themselves Visit this page to learn more about bulk orders and how to bring John Catt’s research-based materials to your school: https://us.johncattbookshop.com/pages/agents-and-distributors
Pritesh Raichura is Head of Science at Michaela Community School. He blogs at bunsenblue.wordpress.com about school values, pedagogy & #CogSciSci. He has recently contributed two chapters in the new book 'The Power of Culture' written by Michaela teachers. Pritesh has given talks at a number of ResearchEd events on topics such as Quality Teacher Talk, Effective Planning of Teacher Led Lessons and Effective Questioning, which we will look into in today's podcast.
Katharine Birbalsingh is the founder and head teach at Michaela Community School in Brent, London. Here she talks about truth, education and why original sin matters.Support the show (https://speaklife.org.uk/give/)
Jeremy chats to Katharine Birbalsingh, the much-maligned (and loved) 'strictest headmistress in Britain', about her controversial Michaela Community School, Black Lives Matter, identity, discipline, and teaching. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
Renowned education reformer Katharine Birbalsingh CBE joins us for this episode of TPA Talks. Drawing on her experience founding Michaela Community School in London, Birbalsingh explains the difference between traditional and progressive schooling, the importance of responsibility and choice, why free schools work, and more!
As the daughter of immigrants and herself an Oxford student, Katharine Birbalsingh entered a program in which she encouraged inner-city students onto a path toward Oxford themselves. In that role, she found her love for teaching and was eventually asked to speak at the Conservative Party conference (where her speech gained more views than the UK's prime minister at the time). Her ideas on education received backlash, and she was forced to exit her teaching position. Today, she is the founder and headmistress of the Michaela Community School in London, an exceptionally successful free school (similar to a U.S. charter school) which is used as a model for schools around the world. In this episode, she discusses with Jeremy Tate why she stood up to promote academic values that run counter to identity politics in education. Ms. Birbalsingh was recently made Commander of the Order of the British Empire by the Queen for her services to education. Host Jeremy Tate @JeremyTate41Guest Katharine Birbalsingh @Miss_SnuffyMichaela Community SchoolBattle Hymn of the Tiger Teachers: The Michaela WayThe Power of Culture: The Michaela WayE.D. Hirsch: The Schools We Need And Why We Don't Have Them
Gary sits down with Katharine Birbalsingh, a British educator and headmistress of Michaela Community School, a school in inner-city London run on traditional educational principles. Last year Michaela's students achieved some of the best GCSE scores in the country, receiving the highest possible grade at a rate four times higher than the national average. They talk about the impact traditional educational methods can have on the opportunities available to children, particularly those from poor and ethnic minority backgrounds.https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tiger-Teachers-Take-Katharine-Birbalsingh/dp/191290621X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1594383295&refinements=p_27%3AKatharine+Birbalsingh&s=books&sr=1-1
Gary sits down with Katharine Birbalsingh, a British educator and headmistress of Michaela Community School, a school in inner-city London run on traditional educational principles. Last year Michaela's students achieved some of the best GCSE scores in the country, receiving the highest possible grade at a rate four times higher than the national average. They talk about the impact traditional educational methods can have on the opportunities available to children, particularly those from poor and ethnic minority backgrounds.
Headmistress and founder of Michaela Community School, Katharine Birbalsingh joins us for a third time. Support TRIGGERnometry: Paypal: https://bit.ly/2Tnz8yq https://www.subscribestar.com/trigger... https://www.patreon.com/triggerpod Find TRIGGERnometry on Social Media: https://twitter.com/triggerpod https://www.facebook.com/triggerpod https://www.instagram.com/triggerpod About TRIGGERnometry: Stand-up comedians Konstantin Kisin (@konstantinkisin) and Francis Foster (@failinghuman) make sense of politics, economics, free speech, AI, drug policy and WW3 with the help of presidential advisors, renowned economists, award-winning journalists, controversial writers, leading scientists and notorious comedians.
Katharine Birbalsingh is Headmistress of Michaela Community School, a Free School serving inner city London. In this episode, she talks to Greg Ashman about Free Schools, the challenges she faced setting up Michaela, the Michaela approach to learning and to discipline and why everyone should visit and see for themselves. Along the way, Greg and Katharine discuss the opposition to explicit teaching and how to cope with unpleasant comments on Twitter.
This week's guest is the awesome Katharine Birbalsingh, who is the founder of, and headteacher at, Michaela Community School in London. We discussed the killing of George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter protests, policing, statues, the nature of racism, and more. This episode is part of our series of shows focussed specifically on the Black Lives Matter movement. Watch the first episode in that series, with Associate Prof. Wilfred Reilly, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bt88... , or listen to it as a podcast (it's the episode before this one). BOOKSBuy 'The Power of Culture' here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tiger-Teacher... Buy 'Staying Power' here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Staying-Powe...YOUTUBEAlong with all other episodes, this podcast is also available on our youtube channel, 'E2 Review Podcast'. Click here, or use this link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LASvDEwYL0s&t=739sSOCIAL MEDIA:Follow Max (the host) on Twitter: @MaxE2ReviewFollow Max on Instagram: @maxklinger12Follow E2 Review on Twitter: @E2ReviewFollow E2 Review on Instagram: @E2ReviewFollow E2 Review on Facebook: www.facebook.com/e2reviewFollow E2 Review on TikTok: @E2ReviewFollow Katharine on Twitter: @miss_snuffyCONTACT US:E2ReviewShow@gmail.com#GeorgeFloyd #Katharine Birbalsingh #BLM
Adam Boulton and guests discuss the tension between scientific advice and political decision making over the coronavirus response.An uncomfortable dilemma for the Prime Minister as lockdown measures are gradually eased but not enough for all pupils to return to school.And what about the two-metre social distancing rule? No sign of movement on that despite the impact it will could have on the economy.Joining Adam this week are the founder and headteacher of Michaela Community School in north west London Katharine Birbalsingh, the science columnist at UnHerd Tom Chivers and Sky's political correspondent Kate McCann
Nathan McGurl, the Founder of the Study Buddy, talks with Katharine Birbalsingh, Founder and Headmistress at Michaela Community School, author and speaker. In this episode Katharine discusses why parents must maintain authority and discipline, and why it's something that children need. We cover the importance of forming good habits early on as well as a look at the perils of mobile phones. This podcast series talks to a range of experts, parents and students about studying, with practical tips on surviving and thriving while they study from home.
And is there a point to counter-factual history? -- This week, Graham Stewart speaks to Katharine Birbalsingh, headmistress of Michaela Community School in Brent, on education and schooling during Coronavirus. Michaela Community School (https://mcsbrent.co.uk/) is a trail-blazing school achieving very high results from its pupils. Also in this podcast, Graham asks Jeremy Black, Emeritus Professor of History at Exeter University, whether there is a point to counter-factual history. -- Right now we're offering 3 months for just £5. Go to thecritic.imbmsubscriptions.com/ for details. --- Image: Getty Images Music: "Modern Jazz Samba" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This week, Graham Stewart speaks to Katharine Birbalsingh, headmistress of Michaela Community School in Brent, on education and schooling during Coronavirus. Michaela Community School (mcsbrent.co.uk/) is a trail-blazing school achieving very high results from its pupils. Also in this podcast, Graham asks Jeremy Black, Emiritus Professor of History at Exeter University, whether there is a point to counter-factual history. -- Right now we're offering 3 months for just £5. Go to thecritic.imbmsubscriptions.com/ for details. --- Image: Getty Images Music: "Modern Jazz Samba" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
I spoke to Katharine Birbalsingh, founder of and headmistress at Michaela Community School in London, well known commentator, educationalist and general legend for this week's episode. Along with all other episodes, this podcast is also available on our youtube channel, 'E2 Review Podcast'. Click here, or use this link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhfKgCqN08Y&feature=youtu.beSOCIAL MEDIA:Follow Max (the host) on twitter: @MaxE2ReviewFollow Max on instagram: @maxklinger12Follow E2 Review on twitter: @E2ReviewFollow E2 Review on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/e2review/Follow E2 Review on Facebook: www.facebook.com/e2reviewFollow E2 Review on TikTok: @E2ReviewFollow Katharine on twitter: @Miss_SnuffyCONTACT US:E2ReviewShow@gmail.com#education #katharinebirbalsingh
Katharine Birbalsingh is the founder and headmistress of the Michaela Community School in London. She has been dubbed by the media as 'The UK's strictest headmistress'. We discuss education reform, conservative values, benefits of discipline, and why she is considered so controversial.Subscribe to the 'Real Talk With Zuby' podcast on iTunes, Spotify & Stitcher - fanlink.to/zubypodcastFollow Zuby - twitter.com/zubymusic Follow Katharine - twitter.com/miss_snuffyThis podcast is sponsored by 'The Morning Navigator' newsletter by Tony Greer - sign up for a FREE TRIAL at tgmacro.comJoin the Team Zuby Community on Locals - https://teamzuby.locals.comSupport the podcast with a donation - https://buymeacoffee.com/zubymusicSupport the podcast on Patreon - https://patreon.com/zubymusicSpecial thanks to GOLD TIER Patreon members: Ebele Achor, Adam Patterson, Make Weird MusicFollow Zuby on: Twitter - twitter.com/zubymusicFacebook - facebook.com/zubymusicInstagram - instagram.com/zubymusicWebsite - zubymusic.comBuy Team Zuby music and merchandise - teamzuby.com
Introduction Hello and welcome to the Teaching Space Podcast. It's Martine here. Thank you so much for joining me. Martine: Today, I have a guest on the show and we're going to be talking productivity. Rather than have a big intro, I'm going to hand straight over to my guest, Justin Hockey. Justin, welcome to the show. Justin: Thank you, Martine. It's great to be here. Martine: I'm so pleased to have you on. Could you tell me, I'm going to get you to introduce yourself if that's okay, who are you and what in the world do you do? And where in the world do you do it? Justin: That's a great question. With modern technology, anywhere in the world is just about possible. So my name is Justin and I'm a music teacher. I've been working in various countries around the world teaching music. India, Australia, and now South Korea, so that's where I am right now in South Korea. I teach at an international school. I'm also married and with a child. So that adds into the productivity mix, as I'm sure many of your listeners will also experience or know of. Martine: Let's talk about productivity, because you and I both have a common interest in being the most productive people we can be. You said you're a music teacher. What is it about the role of a teacher that makes productivity such a challenge? Justin: Gosh. I mean, I've had some notes about this. I wrote down three things to prompt me: people, processes, and products. People, I mean, as a teacher in any setting you're dealing with people, obviously your colleagues and supervisors, or bosses, or heads, depending on whether it's a further education setting or a school. For me, I'm at a school, and currently a junior school, or what some parts of the world call an elementary school or a primary school. So, I have over 300 students I see each week. And so, dealing with that many moving parts, people as it were, is a challenge. And then there's all the processes that go with that in terms of routines that are meant to happen but of course, in most schools no one week is the same as the next exactly. And particularly this time of the year when we're recording it, it's coming up to Christmas. And then I said the word product, which is not necessarily perhaps the best word. But I guess the outputs. What are we trying to achieve? We're not manufacturing devices or selling products in a store. We're shaping people's lives, and whether that's shaping adults' lives, young adults' lives or children's lives, that's something which in some senses is a never-ending job. So, it's very easy to, as a teacher in any setting, to feel like the work is never done. Because in a sense, it never is. There's always more to be done, and people can quite quickly burn out or become overwhelmed. And I know for myself and many of the listeners, we've been there and experienced those challenges. And so I'm excited about sharing some of my insights and journey so far. But obviously, like teaching itself, it's almost like a never-ending process of learning to be more productive. Like climbing a mountain, the higher you get, the more you realise is ahead of you and how far you've come. Martine: You alluded to the fact that you have some strategies that you use. I'd like to kind of attack this from two angles. Initially, if we talk about the sort of general approaches and resources and things like that, and then go specifically into productivity apps and tools. So, if we start general and then sort of drill down into the detail, that would be great. So tell us what you do. Justin: Great. What I thought I would do is approach this through three people that I've come across. These are not people I've met in person, but they're all ... Well, certainly one of them is a teacher herself, and the other two are people that I've seen referenced in productivity generally. So, the first one I'll start with is Angela Watson, and for a long time she was an instructional coach and teacher in the United States, and now she runs her website. She's got a number of brands, or a number of websites I should say. But I guess the key one is the 40 Hour Work Week Club for teachers where she essentially says, "As a teacher, it is possible to cut down your work week to 40 hours." And I signed up to her email list and blog and podcast at least five years ago, and she still offers this course as well as a number of other services online, which tens of thousands of teachers have signed up for and gained a lot out of. But four of the key things I gained from her are batching, lists, using the calendar and mindset. I mean, there's obviously other things that go with that, but I'll just touch briefly on each of those. Batching was such a ground-breaking concept to me. The idea that as a teacher, or any worker really, you've got a bunch of tasks that need to be done, and some of those tasks are actually similar to each other. So, for example, you might have a whole bunch of planning that needs to be done, or you might have a whole bunch of physically moving things around your workspace that needs to be done. And rather than trying to do a little bit here and a little bit there, if you can arrange your schedule or arrange your time such that you are batching these tasks, grouping these tasks together, you tend to get them done better during that time because you're not scattering your attention across days or weeks or even months. And you're also, by the fact of thinking through what types of tasks you need to get done, that tends to force you to think more carefully about what you're doing, and when you're doing it, and even perhaps why you're doing it. Martine: I think that batching was a big game changer for me in terms of how I deal with marking. I think marking is one of those really, really good examples of where batching can just make you far more efficient, because I really have to get into a zone when I'm marking assignments and things like that. And it takes me a long time to get into the flow. So, if I end up doing a bit of assignment marking here and there, I never actually get into the flow of it at all. So, one of the things I always batch is assignment marking. Justin: That's exactly it. Marking, writing reports is a big one which I'm in the middle of. Anything dare I say tedious. But also, whether it's involving other people or things yourself, batching is certainly a great way to start approaching things. And if there's nothing else that listeners go away with, that would be something, one I would say if you haven't tried it, start looking at how you can group your tasks or processes together so that you're not scattering your attention and time across things like that. Another big thing that Angela Watson talks about is making lists. And this really comes into the question of apps. It's like, well, there are great apps out there. But at the end of the day, you need to have some sort of centralised list of tasks and projects and goals that you have, whether it is on an app, whether it is in an analogue form such as a diary or a notebook, or even a combination system, a hybrid. But somewhere to create lists. And then thirdly, calendar. Some system, again, of having a calendar, whether it's Google Calendar, a notebook, or again, a combination. And the fourth aspect that Angela Watson has brought up time and time again and has in fact written a whole book about recently is mindset. Because productivity, at the end of the day, shouldn't be just about getting more things done faster. Anyone who's been in the game long enough will realise you don't just want to be working faster, because you end up like a hamster on a wheel. But thinking about, hang on, what's this all for? What kind of mindset am I going into this with? A sense of dare I say sort of abundance or scarcity? Scarcity in the sense of, "Oh, there's not enough time to do everything, I'll never get everything done, and I'll just frantically try and put out all the fires." Or, of a sense of abundance, of saying, "I as a teacher am able to make choices about what's most important for my teaching, for my professional life and even my personal life. Because of course, you can't really divorce or separate your personal life from your teaching life. Those two are inextricably linked. So that's Angela Watson and some of her things there. Before I go into the other two, I thought maybe perhaps you have any questions or comments on that, Martine? Martine: Yeah. I wanted to say that I'm a big fan of Angela Watson's work. I don't know if you know this, Justin, but I actually did the 40 Hour Teacher Work Week a couple of years ago, and it was a real- Justin: No, that's news. Martine: ... yeah, it was a real source of inspiration to me, and I really enjoy Angela's podcast too. And I will make sure I link to all of that information on the show notes, because I think it can bring lots of value to any listeners to the podcast. So yeah, totally agree with you, I'm a big fan. I also liked the point that you made when you were talking about to-do lists and calendars and things like that, getting focused on the process and not kind of getting into the apps first or the tools first, just having a calendar in any format. Just go analogue first to get used to what the tool is for. And then start thinking, "Actually, could I use this app? Could I use this tool?" Just start with the I want to say kind of productivity concept, and then look at the tools afterwards. Because you've got to get used to using a list and using a calendar. And those things are sort of at the foundation in my opinion of being more productive. So, I think that's really, really good advice. Justin: It is great. And just as teachers, I mean, I'm sitting here thinking, yes, I want my students, I teach music, I want them to be able to use composition software or digital keyboards. But at the end of the day, if we don't have what in music, we call musicianship skills, in other words, being able to think musically without tools, devices, or even instruments believe it or not, then we sort of miss something somewhere. And I think productivity is quite similar to what you said about understanding the concept of the calendar in terms of physically having a calendar, or physically having a to do list puts into perspective what tool or what app you're going to use. Yeah. That's a great thought cycle there. Martine: I like an app as much as the next person. And I kind of get a bit of shiny object syndrome if a new app comes out. I'm like, "I really want to try that. Apparently, this new thing's really good." But it's important to stop, work out what you actually, what the foundation you need to look at is first, and then get into the apps. So great point. Justin: Excellent point, Martine. And you used a keyword there, stop. Which, you and I haven't talked about this next person yet, but Michael Hyatt is the next person I'm going to talk about. Martine: Love Michael Hyatt. Great minds. Justin: Yes, indeed. Michael Hyatt has written a number of books. And for those listeners that don't know who he is, amongst other things, he's been a former CEO of one of the major book publishers in the United States, and for the last almost 10 years now he's been running his own company. Which, amongst other things, focuses on productivity and helping people to succeed in life and be more productive, but being productive in the right areas. And I took one of his courses about two years ago. I signed up for the Free to Focus course, which is now also being turned into a book. And just think of the title, Free to Focus. He talked about productivity, that I mentioned earlier in fact, productivity not being a hamster wheel that we want to get on necessarily, but rather a question of other priorities. I mean, Michael Hyatt was the one who really clued me into this idea of freedom. We want the freedom to be productive and the freedom to focus, but not for the pursuit of just endless work. But rather freedom to achieve what we want to achieve, and then freedom to then go on and live our lives in a satisfying and successful way. So that's one big thing for Michael Hyatt, Free to Focus. He's also done a number of other books, and in some cases courses. Your Best Year Ever is about goal setting. Which, as he says, Free to Focus is about the day to day and week to week productivity, nuts and bolts. They think, "Oh my gosh, I'm overwhelmed by to-do lists, and students, and emails and all of those things." That's like being stuck with the trees. But then if you want to look at the forest for a moment, his Best Year Ever course and book, and of course there's many other people who do this, looking at the goals you have for the months of the year and even for the year. Setting yearly goals is such a valuable thing to be able to do. And then he says even ... We talked about the trees, and then there's the forest, but perhaps you can look at the whole national park if you like, if want to use that picture. He's written a book called Living Forward, which is about writing a life plan. Which, until I'd come across the concept, I mean, who thinks of writing a plan for their life? Most of us are busy writing plans for our lessons or our semester curriculum, whatever it is. But he does talk about a life plan. And if you can, or when you can, make the time to really stop and do that. And it's a process. You don't just do it once and think, "Yeah, tick that box. I don't have to ever think about that again." But thinking of how I came onto this and how you prompted me on this is stop. So, within the Free to Focus productivity system, he's got three steps really. And Step One is Stop. Step Two is Cut. And Step Three is Activate. So, stop is really a process of actually hitting pause on everything and saying, "What am I actually doing this for?" Which, can bring in the question of, "What are your life goals? What are your yearly goals? Or what are your quarterly goals?" So, taking that time to stop. And then secondly, the idea of cutting. Because once you've paused even just for five minutes to say, "Well, hang on. What do I need to get done today, let alone this week, this month, or this life?" Being able to perhaps eliminate in fact within the cut step, I think from memory here, the first thing he says is eliminate. “There are some things on our to do lists, that don't actually need to be there. And if we can't eliminate them, perhaps we can delegate them to other people. Or if we can't delegate them to other people, we can automate them.” In other words, we can set up a system, a process, or in some cases and Apple tool to actually do that for us. And certainly, with social media posting or depending on the kind of teaching you do, there might be things that you can delegate to other people or to apps or processes. And then the third stage he talks about is activating. Which, is the actual process of going out and executing your to do list. So that's Michael Hyatt. And then there's one more person I'll talk about. But I'm sure you've got some thoughts on Michael Hyatt too, Martine. Martine: Yeah. I do like Michael Hyatt. I think he's got a lot of good stuff to say about productivity. I found it interesting when you were talking about the life plan. And part of me was thinking, "I haven't even got a lesson plan for tomorrow, let alone a life plan." I'm kidding, I do have a lesson plan for tomorrow. Justin: Where are your priorities? Martine: Absolutely. But I think personally that's kind of a next step for me, so I might check out his book. Again, I'll make sure this link's in the show notes to all of those books. I'm very good at having a yearly plan, breaking that down into quarterly goals and things like that. But going further than a year is kind of scary sometimes isn't it. So, your point about it being a work in progress is something that you don't just set and that's that. It's a really good one. So yeah, thanks for the book recommendation, I'll be looking into that. Justin: Most welcome. So next, we've talked about Angela Watson, who herself is a teacher, and Michael Hyatt who comes from the corporate and business world. And the third person I want to talk about is Cal Newport. Funnily enough, I guess you could label him as a teacher. Cal Newport, for those who don't know him, is a professor of computer science at one of the big universities in the United States. And amongst other books, he's written perhaps the most relevant book here to our discussion is Deep Work. The concept of deep work, which links to batching. Having the time and space, and most importantly attention and focus to execute or to really work deeply on things. Now, this may be in terms of research, or it might be in terms of preparation, even marking and report writing. Those are all deep work type tasks that, if we can eliminate distractions, minimise disruptions, having the time and space to do deep work, which could be something as short as the famed Pomodoro Technique of 25 minutes of blocked out time, everything from 25 minutes through to half a day to even a day. (Check out Episode 12 on the Pomodoro Technique) I mean, in the book Deep Work, Cal Newport talks about people who take whole weeks or months to do things. But of course, they are not your bread and butter teachers typically. Some of them are ... Adam Grant is one famous example he gives. And Adam Grant is an author, and I think he's certainly in one of the big US colleges. He's a professor, and he still teaches students. But he's arranged his schedule such that he does have chunks of time, several days of the week where he can just focus on his research for example. I could rave on and on about Cal Newport. I'll just mention one other book he's written called Digital Minimalism. And it's a book that came out back in February of this year, 2019. And he really pushes deep into this idea of if we're trying to execute on deep work, if we're trying to eliminate distractions and interruptions, what does that look like in a digital world? And Cal Newport himself famously has never had social media accounts, no Twitter and no Facebook. And yet, he's been extraordinarily productive with putting out research papers and acquiring a significant teaching post at a university. So Deep Work and Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport, well worth investing in for anyone who's trying to get their heads around the overwhelm as it were of being a teacher, or indeed anyone else in the 21st century. Martine: I read Deep Work quite a few years ago, and I think I'm due for a reread actually. But you just reminded me of possibly one of the biggest shocks to the system for me when I went into teaching just over 10 years ago. I came from a corporate background, and I think the biggest shock was not having any stretches of time to try to get into that state of deep work. I was always just snatching a quarter of an hour here and there between sessions. Having a one-hour lunch break suddenly became quite an attractive stretch of time where I could be doing some deep work. So, I think going from corporate to teaching, that was the biggest change. The fact that we, as teachers, often don't have a whole day or a half a day where we can just get our heads into something. So, I think I'm due a reread on Deep Work. I loved Digital Minimalism, it really challenged me. Justin: Oh yeah. And I was just reading it today, Digital Minimalism, thinking, "Gosh, I really need to get back into this idea of trimming, of cutting, or even detoxing from a whole bunch of digital input." Yeah. That's a thing with this, it's a journey of learning and in some cases relearning or revisiting these concepts and ideas. Martine: There are some great recommendations there, Justin. Let's start moving towards tools and apps, because we're both big fans of tools and apps. Talk to me about your current productivity toolkit. Justin: Sure. I will start again with Michael Hyatt. Forgive me for banging that drum. But Michael Hyatt has, interestingly enough, he was really into his digital tools and still is. And in fact, I think I found you, Martine, because Michael Hyatt and yourself or certainly someone who knows you are on a Facebook group for Notion, which I will mention shortly. Martine: That's right. Yeah. Justin: So, you have him to blame for that. But Michael Hyatt, he put out, he created I should say basically a diary, a planner. Because he had been using digital tools and apps, and still does. But he reached a stage about three, four years ago when he realised to achieve this deep focus state and be really strategic and plan, he needed to be going back to analogue tools, so pen and paper. So long story short, he created the Full Focus Planner. And because I've been following Michael Hyatt, I saw sort of the early pre-release material and was one of the first users to sign up for the Full Focus Planner. So, I still carry that around. It's been really interesting, because I can see in analogue form, I don't have to go through apps, or apps that I might have used and stopped using. But I can pick up my now close to eight quarterly planners that I have and flick through them and see days and weeks where I've been very almost religiously following the system that he has in terms of making a list and using the calendar, and scheduling the day, and reflecting on the day. And then there will be days, dare I even say weeks or two here and there where I barely scratched the planner with my plan. Yeah. That's just an interesting self-reflective point for me. But that's certainly one tool I could recommend, is the Full Focus Planner. And if you're not using the Full Focus Planner, it doesn't just have to be that one. Anyone I think these days who's questioning this idea or exploring this idea of productivity needs to think about the time to be switching off from digital and using analogue or working out what balance and what hybrid system if you like of using analogue and digital tools. So, with that I'll go onto digital tools. I mean, gosh, most of the major ones certainly that I've seen you talk about I've seen you use at one time or another. So, Asana, been there, done that. Todoist, I was using that for quite a while. Trello, I think Trello I actually started using more frequently because you had mentioned it, Martine, and enjoyed that for quite a while. Google Keep was another one I started to go onto. But if I'm really honest, none of those at the moment I'm using. I still have the accounts for some of them. But in the last certainly 30 days, six weeks, I haven't really used those. I've been really getting into WorkFlowy. And again, Martine, this is something you had put me onto. And the thing I love about WorkFlowy is that it is just so simple. In fact, some of the reviews and some of the people who mentioned it said it's almost like you sign up for it and think, "Is this thing broken? Am I missing something?" Because it looks so simple, or it is so simple. And yet, the more you use it, the more you realise it's powerful. And certainly, that's my approach. And I think this a key thing. Whichever app, or whichever tool you're using, digital or analogue, and this is a perspective I have as a music teacher, is, it's an instrument that you're learning to use. And you will get better at it the more you use it. And you may reach a stage where you think, "Well, actually this is really not the tool for me to use in my setting, or at this point in my life, or at this point in the year," or whatever it is. And that's fine. But look, for me, WorkFlowy is certainly the tool I've been using the most lately. And I have two accounts, one for work and one for home, and then can share the dots, or the documents as it were. And just quickly for those who don't have a clue what I'm talking about, WorkFlowy essentially is ... I mentioned dots because you open it up and you just see these bullet points. And then you can create your own bullet points. But the killer feature as it were of WorkFlowy is you click on the bullet point and it opens up that bullet point as a whole new screen, or document I should say. And so you can then add more bullet points, click on those bullet points and have further levels. So, as they describe it themselves, it's an infinite level of ... levels if you like of being able to go into this mega document you're creating. And then hashtags, that's the one that's really started to make me realise that it's a quite powerful tool if you understand the hashtags. And then just being able to check off the check lists. So that's some of the tools and apps I've tried in the past, and WorkFlowy that I'm still using. Notion. Notion, again, look, I was using it for quite a while and I thought, "Wow, this is amazing." I'd actually transitioned to Notion from Evernote. Now, I still have an Evernote account, and still click things nowhere near as much as I used to, but I still click things on Evernote. And Notion at the same time seemed like a great alternative to Evernote. And there seemed to be this quite geeky, and I use that in the best sense, community of people saying, "Look, Notion's amazing. Look at all the things you can do, and look, here's something." The capacity to create notebooks and templates and share them with others is incredible. And I'm not ruling out using Notion myself in the future. But look, as a music teacher working with hundreds of kids every week and juggling all sorts of things I thought, "Look, I don't want to get caught up on spending so much time on the tool that I don't actually achieve the things that I'm setting out to do. Which, is get a whole bunch of things done for us." Which, is why WorkFlowy, for me, is the best digital tool I've got at the moment. Martine: That's such a good point. And the way that you've compared WorkFlowy to Notion, I can really relate to what you're saying having used both tools, and I'm a fan of both tools for different reason. Notion has so much potential. At the moment I'm using it as what I would call a personal wiki. And all my aims and goals and that sort of life planning piece that I haven't quite done yet, that will all be in Notion, because that's the sort of thing I can spend some time on, and I can lay it out in a really nice way. And Notion is really, really good for that. But when it comes to things like quick capture of information, or the kind of web clipping that you describe that you do within Evernote, Notion's not quite there yet because it's a massive, flexible tool that could be lots and lots of different things. And as such, it doesn't do everything as quickly as perhaps you want it to. That's my kind of overriding sense of where Notion is currently. And you're so right when you say, "The Notion geek crew," who I do count myself as part of in a very, very lovely way. We're always changing our Notion setups and finding new and exciting ways to do things. But actually, sometimes by spending all that time on that, you're not being terribly productive in other areas. So, I think you make some really good points there. And I miss WorkFlowy. I'm not using WorkFlowy for anything at the moment. I love WorkFlowy. You described it really well. I don't know if you've come across my good friend, Frank Degenaar. He does a lot of WorkFlowy tutorials and things like that, and he's written a book on WorkFlowy. Justin: I think I have. In fact, did he interview you on his podcast, or the other way around? Martine: He did. Justin: Yes. And I'm pretty sure that's how I came across you, Martine, was Michael Hyatt was raving about Notion. And he mentioned there's a Notion group, so I looked at the Notion group. And then there was your friend, Frank. And then there was a link to your podcast. And I thought, "Goodness me, there's actually a teacher out there talking about productivity." So, the rest is history. Martine: Isn't it funny how these happen? I love that. Frank's book's excellent. It's called ... I always get the title wrong, but it's something like Do Way, Way More With WorkFlowy. And he's got like a WorkFlowy academy going and all sorts of things. He's a good contact. Justin: Brilliant. Martine: But it's great that you're using WorkFlowy in such a good way by the sounds of things. Justin: Yeah. If I could just talk about literally work flow, I mean, it's quite funny how they created that name. And I was looking at Google ... My school, my organisation uses Google Docs. That's the other thing. With Notion I thought, "Notion's wonderful, but when I'm trying to create something that I'm going to use with my colleagues, then really Google Docs is where it's at for better or worse." Martine: Yes, me too. I'm in the same situation. Justin: And Gmail. So, with Gmail, Inbox Zero, I remember coming across this years ago, Inbox Zero. And I was like, "Oh my goodness, I can empty my inbox, and wow, this is amazing." And look, I don't get it done every day or even every week sometimes. But certainly, in the last two weeks, to pick an example, in the last two weeks I've hit Inbox Zero probably about 50% of the time. And my current process or workflow of that is looking at what's in my inbox. And if it's not something I can do straight away or snooze and forward, in fact there's something called Follow Up Then. This is another web service. Follow Up Then, where you forward an email to for example tomorrow@followupthen.com, and then it shoots that email back to you, snoozes the email then sends it back to you at the right time. Anyway, so if I've got something like a task that needs to happen next week, and I'm not going to forward it on to myself in a week's time I'll put it into WorkFlowy. So WorkFlowy sort of becomes the ... In fact, there's a section in my WorkFlowy called Dumping Ground or something, words to that effect where I just dump in all the tasks out of my inbox. So, then my inbox is clear, and then I can go into the tasks, prioritise them, move them around, allocate time horizons or dates. "This needs to happen this week, or today, or tomorrow, or next week." So that's I guess part of my work flow with WorkFlowy and email. Martine: Your WorkFlowy work flow. That's brilliant. And thanks for highlighting, the snooze function on Gmail is an absolute life saver for me. We don't use Gmail in my work environment unfortunately. We are a G Suite for Education college. But for some reason, we're still using Outlook for emails, which is deeply frustrating to me. Because obviously, the Google tools all play beautifully together. But that aside, I use Gmail for all of my personal stuff. And I do pretty much get to Inbox Zero every week, but it is with the help of the snooze tool. So, for those who aren't using Gmail, then that service that you mentioned just before, I'll link to that in the show notes, because it's essentially a non-Gmail version of the snooze tool by the sounds of things. Justin: It certainly is, yeah. The snooze tool on Gmail, in fact, I think it kind of snuck up on me. I didn't even realise the snooze tool was there. I've been using this other service called Follow Up Then and then realised, "Hang on a minute. Gmail actually does this anyway." Although, the slight difference is in there are some things that the snooze is good for, and other things which Follow Up Then is better for in my opinion. And the best way to discover that is to actually go out and try it yourself. And one other quick one on email is something called Boomerang, which one of my colleagues put me onto. And Boomerang is wonderful. If you're up at some odd hour of the day or night, and you want to send an email to someone or even a group of people, but you don't want to email them at 3:00 in the morning or 11:00 at night, the weekend, you can use Boomerang to basically have the email held and then sent out at a later date or time. So, Boomerang is another one I've been using for email. Martine: There's a good list of tools and the apps there for us to have a little play with I think, Justin. Justin: For sure. Martine: Amazing. Is there anything else you would like to mention as part of this interview about teacher productivity? Justin: Just, I was thinking Martine, I'm no guru at this. And if anything, I'm having to relearn all of these things. So, I've shared a number of tools and people and resources with your listeners. But honestly, there are some of these things I need to go back and revisit. So, it's a journey. So, for anyone who's out there and maybe you've never heard of any of this before and you're just starting out, or you've tried all of these things, or tried some of these things. And maybe you reached a point of not feeling that all of them work necessarily. The keyword I can say there, key encouragement is, look, it's a journey. And what will work for some people won't work for others. But some things will work at different times for us. And as teachers, as educators, gosh, our work can seem like a never-ending process. But look, a podcast like yours, Martine, and reaching out to people, productivity is all wonderfully great. But at the end of the day, if we're missing out on better human relationships, whether that's at work in terms of the students and colleagues we work with or in our personal lives, then something's missing. So that's a second aspect there. And one other thought I'm just going to throw in there knowing you've been to a Research Ed Conference, I'm very jealous by the way, for anyone who's listening, they're just about to ... April 2020 they're hosting one in Shanghai, and I'm hoping I can get to that one. So, for the listeners who don't know, Research Ed is a conference run by teachers for teachers looking at research based or research informed practises in education. And the tie that I think I spotted there with productivity is the gentleman Joe Kirby. Joe Kirby, I don't know if he still works at the school, but the school is called Michaela Community School in London. And he's written an amazing blog, which I'll send to you, Martine, and you can share with the listeners called Hornets and Butterflies. And he addresses I guess this question of productivity from the point of view of, is what we're actually the most effective thing to be doing? So, hornets being the high effort low impact things that we do in schools, or in institutions of education. And the butterflies are the low effort, high impact things that we do in schools. And so this springs up what for some people are quite controversial things about, "How much marking should we do? And how much feedback, or what kinds of feedback should we do?" And a whole bunch of other workload related issues, which ultimately tie back into productivity. Because as I've said, as we've said, you can be as productive as anything. But if you're not actually focused on the right things that fit into a bigger picture, then you need to at some point pause and look at where it's all heading. So, there's a few other things I thought I should share with everyone. Martine: It is. I will look forward to reading that article and know a little bit about the Michaela School. So, I'll find that really interesting to read. And as you suggest, I'll share it in the show notes so the listeners can have a look. April 2020 is going to be a really good part of the year, because that's when the Guernsey Research Ed is happening, and I've got a recap episode from when I went to the national conference back in September 2019. So, I will make sure I link to that in the show notes too. But you're going to have such a good time if you can go. You'll really, really enjoy it. (Check out the Episode here) Wrap Up Justin, thanks so much for coming on the show. I have one final question for you, and it's an important one. Where can people find you online? Justin: Great. The central location I guess for my online presence is my website, which, justinhockey.com. It's hockey as in same as the sport, H-O-C-K-E-Y, justinhockey.com. I'm also on Twitter, with a rather awkward user name, which is linked on my website. So, I'll just leave it at that. But yeah, that's my main online presence. And I've got a sometime blog, a blog that I sometimes write on that. And certainly, there's at least on article on there so far about productivity and some of the tools we've described today. Martine: That's brilliant. Thanks again, Justin, it's been a pleasure having you on the show. Justin: Likewise, and thank you so much, Martine.
Katharine is the headmistress of Michaela Community School, dubbed by some as 'Britain's strictest school'. She talks to Katy about why she regrets speaking at Conservative Party Conference, her school's 'tiger teacher' philosophy, and why she would ban smartphones for everyone under the age of 18. Presented by Katy Balls.
Katharine is the headmistress of Michaela Community School, dubbed by some as 'Britain's strictest school'. She talks to Katy about why she regrets speaking at Conservative Party Conference, her school's 'tiger teacher' philosophy, and why she would ban smartphones for everyone under the age of 18. Women With Balls is a podcast series where Katy Balls speak to women at the top of their respective games. To hear past episodes, visit http://spectator.co.uk/balls.
This week's podcast was a live debate on the motion 'The West Should Pay Reparations For Slavery'. Should there be a broad programme of reparations – not just financial compensation, but acknowledgement of the crimes committed and the lasting damage caused by slavery? Or would this just worsen social tensions by reopening old wounds?Arguing for the motion were Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University; and Esther Stanford-Xosei, reparations activist and lawyer.Arguing against the motion were Katharine Birbalsingh, headmistress and co-founder of Michaela Community School in London; and Tony Sewell, educational consultant and CEO of the charity Generating Genius.The debate was chaired by social historian and presenter Emma Dabiri. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this fascinating episode we got to speak to Katharine Birbalsingh, founder and headmistress of Michaela Community School, a free school in London. 00.00.39 The Problem with Progressive Education 00.43.02 The Politics of Education Follow Katharine: https://twitter.com/Miss_Snuffy Blog: https://tomisswithloveblog.wordpress.com/ Support TRIGGERnometry: https://www.patreon.com/triggerpod https://www.subscribestar.com/triggernometry https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cm…52LB5C&source=url Find TRIGGERnometry on Social Media: https://twitter.com/triggerpod https://www.facebook.com/triggerpod https://www.instagram.com/triggerpod About TRIGGERnometry: Stand-up comedians Konstantin Kisin (@konstantinkisin) and Francis Foster (@failinghuman) make sense of politics, economics, free speech, AI, drug policy and WW3 with the help of presidential advisors, renowned economists, award-winning journalists, controversial writers, leading scientists and notorious comedians.
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney Theme music composed and arranged by David Vesey This week I bring you the second part of my interview with Katie Ashford Deputy Head of Michaela Community School in Wembley Park in London. The wide range of topics we discuss include the following: Michaela Community School Building The Teach First Programme Starting a blog, which led to a job offer Personalised Instruction and whole class instruction Her blog posts A typical day Family Lunch (at school) What she likes most/least about teaching Her ideal English lesson What schools are for Teachers who had a significant impact on her Who inspires her Katie also referred to Tom Bennett's blog and to books by Daisy Christodoulou and Daniel Willingham.
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. Theme music composed and arranged by David Vesey. On this week's programme I speak to Katie Ashford who is Deputy Head and Director of Inclusion at Michaela Community School in Wembley Park London. Her blog is called Tabula Rasa. We talk about school culture and other aspects of teaching. In the course of our discussion Katie mentions how she is inspired by people such as Rafe Esquith and Erin Gruwell. Different kinds of school culture Identifying problems in a school Changing School Culture Why teaching is tiring The kind of records UK teachers need to keep Marking children's work The approach used by teachers in Michaela Community School: teacher as authority
Katharine Birbalsingh (headmistress) joins Dave to discuss her founding of Michaela Community School - a free school established in London, and her journey from the left to the right, her approach to disciplining children, the importance of valuing knowledge, believing in equality of opportunity, and more.
Pete (@mr_van_w) asks "What subject specific skills does your subject have that are transferable to all disciplines?" Pete looks for some balance in an article from Jo Facer (@jo_facer) (formerly?) of the Michaela Community School. Highlighting the benefits of Consistency for students and Sustainability for teachers. John (@jfcatto) looks at a few of the things school leaders can do to support Early Career Teachers. Providing they are guided in sustaining the tireless job of teaching in the first place. Tips to teachers: Here a twitter thread for Early Career Teachers to check out. "Be inspired but not pressured" Pete: We Should Teach All Students, in Every Discipline, to Think Like Scientists - Peter Salovey https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/we-should-teach-all-students-in-every-discipline-to-think-like-scientists/ We Have Overcomplicated Teaching: Research Ed 2016 - Jo Facer https://readingallthebooks.com/2016/09/17/we-have-overcomplicated-teaching-research-ed-2016/ John: Five things that work in early teacher' development - Cat Scutt https://schoolsweek.co.uk/five-things-that-work-in-teachers-early-career-development/ Tips To Teachers: (@TeachMrReed) https://twitter.com/TeachMrReed/status/1008771902578593793
Pete (@mr_van_w) asks "What subject specific skills does your subject have that are transferable to all disciplines?" Pete looks for some balance in an article from Jo Facer (@jo_facer) (formerly?) of the Michaela Community School. Highlighting the benefits of Consistency for students and Sustainability for teachers. John (@jfcatto) looks at a few of the things school leaders can do to support Early Career Teachers. Providing they are guided in sustaining the tireless job of teaching in the first place. Tips to teachers: Here a twitter thread for Early Career Teachers to check out. "Be inspired but not pressured" Pete: We Should Teach All Students, in Every Discipline, to Think Like Scientists - Peter Salovey https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/we-should-teach-all-students-in-every-discipline-to-think-like-scientists/ We Have Overcomplicated Teaching: Research Ed 2016 - Jo Facer https://readingallthebooks.com/2016/09/17/we-have-overcomplicated-teaching-research-ed-2016/ John: Five things that work in early teacher' development - Cat Scutt https://schoolsweek.co.uk/five-things-that-work-in-teachers-early-career-development/ Tips To Teachers: (@TeachMrReed) https://twitter.com/TeachMrReed/status/1008771902578593793
Main Feature: In a special edition of Off Campus, Dan Haesler speaks with Katharine Birbalsingh, the Principal/Head Teacher of the controversial Michaela Community School in the UK. Regular Features: Education in the News, Cameron reviews a story about mandatory student participation in Victorian school councils. Tom Gordon talks about his work as a science communicator for the University of Sydney, and his podcast, STEMpunk 00.00 Opening Credits 01:19 Student Voice and School Governance 18:22 Tom Gordon - STEMpunk Podcast 41:27 Feature Introduction 43:39 Dan Haesler - Off Campus 45:11 Katharine Birbalsingh - Interview 1:22:40 Comments 1:31:19 Announcements - TMWooly 1:31:50 Quote & Sign Off