Edufuturists

What if the biggest risk in AI and education isn't the technology at all, but the questions we've stopped asking?In this episode of the Edufuturists podcast, Ben and Steve sit down with Laura Knight, former teacher and leader turned AI and digital education consultant, to pull apart what "human-centred AI" actually means when you strip away the marketing gloss.Laura doesn't do easy answers. She talks about the innovation fatigue hitting schools right now, why nobody quite owns AI strategy in most organisations, and why the "personalisation" narrative sold by EdTech might be quietly building a two-speed education system. Ben and Steve push back throughout, including a proper debate on whether education was ever really less competitive than the tech sector in the first place.The conversation covers the teacher recruitment crisis, whether AI tutors are filling genuine gaps or replacing human relationships that matter, and what "joy" in the teaching profession could look like if schools stopped treating change as a race. It closes with quickfire questions that get properly reflective: what myth stops educators from changing, and what you'd actually tell a ten-year-old about why they have to go to school.Laura Knight is a former teacher and school leader who now runs her own consultancy working on digital and AI strategy in education. She works with schools, trusts, and systems around the world, alongside a growing body of work with parents and families. She is currently writing a book for Hachette on helping parents navigate AI and technology, and is soon launching her own podcast, Switched On Parents.We cover:- What a genuinely "human-centred" approach to AI in schools actually looks like- Why innovation fatigue is hitting teachers and leaders so hard right now- Who really owns AI strategy in a school, and why that's often nobody- Whether education was ever less competitive than the tech sector- Why "slice teams" with diverse voices build better innovation than one appointed lead- The problem with AI and "personalisation" as it's currently being sold- What schools and teachers add to the mix when information is a click away- The difference between AI replacing teachers and AI filling genuine capacity gaps- Whether AI can meaningfully help the teacher recruitment and retention crisis- Using AI to build more joy and professional satisfaction into teaching- Advocacy versus evangelism, and why being in the room matters- What today's AI debates might look ridiculous in five years' timeChapters00:00 Highlights00:46 Welcome to the episode01:47 Edufuturists community news (Uprising 2027 & Wolfpack)02:59 Introducing Laura Knight03:59 What "human-centred AI" actually means07:31 Innovation fatigue and the noise around AI in schools10:36 Who actually owns AI strategy in a school?14:30 Education vs EdTech: who's really competition-driven?17:24 Building diverse "slice teams" for real innovation20:00 The truth about AI and personalised learning22:58 What schools add when knowledge is a click away24:18 Replacing teachers vs filling real gaps with AI27:44 Can AI solve the teacher recruitment crisis?29:42 Using AI to bring joy back into teaching32:47 Advocacy, not evangelism: why being in the room matters38:56 What will look ridiculous about AI in five years?42:05 Quickfire Questions45:06 Laura's new book and upcoming podcastFind out more about LauraThanks so much for joining us again for another episode - we appreciate you.
Ben & Steve xCheck out all about EdufuturistsWant to sponsor future episodes or get involved with the Edufuturists work? Get in touchGrab your copy of the new Pick 'n' Mix Education bookJoin the Wolfpack Community

In this episode of the Edufuturists podcast, Ben and Steve sit down with Dave Jones and Stephen "Klem" Klemich to unpack Heart Styles, the character development framework built on 18 years of research into what really drives effective leadership, teaching and learning.Dave Jones is the founder of Uplift, a coaching and leadership consultancy based in High Wycombe, UK. He is an accredited Heart Styles practitioner whose career has spanned youth work, church leadership, and running a school hub for Oasis UK's multi-academy trust in South London, before moving into full-time leadership consultancy.Klem is the co-founder of Heart Styles, a global character development methodology now used across corporate, education and sporting organisations. Based in Sydney, Australia, he spent over 40 years in people development and 18 years researching the principles behind effective and ineffective leadership behaviour.We cover:- What Heart Styles is and the 18-year research behind it- Why fear and ego-driven pride quietly sabotage classrooms and leadership teams- The shift from fight and flight into flow, and what it does to the brain- Why humility, not control, is what actually builds trust and results- Moving schools and organisations from a parent-child dynamic to adult-to-adult culture- The "smart plus heart" model for raising a whole person, not just a result- Why celebrating mistakes builds nimble, high-performing teams- Klem's own story of undiagnosed dyslexia and the teacher who nearly broke himWhy listen? If you lead a team, a classroom or a school and you've ever wondered why "getting tough" only works for so long, this conversation reframes leadership and teaching around humility and love as performance drivers, not soft add-ons. It's a direct challenge to fear-based, exam-obsessed culture in education, backed by two decades of research and lived experience.Chapters00:00 Highlights00:40 Introductions03:06 Meet Dave Jones03:47 Meet Stephen "Klem" Klemich04:53 Klem's origin story: moving schools, undiagnosed dyslexia, and finding purpose07:28 Dave's path from youth work to Heart Styles11:15 What is Heart Styles?11:57 18 years of research: fear, ego, humility and love17:53 Fight, flight and flow explained26:59 Why leadership is shifting toward vulnerability28:01 From parent-child to adult-adult culture34:26 The energy of humility vs ego37:17 Why control-based leadership fails long term40:14 Bringing love into work and education41:39 Klem's dyslexia story: the power of encouragement45:18 Quickfire QuestionsRead Dave's blog post about the Heart Styles ModelFind out more about Heart StylesGrab a copy of Klem's book, Above the LineThanks so much for joining us again for another episode - we appreciate you.Ben & Steve xCheck out all about EdufuturistsJoin the Wolfpack CommunityWant to sponsor future episodes or get involved with the Edufuturists work?Get in touchGrab your copy of the new Pick 'n' Mix Education book

Seven episodes, one big question: are we still having the same education arguments in 2026 that we were having a decade ago?
In this episode, we sit down for our bi-monthly review, running back through seven recent Edufuturists conversations, pulling out the best bits, the sharpest provocations, and the ideas that are still bothering us weeks later. From AI governance and permanent exclusion to kind leadership and adaptive teaching, this is the highlight reel of the highlight reel.
We cover:
- Why higher education keeps struggling to translate research into real technology decisions (Sara De Freitas)
- Teaching computing without a single computer in the room, and why "play" is doing a lot of heavy lifting as a word in education (Shahneila Sayeed)
- How one FE college built an AI agent to solve an admin problem nobody asked it to solve (Chris Loveday)
- The permanent exclusion pipeline, and the long-term cost of putting a child "out of sight, out of mind" (Stephen Steinhaus)
- Whether youth unemployment is a skills problem, a work-experience problem, or something education needs to own (Alex Lovitt and Stephanie Loeck)
- AI literacy for students, teachers and parents and whether your school is quietly breaking the EU AI Act (Matthew Wemyss)
- Why "adaptive teaching" might be the most honest description of what good teachers have always done (Andrew Young)
- A late detour into Joanna Povall's Kind Leadership, and the real difference between being kind and being nice
Why listen?
If you only have time to catch one Edufuturists episode this month, this is it. Ben and Steve compress seven full conversations into 45 minutes of the arguments, contradictions and best lines, so you can decide which full episodes are worth your time, and walk away with the throughlines connecting all of them: too much curriculum, not enough trust, and an AI conversation education still hasn't caught up to.
Chapters
00:00 Highlights
01:56 Welcome and Intros
05:23 Is HE ready for education technology?
08:51 Teaching computing without computers
16:02 AI beyond teachers and students
21:26 Blowing up the permanent exclusion pipeline
28:14 Is youth unemployment a crisis?
30:35 AI literacy, governance and the EU AI Act
36:05 Is school worth getting out of bed for?
40:23 Kind leadership vs nice leadership
43:33 Recommended reads and the Edufuturists Wolfpack
46:46 Close Thanks so much for joining us again for another episode - we appreciate you.Ben & Steve xCheck out all about EdufuturistsWant to sponsor future episodes or get involved with the Edufuturists work?Get in touchGrab your copy of the new Pick 'n' Mix Education book
Join the Wolfpack Community

What if the biggest problem in schools isn't teachers resisting change, it's that they're never given enough safety to try it?
In this episode, Ben and Steve are joined by Grant Wootten, founder of Edusfere, to unpack why so much of a teacher's best work disappears the moment they leave a classroom and what it would take to stop the cycle.
Grant spent a decade teaching in Southeast Asia, first with a nonprofit in rural Thailand and then at an international school in Bangkok, before founding Edusfere: a platform built to capture and preserve the instructional knowledge teachers create every day. He's recently relocated to the UK to lead Edusfere's expansion into the UK market.
We cover:
- Why teachers become "islands" and how decades of instructional knowledge gets lost every time someone leaves the profession
- The real reason schools resist change and why psychological safety, not disruption, has to come first
- What Grant believes is genuinely the hardest part of being a teacher today
- Why EdTech should meet teachers where they already are instead of chasing flashy new features
- A live debate: should the teacher or the learner sit at the centre of EdTech design?
- Whether human-to-human "formation" is automatically better than a machine's and a story that complicates the answer
- Why fear of conflict is quietly holding back adoption in education
- How to bring your most resistant, most experienced teachers along for the ride
Why listen?
If you've ever watched brilliant teaching disappear into a filing cabinet or a departing colleague's laptop, this conversation names the problem precisely and makes the case that fixing it isn't about ripping up what works, but about giving teachers the safety net to build on it. Expect a genuinely sharp disagreement about whether AI or humans should sit at the centre of education, and a story from Ben that will make you think twice about assuming human-led always beats machine-led.
Chapters
00:00 Highlights
01:30 Welcome back and the Wolfpack community update
03:25 Meet Grant Wootten: from Thai classrooms to EdTech founder
05:25 What is Edusfere and why target the UK market
07:53 Teachers are islands: the knowledge that gets lost every year
08:48 Ben's story: planning in silos at school
10:26 The hardest part of being a teacher today
15:51 Creating psychological safety before disruption
23:51 The role of EdTech in driving culture change
29:27 Should the teacher not the learner be at the centre?
33:26 Is human formation always a force for good?
38:36 Why we're afraid of conflict, and what it costs education
41:42 Bringing veteran, resistant teachers along
46:36 Three quick-fire questions with Grant
Find out more about Edusfere
Thanks so much for joining us again for another episode - we appreciate you.
Ben & Steve x
Check out all about Edufuturists
Want to sponsor future episodes or get involved with the Edufuturists work? Get in touch
Grab your copy of the new Pick 'n' Mix Education book
Join the Wolfpack Community

Is kindness in school leadership a weakness, or is it the one thing that actually stops your best teachers walking out the door?
In this episode of the podcast, Ben Whitaker and Steve Hope sit down with Joanna Povall, principal, COBIS lead improvement partner, and author of Kind Leadership: Leading Schools with Empathy, Honesty and Impact. Joanna has spent 30 years in education across the UK, France and the UAE, including running a school through genuine crisis conditions in Abu Dhabi, and now carries out school accreditation visits everywhere from Tokyo to Ascension Island.
We cover:
- Why Joanna wrote Kind Leadership after coming close to burnout in a school that turned toxic almost overnight
- The difference between being nice and being kind, and why people confuse the two
- - The Al Capone quote that shaped the whole book, and what it reveals about legacy and leadership
The CHASE framework: Communication, Honesty, Accountability, Self-esteem and Ego
- What COBIS accreditation actually looks like when it's done as a relationship, not an inspection
- Whether leaders can be both liked and respected
- Why teacher and headteacher retention is a leadership problem before it's anything else
- Being kind to yourself, and the story behind the now-famous red jacket
If you lead people, manage a team, or have ever worried that being kind makes you look weak, this conversation will change how you think about it. Joanna makes a compelling, funny, and occasionally uncomfortable case that kindness and accountability were never opposites.
Chapters
00:00 Highlights
02:20 Welcome to the Edufuturists Podcast
04:14 Meet Joanna Povall: from Manchester to Abu Dhabi
06:11 Moving into international school leadership
08:53 A melting pot of cultures and communities
11:14 Inside COBIS: what accreditation really looks like
14:23 Why accreditation should build relationships, not fear
20:10 Introducing the book: Kind Leadership
20:41 The toxic experience that inspired the book
25:38 Kindness vs weakness: the Al Capone question
32:41 The CHASE Framework explained
37:31 The red jacket story: kindness to yourself
39:11 Can leaders be liked and respected?
48:48 Being kind to yourself as a leader
54:00 Quickfire Questions
Grab a copy of Joanna's book

Thanks so much for joining us again for another episode - we appreciate you.
Ben & Steve x

Check out all about Edufuturists
Want to sponsor future episodes or get involved with the Edufuturists work?
Get in touch
Grab your copy of the new Pick 'n' Mix Education book
Join the Edufuturists Wolfpack