The Student-Centered Shift: Empowered International Schools and Classrooms Through Project-Based Learning

What if student-centered learning meant your students were running the coolest business venture at school—and made £5,000 in a weekend?
Join me as we sit down with Ed Moore, an award-winning primary teacher and author of "100 Ideas for Primary Teachers for Greener Schools," to explore how environmental education becomes the catalyst for project-based learning, youth empowerment, and community engagement—whether you're teaching internationally or in your own backyard.
Discover how one teacher's passion for gardening transformed an entire school culture—and caught the attention of Dr. Jane Goodall and King Charles.
In this episode, you'll discover:
How to embed environmental projects directly into your curriculum (not as an afterthought club) so every child benefits
Practical, implementable ideas you can start tomorrow—from energy audits to student-led businesses that teach real-world skills like marketing, sales, and finance
Why starting small in your own classroom creates a domino effect that eventually transforms your entire school
How to leverage community experts and local businesses to amplify student learning and build genuine connections beyond the classroom
Unlock 100 practical project-based ideas for creating greener schools—and learn how to empower your students to become changemakers.
Get the Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/100-Ideas-Primary-Teachers-Greener/dp/1801997845 
Take the 12 Shifts Scorecard: www.transformschool.com/12shiftsscorecard 
Get the 12 Shifts Book: 'Where is the Teacher: 12 Shifts for Student-Centered Environments.' 
Ed's Bio: Ed is a primary school teacher with experience in Early Years, Key Stage 1 and 2. Ed is passionate and enthusiastic about the environment, learning outdoors, gardening and young enterprise. Ed has integrated all these topics into the school curriculum encouraging children to lead and have a voice in these subjects by becoming experts themselves. This has been accomplished by each class making a pledge across the school each term to help people, animals or the environment. These qualities and subjects help drive and inspire innovative projects engaging children, staff and volunteers across the school and the wider community to join together.
In a previous school, Eco Schools was at the heart of the life of the school. Ed wanted every child to leave with a real awareness of the local, national and global environment and how each one can make a real difference to the quality of the environment for everyone. Eco work was integrated into the curriculum and there was a real enthusiasm across the school for all of Ed's eco work. Ed also recognised that it has financial rewards too.

Feeling stuck in old classroom routines that drain your energy and limit student ownership? Wondering how to reset your learning space without adding more to your plate?
In this Chinese New Year–inspired episode, I explore how the traditions of renewal, clearing space, and beginning again can guide a powerful classroom reset. Drawing on my own experience teaching in Hong Kong and across international schools, I share how small, intentional shifts in learning environment design, student voice, and co-creation can transform teacher-led classrooms into active, student-centered spaces.
You'll learn:
Why student-centered learning often fails without an intentional classroom reset

How to "sweep away" outdated routines before adding new strategies

Simple ways to redesign classroom space to signal agency, flexibility, and collaboration

How co-designing routines, questions, and success criteria builds real student ownership

Why renewal, vulnerability, and starting again are essential for sustainable change

If you're an international educator feeling the mid-year slump, this episode offers a practical, culturally grounded way to reset your classroom, renew your energy, and invite students into deeper engagement and responsibility.
🧧 Student-centered learning doesn't require a full overhaul—just one meaningful shift to begin again.
 
Get the 12 Shfits Book: https://www.amazon.com/Where-Teacher-Shifts-Student-Centered-Environments/dp/103250370X 
Take the 12 Shifts Scorecard: www.transformschool.com/12shiftsscorecard

Designing student-centered lessons but still seeing disengagement, emotional shutdowns, or surface-level participation? What if the issue isn't what you're teaching, but whether your learning environment aligns with how the adolescent brain actually works?
In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Ari Pinar, neuroscientist and educator, to unpack what brain science tells us about adolescence — and why autonomy, belonging, and relevance aren't "nice-to-haves," but neurological necessities for learning. Dr. Pinar helps us bridge the gap between student-centered intentions and brain-aligned practice.
Drawing from neuroscience research and classroom examples across international school contexts, we explore how common school structures unintentionally work against adolescent development — and what shifts truly support agency, regulation, and motivation.
You'll learn:
Why autonomy, belonging, and relevance are core drivers of adolescent engagement and learning

How the developing adolescent brain responds to risk, feedback, identity, and peer connection

Why some student-centered strategies fail without the right environmental conditions

Practical ways to redesign space, time, relationships, and routines to support teen learners

How brain-aligned environments reduce disengagement, resistance, and burnout — for students and teachers

If you're serious about moving from passive compliance to active, empowered learning, this episode will help you design with the adolescent brain — not against it.

Still stuck playing classroom referee, solving every issue yourself, and wishing your students would step up?
In this episode, I sit down with my colleague and veteran Montessori educator/ adolescent expert Meg Broz, who shares the single structure that transformed her classroom into a thriving student-led community: weekly student-run councils.
Meg outlines how a simple shift—from teacher-driven management to peer-led community circles—created more ownership, accountability, and connection among her students than any behavior chart or classroom contract ever could.
You'll learn:
What a student-run council looks like—and why it's so much more than a glorified circle time
A step-by-step structure you can embed into advisory, homeroom, or morning meeting
How weekly councils support executive functioning, self-regulation, and community-building
Tips for training student leaders to take the reins (and what to do when issues arise)
Why this approach aligns with restorative practices, student voice, and real-world leadership
Whether you're teaching in an IB, PYP, or project-based setting, this episode offers a powerful, transferable model for giving students shared responsibility—without chaos or loss of control.
👣 Ready to shift from manager to mentor? Start small, start now—with your own version of student-led council.
Get the 12 Shifts Book: https://www.amazon.com/Where-Teacher-Kyle-Wagner/dp/1032484713/ 
Take the 12 Shifts Scorecard and identify areas for growth: https://transformschool.com/12shiftsscorecard/ 
Meg's Bio: Meg is the Humanities Adolescent Guide for the inaugural International Montessori School of Hong Kong, and an experienced middle school educator with a certificate in Montessori Adolescent Education. She has a passion for history, writing, and social justice, and imparts these loves on to my students. In her 15+ years as an educator, she has gotten deeply involved in DEI work, presented at multiple Montessori education conferences, and co-directed a conference in Chicago.

Meg recently completed a Graduate Certificate, and Masters of Science degree is in progress from the International Institute of Restorative Practices. Meg brings restorative practices and student led councils into spaces to help people better communicate and understand each other, to restore harms, and to find a way to move forward compassionately and equitably.
In her current role as Humanities Guide and past role as Junior High Coordinator, Meg uses her organizational skills to keep the program running smoothly, including G-Suite skills, communication, and project planning.Additionally, Meg has a past life as a theater technician, including carpentry, welding, painting, sewing, and stage management. I'm also 1/3 of the doo-wop rock band Midnight Moxie. These experiences make their way into her work in creative ways.

Tired of students constantly asking "What do I do next?" or aimlessly bouncing between tasks during work time?
In this episode, I unpack one of the most common frustrations educators face when trying to promote student agency—learners who simply don't know how to manage themselves. I share a practical tool that changed everything for our classroom: the Self-Direction Rubric. It's a simple, structured approach that helps students develop essential executive functioning skills—from time management to self-monitoring—without you needing to hover.
Learn how our Montessori middle school students went from floundering in our 90-minute "work cycle" unstructured time—getting distracted, procrastinating, and relying on us for constant direction, to tracking their growth, identifying their own learning habits, and setting meaningful goals.
You'll learn:
Why most students aren't ready for full autonomy—and how to meet them where they are
The 5 self-direction domains that matter more than completing a to-do list
How rubrics help students monitor impulse control, goal setting, planning, and reflection
A simple weekly routine that builds self-directed behaviors over time
How this shift moves the student-teacher relationship from compliance to coaching
Whether you're running PBL, giving open project blocks, or managing a flexible classroom schedule, this tool helps you scaffold student agency without sacrificing structure.
👣 Agency doesn't happen overnight. But with the right framework, it can start today.
Get the self-direction rubrics for Free: Self-Direction Rubrics
Get the 12 Shifts Book with more ideas for self-direction: 'Where is the the Teacher: 12 Shifts for Student-Centered Environments.'