Let Teachers Teach: Why Voice, Time, and Trust Are Disappearing from Education with Brad Gaynor

On this episode of The Tattooed Teacher Podcast, I chat with Nicole Dyson, CEO and founder of Future Anything working with over 100 schools and YouthX (Australia’s only startup accelerator. She is a multi-award-winning educator and entrepreneur and a global authority on project-based learning, entrepreneurial pedagogy and school transformation.. We explore what really matters when you want young people to think, not just recall: why the first idea is always the worst idea, and how project-based learning, entrepreneurial thinking and design thinking build the iteration school rarely rewards

On this episode of The Tattooed Teacher Podcast, I chat with Dr Louise White, Postdoctoral Research Fellow and consulting researcher, about what it really means to include autistic students in our schools and why the research keeps pointing back to the same thing: belonging, flexibility, and teachers who are willing to look at the barriers instead of the child. Louise's story is deeply personal, her son was diagnosed with autism. Which led to her own diagnosis. Forty years of questions suddenly had answers. And everything that came with her diagnosis: forgiveness, identity, and a complete reorientation of what she thought she knew after fifteen years in the classroom. We explore what really matters when it comes to autism, inclusion, and education: • why inclusion isn't just having someone in the room, it's creating an environment where everyone has what they need to succeed and genuinely feels like they belong • the difference between changing a child and changing their barriers, and why one of those approaches will always fail • what autistic students wish teachers understood, and why it doesn't cost any money and barely takes any time • why flexibility is the most important thing schools can build in for autistic students, and what getting that wrong looks like in practice • how Louise's own experience of leaving school and dropping out of law, unable to take a train or order a coffee, shaped her PhD research on preparing autistic young adults for adulthood We also get into masking, the spoon theory, monotropism, what the EKKA crowd taught us about how far we've come as a society, why school captain and dropout can belong to the same person, and why providing questions in advance is a simple adjustment that makes a profound difference. A key thread throughout the episode is simple but important: you are not going to change an autistic person's brain. But you can change the barriers. And that's where teachers have real power. This is a warm, honest, and deeply important conversation for classroom teachers, school leaders, parents, and anyone who works with or alongside autistic young people. #AutismEducation #InclusiveEducation #Neurodiversity #Education #AutismResearch #TheTattooedTeacher #Podcast You can find Louise https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-louise-white-0a8908338/ https://reframingautism.org.au/ https://www.aspect.org.au/ you can find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-murdoch-%F0%9F%A4%99-68a846b1/ YouTube https://youtube.com/@thetattooedteacher01?si=tJy1U6Huz684CtZE Follow DJ Fruit Salad: https://www.instagram.com/djfruitsaladofficial/ Sponsored byThe BUSY School This episode is brought to you by The BUSY School— a network of special assistance schools for Year 11 and 12 students who've disengaged from mainstream education. Small classes, real industry connections, and completely free for students. If you know a young person who needs a different kind of school, The BUSY School could be exactly what they're looking for. The BUSY School is part ofThe BUSY Group — an Australian not-for-profit approaching its 50th year, operating across Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Find out if there's a BUSY School near you at ⁠⁠busyschools.edu.qld.au⁠⁠ Supported by The Design & Technologies Resource Site An Australian platform built to help creators, educators, and podcasters increase their visibility and connect with Design & Technologies educators. https://andacod.com.au/ TeacherPD Australia https://teacherpd.com.au/ Australia's Premier Teacher PD Directory

On this episode of The Tattooed Teacher Podcast, I chat with Dr Hugh Chilton, Head of Teaching and Learning at Wycliffe Christian School, co-founder and Associate Director of the Sydney Character Initiative, and co-chair of Research Invested Schools, about what it really means to form human beings well and why character education needs to sit at the centre of everything schools do. Hugh is a thinker, a connector, and someone who genuinely lives the ideas he talks about. This is one of those conversations that gave me a perspective and plenty to think on. We explore what really matters when it comes to character, education, and human formation: why the root word of education, educare, to draw out, is still the most important frame for thinking about what teachers actually do

On this episode of The Tattooed Teacher Podcast, I chat with my good mate Josiah Hein, teacher, content creator, TikTok sensation, and the man behind “Jesus loves you baby”, about what it looks like to build an authentic life in public without losing who you actually are. And yes, this is episode 75. Fortune had it that Josiah landed the milestone. Couldn't have picked a better one. Josiah came to Australia to get a visa. Teaching was on the critical skills list, he had a business degree, and one more year of study seemed like a pretty good trade for residency. That was over ten years ago and he's still in classrooms, still bringing the joy, and somehow also appearing on Channel 9 couches, red carpets for Paramount, and TikTok feeds across the country. We explore what really matters when you're building something real: how a promise made at a best mate's funeral at age thirteen brought Josiah to Australia, and what happened when he got here

On this episode of The Tattooed Teacher Podcast, I chat with Pip Cleaves, Systems and Practice designer, CEO and founder of her own company, and content specialist for Canva. Pip shares her journey through education, her innovative teaching methods, and her insights on integrating AI and neurodiversity into learning, and why authentic, personalised learning has the power to transform student engagement and success. Pip and I actually met face to face at TEDx Burleigh Heads, and I've been following her work on LinkedIn for a while. This conversation did not disappoint. We explore what really matters when it comes to learning, neurodiversity, and AI in education: why authentic learning has to solve real problems that exist in the world around young people, not problems decided on someone's sofa at 10pm on a Saturday night