Shaping the
Future of Education

What if the best person to build a school is someone who has never taught in one? In this episode, Ben and Steve sit down with Akida Mashaka, founder of Barcelona High School, to explore what happens when an entrepreneur with no education background tries to build a better school from first principles. From five students in a windowless basement during COVID to two campuses and almost 500 students, all without a single investor, Akida shares how listening to students, putting wellbeing first and rejecting one-size-fits-all education shaped a school where the director tells the children: "You are our bosses." Akida Mashaka is the founder of Barcelona High School, a self-described "social wellness school" that gives students' social and emotional wellbeing equal weight with academics. Originally from Los Angeles, he moved to Barcelona with his family in 2017 on a one-year plan and stayed. A serial entrepreneur who previously founded and led a restaurant group and studied at Harvard Law School, he started the school in 2020 to give his own son a more flexible education, and has grown it through a lean, feedback-driven approach he calls Build, Harvest, Succeed. We cover: - How a one-year move from LA to Barcelona turned into founding a school during COVID - Starting with five students in a basement co-working space, and why the original idea pivoted almost immediately - What families really wanted during lockdown: their children back, socially and emotionally - Why Akida refused to keep a waiting list, and the risk of moving to a much bigger building - First principles thinking: what outsiders bring to education without the "historic baggage" - The BHS method: Build, Harvest, Succeed, and how lean startup thinking shapes learning - Ditching the ego: empathy, feedback and iterating fast - Students as "bosses" and customers, not parents - Failure, shame and why fear of getting it wrong holds learners and educators back - Why safeguarding and feeling safe and supported must come before academics - Student-led extracurricular clubs that build initiative and confidence - Against one-size-fits-all: IB, AP and finding every child's superpower - Can initiative be taught? Life as a journey, from losing a scholarship to Harvard Law School - Scaling from an experiment to two campuses without investors - What entrepreneurs get wrong about teachers, and why teachers aren't startup employees - What schools could learn from restaurants about keeping their customers coming back Why you should listen If you've ever wondered whether schools could be designed differently, or felt that "the way it's always been done" is holding learners back, this conversation offers a refreshingly outside-in perspective. Akida isn't offering a model to copy wholesale, but a set of principles any school leader can borrow: start before you're ready, listen harder to students, and put belonging and wellbeing at the heart of learning. Chapters 00:00 Highlights 01:23 Welcome to the Edufuturists podcast 02:05 Family travels and the Uprising 2027 announcement 04:22 Meet Akida Mashaka: from Los Angeles to Barcelona 05:47 Five students in a windowless basement 08:11 From one son's education to a whole community 09:06 Finding a superstar teacher 13:08 Why he refused to keep a waiting list 14:14 Outsiders, entrepreneurs and first principles thinking 17:21 Learning from outside education 18:43 The BHS method: Build, Harvest, Succeed 21:53 Harvest: empathy, feedback and dropping the ego 23:43 "You are our bosses": students as customers 26:37 AD: Brilliant Festival 2026 27:50 Failure, shame and building the plane while flying it 30:02 Why failure carries a stigma in Spain 31:13 Safe and supported comes first 34:03 Student-led clubs and building confidence 35:23 Against one size fits all: IB, AP and every child's superpower 39:17 Pick 'n' Mix Education and the football analogy 42:53 Can initiative be taught? 45:33 Losing a scholarship, Harvard Law and life as a journey 49:09 From experiment to two campuses and almost 500 students 53:03 What entrepreneurs get wrong about teachers 56:10 Quick-fire questions 1:00:59 Wrap up and thanks Thanks so much for joining us again for another episode - we appreciate you. Ben & Steve x Find out more about BHS: https://www.barcelonahighschool.com/ Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bhselementary/ Connect on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bhs_barcelonahighschool Check out the BHS method: https://www.barcelonahighschool.com/bhs-method Check out all about Edufuturists at https://www.edufuturists.com Want to sponsor future episodes or get involved with the Edufuturists work? Get in touch: info@edufuturists.com Grab your copy of the new Pick 'n' Mix Education book at: https://www.crownhouse.co.uk/picknmix-education Come to Uprising - 25-26th June 2027: edufuturists.com/uprising-awards/uprising2027 Join the Wolfpack: edufuturists.com/wolfpack

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 him Why 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. Chapters: 00:00 Highlights 00:40 Introductions 03:06 Meet Dave Jones 03:47 Meet Stephen "Klem" Klemich 04:53 Klem's origin story: moving schools, undiagnosed dyslexia, and finding purpose 07:28 Dave's path from youth work to Heart Styles 11:15 What is Heart Styles? 11:57 18 years of research: fear, ego, humility and love 17:53 Fight, flight and flow explained 26:59 Why leadership is shifting toward vulnerability 28:01 From parent-child to adult-adult culture 34:26 The energy of humility vs ego 37:17 Why control-based leadership fails long term 40:14 Bringing love into work and education 41:39 Klem's dyslexia story: the power of encouragement 45:18 Quickfire Questions Read Dave's blog post about the Heart Styles Model: https://uplift-consulting.co.uk/blog/blog-4 Find out more about Heart Styles: https://heartstyles.com/ Grab a copy of Klem's book, Above the Line: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0062886835 Thanks so much for joining us again for another episode - we appreciate you. Ben & Steve x Check out all about Edufuturists at https://www.edufuturists.com Join the Wolfpack Community: https://www.edufuturists.com/wolfpack Want to sponsor future episodes or get involved with the Edufuturists work? Get in touch: info@edufuturists.com Grab your copy of the new Pick 'n' Mix Education book at: https://www.crownhouse.co.uk/picknmix-education

What if the real reason children go to school isn't to get the grades, but to find out that they're enough? In this episode, Ben and Steve sit down with Julian Reeve, former Hamilton music director turned international keynote speaker and author, to explore what Broadway can teach education about performance, perfectionism and human value in the age of AI. From a stress-related heart attack at 43 and a career-ending injury, to his children's book on self-compassion and his framework for "unmistakable identity", Julian makes the case that the capabilities AI can't replace start with knowing who we are. About our guest Julian Reeve is an international keynote speaker, TEDx speaker and author who helps leaders and organisations find and sustain unmistakable identity in the age of AI. Born in Cambridge to two educators, he trained in musical theatre in London, worked on seven West End shows and moved to New York in 2012, where he joined Hamilton on Broadway before becoming music director of its first US national tour. After a heart attack and a repetitive strain injury ended his performing career, he developed his Perfect Equilibrium methodology for reverse engineering burnout and wrote Captain Perfection and the Secret of Self-Compassion, a book for children aged 6 to 12. We cover: - What Broadway's rehearsal process teaches organisations about permission to play, explore and make mistakes - "Practice makes permanent" and why perfection is the wrong goal for learning - Surviving a heart attack at 43 and rebuilding a career through acceptance, permission and personal strength - Why Julian wrote a children's book on perfectionism and self-compassion - The three types of perfectionism, and the question every parent should ask their child - Why leaders and teachers speak to themselves in ways they would never speak to anyone else - Too direct for Broadway: British leadership and the language of psychological safety - Unmistakable identity: how identity, creativity and judgement create human advantage as AI redefines work - Why only 12 to 15% of us are actually self-aware - What's left when we stop relying on grades and titles to measure value - Why burnout is systemic, and how leaders can drive change without disrupting learners - The myth that educators need all the answers before they can change Why you should listen If you're a teacher, leader or parent who has ever wrestled with perfectionism, burnout or the pressure to get it right first time, this conversation will stay with you. Julian brings rare lessons from the top 1% of the performing arts and turns them into practical, deeply human ideas about self-compassion, identity and what young people will really need in a world reshaped by AI. Chapters 00:00 Highlights 01:14 Welcome to the Edufuturists podcast 03:44 Meet Julian Reeve: from the West End to Hamilton 05:54 The power of rehearsal - practice makes permanent 11:12 Lessons from Hamilton - EduHam and reading the audience 16:28 Standardisation vs personalisation in the age of AI 19:01 A heart attack at 43 and a career cut short 20:43 AD: Brilliant Festival 21:54 Acceptance, permission and rebuilding from strength 26:24 Captain Perfection and the secret of self-compassion 32:39 The three types of perfectionism 39:49 Unmistakable identity: identity, creativity and judgement 46:50 AD: ISE 2027 47:59 Burnout is systemic: balancing consistency and change 53:03 Quick-fire questions 55:14 Wrap up and thanks Explore Julian’s Work Official Website → [www.julianreeve.com] Julian in Action → [www.julianreeve.com/watch] The Identity Advantage™ Keynote → [https://www.julianreeve.com/the-identity-advantage] Burnout by Design™ Keynote → [https://www.julianreeve.com/burnout-by-design] Resources The Human Capability Indicator™ → [https://www.julianreeve.com/capabilityindicator] Captain Perfection & the Secret of Self-Compassion (Book) → [https://www.julianreeve.com/captain-perfection] Connect LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianreeve/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julian.reeve/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@julianreeve Grab your free tickets for Brilliant Festival: https://www.brilliantfestival.com/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=partners&utm_campaign=edufuturists Get a free ticket to ISE 2027 in Barcelona at: https://register.visitcloud.com/survey/1pjxqc9wntuo6?actioncode=edufuturists®istration-code=edufuturists&discount-code=edufuturists Thanks so much for joining us again for another episode - we appreciate you. Ben & Steve x Check out all about Edufuturists at https://www.edufuturists.com Want to sponsor future episodes or get involved with the Edufuturists work? Get in touch: info@edufuturists.com Grab your copy of the new Pick 'n' Mix Education book at: https://www.crownhouse.co.uk/picknmix-education Join the Wolfpack Community: https://www.edufuturists.com/wolfpack