A Podcast
For Change

What if the real danger of AI in schools isn't plagiarism, it's your own child telling you off for not saying "thank you" to Alexa?

In this episode, Ben and Steve sit down with Trudi Barrow - Edufuturist of the Year 2026 - to talk about the messy, brilliant middle ground between traditional craft and generative AI. From a late-night Midjourney experiment for a Year 10 design class to co-authoring the DfE's national AI toolkit now reaching over 30,000 schools and colleges, Trudi explains why she refuses to pick a side in education's most polarising debates.

About our guest:
Trudi Barrow is a former Head of Design & Technology turned AI and creativity specialist, trained at RADA in theatre design before moving into the classroom. She co-authored the Department for Education's national AI toolkit with Chiltern Learning Trust and Charter College, coined the concept of "creative fidelity," and was crowned Edufuturist of the Year 2026 in June.

We cover:
- How a rushed exemplar for a Year 10 D&T class led Trudi into her first real experiment with AI image generation
- Why she refuses to be labelled an "AI evangelist" and how she holds two opposing truths at once
- What it's really like being a woman walking into a D&T workshop
- Inside the DfE's national AI toolkit: reaching 30,000+ schools, and the subjects still being left out of the conversation
- Why anthropomorphised AI - and her daughter telling Alexa to say thank you - worries her more than most classroom AI use
- Safeguarding in the AI era: "same risks, different vectors"
- The truth about AI and sustainability, beyond viral "one image = boiling a kettle" stats
- What it actually felt like to be named Edufuturist of the Year 2026

Why you should listen
If you've ever felt caught between the AI hype and the AI fear, or wondered how creativity, craft and technology can genuinely coexist in the classroom, this conversation offers a rare, grounded middle ground from someone who has lived both sides.

Chapters
0:00 Highlights
1:14 Welcome back and Wolfpack community updates
2:40 Introducing Trudi Barrow, Edufuturist of the Year 2026
3:52 From RADA and theatre design to Head of D&T
6:35 Discovering Midjourney and Discord as a non-gamer
8:06 The Year 10 keyring exemplar that changed everything
13:46 Holding two truths: neither AI evangelist nor AI sceptic
15:34 Being a woman in a Design & Technology workshop
18:29 Pottery wheels and AI awards: why both fit
20:37 Knowledge vs skills, and finding a third way
23:55 Co-writing the DfE's national AI toolkit
27:27 The subjects still missing from the AI conversation
30:06 Creativity isn't just for the "creative subjects"
31:58 Inside the toolkit: reaching 30,000+ schools
35:55 The Alexa story: anthropomorphising AI at home
39:03 Safeguarding: same risks, different vectors
42:27 Why sustainability has to be part of the AI conversation
48:05 What winning Edufuturist of the Year 2026 really meant
53:17 Quick-fire questions

Connect with Trudi at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trudibarrow/
Find out more about her at: https://sites.google.com/view/trudi-barrow/home
Check out the DfE AI Toolkits she co-authored: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/generative-artificial-intelligence-in-education/generative-artificial-intelligence-ai-in-education

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 Edufuturists Wolfpack: edufuturists.com/wolfpack

What if the man who invented modern American schooling didn't actually believe in it, not enough to send his own kids?

In this episode, Ben and Steve take Edufuturists live on stage in front of an audience at Minerva Virtual Academy's (MVA) 5th birthday celebration, launching their new book, Pick 'n' Mix Education. They're joined by MVA founder and CEO Hugh Viney and home educating parents Hannah and Olivia for an unfiltered conversation about why "one size fits all" schooling is failing families and what choice actually looks like in practice.

About our guests
Hugh Viney is the founder and CEO of Minerva Virtual Academy (MVA), returning for his second appearance on the Edufuturists podcast. MVA has been named Edufuturists Online School of the Year for two years running.

Hannah has home educated her children for nearly 16 years, previously worked in behaviour management at a pupil referral unit, and now has two of her older teens studying at MVA. She is on social media as https://www.instagram.com/thrivingwithhannah/

Olivia is a home-educating mum of two who built an online following around family life before opening up about choosing education outside the mainstream system. She is on social media as https://www.instagram.com/lifeatmoathouse/

We cover:
- The Woolworths "pick and mix" analogy at the heart of Ben and Steve's new book
- Horace Mann: the godfather of standardised American schooling who homeschooled his own kids
- Why every penny of profit from Pick 'n' Mix Education goes to youth mental health charity Beyond
- Hannah's move from unschooling to MVA, and the exam results that surprised her
- Redefining success beyond grades and dismantling the "they won't socialise" myth
- Todd Rose's The End of Average and the fighter-pilot cockpit that fit no one
- What it would mean if UK parents could direct their share of education funding, as some US states allow
- What "pick and mix" actually looks like day to day for these families
- Inside MVA: weekly 1:1 mentors, live lessons, self-directed learning and in-person meetups
- MVA's mission for the next five years - becoming a first choice, not a last resort

Why you should listen
Recorded live in front of a festival field full of parents, educators and home-schooling families, this is Edufuturists at its most unfiltered - real stories from people who've chosen a different path, not theory about it. If you've ever wondered whether there's a genuine alternative to "the school at the end of the road," this conversation makes the case, live, warts and all.

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
1:17 Welcome live from the MVA stage
2:27 Meet your hosts: Ben and Steve
3:52 The Woolworths analogy: what "pick and mix" education means
5:18 New book: Pick 'n' Mix Education and where the profits go
6:13 The Horace Mann paradox: he built standardised schooling, then homeschooled his own kids
7:47 Bringing the panel to the stage: Hugh, Hannah and Olivia
8:32 Hugh Viney: founder and CEO of MVA
9:45 Hannah: 16 years of home educating, now at MVA
10:32 Olivia: home-educating mum of two
11:28 The End of Average: the cockpit built for everyone that fit no one
12:39 Hannah's story: relationships, safety, and the results that surprised her
14:01 Beyond grades: celebrating the whole learner, and choosing rather than rejecting school
15:42 "But how will they socialise?"
17:26 What if parents controlled a share of education funding, like some US states allow?
19:06 What pick and mix actually looks like, day to day
20:24 Curiosity, autonomy, and the bedtime analogy
22:04 Inside MVA: weekly mentors, live lessons and self-directed learning
24:23 Why the trip is remembered and the lesson isn't
26:11 From unschooling to formal learning: what the transition actually looks like
27:50 Deferred starts, academy takeovers, and choosing freedom
29:12 "What works for my child" not what works at scale
30:27 MVA's mission for the next five years: first choice, not last resort
32:23 Quickfire Questions
36:35 MVA 5th Birthday Highlights Video

Find out more about MVA: https://www.minervavirtual.com/

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 Edufuturists Community: edufuturists.com/wolfpack

#EdufuturistsPodcast #AIinEducation #SocialMobility

What if the biggest problem in education isn't AI, it's that almost nothing we already do has ever been tested for evidence the way a new drug would be?

In this episode
In this episode, Ben and Steve sit down with Dr Yusuf Ben-Tarifite - A&E doctor, social mobility researcher, and founder of Ava - to talk about what happens when you apply medical-grade evidence standards to education. From email-blasting a thousand consultants to get work experience, to building the UK's first randomised control trial comparing AI tutoring against video, Yusuf makes the case that education's real crisis isn't too much AI scepticism; it's not enough rigour applied everywhere else.

About our guest
Dr Yusuf Ben-Tarifite is an A&E doctor and the founder of Ava, a platform helping students navigate the "unwritten curriculum" of applying to university. The first in his family to attend university, he studied medicine at Balliol College, Oxford, after attending a state school in Hertfordshire with no private tutoring. While still a medical student, he founded Aspiring Medics - now having worked with over 10,000 students - and was awarded the Diana Award by Prince William for his work widening access to medicine. Ava now partners with the Sutton Trust on AI-powered interview coaching and evidence-based research into social mobility.

We cover:
- Yusuf's journey from a Hertfordshire state school to Oxford medicine, and why he founded Aspiring Medics a week before Freshers' Week
- The Diana Award, Prince William, and "leaving the ladder down" for others
- Ava's mission: equality of opportunity, not just support for disadvantaged students
- Why AI is a continuum, not a chatbot and how Ava uses it as a Socratic tutor and interview coach
- Building an actual evidence base: doubling Oxbridge odds, and the UK's first randomised trial of AI vs video tutoring
- The real hope for AI in education and the risk of turning students into "AI zombies"
- Why writing and thinking are the same skill, and what that means for assessment
- "I call bullshit": how often is high-quality face-to-face teaching actually happening?
- The GCSE resit numbers that expose a one-size-fits-all system already failing thousands
- Why cognitive discomfort, like progressive overload in the gym, is the point of learning, not a bug
- The shrinking half-life of technical skills, and what it means for lifelong learning

Why you should listen
This is a rare conversation where a working doctor's instinct for evidence collides head-on with education's comfort with anecdote and tradition. If you've ever been frustrated by "it just works" arguments on either side of the AI debate, Yusuf brings a genuinely evidence-led perspective.

Chapters
0:00 Highlights
0:58 Welcome
3:20 Introducing Dr Yusuf: A&E doctor, researcher and founder of Ava
3:57 From a Hertfordshire state school to Oxford medicine
5:33 Who Ava is for: narrowing the gap, or equality of opportunity for all?
7:15 The AI revolution and democratising education
8:17 The Diana Award, Prince William, and "leaving the ladder down"
10:25 What still drives him after the recognition
11:44 From Aspiring Medics to Oxbridge: his North Star for social mobility
13:33 Mirroring the Edufuturists journey, and the shrinking half-life of skills
16:18 Why social mobility is complicated and why tech alone won't fix it
18:04 Inside Ava: a "training course" for university applications
19:38 The "who you know" problem, and levelling the playing field
20:56 AI as a Socratic tutor and why "the genie can't go back in the bottle"
22:49 Building the evidence base: doubling Oxbridge odds, and the UK's first AI vs video trial
23:44 Beyond the hype: the real hope for AI in education, and the risk of "AI zombies"
26:33 Outsourcing the doing, not the thinking
28:13 Teaching cognitive biases, and why writing is thinking
29:58 Is high-quality face-to-face learning really happening as often as we assume?
31:47 The longitudinal evidence question, and a one-size-fits-all model that's already failing
33:04 Why AI should face the same scrutiny as every other intervention
34:07 The COVID hangover, and why we're asking the wrong question about online learning
36:10 Is there a gap between policy and technology?
37:35 Cognitive discomfort: why learning should feel like exercise
41:28 Has the fundamental nature of learning really changed?
42:43 Quickfire Questions

Find out more about AVA: https://ai.theaspiringmedics.co.uk/

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 Edufuturists Wolfpack: edufuturists.com/wolfpack