In this rich crossover conversation, Chris Braitch and Dr James Mannion interview one another about trauma, healing, and the deep structural shifts needed in education.
Chris Braitch is a father of three whose mission is to move himself and others towards connection and compassion. He works as an emotional health coach, a leadership coach with Compassionate Leaders Global, and is the founding director of Seen & Heard, a not-for-profit supporting the wellbeing of past and present pupils of the private school system - many of whom have experienced institutional neglect, emotional harm or abuse.
After two decades in global sales and marketing, Chris realised that his life had been shaped by powerful, unexamined forces: early separation, boarding school culture, unresolved childhood experiences, and profound personal grief. Through coaching, men’s groups, the Emotional Freedom Technique, and a life-changing spiritual awakening, he discovered a new sense of purpose rooted in authenticity, service, and compassion. This journey transformed his parenting, his perspective, and the work he now offers to others.
James shares the origins of the Rethinking Education Podcast, his work with the Learner Effectiveness Programme, slice teams, implementation science, and the Education Policy Alliance, and explores why so many top-down reforms fail to shift what actually happens in classrooms.
Together, they explore:
- The “myth of privilege” and why suffering in elite institutions is so often minimised
- How early separation and boarding school cultures shape adult hypervigilance, self-protection, and leadership
- The emotional and spiritual turning points that redirected Chris’s life
- How Seen & Heard supports former pupils, works with schools, and campaigns for safer legislation
- Why spoken language (oracy) is an overlooked equity issue
- Why the system keeps “locating the problem in the child”
- How learner-effectiveness, self-regulation, and holistic education can transform outcomes
- The cultural assumptions baked into British schooling and politics
- Why compassion-centred leadership matters now more than ever
This is a deeply human, hopeful conversation about trauma, awareness, systemic change, and learning to live - and lead - with compassion.
LINKS
- Chris’s not for profit supporting the wellbeing of past pupils of boarding and independent day schools and their families – https://seenheard.org.uk
- Chris’s not for profit supporting the wellbeing of present pupils of boarding and independent day schools and their families – https://seenheardschools.org.uk
- Chris’s coaching business where I support men and women through 1-2-1’s and groups – https://growthwave.uk
The Compassionate Leader Pathway Course - designed to help people lead with purpose, perform with clarity and live with integrity. https://compassionateleadersglobal.com
CREDITS
- The Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean.
- Outro track: How it is and how it should be by Grit Control
SUPPORT THE PODCAST:
This podcast is a labour of love, with the emphasis on both the labour and the love.
If you’d like to support the podcast or convey your appreciation for these conversations, you can:
Become a patron: https://patreon.com/repod
Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/repod
All content for Rethinking Education is the property of Dr James Mannion and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
In this rich crossover conversation, Chris Braitch and Dr James Mannion interview one another about trauma, healing, and the deep structural shifts needed in education.
Chris Braitch is a father of three whose mission is to move himself and others towards connection and compassion. He works as an emotional health coach, a leadership coach with Compassionate Leaders Global, and is the founding director of Seen & Heard, a not-for-profit supporting the wellbeing of past and present pupils of the private school system - many of whom have experienced institutional neglect, emotional harm or abuse.
After two decades in global sales and marketing, Chris realised that his life had been shaped by powerful, unexamined forces: early separation, boarding school culture, unresolved childhood experiences, and profound personal grief. Through coaching, men’s groups, the Emotional Freedom Technique, and a life-changing spiritual awakening, he discovered a new sense of purpose rooted in authenticity, service, and compassion. This journey transformed his parenting, his perspective, and the work he now offers to others.
James shares the origins of the Rethinking Education Podcast, his work with the Learner Effectiveness Programme, slice teams, implementation science, and the Education Policy Alliance, and explores why so many top-down reforms fail to shift what actually happens in classrooms.
Together, they explore:
- The “myth of privilege” and why suffering in elite institutions is so often minimised
- How early separation and boarding school cultures shape adult hypervigilance, self-protection, and leadership
- The emotional and spiritual turning points that redirected Chris’s life
- How Seen & Heard supports former pupils, works with schools, and campaigns for safer legislation
- Why spoken language (oracy) is an overlooked equity issue
- Why the system keeps “locating the problem in the child”
- How learner-effectiveness, self-regulation, and holistic education can transform outcomes
- The cultural assumptions baked into British schooling and politics
- Why compassion-centred leadership matters now more than ever
This is a deeply human, hopeful conversation about trauma, awareness, systemic change, and learning to live - and lead - with compassion.
LINKS
- Chris’s not for profit supporting the wellbeing of past pupils of boarding and independent day schools and their families – https://seenheard.org.uk
- Chris’s not for profit supporting the wellbeing of present pupils of boarding and independent day schools and their families – https://seenheardschools.org.uk
- Chris’s coaching business where I support men and women through 1-2-1’s and groups – https://growthwave.uk
The Compassionate Leader Pathway Course - designed to help people lead with purpose, perform with clarity and live with integrity. https://compassionateleadersglobal.com
CREDITS
- The Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean.
- Outro track: How it is and how it should be by Grit Control
SUPPORT THE PODCAST:
This podcast is a labour of love, with the emphasis on both the labour and the love.
If you’d like to support the podcast or convey your appreciation for these conversations, you can:
Become a patron: https://patreon.com/repod
Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/repod
"You can't afford not to!" Headteacher Kulvarn Atwal on the power of slice teams
Rethinking Education
34 minutes 22 seconds
5 months ago
"You can't afford not to!" Headteacher Kulvarn Atwal on the power of slice teams
In this short episode of the Rethinking Education podcast, James Mannion speaks with Dr Kulvarn Atwal – a highly respected headteacher leading not one, but two schools: Highlands Primary and Uphall Primary in East London.
Kulvarn is the author of The Thinking School and The Thinking Teacher, and a long-time advocate of distributed leadership and research-informed practice. He shares insights into how his schools are developing cultures of continuous improvement through collaboration and genuine stakeholder engagement.
This conversation focuses on the idea of slice teams – diverse, representative groups of staff, students, and other members of the school community who lead change initiatives together. Slice teams are a central feature of James's new book, Making Change Stick: A Practical Guide to Implementing School Improvement.
Topics discussed include:
What slice teams are and how they work in practice
Why including pupils in these teams is so important
How this approach can lead to more sustainable, system-wide change
Whether you’re a school leader, a classroom teacher, or someone interested in education reform, this is a thought-provoking discussion on how we can rethink leadership and change in schools.
LINKS
Making Change Stick website - https://makingchangestick.co
Making Change Stick book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Making-Change-Stick-Implementing-Improvement/dp/1398387487
Outro track: ‘How it is and how it should be’ by Grit Control: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ud69RIV1eOV9poMR7AORI
SUPPORT THE RETHINKING ED PODCAST:
Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/repod
Buy James a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod
Rethinking Education
In this rich crossover conversation, Chris Braitch and Dr James Mannion interview one another about trauma, healing, and the deep structural shifts needed in education.
Chris Braitch is a father of three whose mission is to move himself and others towards connection and compassion. He works as an emotional health coach, a leadership coach with Compassionate Leaders Global, and is the founding director of Seen & Heard, a not-for-profit supporting the wellbeing of past and present pupils of the private school system - many of whom have experienced institutional neglect, emotional harm or abuse.
After two decades in global sales and marketing, Chris realised that his life had been shaped by powerful, unexamined forces: early separation, boarding school culture, unresolved childhood experiences, and profound personal grief. Through coaching, men’s groups, the Emotional Freedom Technique, and a life-changing spiritual awakening, he discovered a new sense of purpose rooted in authenticity, service, and compassion. This journey transformed his parenting, his perspective, and the work he now offers to others.
James shares the origins of the Rethinking Education Podcast, his work with the Learner Effectiveness Programme, slice teams, implementation science, and the Education Policy Alliance, and explores why so many top-down reforms fail to shift what actually happens in classrooms.
Together, they explore:
- The “myth of privilege” and why suffering in elite institutions is so often minimised
- How early separation and boarding school cultures shape adult hypervigilance, self-protection, and leadership
- The emotional and spiritual turning points that redirected Chris’s life
- How Seen & Heard supports former pupils, works with schools, and campaigns for safer legislation
- Why spoken language (oracy) is an overlooked equity issue
- Why the system keeps “locating the problem in the child”
- How learner-effectiveness, self-regulation, and holistic education can transform outcomes
- The cultural assumptions baked into British schooling and politics
- Why compassion-centred leadership matters now more than ever
This is a deeply human, hopeful conversation about trauma, awareness, systemic change, and learning to live - and lead - with compassion.
LINKS
- Chris’s not for profit supporting the wellbeing of past pupils of boarding and independent day schools and their families – https://seenheard.org.uk
- Chris’s not for profit supporting the wellbeing of present pupils of boarding and independent day schools and their families – https://seenheardschools.org.uk
- Chris’s coaching business where I support men and women through 1-2-1’s and groups – https://growthwave.uk
The Compassionate Leader Pathway Course - designed to help people lead with purpose, perform with clarity and live with integrity. https://compassionateleadersglobal.com
CREDITS
- The Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean.
- Outro track: How it is and how it should be by Grit Control
SUPPORT THE PODCAST:
This podcast is a labour of love, with the emphasis on both the labour and the love.
If you’d like to support the podcast or convey your appreciation for these conversations, you can:
Become a patron: https://patreon.com/repod
Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/repod
