On the latest Top Class podcast 🎧, OECD's Education Senior Editor Duncan Crawford is joined by John McLaughlin, President & CEO of Atlantic Education International, to discuss educational challenges in Canada, teachers under pressure, and how to ensure all children get an equal chance to succeed at school.

How to ensure all children get an equal chance to succeed

Carl Hooker brings us a live podcast from the ISTE+ASCD conference in San Antonio, Texas. He connects with conference attendees, friends old and new, asking each to share a problem they're working to solve in their corner of the education world — or, as Carl puts it: “Tell me your idea spark."

Carl sits down with Leonardo Ortiz Villacorta (aka Leo). Leo is a leader in communications, global social impact, and public affairs at Pokemon.

This episode of The Idea Spark is brought to you by EdSurge Solutions Studio.

Live at ASCD + ISTE with Leo Ortiz Villacorta

Carl Hooker brings us a live podcast from the ISTE+ASCD conference in San Antonio, Texas. He connects with conference attendees, friends old and new, asking each to share a problem they're working to solve in their corner of the education world — or, as Carl puts it: “Tell me your idea spark."
Carl sits down with Victoria Andrews. She’s Partner, Professional Learning at Getting Smart. In this role, Victoria is focusing on closing the gap in AI media literacy.
This episode of The Idea Spark is brought to you by EdSurge Solutions Studio.

Live from ASCD + ISTE with Victoria Andrews

As tech innovation, particularly in the field of AI, is increasingly focused on a few key players, the industries benefiting from these tools have also become more concentrated, which Carl Benedikt Frey says could weigh on growth. Frey is an associate professor of AI and Work at Oxford University, and his latest book, How Progress Ends, suggests that waves of technological and economic progress are often followed by stagnation. In this podcast, Frey says the concentration of AI-using industries will push the direction of technological change further towards automation rather than product innovation. 

Transcript: http://bit.ly/45Z1IbR 

Read the article in Finance & Development magazine: imf.org/fandd

Carl Benedikt Frey on AI and Growth

More people are getting degrees than ever before, but family background has a big influence on whether people pursue university or another form of tertiary education. That’s one of the key findings of this year’s OECD report Education at a Glance. The report is the authoritative source of information on the state of education worldwide, with data on the structure, financing and performance of education systems across OECD countries and partner economies. In this edition of Top Class, the OECD’s Director for Education and Skills Andreas Schleicher speaks to OECD Editor Duncan Crawford about the main findings.

The state of global education, with OECD’s Andreas Schleicher

A lot has happened in the global economy since 2019, and few people know that better than Gita Gopinath. As the IMF Chief Economist and subsequently the institution’s First Deputy Managing Director, she navigated unprecedented global crises, including the pandemic and the ensuing great lockdown, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, inflation, and geopolitical fragmentation. Her career as a Professor at Harvard University was put on hold to take on those IMF roles, but now she’s back. How will the 2025 version of Professor Gopinath compare to the 2018 version? In this podcast, Gita Gopinath reflects on her experiences at the Fund and what she’s taking back with her to Harvard. 

Transcript: https://bit.ly/4npTyR5

Grit and Luck: Gita Gopinath Reflects on her Career and Roles at the Fund

Bringing nations together to maintain peace and security and raise living standards for all seemed a utopian idea in the early 20th century. Still, geopolitics, economics and vision by world leaders eventually came together to make it a reality. But what happens when the great powers that have been supporting the multilateral system decide it’s not working for them anymore? Danny Quah has studied the increase in global economic tensions and sees the rising East as an important factor. Quah is the Li Ka Shing Professor of Economics at the National University of Singapore. In this podcast, he says that while economics and geopolitics worked together to build the multilateral rules-based system, they are now working together to break it apart.  

Transcript: https://bit.ly/4grrx9n 

Read the article in Finance &amp; Development magazine: IMF.org/fandd

Danny Quah on Rethinking Multilateralism

Carl Hooker brings us a live podcast from the ISTE+ASCD conference in San Antonio, Texas. He connects with conference attendees, friends old and new, asking each to share a problem they're working to solve in their corner of the education world — or, as Carl puts it: “Tell me your idea spark."

Carl sits down with Lexi Daly, Learning Innovation Coordinator and Reading Teacher at Trinity Episcopal School in New Orleans. Find out how this self-proclaimed non-coder creates her own mini-games using AI.

This episode of The Idea Spark is brought to you by EdSurge Solutions Studio.


Live from ASCD + ISTE with Lexi Daly

Carl Hooker brings us a live podcast from the ISTE+ASCD conference in San Antonio, Texas. He connects with conference attendees, friends old and new, asking each to share a problem they're working to solve in their corner of the education world — or, as Carl puts it: “Tell me your idea spark."

In this episode, Carl sits down with Heather Brantley, Events and Community Specialist at Curipod. Listen to find out how Curipod replaces an expected AI bot with a human!

This episode of The Idea Spark is brought to you by EdSurge Solutions Studio.

Live from ISTE+ASCD with Heather Brantley

In this episode of WISE On Air, we explore how sensory education is breaking barriers and transforming literacy and numeracy for learners often left behind by traditional systems. We speak with two remarkable WISE Prize finalists who are pioneering innovative solutions for students with diverse needs and communities with limited access to education. 

From Qatar, Ramy Abdulzaher, Co-Founder and COO of @Bonocle, shares how Braille-based technology and gamified learning tools are improving Arabic literacy for visually impaired students. From Nigeria, Gideon Olanrewaju, Chief Executive Director of the Aid for Rural Education Access Initiative (@AREAi), demonstrates how offline digital pens and multilingual resources are delivering literacy programs to refugee camps with no internet access. 

In this episode, we discuss: 

How Braille technology fosters inclusion and engagement for students with visual impairments 

The potential of Fast Track tools to transform literacy learning for underserved communities 

How Bonocle adapts its solutions to meet diverse needs across different regions and communities 

The role of the WISE Prize in helping scale and accelerate these impactful educational initiatives 

This conversation highlights how touch, sound, and human connection are redefining what literacy and learning mean in the twenty-first century and expanding opportunities for students who are often overlooked. 

About the Guests: 

Ramy Abdulzaher is the Co-Founder and COO of Bonocle in Qatar, developing Braille-based solutions to improve Arabic literacy for visually impaired students. 

Gideon Olanrewaju is the Chief Executive Director of AREAi in Nigeria, leading initiatives that bring literacy to refugee communities through offline and multilingual learning technologies. 

🎧 Subscribe to WISE On Air: https://pod.link/wiseonair 

Learn more about WISE: https://www.wise-qatar.org 

Episode Chapters: 
 00:00 Introduction 
 01:27 Introducing Ramy Abdulzaher & Gideon Olanrewaju 
 01:48 How Does Braille Technology Foster Inclusion in Education? 
 04:59 Can the Fast Track Tools Transform Literacy Learning? 
 12:05 How Bonocle Designs for Inclusion Across Communities 
 18:37 How WISE Prize Helped Fast Track 
 21:28 Appreciation and Farewell 

117: Learning Through Touch: How Sensory Education is Breaking Barriers

A new OECD report reveals that nearly 40% of 15-year-olds are uncertain about their future careers. Alarmingly, only one in three students has attended a job fair or completed an internship, and over 20% hold unrealistic job aspirations. These findings come from The State of Global Teenage Career Preparation, a comprehensive look at how well young people are being equipped for the world of work. In this episode of Top Class, OECD Editor Duncan Crawford speaks with the report’s lead author, Anthony Mann, to unpack the data and explore what needs to change.

You can read the full report here: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/the-state-of-global-teenage-career-preparation_d5f8e3f2-en.html

Why student career preparation is going wrong

Everything you need to know about teaching and learning in one podcast. Top Class, the OECD Education Podcast, interviews leading educators, researchers and policy experts about the big issues facing education systems around the world.




Disclaimer: The opinions expressed and arguments employed on the "TopClass" podcast and the recordings contained therein do not necessarily represent the official views of the OECD, its member countries, or non-members who have participated in any related work. This site may display third party videos or recordings. The inclusion of such videos or recordings does not imply any endorsement of, or responsibility for, the opinions, ideas, or information presented in these videos. The "TopClass" podcast is subject to the Disclaimers section of the General Terms and Conditions of the OECD website. http://www.oecd.org/termsandconditions/

How to ensure all children get an equal chance to succeed

Top Class, The OECD education podcast