What if the design of your school is the very thing holding it back?

Most schools are not running a bad design. They are running an inherited one, built for factories and mass production, not for learners. And most leaders have never once stopped to question it.

In this episode of the EdVance Podcast, Jeff Wetzler, Co-founder of Transcend and Head of Transcend Labs, joins host Vikas Pota to challenge the model that has been quietly running classrooms around the world for over a century.

Jeff shares the six shifts every school must make to stay relevant in a rapidly changing world, explains what learner-centred leaders consistently do that others do not, and makes the case that until school design moves from the background to the foreground, performance will always have a ceiling.

He also shares the one question every principal should ask their staff this week, and why the honest answer will be uncomfortable for most leaders.

And somewhere in this conversation, a veteran educator makes an admission that is difficult to ignore. After decades in the field, they had never once truly sat down with a child and listened. What they finally heard changed how they lead.

What are your students telling you that you are not hearing?

Download and subscribe to the EdVance Podcast for conversations with education leaders from around the world.

In Mexico, only one in ten children who start school will ever make it to university. At this school network, it is eight out of ten. So what are they doing differently?

In this episode of the EdVance Podcast, Yael Karakowsky, CEO of SER Network of Schools in Mexico, shares the thinking behind those results, the three principles her schools refuse to compromise on, and the one leadership lesson that took her completely by surprise.

She also tells a story from early in her career that stopped us in our tracks. One whispered sentence in a room full of men nearly ended everything before it began. What happened next changed the course of her leadership.

This is an honest, grounded conversation about what it takes to build schools that genuinely change lives. If you work in education or care about it, this one is for you.

Subscribe to the EdVance Podcast for conversations with education leaders from around the world.

What does it really mean to build a high-performing school in a nation transforming at speed?

In this episode of the #EdVance Podcast, Dr Steffen Sommer, Director General of Misk Schools in Saudi Arabia, explores how leadership evolution, cultural alignment and strategic precision shape exceptional institutions.

Dr Steffen shares lessons from leading schools across Europe and the Middle East, explaining why modern leadership must move from control to inclusion, why schools cannot succeed without aligning to national vision, and why high performance begins with leaving nothing to chance.

He also challenges the global overemphasis on exam results, argues that happiness and wellbeing are performance strategies, and explains why opportunity and innovation must be deliberately designed if students are to thrive in a world shaped by AI and rapid change.

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