Blaming children's brains for the failings of the school system with Chris Bagley

Dr Chris Bagley is a psychologist, teacher, writer and musician with an interest in the evolution of ideas, educational transformation and systems change. He is Director of Research at social enterprise, States of Mind, Co-Director at Square Peg CIC and a Tutor at The Institute of Education, University College London.I (Naomi) first met Chris several years ago, as we were both critiquing the education system and trying to imagine ways that education could be different. I was immediately struck by how clearly Chris sees the problems in the school system and how it (doesn’t) work for the most marginalised young people. He is always thinking about the effect of education on the children who are labelled the failures - who could also be seen as those whom school has failed. In this in-depth and wide-ranging interview, Chris tells us about being a psychologist in the school system, and how he feels that it pathologises the young people who don’t fit its requirements. He explains how the medical model and our model of education interact to protect each other. Children’s distress about school is labelled and treated as a medical problem, meaning that we don’t ask important questions about whether our education system is really fit for purpose. His first book, States of Mind, written with Bea Herbert, was recently published and is available from all good booksellers. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit neurosense.substack.com