What happens when school moves from vague ideas about “reimagining” to the nuts and bolts of design? We sit down with Russell John Cailey, founder of Elham Studio and former, to map a practical path from traditional classrooms to living, place-based learning that actually works. From 90s Manchester to Hiroshima, Boston, and Botswana, Russell shares the hard-won lessons that turned curiosity into a curriculum architecture schools can implement now.
We break down a simple but demanding blueprint: start with clear competences and learning objectives, run a transparent design cycle that students can follow, and capture growth through robust portfolios instead of one-shot tests. This triangle turns projects from theatre into craft and helps schools align inquiry to standards across IB, US credit systems, and even the rigid constraints of GCSE and A-level. We also get honest about “kayfabe” in education—when innovation is a performance—and highlight signals that a programme is the real deal, from authentic community partnerships to visible student work.
AI takes centre stage as a tool that should walk beside us and behind us, not in front. Rather than ban it, we explore how to teach the journey to the prompt: scoping problems, structuring prompts, iterating outputs, and deciding what remains human. Paired with portfolios, AI can amplify research, reflection, and agency without outsourcing thinking.
For listeners in the Middle East, we talk candidly about why the market keeps opening British schools and where micro schools, studio models, and mastery plus PBL could thrive next. Subscribe for more conversations that turn buzzwords into blueprints, and leave a review to tell us which part of the design triangle your school needs most.
Connect with Russell here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russell-john-cailey/
Learn more about his work here: https://www.elham.world/
Register now at www.aiineducationsummit.com
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