Episode 16 with Carla Aerts

In this thought-provoking episode of Joining the Dots, Al Kingsley and Matt Jessop are joined by global education innovator and learner-centred strategist Carla Aerts. With decades of experience in EdTech, AI, and digital learning, Carla brings a passionate, challenging, and compassionate lens to the big question: what is education really for?

🧠 From soft skills (or rather, “power skills”) to digital equity, learner agency, neuroplasticity, and the troubling persistence of high-stakes testing, this episode is a tour de force through the most pressing issues facing education today. The trio tackle:

• Why education should be the catalyst for children’s potential, not just a pathway to employment

• The hidden dangers of retrofit EdTech and surface-level AI use in schools

• Why teachers must be supported to experiment safely with AI, not excluded by fear or poor infrastructure

• The critical need for curriculum reform beyond political cycles — and why tweaking around the edges won’t do

• How teaching kids about how their brains work can supercharge motivation and learning

• The growing assessment crisis, and why we should stop trying to monitor broken systems with new tech

• The risks of inequity if we fail to provide digital access as a basic right

💬 Carla calls for a new kind of education—adaptive, co-created, scaffolded for safe experimentation, and deeply human. Expect challenging takes, energising provocations, and plenty to reflect on long after the episode ends.

🔁 As ever, grab a notebook – or better yet, gather your team – because this one’s packed with ideas to take back to your school or trust.