Episodes

  • FreshEd #409 – Education ‘among the people’ in China (Baiwen Peng)

    FreshEd #409 – Education ‘among the people’ in China (Baiwen Peng)
    Dec 21 2025
    Today we unpack the Chinese term minjian and conceptualize it for the field of comparative education. My guest is Baiwen Peng. Baiwen Peng is a doctoral student in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. His new article is “Minjian: exploring education ‘among the people’ in China,” which was published in Comparative Education. freshedpodcast.com/peng/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com
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    31 mins
  • FreshEd 408 – From the Former Soviet Union to Canada (Sarfaroz Niyozov, Stephen Bahry & Max Antony-Newman)

    FreshEd 408 – From the Former Soviet Union to Canada (Sarfaroz Niyozov, Stephen Bahry & Max Antony-Newman)
    Dec 14 2025
    Today we unpack the education experiences of students from the former Soviet Union who have migrated to Canada. My guests are Sarfaroz Niyozov, Stephen Bahry and Max Antony-Newman. For the past few years, they have been working on a research project that has explored the experiences of the high school children with post-Soviet backgrounds in the Greater Toronto Area. The research project strives to improve the education experiences of this under-researched, often misunderstood group of Canadian youth, their parents, and communities who come from the countries of the former Soviet Union. Sarfaroz Niyozov is an Associate Professor in Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, where Stephen Bahry is a sessional lecturer. Max Antony-Newman is a lecturer in education at the university of Glasgow. Various articles from their research project will soon published. You can follow the link to their project website to find them. -- freshedpodcast.com/niyozov-bahry-antony-newman/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com
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    35 mins
  • FreshEd #407 – Education for Societal Transformation (Frank Adamson and Carol Anne Spreen)

    FreshEd #407 – Education for Societal Transformation (Frank Adamson and Carol Anne Spreen)
    Dec 7 2025
    Before we start today’s show, I’d like to welcome our newest FreshEd Members, Amy Stambach and Tian Renxiang. Thank you for your support. If you think FreshEd is a valuable educational resource and want to join our growing community, sign up at FreshEdpodcast.com. -- Today we unpack education alternatives to reimagine education for just futures. My guests are Frank Adamson and Carol Anne Spreen. Frank Adamson is associate professor of education leadership and policy studies at California State University, Sacramento. Carol Anne Spreen is a professor of international education at New York University. They were on the co-editorial team of the NORRAG Special Issue entitled “Education for Societal Transformation: Alternatives for a Just Future” and members of The Alternative Project, which I should mention I was a part of at its inception. -- freshedpodcast.com/adamson-spreen/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com
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    37 mins
  • FreshEd #318 – Producing Global Learning Metrics (Clara Fontdevila)

    FreshEd #318 – Producing Global Learning Metrics (Clara Fontdevila)
    Nov 30 2025
    Today we explore the production of global learning metrics inside the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. My guest is Clara Fontdevila, a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Education at the University of Glasgow. Clara’s newest article is entitled “The politics of good enough data. Developments, dilemmas, and deadlocks in the production of global learning metrics,” which was published in the International Journal of Educational Development. Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the School of Education at the University of Glasgow. Thanks to Matthew Thomas for organizing the event. Citation: Fontdevila, Clara, interview with Will Brehm, FreshEd, 318, podcast audio, April 24, 2023.https://freshedpodcast.com/fontdevila/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com Support FreshEd: www.freshedpodcast.com/donate
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    29 mins
  • FreshEd #262 – Climate Education beyond COP26 (Christina Kwauk & Radhika Iyengar)

    FreshEd #262 – Climate Education beyond COP26 (Christina Kwauk & Radhika Iyengar)
    Nov 23 2025
    Thanks for listening to FreshEd. It’s rewarding to produce for the thousands of listeners around the world. But it takes a lot of work to make regular episodes. What sustains our effort are voluntary memberships from paying supporters. If you are enjoying FreshEd and would like to join our membership community, please sign up at www.freshedpodcast.com. -- Today we take stock of climate education, its past and its future. With me are Christina Kwauk and Radhika Iyengar, who have recently co-edited the book, Curriculum and Learning for Climate Action: Toward an SDG 4.7 Roadmap for Systems Change. They argue that COP26 has been disappointing in terms of education and climate action, and encourage everyone to focus on local action and change. Christina Kwauk is the Research Director at Unbounded Associates and a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institute. Radhika Iyengar is Director of Education at the Center for Sustainable Development, Earth Institute, Columbia University. Citation: Kwauk, Christina, and Iyengar, Radhika interview with Will Brehm, FreshEd, 262, podcast audio, November 15, 2021. https://freshedpodcast.com/kwauk-iyengar/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com
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    35 mins
  • FreshEd #406 – Prioritizing and Improving Foundational Learning (Michelle Kaffenberger)

    FreshEd #406 – Prioritizing and Improving Foundational Learning (Michelle Kaffenberger)
    Nov 16 2025
    Today we explore foundational learning in low and middle income countries. My guest is Michelle Kaffenberger. Michelle Kaffenberger is the Director of evidence translation at the What Works Hub for Global Education the University of Oxford. I Spoke with her on the sidelines of the Development and Education Conference (DevEd) held in Melbourne, Australia last week. https://freshedpodcast.com/kaffenberger/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com
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    33 mins
  • FreshEd #344 – Critiquing Education in Emergencies (Jessica Oddy)

    FreshEd #344 – Critiquing Education in Emergencies (Jessica Oddy)
    Nov 9 2025
    Today we dive into the field of education in emergencies, highlighting its entanglements with colonialism, empire, and racial capitalism. My guest is Jess Oddy. Jess Oddy is a researcher at the university of Bristol and has worked in various capacities in the field of education in emergencies. Her new article is “Retelling education in emergencies through the black radical tradition: on racial capitalism critical race theory and fugitivity,” which was published in Globalisation, Societies and Education. Citation: Oddy, Jess with Will Brehm, FreshEd, 344, podcast audio, March 4, 2024. https://freshedpodcast.com/oddy/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com
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    25 mins
  • FreshEd #405 - 10th Anniversary Special (Iveta Silova, Yuto Kitamura & Will Brehm)

    FreshEd #405 - 10th Anniversary Special (Iveta Silova, Yuto Kitamura & Will Brehm)
    Nov 2 2025
    Ten years ago, on October 26, 2015, something special began in Japan. While working at the University of Tokyo, I launched the first episode of the FreshEd podcast, marking the start of what would become a cornerstone of conversations in comparative and international education. Over the past decade, FreshEd has grown into a global platform – far larger than I ever imaged -- connecting listeners interested in education, equity, and social change. We’ve made over 400 episodes in that time. We’ve counted 200 universities that use our content and we have listeners, like you, in over 180 countries. To celebrate our anniversary, we held a live event at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan as part of the 2025 International Education Development Forum. I’ve like to thank Dr. Jing Liu for co-organizing this event. Joining me on stage were Professors Iveta Silova and Yuto Kitamura, who are both board members of FreshEd. In our conversation, we take you behind the scenes of FreshEd’s development and reflect on what the podcast means for the wider field specifically and higher education generally. On a personal note, Iveta and Yuto are both mentors who have shaped my own career as an academic. So today we’ll air the conversation we had in Tohoku on October 18. I hope you enjoy the show and here’s to the second decade of FreshEd. https://freshedpodcast.com/10years/ -- Get in touch! Twitter: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com
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    39 mins