Is your classroom setup holding your international learners back?

Traditional, teacher-centered layouts often stifle the creativity, collaboration, and cultural inclusivity needed for students to thrive—especially in our international schools. Outdated setups can act as barriers, preventing meaningful learning and student engagement.

In this episode, I’ll share five simple shifts to redesign your learning spaces into vibrant, student-centered environments. Learn:

1️⃣ How to ditch the teacher desk, and empower every learner to conribute.
2️⃣ Why a progress wall can skyrocket motivation
3️⃣ The easiest way to showcase student work and build classroom pride

Let’s move from outdated spaces to thriving learning communities.

Take the 12 Shifts Scorecard and start creating an environment where all students feel engaged and empowered!

What do you think of when you hear the term 'learner agency?'

You might envisage students having some "voice" and "choice" around what they learn, or where they sit in class.

And while that's a nice start, learner agency is more than allowing students some choice in what they learn. It's about involving them in every step of the journey.

Imagine a school with...

🙌🏼 Student- run electives.
🙌🏼 Seventy + student led businesses to carry out the school's day to day operations.
🙌🏼 Timetables that are created and carried out by a student design team.
🙌🏼 A school board that includes young learners.
🙌🏼 100+ Individualised Learning Plans that students co-design.

That's Templestowe College, or more affectionately known as "Take Control" College in Australia. It's one of Hundred.org's top 100 most innovative schools in the world. And Peter Hutton was the mastermind at its helm.

I was lucky enough to sit down with Peter to learn more about how he built this kind of learner agency; and how we as learner-centered champions can heed the lessons to build more student agency in our classrooms and schools.

Connect with Peter: LinkedIn, Twitter

Join Future Schools: https://futureschools.education/

Take the 12 Shifts for Learner-Centered Classrooms Scorecard: www.transformschool.com/12shiftsmastermind

Buy the 12 Shifts Book for 20% off: 'Where is the Teacher: 12 Shifts for Student-Centered Environments.'

Join the 12 Shifts Certificate Program: www.transformschool.com/12shiftsmasterclass

Peter's Bio: Peter is a maverick, a free radical, a challenger of the status quo. His strength is in transformational insight and supporting educational leaders to build innovative and adaptive cultures. As a person with dyslexia, Peter sees the world differently. Co-founding the Future Schools Alliance in 2018, Peter now works with a community of 100 member schools to significantly improve the lives of young people by transforming the education system to promote purpose-filled empowered learning and equip them for times of exponential change. Peter was the former Principal of Templestowe College which has been recognised by Finland’s HundrED organisationas one of the most innovative schools in the world.

Do you still set New Year’s Resolutions?

I used to—until I realized I broke nearly all of them by February. And I’m not alone. Research shows that 88% of people abandon their resolutions within the first two weeks!

But there’s a far more powerful, research-backed method for casting your vision for Student-Centered Learning in 2025. This method has already helped me and over 2,000 educators achieve radical transformations in their classrooms.

In this short bonus episode, I’ll share this simple, proven method and show you how to use it to create more self-directed, empowered learners in the 2025 school year.

Take the 12 Shifts Scorecard to target areas for growth: www.transformschool.com/12shiftsscorecard

Get the 12 Shifts Book (20% off for the holidays): Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Where-Teacher-Shifts-Student-Centered-Environments/dp/1032484713

Routledge: https://www.routledge.com/Where-Is-the-Teacher-The-12-Shifts-for-Student-Centered-Environments/Wagner/p/book/9781032484716

Join the 12 Shifts Training Certificate Course: www.transformschool.com/12shiftsmasterclass