The Tattooed Teacher

The Tattooed Teacher Podcast is a conversation‑based podcast exploring the person behind the educator. Hosted by a teacher who knows there’s more to life than the classroom, each episode goes beneath the surface on identity, purpose, creativity, educator wellbeing, burnout, growth, and what it really means to show up as yourself in education. You’ll hear honest conversations with teachers and inspiring guests from around the world—sharing real stories and lived experiences that challenge the traditional image of what an educator “should” be.

The Tattooed Teacher is a education podcast hosted by Phil Murdoch, with 73 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Phil Murdoch hosts The Tattooed Teacher, a education show with 73 episodes published.

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  Episode #74

  Let Teachers Teach: Why Voice, Time, and Trust Are Disappearing from Education with Brad Gaynor

  Sep 23, 20261h 2mS1

  On this episode of The Tattooed Teacher Podcast, I chat with Brad Gaynor, an educator, author, executive leadership coach, and current PhD candidate who's spent over three decades in Australian schools, from the classroom to the principal's office. We explore: Why the negative narrative around education sticks, and what educators can do to flip the story themselves Brad's two burnouts, the "mask" he wore driving to and from work, and the moment a psychologist finally gave him language for what he was going through What "professional dignity" actually means: voice dignity, time dignity, and behavioural dignity, and how much of it schools have quietly stripped away His approach to coaching school leaders: building trust before advice, letting leaders speak last, and using rehearsal to prepare for hard conversations The PhD he's just started, researching "leadership moral injury" and the toll that implementing policies you don't believe in takes on the people running schools Give teachers and leaders back their voice, their time, and the trust that they already know their students and their craft, and the profession starts to heal itself. This one's for teachers feeling the weight of the job, and for school leaders wondering if the exhaustion they're carrying finally has a name. #Education #SchoolLeadership #TeacherWellbeing #Burnout #ProfessionalDevelopment #Education #EdLeadership #thetattooedteacher #podcast You can find Brad https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-gaynor-92b68b53/ https://bradgaynor.com.au/ you can find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-murdoch-%F0%9F%A4%99-68a846b1/ YouTube https://youtube.com/@thetattooedteacher01?si=tJy1U6Huz684CtZE Follow DJ Fruit Salad: https://www.instagram.com/djfruitsaladofficial/ Sponsored by The BUSY School This episode is brought to you by The BUSY School — a network of special assistance schools for Year 11 and 12 students who've disengaged from mainstream education. Small classes, real industry connections, and completely free for students. If you know a young person who needs a different kind of school, The BUSY School could be exactly what they're looking for. The BUSY School is part ofThe BUSY Group — an Australian not-for-profit approaching its 50th year, operating across Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Find out if there's a BUSY School near you at ⁠⁠busyschools.edu.qld.au⁠⁠ Supported by The Design & Technologies Resource Site An Australian platform built to help creators, educators, and podcasters increase their visibility and connect with Design & Technologies educators. https://andacod.com.au/ TeacherPD Australia https://teacherpd.com.au/ Australia's Premier Teacher PD Directory

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  Episode #73

  Neurodiversity, AI and Authentic Learning with Pip Cleaves

  Sep 16, 20261h 7mS1

  On this episode of The Tattooed Teacher Podcast, I chat with Pip Cleaves, Systems and Practice designer, CEO and founder of her own company, and content specialist for Canva. Pip shares her journey through education, her innovative teaching methods, and her insights on integrating AI and neurodiversity into learning, and why authentic, personalised learning has the power to transform student engagement and success. Pip and I actually met face to face at TEDx Burleigh Heads, and I've been following her work on LinkedIn for a while. This conversation did not disappoint. We explore what really matters when it comes to learning, neurodiversity, and AI in education: why authentic learning has to solve real problems that exist in the world around young people, not problems decided on someone's sofa at 10pm on a Saturday night what it means to be neurodivergent in a school system that moves you by bells, sits you under bright lights, and wonders why you explode by week eight of term why we're doing more and more for neurodiverse students but almost nothing for neurodiverse teachers, and what supporting a teacher's nervous system could do for the whole profession how Pip uses AI not to think for her, but to get her started, keep her present, and handle the low-level tasks that would otherwise drain everything she has why the first answer AI gives you is never the one you should use, and what the to and fro of getting it right actually teaches young people about thinking We also get into project-based learning, sensory profiling, ADHD diagnosis in mid-life, using Gen AI to design a pottery stamp in ten minutes, and why a to-do list is really just a wish list that never ends. A key thread throughout the episode is simple but important: AI works best when curiosity drives it, not shortcuts. This is a warm, honest, and genuinely energising conversation for educators, school leaders, and anyone who's ever wondered if there's a better way to support the humans doing the teaching, not just the ones doing the learning. #Neurodiversity #ADHD #AIinEducation #TeacherWellbeing #Education #Teaching #ProjectBasedLearning #thetattooedteacher #podcast You can find Pip https://www.linkedin.com/in/pipcleaves/ https://www.patternandthread.com.au/ you can find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-murdoch-%F0%9F%A4%99-68a846b1/ YouTube https://youtube.com/@thetattooedteacher01?si=tJy1U6Huz684CtZE Follow DJ Fruit Salad: https://www.instagram.com/djfruitsaladofficial/ Sponsored by The BUSY School This episode is brought to you by The BUSY School — a network of special assistance schools for Year 11 and 12 students who've disengaged from mainstream education. Small classes, real industry connections, and completely free for students. If you know a young person who needs a different kind of school, The BUSY School could be exactly what they're looking for. The BUSY School is part ofThe BUSY Group — an Australian not-for-profit approaching its 50th year, operating across Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Find out if there's a BUSY School near you at ⁠⁠busyschools.edu.qld.au⁠⁠ Supported by The Design & Technologies Resource Site An Australian platform built to help creators, educators, and podcasters increase their visibility and connect with Design & Technologies educators. https://andacod.com.au/ TeacherPD Australia https://teacherpd.com.au/ Australia's Premier Teacher PD Directory

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  Episode #72

  What 20 Years of EdTech Research Actually Tells Us About Teaching with Dr Damian Bebell

  Sep 9, 20261h 16mS1

  On this episode of The Tattooed Teacher Podcast, I chat with Dr Damian Bebell, Assistant Research Professor at Boston College’s Lynch School of Education and a Senior Research Associate at the Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation, and Educational Policy, about what twenty years of educational technology research actually tells us about what works in classrooms and what doesn't. Damian has designed and conducted numerous research and evaluation studies investigating the effects of 1-to-1 technology programs (laptops, iPads, etc.) and other computer-based technology tools on teaching and learning in a wide range of educational settings. He has spent his career following teachers as we innovate in real time with kids, leadership looking in the door and parents looking over our shoulder. He's not a classroom teacher. He's never been in educational leadership. He's the researcher asking the simple but profound questions that most of us are too busy to stop and answer. We explore what really matters when it comes to educational technology and research: why the teacher is the fulcrum of every educational technology program in the world, and what the research consistently shows about what makes the difference between a program that works and one that doesn't the mission, implementation, assessment framework and why most schools nail the first two but completely lose the plot on the third how the tools of research have been democratised, and why any teacher can now collect, analyse, and share meaningful data about their own classroom without an academic institution or a budget why screen time limits miss the point entirely, and why what a student is doing on a screen matters infinitely more than how long they're doing it what the Apple Distinguished Schools research revealed about teacher burnout, efficacy, and what actually keeps great teachers in the profession We also discuss what every school should ask before making a technology investment, why young teachers are not necessarily better with technology than experienced ones, and why a teacher who uses technology for creative, collaborative projects is statistically less likely to leave education. A key thread throughout the episode is simple but important: technology can amplify great teaching and lead to results you could never achieve without it, but it cannot fix a teaching problem. That part is still all us. This is a rich, wide-ranging, and genuinely fascinating conversation for classroom teachers, school leaders, and anyone trying to make sense of what the research actually says about educational technology. You can find Damian https://www.linkedin.com/in/damian-bebell-2403259/ https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/about.html A summary of Damian's published research can be found here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Damian_Bebell/research?ev=prf_act you can find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-murdoch-%F0%9F%A4%99-68a846b1/ YouTube https://youtube.com/@thetattooedteacher01?si=tJy1U6Huz684CtZE Follow DJ Fruit Salad: https://www.instagram.com/djfruitsaladofficial/ Sponsored by The BUSY School This episode is brought to you by The BUSY School — a network of special assistance schools for Year 11 and 12 students who've disengaged from mainstream education. Small classes, real industry connections, and completely free for students. If you know a young person who needs a different kind of school, The BUSY School could be exactly what they're looking for. The BUSY School is part ofThe BUSY Group — an Australian not-for-profit approaching its 50th year, operating across Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Find out if there's a BUSY School near you at ⁠⁠busyschools.edu.qld.au⁠⁠ Supported by The Design & Technologies Resource Site https://andacod.com.au/ TeacherPD Australia https://teacherpd.com.au/

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  Episode #71

  A Human-Centred Approach to AI and Design Thinking in Education with Rashan Senanayake

  Sep 2, 202640 minS1

  On this episode of The Tattooed Teacher Podcast, I chat with Rashan Senanayake, founder of Inspired Education, lecturer and author, about two of the most important conversations happening in education right now: how design thinking actually works in a school context, and what AI should and shouldn't be doing in our classrooms. Rashan works at the intersection of human-centred design and artificial intelligence, and this conversation cuts through the noise to help educators trying to make sense of both. We explore what really matters when it comes to AI and design thinking in education: why design thinking is human-centred innovation at its core, and why empathy, collaboration, and experimentation are the three pillars every educator needs to understand how to bring design thinking into any subject area, not just creative ones, and why the messy, non-linear process is exactly the point why AI should be bolstering the human relationship in schools, not replacing it, and what a proper AI literacy and governance framework actually looks like the difference between what AI is genuinely good at, speed, scale, and information, and what only humans can do, judgment, ethics, relationships, and creative thinking what the OECD, World Economic Forum, and United Nations all agree on when it comes to the skills every student needs right now A key thought through the episode is simple but important: design thinking and AI both work best when the human stays at the centre. Remove that and everything falls apart. This is a practical, and genuinely important conversation for educators, school leaders, and anyone trying to figure out where AI and design thinking actually fit in a school. #AIinEducation #DesignThinking #EdTech #HumanCentredDesign#FutureOfEducation #thetattooedteacher #podcast You can find Rashan https://www.linkedin.com/in/rashansenanayake/ https://rashansenanayake.com/ https://i-edu.com.au/ you can find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-murdoch-%F0%9F%A4%99-68a846b1/ YouTube https://youtube.com/@thetattooedteacher01?si=tJy1U6Huz684CtZE Follow DJ Fruit Salad: https://www.instagram.com/djfruitsaladofficial/ Sponsored by The BUSY School This episode is brought to you by The BUSY School — a network of special assistance schools for Year 11 and 12 students who've disengaged from mainstream education. Small classes, real industry connections, and completely free for students. If you know a young person who needs a different kind of school, The BUSY School could be exactly what they're looking for. The BUSY School is part ofThe BUSY Group — an Australian not-for-profit approaching its 50th year, operating across Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Find out if there's a BUSY School near you at ⁠⁠busyschools.edu.qld.au⁠⁠ Supported by The Design & Technologies Resource Site An Australian platform built to help creators, educators, and podcasters increase their visibility and connect with Design & Technologies educators. https://andacod.com.au/ TeacherPD Australia https://teacherpd.com.au/ Australia's Premier Teacher PD Directory

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  Episode #70

  The Human-Centered Approach to School Leadership with Aimee Presnall

  Aug 26, 202654 minS1

  On this episode of The Tattooed Teacher podcast I chat with Aimee Presnall, founder of Well-Nest and host of the Reflections of School Leaders podcast. Aimee shares her journey from classroom teacher to education leader, emphasizing the importance of human-centered leadership, mental health, and sustainable practices in education. Discover insights on leadership challenges, mindset shifts, and practical strategies for supporting school leaders. We explore: How leaders actually land in the role - aspiring, anointed or accidental - and why that path shapes how they lead The imposter syndrome that follows almost every leader, and why sitting with it beats ignoring it What principals carry that nobody else in the school ever sees, and the cost of always being the first person everyone offloads to Why transparency in a school is harder than it sounds, and where the line sits between honesty and confidentiality The power of pausing before reacting, and why that pause might be one of the bravest things a leader can do Leadership isn't just a title, it's a weight and the schools that thrive are often the ones that help their leaders carry it well instead of alone. Great listen for anyone in a leadership role, thinking about stepping into one, or supporting the people who are. #education #schoolleadership #educationalleadership #Wellbeing #leadership #humancentered #thetattooedteacher #podcast You can find Aimee https://www.linkedin.com/in/aimee-parkinson/ https://well-nest.com.au/ you can find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-murdoch-%F0%9F%A4%99-68a846b1/ YouTube https://youtube.com/@thetattooedteacher01?si=tJy1U6Huz684CtZE Follow DJ Fruit Salad: https://www.instagram.com/djfruitsaladofficial/ Sponsored by The BUSY School This episode is brought to you by The BUSY School — a network of special assistance schools for Year 11 and 12 students who've disengaged from mainstream education. Small classes, real industry connections, and completely free for students. If you know a young person who needs a different kind of school, The BUSY School could be exactly what they're looking for. The BUSY School is part ofThe BUSY Group — an Australian not-for-profit approaching its 50th year, operating across Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Find out if there's a BUSY School near you at ⁠⁠busyschools.edu.qld.au⁠⁠ Supported by The Design & Technologies Resource Site An Australian platform built to help creators, educators, and podcasters increase their visibility and connect with Design & Technologies educators. https://andacod.com.au/ TeacherPD Australia https://teacherpd.com.au/ Australia's Premier Teacher PD Directory

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