I’ll be honest – I found today’s guest because of a conference theme. And I know that sounds like a strange place to start, but when the theme is “Let’s Meet Under the Tree,” you just have to stop, don’t you?
That’s what happened when I came across the Embrace Symposium, happening at St Benedict’s College in Johannesburg this month. And it led me straight to Tebogo Maneli – history teacher, DEIBS practitioner, and one of the most clear-eyed thinkers I’ve had the privilege of sitting down with.
This conversation goes deep… into Indigenous Knowledge Systems, what representation actually feels like (versus just understanding it intellectually), why language is one of the most powerful tools of connection we’re currently underusing, and what it really means to raise children who know who they are.
In This Episode We Talk About
- What Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) actually means – and why every single person in the room carries one
- The “Meet Under the Tree” metaphor, and why Tebogo thinks it might not just be a metaphor
- Why she prefers the word educationalist over transformation practitioner – and how language shapes whether people open up or shut down
- The difference between representation and transformation, and why Tebogo believes in one far more than the other
- What happened when Jude worked alongside a woman in leadership for the first time – and the moment she felt what representation means, not just understood it
- Why white teachers aren’t being replaced, they’re being invited into a bigger conversation
- The real reason African languages aren’t being taken by white students in South African schools (hint: it’s systemic, not about difficulty)
- Why parents and teachers are partners in this ecosystem – and how a single positive message home can shift everything
A Moment That Stuck with Me
“We don’t know what we do not know. And this is where I think the tree metaphor lives – you didn’t even know you were wounded before, right? Through experiencing her as a system, using her indigenous knowledge, you were changed. You were healed in a way that maybe you might not have been before.” – Tebogo Maneli
Mentioned in This Episode
The Embrace Symposium 2026 Let’s Meet Under the Tree: Using Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Pedagogy as Pathways to Social Healing in Education.
📅 4–5 June 2026
📍 St Benedict’s College, Johannesburg
This is not a sit-and-listen kind of event. It’s practical, it’s dialogic, and it’s designed so that every delegate leaves with tools they can actually take back to their school community. If this conversation moved something in you, that’s probably your sign to look it up.
Jude’s latest Future Smart Parent podcast episode – Listen here…
Connect With Tebogo
- LinkedIn: Tebogo Maneli
Connect With Jude & Future Smart Parent
- 💌 Email: [email protected]
- 📸 Instagram: @judefoulston
- 💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/judefoulston
Jude Foulston helps parents and schools make sense of the changing world we’re raising our kids in. Alongside writing for parents and her Future Smart Parent podcast, she also runs workshops for schools – helping staff and leadership lean into change rather than grip the old bar. If that sounds like a conversation your school community needs, let’s chat.