/ Young people

I adore working with young people. It’s not only a lot of fun, it’s incredibly important. I’m also deeply fond of sending kids away with difficult questions for the adults in their lives. Inviting me to work with your kids will create more work for you, not less. But it’s work worth doing.

You can get a sense of my philosophy of doing philosophy with young people here (and yes, I know, the philosopher has a philosophy about doing philosophy, cue the gag reel). The headline is this: we tend to treat kids seriously only inasmuch as we think the adults they’ll grow into need to be serious people. We don’t think that kids’ issues are actually important. I do.

The most important pillar of my work with young people is Short & Curly (ABC). An award-winning ethics podcast for kids with over a million downloads a year. Short & Curly is a playful, inviting and rich way of taking the dilemmas, challenges and stories of young people and turning them into ideas. We’ve produced musical episodes, spoofed Agatha Christie and infiltrated Santa’s toy workshop whilst also discussing bullying, ableism, racism and consent.

If you’re looking for someone with a message that sticks and a bunch of belly laughs along the way, get in touch!

// Testimonials

“An enormous thank you for being part of this year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival – for bringing your stories and work to young Sydney audiences. I’ve had such wonderful feedback about the events this year and particularly the Short & Curly session.”

– Clare Sawyer, Head of Children’s Programming – Sydney Writer’s Festival

“My fav podcast, hands down, has been the ABC’s Short & Curly. I know, I know it’s a KIDS podcast, but it is brilliant at raising curly ethical dilemmas and giving adults and children brain food for great conversations. It is rare to have children targeted by podcasts that are so appealing to adults as well.”

– Patricia Karvelas, host of RN Breakfast

“Matt has spoken at numerous events I have run for school students over the last eight years. He is an outstanding communicator particularly with young people. He recently spoke at online ethics workshops with Primary aged children and Middle School children, and they were totally engaged in his presentation. Matt opens up the complex world of theoretical ethics and makes it accessible and relevant to them. I would absolutely recommend Matt to others, especially to educators who are trying to get impactful training in ethics with lasting effects.”

– Matthew Wills, Project Leader, Philosothon Australia