Nathan Wallis on the Brain, Behaviour, and Why Relationship Comes First (Neuroscience Educator)

Nathan Wallis has become one of Aotearoa’s most trusted voices on how kids’ brains work — not because he talks at people, but because he translates complex neuroscience into language that feels human, doable, and kind.

In this episode, Nathan takes us behind the “neuroscience educator” title and back to a childhood marked by chaos, ADHD, and moving in and out of safe homes — where school wasn’t just education, it was refuge. He opens up about the teachers who saw his potential before he could, the small-town relationships that held him, and why the adults who “don’t quit on kids” can literally change a life’s trajectory.

From there, we go deep on the biology of learning: why stress overrides literacy every time, why relationship is the foundation (the dyad) that humans are wired for, and how schools can shift from punishment to restorative practice in ways that actually grow empathy and regulation — especially for the kids carrying trauma. Nathan also challenges the obsession with grades and “career certainty,” arguing that dispositions, identity, and character are what shape long-term outcomes (and that teenagers are at their most creative when we’re often pressuring them to be the most linear).

It’s equal parts practical and perspective-shifting — the kind of conversation that makes educators feel seen, parents feel less alone, and students feel like their future isn’t decided by one report card.