SecEd Podcast

This episode offers advice to early career teachers (ECTs) to help you thrive during your first year/s of teaching. The discussion features two ECTs (one first year & one second year) as well as an experienced mentor. We discuss common challenges for new teachers and offer advice for ECTs across key areas including SEND, work/life balance, workload, lesson-planning, differentiation, self-care and wellbeing. We look at coaching and mentoring – what are the essentials to make this support effective and how can ECTs to get the most from their mentors? We end the podcast with recommendations for further reading/support.

Ofsted's inspection framework requires schools in England to focus on the intent, implementation and impact of their curriculum. Last year, Matt Bromley, author of School and College Curriculum Design, discussed his six-step process for curriculum intent (https://bit.ly/3cl68fY). Now we invite Matt back to focus on curriculum implementation and impact. Implementation: Translating curriculum into teaching and long-term learning; acquiring and applying learning; how pupils' memory works; effective learning environments; the right culture and systems; workload; collaboration; CPD... Impact: What is assessment? What are we assessing? How can we ensure assessment is effective? Improving marking/feedback and deciding upon your outcomes.

This episode looks at coaching and mentoring as part of effective CPD practice in schools. Our experts define coaching and mentoring, how one differs from the other, and how coaching and mentoring practices in schools have changed over the years, including different models and how to measure impact. We discuss the essentials that need to be in place in order to make coaching and mentoring effective, including managing expectations, questioning skills, listening skills, switching between coaching and mentoring, and accountability. We also discuss the challenges: What doesn't work well and why? What lessons have we learned?

This episode offers practical advice, ideas and reflection for effective school improvement practices and processes. Four school leaders discuss the core elements and philosophy of effective school improvement, including vision, values & strategic priorities. We consider how to get everyone on board, communication and change-management, consistency, collaboration, distributed leadership, succession planning, CPD, building trust and social capital, middle leadership, supporting high-quality teaching & learning, the EEF Implementation Cycle, and how to stop chasing outcomes and focus on processes. We discuss common priorities and areas of focus and ask where our panellists would begin if they were parachuted into a challenging school tomorrow...

This podcast looks at the Everyone's Invited testimonies and Ofsted's review into sexual harassment, abuse and violence in schools – and the implications for safeguarding practice. We look at how schools can respond effectively to Ofsted's recommendations, not least the requirement that we "assume that sexual harassment and online sexual abuse are happening". How can we encourage victims to report incidents, change school culture, ensure pupil voice is at the heart of our response, and review RSHE provision? What kind of staff training is required? How do we review school policies and respond to different 'levels' of incident?

This episode looks at student-led eco-work in schools as well as how schools can reduce their carbon emissions. Our panel includes both teachers and students and offers a range of ideas large and small for projects and cost-saving initiatives. The podcast is inspired by the Let's Go Zero schools campaign. We look at practical carbon reduction ideas, wider eco-work including single-use plastics and food waste, how student eco-teams can work, using the free En-ROADS simulator resource, and the Youth Climate Action Network. We consider how schools can save money by prioritising carbon reduction, including energy surveys, reducing energy-use and procurement.

Following our popular podcast on quality first teaching (https://bit.ly/2R5PIT8), this episode looks specifically at effective marking and feedback practice for teachers. Our experts offer ideas and tips to ensure your marking and feedback is effective. Themes include: the purposes of teacher assessment, school assessment policies, consistency across the school, using assessment to inform curriculum-planning, target-setting, tracking progress, using assessment data, assessment points, and addressing misconceptions. We offer tips to reduce workload, including how to "live mark" during lessons, verbal mark schemes, self & peer-assessment, code-marking, hinge questions, exit tickets etc. And tips for effective feedback, including whole-class feedback, feedback sheets etc.

There is much talk about catch-up, lost learning and a Covid generation. Many politicians and commentators have adopted this deficit model to discuss schooling post-pandemic. But have we stopped to ask what our children actually need? Or what school should look like from September for those of us who reject this deficit mindset? This podcast sets out to do just that. Our guests, who include two headteachers and two students, discuss issues ranging from mental health & wellbeing to curriculum and mentoring. We also consider the Covid innovations we want to hang on to.

This episode considers the impact of poverty on children, families and education – and what schools can do to address these consequences. We look at the national picture of increasing child poverty (4.3 million children and rising), the causes of poverty, the barriers it creates to education, and the impact of Covid. We discuss why free school meals is a poor proxy for poverty and how schools can understand the (often hidden) poverty in their families and communities. We focus on a range of practical ideas for supporting pupils/families and consider how we can break the barriers that poverty creates.

In this episode, Matt Bromley interviews colleagues from four secondary schools to find out how we can ensure an effective transition of pupils from year 6 to 7. The panel shares perennial good practice advice for transition and ensuring a smooth start in September, but also touches on the particulars of transition in 2021 as pupils recover from the impact of Covid-19. We discuss issues relating to teaching & learning, pedagogy, pastoral and wellbeing issues, administration & management, liaising with feeder primary schools and families, and more. The podcast offers lots of quick, practical and useful ideas.