Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Frank and Stan Chats
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Frank and Stan Chats
By Frank Norris and Stan JohnsonEducation
Frank and Stan Chats episodes
- Frank and Stan Chat No.154: The Debbie Clinton EditionFollowing a week's break Frank and Stan Chat is back with Debbie Clinton as their guest. A former secondary school Headteacher in the NE, ex HMI and former CEO of a multi academy trust in the Midlands Debbie now supports a variety of schools around the country. The chat takes place following the resignation of Boris Johnson, the announcement by Ofsted that they are tweaking their school inspection arrangements and the distressing events in Nottingham when two university students and a school caretaker were murdered. All of these issues are covered in the chat while Stan reflects on how it is sometimes impossible to know colleagues really well. It's a fascinating discussion and despite the sombre events we did manage to smile now and again. Hope you find the chat professionally useful. There is also a request for followers to help Frank and Stan connect with a teacher in Ukraine so that we can invite them as a future guest.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
49 min - Frank and Stan Chat No.153: The Dr Rebecca Lawton EditionA fascinating guest this week and a focus on her Doctoral thesis into the uniqueness, or otherwise of Ofsted reports. Rebecca considered how language in the reports led to subsequent improvements in outcomes, were there any emerging trends, any influencing factors that affected language or impact and within the area for improvement were there any particularly effective or impactful phrases that drove improvement. It is a very important piece of research and makes clear Ofsted reports are far from unique. We also have time for what's caught our eye this week so Stan kicks off his personal IT problems in Anglesey and how this is affecting businesses. Rebecca then explains how Special Schools appear to have been forgotten (again!) and Frank considers the complexity of tackling weak attendance and growing numbers of suspensions and exclusions. Rebecca closes the chat considering how the profession needs to open up to greater inclusion when training teachers for the future. It's a good 'un.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
37 min - Frank and Stan Chat No.152: The Shaheen Myers EditionThis week Shaheen Myers, Deputy Director of Learning for Leeds City Council joins the guests and highlights issues around mental health and wellbeing for senior leaders. Stan chips in with thoughts about Ofsted while Shaheen considers the impact of variability within inspections on the confidence and sense of belonging for senior leaders. Frank shares some research he's undertaken on how schools are advertising vacancies and how they might need to up their game. The gents agreed to invite Shaheen back as a Spotlight guest to focus more extensively on mental health and wellbeing issues. Hope you enjoy the chat and we welcome any suggestions for we might improve the format or ideas for future guests.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
38 min - Frank and Stan Chat No.151: The Eddie Czestochowoski EditionThis week the two gents are joined by Eddie Czestochowski, founder and Managing Director of Cell Pack Solutions Ltd, a battery manufacturer based in the North east. In addition to having a busy working life Eddie is also a keen chess player and is encouraging children and young people to begin playing the game. Whether it is opening a chess club in a local library or going into schools to teach the game Eddie is on a mission to get every school playing chess. Stan kicks off the chat with some observations about a rather high profile headteacher and her comments at a conference this week. Eddie then reflects on his early interest in AL and his venture into Chat GTP while Frank considers the successes (given great prominence) and weaknesses (not in too many Ministerial briefings this week) following the release of the PIRL International Assessment results. It is such a pleasure to spend time chatting with such interesting and socially minded guests. Thank you Eddie.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
35 min - Frank and Stan Chat No.150: The Russell Harvey Returns Again EditionWhen we started Frank and Stan Chat in May 2020 we never imagined we would get to episode 5 but here we are at edition 150! And we are breaking new ground by having the brilliant Russell Harvey, the Resilience Coach as our guest for the third time. No other guest has managed that....yet! This week Stan wonders whether the Speaker of the House of Commons is actually a supply teacher. Russell then considers how powerful small acts of kindness are and points to research that backs up his view. Frank then considers the apparently ultra-difficult SATs papers for Y6 and how they have restricted the curriculum and points to an interesting article by Liz Robinson and Sarah Seleznyov in the latest edition of Impact from the Chartered College which emphasises 'an education of the head, heart and hand'. Frank and Stan enjoyed the chat immensely. We hope our followers also enjoy it.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
41 min - Frank and Stan Chat No.149: The Prof Jackie Carter EditionWe are fortunate to have many amazing guests on our weekly chat. This week we are joined by Prof Jackie Carter from University of Manchester. It is a thoroughly enjoyable chat. Jackie offers some amazing insights into her own education journey and how these have influenced the work she undertakes with undergraduates. She strongly believes that tech and digital industries needs to include greater diversity of thought and much of this can come from those interested in social sciences rather than just STEM subjects. Stan kicks things off by explaining how he has interrogated some data from Ofsted that Frank secured through an FOI request. He discovered that there is one month this academic year where there was a tenfold increase in the number of inadequate grades awarded for primary schools. Jackie then explains why she is so keen to enable social science students into the world of work and Frank draws attention to some rather troubling figures from Ofqual regarding the chances of a GCSE or A Level grade being upgraded following an appeal. Jackie concludes the chat making clear what she would do if she was Secretary of State for Education for one day. I know we often comment on how brilliant our guests are but Jackie is truly one of the very best. Enjoy!!!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
44 min - Frank and Stan Chat No.148: The Ed Dorrell EditionEvery now and again Frank and Stan are able to invite a colleague who has gained a national profile and provides a broader insight. This is such a week. We were delighted to spend 35 minutes or so chatting to Ed Dorrell, the Director of Public First and former Deputy Editor of the TES. Stan gets things moving by referring to a recent NFER report that explains how senior leaders are having to cut into their budgets to balance the books. The impact appears to include fewer Teaching Assistants and external visits including residential for pupils. Ed then reflects on the very low attendance figures in many schools and shares a very recent anecdotal story to highlight the challenge. The chat moves into the effectiveness (or not) of Covid Recovery programmes and EHE. Frank then gets two bites of the cherry. Firstly, he considers recent communication he has had with OFQUAL and how disappointing it is in terms of supporting students living in the most disadvantaged areas in the country. He then asks Ed and Stan to consider the current impact of Chat GPT. It is a special chat and we hope you enjoy it. Next week we celebrate three years of Frank and Stan Chat. No cakes or champagne even though it will be a sort of work party. Just more chat this time with Prof Jackie Carter.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
36 min - Frank and Stan Chat No.147: The Andy Stanier EditionOfsted trying to salvage some reputation from a miserable and depressing few weeks/months and the Deputy Prime Minister resigning are all announced just hours and minutes prior to this week's recording of the Frank and Stan Chat. So, clearly alleged bullying, safeguarding and other inspection related issues are covered. There was also enough time to reflect on how leaders manage their teams and how this helps them through crises. And Stan has some great family news. It's certainly a humdinger of an edition, so hold on to your hats!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
42 min - Frank and Stan Chat No.145: The Maeve Birchall, Jasmine Priestley and Claire Clithero EditionThis week the two gents chat to Maeve Birdsall and Jasmine Priestley again. They are joined this time by Claire Clithero. All three guests are strongly influenced by Reggio Emilia philosophy. This approach was developed in Northern Italy and continues today. It is an approach to teaching, learning and advocacy for children and in its most basic form, is a way of observing what children know, are curious about and what challenges them. Stan kicks off the chat considering what the government's vision for academy improvement is and how it doesn't appear to link too closely to Ofsted outcomes. Maeve then considers the impact of the 25 year old Good Friday Agreement and how it has brought relative peace and why it remains a crucial element in securing Northern Ireland's future. Jasmine discusses the sense of unrest within the teaching profession and why the national strikes are taking place. Claire reflects on the misunderstanding many members of the general public have of the profession and why this is stoked by some media outlets. The discussion then moves on to principled leadership in the light of a sting on an MP this week. Frank then asks the Early Years colleagues to explain how they developed their learning philosophy and how this was captured brilliantly in their book Rainbow Birds. Its a great chat. A new approach adopted accidentally in that the screen moves to the speaker rather than have all guests on screen at the same time. let us know whether viewers prefer this approach, or not.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
52 min - Frank and Stan Chat No.144: The Adrian Gray Returns EditionThis week the two gents chat to Adrian Gray, a former senior HMI, who led the Challenge and Analysis Team at Ofsted when Frank was leading on school, Early Years and ITE Frameworks. Adrian was always looking for particular issues that had not been detected before. This made him very useful in identifying weaknesses in Frameworks and their delivery. He is a historian and geographer and has produced a number of interesting videos based on his local area in East England. Anyway, this chat focuses on his research into Ofsted Deep Dives in Primary Schools, what's the likelihood of a small school being judged Outstanding and a request for equalities information from the inspectorate. Some revealing and quite shocking outcomes. Stan considers the statement made by HMCI last week following the publication of the inspection report at Caversham PS and Frank ends why praise for the Children's Commissioner.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
38 min
About Frank and Stan Chats
From the publisher's feed
Frank Norris and Stan Johnson have been friends since 1995. Both have had successful and lengthy careers in education. Frank was a very senior HMI with Ofsted for 11 years and was the CEO of the Coop…
Academies Trust for 6 years. Stan was seconded to Ofsted for a year and then returned to headship before working as a senior adviser with Lancashire LA. He has latterly led a successful education consultancy in the North West. Prior to Covid-19, the two gents would meet in Manchester for a pint or two but the pandemic put an end to that. On 1 May 2020, they recorded their first video chat as a way of recording their emotions and reactions to the pandemic. After putting the video on Youtube as a safe place to store it they realised that some followers began to appear. Now, with nearly 180 episodes and having chatted to Professors, CEOs, journalists, teachers, former HMI, education thinkers and Frank's Key Stage 1 leading daughter they have a loyal following and a rapidly increasing number of viewers. The reach of the Frank and Stan Chat stretches from Bogota to Ottawa to Greece and their first Live Edition was recorded in front of nearly 200 Headteachers in York. The Chats are not undertaken to attract followers or for financial reward (nothing is received and nothing will be received). It is a way of airing views on education matters between two professional friends with a focus on leadership. We are honoured to be invited to host the weekly chats on the Leader-connect website www.leader-connect.co.uk. The chats helped the gents get through the pandemic and they are delighted that they have been enjoyed by others and appear to have helped in developing leadership thought and actions. If you fancy being a guest then just reach out. We never post a video unless the guest is comfortable with it. So, it is a relatively risk-free environment. Thank you. Frank and Stan. PS. We were honoured to be identified as one of the Top 50 education and leadership podcasts in THE WORLD!!! We can't believe it, but it appears to be true.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.