Jones & McLean

When should education systems mandate what schools do? We explore the growing number of mandates in Australian education, the tension between system control and school autonomy, and whether mandates actually improve student learning.

In this episode we discuss:

** One Good Woman **

Our One Good Woman is Dr Jennifer Buckingham, who has played an instrumental role in Australian reading policy reform, particularly the introduction of the Year 1 Phonics Check.

** Research mentioned in this episode **

Phonics screening checks and outcomes

Policy and curriculum reform

** Also mentioned **

Victorian teaching and learning frameworks

We also take a trip down memory lane through Victoria's earlier frameworks, including the Principles of Learning and Teaching (POLT), e5 and the High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS).

Emina's writing on mandates and reform

** Notices **

Phonics Plus On Demand: New self-paced professional learning is available to support Victorian teachers and school teams to implement Phonics Plus. It includes 12 modules and approximately eight hours of learning. Register through Arc Events to access the resource.

Jones & McLean merch: We're taking requests! What would you like to see? Send us your ideas, including favourite podcast quotes. We'll have merch prizes for listeners in the coming months.

** Get in touch **

Email us at [email protected].

If you're enjoying Jones & McLean, please subscribe so you don't miss an episode, and leave us a rating or review. We love reading your comments!

Instructional models are designed to bring consistency to teaching — but are they actually helping schools achieve it?

In this episode we discuss:

** One Good Woman **

This episode’s One Good Woman is Haili Hughes, an experienced teacher, school leader, author and Associate Professor at La Trobe University.

We discuss Hughes’ writing on teaching and learning, particularly her work exploring the tension between consistency and teacher autonomy.

Her work is a useful contribution to conversations about how schools can establish shared expectations for teaching while preserving the professional judgement teachers need to respond to their students and the curriculum.

Explore Haili Hughes’ writing

** Research mentioned in this episode **

Christine Counsell’s writing on curriculum and subject-specific pedagogy features prominently in this episode.

Explore Christine Counsell’s writing on curriculum

** Also mentioned **

Principles versus practices — The Implementation Edit

The article explores why schools should establish shared principles while allowing teachers to make decisions about the practices most appropriate for their curriculum and students.

Building the Cold Call craft — The Implementation Edit

Bron also mentions her recent writing on Cold Call, exploring why the technique requires more than simply selecting students to answer questions, and how teachers can develop greater expertise in its use.

** Notices **

Science of Learning Conference — Matthew Flinders Anglican College

Bron and Emina are both presenting at the Science of Learning Conference on the Sunshine Coast. Bron will be speaking about responsive teaching, while Emina will deliver sessions on implementation and disciplinary vocabulary instruction.

Find out more about Matthew Flinders Anglican College

Jones & McLean merchandise

We're taking suggestions for Jones & McLean merch! If you've got an idea for a mug, T-shirt or something else entirely, we'd love to hear it. There may even be some merchandise prizes for listeners in the coming months.

** Get in touch **

If you’re enjoying Jones & McLean, we’d love you to follow the podcast and leave us a rating or review. Get in touch at [email protected]

Curriculum is foundational to everything we do in schools — but what do we actually mean when we say “curriculum”, and why is it so difficult to get right?

In this episode we discuss:

** One Good Woman **

This episode’s One Good Woman is Christine Counsell, a former history teacher and one of the UK's leading curriculum thinkers.

We discuss Counsell’s work on the importance of subject knowledge and curriculum content, including her argument that decisions about what to teach must come before decisions about how to teach it.

Listen to Christine Counsell on Mind the Gap

** Research mentioned in this episode **

Christodoulou, D. (2016). Making Good Progress? The Future of Assessment for Learning. Oxford University Press.

This book examines the relationship between curriculum, assessment and progression, including the limitations of describing learning through generic skills rather than specifying the knowledge students need to acquire.

Find the book

** Also mentioned **

National curriculum in England: Primary curriculum

Emina discusses the greater specificity of England’s primary curriculum, particularly in English, where expectations include explicit detail about spelling, grammar and foundational literacy knowledge.

Ruth Ashbee — Curriculum: Theory, Culture and the Subject Specialisms

We also discuss Ruth Ashbee’s work on the purposes of school curriculum, including democratic participation, preparation for further learning and the value of knowledge for its own sake.

** Notices **

Leading with Literacy — PETAA Conference

Emina is presenting a session on sustainable curriculum development and leadership at the Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA) conference in Sydney.

Find out more about PETAA

Music in Schools — Victorian Department of Education

Bron gives a shout-out to Music in Schools, a Victorian Department of Education initiative supporting primary teachers to develop their music teaching expertise through mentoring, professional learning and school resources.

Find out more about Music in Schools

** Get in touch **

If you’re enjoying Jones & McLean, we’d love you to follow the podcast and leave us a rating or review. Get in touch at [email protected]

Cold Call has become a familiar classroom technique — but there’s more to doing it well than simply asking a question and choosing a student to answer.

In this episode we discuss:

** One Good Woman **

This episode’s One Good Woman is Elise Dallimore, whose research has examined Cold Calling in university classrooms.

We discuss Dallimore and colleagues’ research into how Cold Calling affects students’ participation, including work examining students’ comfort with participating in class and the relationship between Cold Calling and voluntary participation.

Her work is a useful reminder that Cold Call isn’t simply about getting more students to answer questions: the way the technique is established and used matters.

** Research mentioned in this episode **

Dallimore, E. J., Hertenstein, J. H., & Platt, M. B. (2013). Impact of Cold-Calling on Student Voluntary Participation. Journal of Management Education, 37(3), 305–341.

This study examined the relationship between Cold Calling and students’ voluntary participation in class. The researchers found that high levels of Cold Calling were associated with increased voluntary participation, and that students became more comfortable participating as the course progressed.

Read the study

** Also mentioned **

Building the Cold Call craft

Bron has also written about Cold Call over at The Implementation Edit, including why Cold Call is more sophisticated than it can first appear, the problems with randomised selection, and the importance of embedding it within a broader set of responsive teaching routines.

** Notices **

Next Steps in Responsive Teaching

A digital masterclass with Bron

There are new eps coming soon on Emina’s other podcast. Heavy is the English Head

** Get in touch **

If you’re enjoying Jones & McLean, we’d love you to follow the podcast and leave us a rating or review. Get in touch at [email protected]

Slides appear to have become a common tool for teaching — but when are they genuinely useful, and when might a different resource be required?

In this episode, we take a closer look at slide decks. We explore the things slides can do particularly well: supporting fast-paced review, vocabulary instruction, visual representations and pre-planned checks for understanding.

But we also look at the risks. What happens when the slide deck becomes the curriculum — or the plan itself? Does giving every teacher the same deck really create consistency? And what gets lost when static slides replace live modelling, rich texts, concrete materials or interactions with students?

This episode’s One Good Woman is Ruth Ashbee, teacher, school leader and author of Curriculum: Theory, Culture and the Subject Specialisms.

We discuss Ruth’s work on curriculum, knowledge and subject disciplines — and particularly the importance of thinking carefully about how curriculum and its resources work differently across subject areas.

Ruth Ashbee — Curriculum: Theory, Culture and the Subject Specialisms

Does teaching with PowerPoint increase students’ learning?

Baker, J. P., Goodboy, A. K., Bowman, N. D., & Wright, A. A. (2018). Does teaching with PowerPoint increase students’ learning? A meta-analysis. Computers & Education, 126, 376–387.

Read the study

This meta-analysis brought together 48 studies conducted over 22 years. Overall, students taught with PowerPoint did not demonstrate greater cognitive learning than students taught using traditional approaches. The authors argue that the more useful question is not simply whether PowerPoint is used, but how it is integrated into teaching to support learning.

Next Steps in Responsive Teaching

27 January 2027 | 9.30am–1.30pm

Register here

Heavy is the English Head

There are new eps coming soon on Emina’s other podcast.

Heavy is the English Head

If you’re enjoying Jones & McLean, we’d love you to follow the podcast and leave us a rating or review. Get in touch at [email protected]

For our first episode, we’re starting with the people at the heart of education: teachers.

We unpack the complexity of teachers’ work — the relentless decision-making, trade-offs and problem-solving that happen every day in classrooms — and ask why this complexity is so often underestimated by people outside schools.

We also take on the idea that teachers are “resistant to change”. What if resistance is sometimes reasonable scepticism, professional judgement, or an important signal that leaders should pay attention to?

Along the way, we talk about the surprisingly solitary nature of teaching, why building deep professional knowledge matters more than searching for quick fixes, and why we need to better value the wisdom and experience of teachers who have been in the profession for decades.

Plus, we introduce our regular segment “One Good Woman”, celebrating a woman in education whose work we think you should know.

Tasmania's Lifting Literacy work

Effective teacher professional development — Sam Sims and colleagues

Victorian Education Excellence Awards

Heavy is the English Head

Realising Responsive Teaching — 12 February 2027

Have an observation, question or issue in education you'd like us to explore?

We'd love to hear from you at [email protected]