Oxford Education Podcast

Lindsay Bruce

Aaron Wilkes

James Ball

Liam Hall

Richard McFahn

Hear from our team of experienced Edexcel History teacher-authors as they share their tips and advice on how Oxford’s approach can help students succeed in their Edexcel exams.

Aaron Wilkes has over 20 years’ experience working in schools as a teacher, department, and faculty leader. He also works with the PGCE History trainees at the University of Warwick. In addition to his classroom experience, Aaron is also one of the leading history authors in school publishing and his KS3 History series, now in fourth edition and published by Oxford University Press, is currently the best-selling KS3 History series in the UK. Aaron is also Series Editor/co-author of OUP’s NEW KS3 Depth Studies: The British Empire, African Kingdoms, Fight for Rights, and Migration Nation. He is the Series Editor/co-author of OUP’s KS4 History textbooks which match the AQA and Edexcel GCSE History specifications, and is involved with the BBC as an Educational Consultant for their Bitesize and Teach series.

Aaron tweets at @WilkesHistory

Lindsay Bruce is a Deputy Headteacher of a 3-19 special school where she still teaches History. She has worked with OUP since 2015 and has contributed to the AQA and Edexcel GCSE History series, KS3 content, Revision Guides, Kerboodle, Teacher Handbooks and the OUP Word Gap resources.

Lindsay tweets at @HistoryTeach0

James Ball has worked as a History Teacher, Head of History and Head of Humanities in schools in the West Midlands for nearly 20 years. For much of that time, he has authored textbooks alongside his teaching career - including co-authoring OUP’s Edexcel Medicine in Britain student book. He now lives in Copenhagen and writes full-time, authoring textbooks, creating resources and penning educational articles and blogs for numerous publishers, EdTech companies and charities.

Liam Hall has served as Head of History at a school in the West Midlands for eight years.  During this period, he has worked as an assistant examiner for Pearson and has co-authored Oxford’s GCSE textbook on Edexcel Medicine in Britain. He has also written online resources for OUP's On Your Marks series and, in 2018, appeared on BBC's Back in Time for School series.

Liam tweets at @HallHistoryGuy

Richard McFahn is the ITE History Lead Tutor. He has worked for 25 years as a History Teacher, Subject and Senior Leader, Advanced Skills Teacher and Local Authority Adviser. As a teacher Richard helped set up and develop a series of thriving and sustainable teacher networks in Hampshire, which Ofsted have subsequently described as best practice. Richard has regularly led well-received workshops and opening plenary sessions at the Schools History Project and the Historical Association Conferences. He has written several books, articles and numerous blogs on different aspects of History Teaching. Richard created, developed and now curates History Resource Cupboard a website aimed at supporting history teachers. He is also the co-founder and editor of Practical Histories an online magazine for history teachers. In 2017 he won a student-led teaching award at The University of Sussex. In 2018 with the ITE team he won a teaching award for outstanding student support. In 2020 Richard was nominated for The Sussex Teaching to Disrupt Award.

Richard tweets at @HistoryResource

Further reading and support:

• This podcast was first recorded as an Oxford Education webinar. View the slides via the webinar recording.

• Find out more about Oxford’s Edexcel GCSE History series.

• Explore our new Oxford Revise revision guides for Edexcel GCSE History with discounts available to schools.

• More revision support for students and parents is available on the Oxford Revise Hub.

Mary Hamley

James Clements

Lindsay Pickton

Dr. Sarah McGeown

Learn all about the link between motivation and reading for pleasure in this insightful conversation between Oxford Education’s Mary Hamley and reading experts James Clements, Lindsay Pickton and Dr Sarah McGeown.

We discuss how you can grow a reading culture in your classroom, how to encourage students to read for pleasure, and practical tips to support motivating students to read more.

James Clements is an education writer and reading for pleasure advocate.

Lindsay Pickton is primary English specialist. He tweets at @EnglishHubUK

Dr Sarah McGeown is a reading for pleasure and literacy expert. She tweets at @DrSarahMcG

Mary Hamley is Head of Primary Digital Literacy and Reading at Oxford University Press.

Further reading and support:

Learn more about Readerful - a new reading library packed with ingredients to motivate children to read more.

Order a free Readerful taster pack for your school.

Find out more about the Love to Read project that Sarah mentions.

Aaron Wilkes

Josh Preye Garry

Alex Fairlamb

Becky Carter

Dan Lyndon-Cohen

Aaron Wilkes, Alex Fairlamb, Becky Carter, Dan Lyndon-Cohen and Josh Preye Garry discuss how effective teaching of case studies on the fights for Women's Rights, Disability Rights, Black Civil Rights and LGBTQ+ Rights can enrich your Key Stage 3 curriculum.

What do students gain from studying these topics at KS3? How has historical scholarship changed in recent years? What is the impact of new research on how we should teach these topics?

Aaron, Alex, Becky, Dan and Josh answer these questions and offer advice to any teacher thinking of introducing the fight for rights into their curriculum.

Aaron Wilkes has over 20 years’ experience working in schools as a teacher, department, and faculty leader. He also works with the PGCE History trainees at the University of Warwick. In addition to the classroom, Aaron is also one of the leading history authors in school publishing and his KS3 History series, now in its fourth edition and published by Oxford University Press, is currently the best-selling KS3 History textbook series/online package in the UK. Aaron is also Series Editor/co-author of OUP’s NEW KS3 Depth Studies: The British Empire, African Kingdoms, Fight for Rights, and Migration Nation. He is the Series Editor/co-author of OUP’s KS4 History textbooks which match the AQA and Edexcel GCSE History specification and is involved with the BBC as an Educational Consultant for their Bitesize and Teach series. Aaron tweets at @WilkesHistory

Alex Fairlamb is a Senior Leader in charge of Teaching and Learning and CPD, based in the North East. She is a Specialist Leader in Education and an Evidence Lead in Education. Alex is a proud member of the Historical Association Secondary Committee and the Schools North East Steering Board. Alex is a History teacher and former Lead Practitioner of History and Teaching and Learning, with a strong commitment to ensuring that curriculums are diverse. Her research interests centre on diversity within the curriculum, evidence informed teaching and learning practice within schools, and social justice in education. Alex tweets at @lamb_heart_tea

Becky Carter is a secondary history teacher of 10 years in Nottingham. She has experience of being a mentor for PGCE and SCITT students, and is a current ECT mentor. Becky has spent time working to diversify the school's KS3 curriculum, with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ history alongside running the school's LGBTQ+ student group. She is a long standing member of the History Teacher Book Club and is keen to include historians' work in lessons. Becky tweets at @missrcarter89

Dan Lyndon-Cohen has 30 years’ experience in the History Classroom as a teacher, HoD and Lead Practitioner. He is Director of the Schools History Project; author of 8 books on multicultural/migration histories; an education consultant for BBC Bitesize, National Portrait Gallery, Imperial War Museum and Colonial Countryside Project; and Exam constructor and Specification writer for OCR. Dan tweets at @danlyndon

Josh Preye Garry is a Head of Department at Park View School where he champions Decolonization and Anti-Racism within the Curriculum which has led to him receiving a National Diversity Award. He is currently studying an MSc at Oxford University where he is focusing on Teaching & Learning. Josh is a GCSE Examiner and has also written textbooks. His consultancy specialises in Black British History and pre-colonial African Kingdoms. Josh tweets at @JoshPreyeGarry

The publisher would also like to thank Dr Stella Moss (Royal Holloway, University of London), Vicky Iglikowski-Broad (Principal Records Specialist: Diverse Histories at The National Archives), Beckie Rutherford (University of Warwick),

Aaron Wilkes

Shalina Patel

Liberty Melly

Tia Shah

Aaron Wilkes and Shalina Patel discuss how effective teaching of migration can enrich your Key Stage 3 curriculum, with insights from Liberty Melly and Tia Shah from the learning team at the Migration Museum.

What do students gain from studying migration at KS3? How has historical scholarship on migration changed in recent years? What is the impact of new research on how we should teach the topic?

Aaron, Shalina, Liberty and Tia offer advice to teachers thinking of introducing migration into their curriculum.

Aaron Wilkes has over 20 years’ experience working in schools as a teacher, department, and faculty leader. He also works with the PGCE History trainees at the University of Warwick. In addition to the classroom, Aaron is also one of the leading history authors in school publishing and his KS3 History series, now in its fourth edition and published by Oxford University Press, is currently the best-selling KS3 History textbook series/online package in the UK. Aaron is also Series Editor/co-author of OUP’s NEW KS3 Depth Studies: The British Empire, African Kingdoms, Fight for Rights, and Migration Nation. He is the Series Editor/co-author of OUP’s KS4 History textbooks which match the AQA and Edexcel GCSE History specification and is involved with the BBC as an Educational Consultant for their Bitesize and Teach series. Aaron tweets at @WilkesHistory

Shalina Patel has over 13 years of experience in the classroom and is former Head of History and currently Head of Teaching and Learning and leader of the ITT programme at Claremont High School Academy in London. In 2018 Shalina won the Silver Pearson Teaching Award for Outstanding Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School and in 2021 won the GG2 Inspire Award. She has been featured in publications such as the Guardian and The Times and on programmes like Radio 4’s Three Pounds in my Pocket, BBC Woman’s Hour and BBC’s Teach Me A Lesson podcast. Shalina showcases her passion for hidden histories via @thehistorycorridor Instagram account and her first book will be published in 2023/4. Shalina tweets at @Ms_PatelHistory

Liberty Melly is the Senior Learning Manager at the Migration Museum, where she leads the ever-expanding learning programme which to date has engaged over 27,000 students across the UK and internationally. Since joining the team, she has grown the first seeds of a learning programme by developing relationships and delivering projects with teachers, teacher training bodies, multi academy trusts, exam boards and publishers. This is against a backdrop of growing urgency for more and better teaching and learning about migration and intersecting themes. Liberty has coordinated a national schools competition, provided training for hundreds of teachers and championed migration learning and teaching at all levels. Liberty completed her undergraduate degree in History from the University of Nottingham, and went on to complete a MA in Museums, Galleries and Contemporary Cultures. Liberty can be contacted here.

Tia Shah is the Learning Officer at the Migration Museum, focusing on the day-to-day delivery of the Migration Museum’s learning programme and engaging young people with the themes of migration. Tia completed a MA in Early Modern History from Durham University and has been working in heritage education for 6 years. Tia is particularly passionate about embedding young people’s voices into museums and heritage sites and diversifying the stories that are told there. As well as working at the Migration Museum, Tia’s other freelance work centres around getting young people into the heritage industry and helping them build life skills. In her spare time Tia is a Contributing Writer for Girl Museum, helping to share untold stories about girls throughout history...

Will Power

David Harris

Will Power talks to David Harris about the main challenges in the KS3 Maths classroom. They discuss:

What makes a curriculum coherent and why this is important.

How mastery supports learning that lasts

How to ensure your curriculum is Ofsted ready 

Will Power is OUP’s maths publisher with responsibility for all primary and secondary products including Oxford Smart Mosaic, Numicon and White Rose Practice Journals. Before joining OUP, Will worked in challenging primary and secondary schools in East London and Oxford and was most recently head teacher in Blackbird Leys, Oxford, taking it from ‘Inadequate’ to ‘Good’ (Ofsted, 2022). Will has a special interest in cognitive science and pupil centred pedagogies, curriculum development and of course maths! He has worked as a Specialist Leader in Education and Maths Mastery Specialist and has supported schools in India in his role as Associate of Adhyayan Quality Education Foundation. Will has an MA in Educational Leadership and is a Future Leader (2014 cohort) and Teach First alumnus. 

David Harris is a dynamic leader within education with a proven record of raising standards through development, mentoring, and coaching of other leaders and teachers. An outstanding teacher and tutor of mathematics who is passionate about engaging pupils, and a specialist in improving outcomes for neurodivergent young people for the last 10 years.   

Further reading and support: 

Read our Maths Curriculum summary

Watch Craig Barton’s webinar on High Expectations and Curriculum Coherence in the Maths Classroom

Learn more about the research behind the Oxford Smart Curriculum on the Oxford Education Blog

Find out more about Oxford Smart Mosaic

Get a free digital taster for your school

 View transcript

Helen Prince

Gurav Dubay

Helen Prince and Gaurav Dubay discuss the crucial role vocabulary and oracy strategies play in the Key Stage 3 classroom. They highlight the importance of focusing on talk and vocabulary to help students rehearse written outcomes before taking the next step and moving onto writing. They discuss drama, fluency, modelling and reducing cognitive load with oral rehearsal.

Helen Prince is an English Advisor, author of Oxford University Press’s Get It Right: Boost Your Vocabulary workbooks, and CEO of ChatterStars. Helen tweets at @prince_helen

Gaurav Dubay is Head of English at an inner-city grammar school in Birmingham, one of our Pioneer Schools for Oxford Smart Quest. Gaurav tweets at @GauravDubay3

Further reading and support:

 Take a look at Helen’s Get It Right: Boost your Vocabulary workbooks

 Hear more from Gaurav on ‘Vocabulary Teaching: giving students a voice’ on the Oxford Education Blog

 Find out more about Oxford Smart Quest

 Get a free Oxford Smart Quest digital taster for your school

 Visit the Oxford Smart Quest Resource Hub where you’ll find blogs and case studies relating to KS3 English

View transcript

Teni Gogo

Katie Amery

Aaron Wilkes

Aaron Wilkes, Katie Amery and Teni Gogo discuss how effective teaching of African Kingdoms can enrich your Key Stage 3 curriculum.  

What do students gain from studying African Kingdoms at KS3? How has historical scholarship on African Kingdoms changed in recent years? What is the impact of new research on how we should teach the topic?  

 

Aaron, Katie and Teni answer these questions and offer advice to teachers thinking of introducing West African Kingdoms into their curriculum.  

 

Aaron Wilkes has over 20 years’ experience working in schools as a teacher, department, and faculty leader. He also works with the PGCE History trainees at the University of Warwick. In addition to the classroom, Aaron is also one of the leading history authors in school publishing and his KS3 History series, now in fourth edition and published by Oxford University Press, is currently the best-selling KS3 History textbook series/online package in the UK. Aaron is also Series Editor/co-author of OUP’s NEW KS3 Depth Studies: The British Empire, African Kingdoms, Fight for Rights, and Migration Nation. He is the Series Editor/co-author of OUP’s KS4 History textbooks which match the AQA and Edexcel GCSE History specification and is involved with the BBC as an Educational Consultant for their Bitesize and Teach series.  Aaron tweets at @WilkesHistory   

 

Katie Amery has more than 15 years' experience working in schools as a History and Politics teacher and department leader. She is also currently the subject lead for History Initial Teacher Training at Liverpool Hope University. Katie is passionate about curriculum diversity and working with fellow historians to promote cutting-edge thinking including with Toby Green. Katie is a keen blogger @educationalimposters and tweets at @KatieAmery

 

Teni Gogo is a History Teacher who has spent much of her career exploring medieval African Kingdoms and Black British History. She is currently a Postgraduate student at the University of Oxford as an Action Research Fellow for the Empire, Migration and Belonging Project.  Teni tweets at @tenigogo_

 

The publisher would also like to thank Professor Anne Haour and Toby Green for their valuable input into this project. 

  

Further reading and support:  

·         83% of schools surveyed report having made substantial changes to their Key Stage 3 curriculum in recent years to address issues of inclusivity and diversity. Read the Historical Association Secondary Survey   

·         Sign up for free samples and updates on OUP’s new KS3 History Depth Study series

View Transcript

Aaron Wilkes

Shalina Patel

Aaron Wilkes and Shalina Patel discuss how effective teaching of the British Empire can enrich your Key Stage 3 curriculum. What do students gain from studying the British Empire? How has historical scholarship on the British Empire changed in recent years? What is the impact of new research on how we should teach the topic?

Aaron and Shalina answer these questions and offer advice to teachers concerned about teaching sensitive or potentially contentious topics as part of studying the British Empire, for example Partition.

Aaron Wilkes has over 20 years’ experience working in schools as a teacher, department, and faculty leader. He also works with the PGCE History trainees at the University of Warwick. In addition to the classroom, Aaron is also one of the leading history authors in school publishing and the series which bears his name (KS3 History by Aaron Wilkes), published by Oxford University Press, is currently one of the best-selling KS3 History textbook series/online packages in the UK. Aaron is also Series Editor/co-author of OUP’s NEW KS3 Depth Studies: British Empire, African Kingdoms, Fight for Rights, and Migration Nation. He is the Series Editor/co-author of OUP’s KS4 History textbooks which match the AQA and Edexcel GCSE History specification, and is involved with the BBC as an Educational Consultant for their Bitesize and Teach series. Aaron tweets at @WilkesHistory

Shalina Patel has over 13 years of experience in the classroom and is former Head of History and currently Head of Teaching and Learning and leader of the ITT programme at Claremont High School Academy in London. In 2018 Shalina won the Silver Pearson Teaching Award for Outstanding Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School and in 2021 won the GG2 Inspire Award. She has been featured in publications such as the Guardian and The Times and on programmes like Radio 4’s Three Pounds in my Pocket, BBC Woman's Hour and BBC's Teach Me A Lesson podcast. Shalina showcases her passion for hidden histories via @thehistorycorridor Instagram account and her first book will be published in 2023/4. Shalina tweets at @Ms_PatelHistory

Genevieve Bent

Lamorna Newcombe

Lynda Charlesworth

In this episode we welcome Genevieve Bent, Assistant Principal leading Sixth Form and former Head of Science at the Harris Federation, and Lynda Charlesworth, Head of Science at Camden School for Girls. Genevieve and Lynda talk to Lamorna Newcombe, Science Publisher at Oxford University Press, about the importance of identity in engaging students in their learning, and the impact of the strategies they are using in the science classroom.

Our speakers take a research-based approach to discussing the influence of science capital, culturally responsive teaching, and diversity and inclusion on learner identity. They also share some exciting ideas for increasing engagement and representation in STEM studies, activities and careers provision.

Further reading and support:

Every student needs to feel valued in order to succeed and learner identity is one of the key pillars of the Oxford Smart Curriculum Service. Find out more and read the curriculum direction paper.

Read our 10 top tips for starting a STEM club in your school on the Oxford Education Blog.

It is important that all learners can see themselves and people like them in the science narrative. Students need to know that they can use or do science as part of their life, where science becomes part of their identity. Read more on curriculum narratives in science on the Oxford Education Blog.

Rob Randel

Andrea Quincey

Andrea Quincey and Rob Randal discuss how we can support the teaching of reading in Wales.

We look at the current context of reading instruction in Wales and explore the science of reading before going on to discuss Rob’s experiences of using a phonics programme in his school.

We talk about the many aspects involved in teaching children to read including the importance of routine and repetition, and why matched decodable books matter. We also cover the challenges of transition and supporting children at secondary school.

Andrea Quincey is Director of Primary Literacy at Oxford University Press. She has worked in educational publishing – with a focus on primary literacy – for over 20 years and has contributed to some of the UK’s most popular literacy programmes, most notably the award-winning Project X series. In her current role she manages a market-leading product portfolio that, as well as Project X, includes the globally renowned Oxford Reading Tree and the highly effective Read Write Inc. programmes.

Rob Randel has been a primary teacher in south Wales for 16 years. Having promoted high quality and evidence-informed early reading instruction for several years, he has a wealth of experience in advising school leaders and teachers about the science of reading, and how they can best evaluate their current provision. Since 2021, he has been a committee member of the Reading Reform Foundation and an advisory group member to the International Foundation of Early Reading Instruction. Rob tweets at @robrandel

Further support available from OUP:

Phonics 

Oxford Reading Buddy

Oxford Reading Levels 

Word Gap

Raise a Reader