The Day with Geoff Barton

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What do young people need to know and be able to do if they are to become confident, active citizens?

Geoff Barton speaks to Helen Blachford, Director of Personal Development at Bohunt Education Trust. Helen describes a trust-wide approach that places citizenship, PSHE, religious education, careers, digital literacy and oracy at the centre of students’ development. Rather than responding to the modern world simply by banning phones or warning about social media, the trust aims to equip students to question information, make informed decisions and participate confidently in society.

Helen explains how a shared core curriculum sits alongside local flexibility, how different schools organise RSHE, and why personal development deserves the same rigour and status as other subjects. She also discusses the value of student voice — including students helping to strengthen teaching about misogyny — and how trusted current-affairs content can provide a framework for critical thinking and debate.

In this episode

- Bohunt Education Trust’s ambition to develop “game-changers”

- The knowledge and skills young people need to participate in society

- Digital literacy, information literacy, citizenship and oracy

- Combining a trust-wide core curriculum with local choice

- Giving personal development proper curriculum status

- Assessment, misconceptions and student voice

- How students can help shape and improve the curriculum

- Using trusted journalism to support critical thinking

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How can schools encourage more reading without overlooking the students who find it difficult?

Geoff Barton speaks to Professor Jessie Ricketts, a psychologist at Royal Holloway, University of London, whose research focuses on reading development in adolescence. Jessie explains why reading engagement and reading proficiency must be considered together, how widely students’ skills can vary within a single classroom, and why reading is an issue of educational equity as well as attainment.

They explore the importance of whole-school leadership, disciplinary literacy and choosing approaches that match a school’s intended outcome. Jessie also explains how The Day’s differentiated versions of the same current-affairs story can help students with different reading abilities access a shared discussion — connecting literacy, oracy and learning without limiting anyone’s intellectual potential.

In this episode

- What research tells us about teenagers’ reading habits

- The difference between reading engagement and reading proficiency

- Why variation in reading and language skills matters in every subject

- Reading as a social-justice issue

- The role of senior leaders and subject teachers in building a reading culture

- Why reading initiatives need a clearly defined goal

- How differentiated texts can create more equitable classroom discussion

- The close relationship between literacy and oracy