The School Leadership Podcast

From ditching performance targets to allowing teachers time off – hear how a multi-academy trust is overhauling its policies in a bid to tackle workload and improve the well-being of its teaching staff.

Jonny Uttley, chief executive officer at The Education Alliance – a trust based in the East Riding of Yorkshire – speaks to NAHT assistant general secretary James Bowen about the need for accountability reform, their workload charter and the steps they’re taking to reduce teaching tasks, boost retention and bring about improvements for staff and students.

What does a really good school staff absence insurance policy look like? How can schools support staff well-being and lower absenteeism? What does having an ethical approach to school absence provision mean?

In this coffee-break edition of the School Leadership Podcast, you’ll hear Holly Harding, chief operating officer of the non-profit Education Mutual, answer these questions and explore the benefits of NAHT Wellness and Protect for NAHT members and their schools.

Find out more at ⁠www.naht.org.uk/NAHT-Wellness-and-Protect⁠.

Whether it's synthetic phonics, the curriculum or school inspection, how are our education policies actually made? Why do they often fail the sector they are intended to serve? And how can we make sure the people actually delivering education to children in schools have a say in what's decided?

This episode examines the state of education policymaking in England and how we could improve it. NAHT assistant general secretary James Bowen is joined by Nansi Ellis, an education policy consultant and former assistant general secretary at the National Education Union, and Gareth Conyard, co-CEO of the Teacher Development Trust and a former Department for Education senior civil servant. Their book Improving Education Policy Together: How it’s made, implemented, and can be done better, published by Routledge, is available now.

Where do you start to if you want to diversify the primary curriculum? Based on her experience as a primary head teacher, Sarah Wordlaw shares ideas and insight for all school leaders, along with a message for the new government, which has just announced it’ll soon be embarking on an independent review of curriculum and assessment.

Sarah Wordlaw is the author of Time to Shake Up the Primary Curriculum: A step-by-step guide to creating a global, diverse and inclusive school. She’s in conversation with NAHT assistant general secretary James Bowen for this episode of the School Leadership Podcast.

With the 4 July 2024 general election approaching, the School Leadership Podcast explores NAHT’s manifesto for education For Their Future with the union’s general secretary Paul Whiteman and assistant general secretary James Bowen.

They talk through NAHT’s key education priorities of recruitment and retention, SEND and school buildings, and explain why our next government needs to fix these crises and rebuild its relationship with the sector as part of a longer-term plan for change within the school system.

What can we learn from the world’s top-performing school systems? Join Geoff Masters, CEO of the Australian Council for Educational Research, and NAHT assistant general secretary James Bowen as they discuss the findings of research into the world’s highest-performing systems, including their approaches to assessment.

Professor Geoff Masters’ research Building a world-class learning system: Insights from some top-performing school systems is the result of a multi-year study of five jurisdictions – British Columbia, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong and South Korea – that have long performed well on the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), and how they have been rethinking and reforming their school systems.

Liz Robinson, CEO of multi-academy trust and charity Big Education, believes there’s a significant gap between what national professional qualifications (NPQs) cover and what school leaders really need in order to be equipped with the knowledge and skills for their role.

Here, she speaks to NAHT assistant general secretary James Bowen about Big Education’s Rethinking Leadership report What else? What next? What if? that looks at what is missing from leadership development provision in England and what we can do to close this gap.

It is more than two decades since academies were first introduced to the English education system, and around half of all state-funded pupils now attend one. Yet, in its new report 20 Years of Muddling Through, think-tank EDSK argues not only that the language around academisation has become too politicised, but that the system itself is unsustainable.

Here, Tom Richmond, EDSK’s founder and director, speaks to NAHT assistant general secretary James Bowen about why he thinks it’s time we leave behind the political baggage and build a coherent, collaborative and transparent system based on the principle of ‘one set of rules for everyone’, allowing teachers and leaders to devote their energy to improving teaching and learning.

The Inspiring Leadership Conference is back in Birmingham this June for its tenth year, with another uplifting programme of speakers and sessions specifically for school leaders.

Among the many new faces this year – the line-up already includes Sir Andrew Strauss and Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu – will be one familiar one, Jane Creasy, who’s back to lead the annual two-day event.

Hear Jane share her thoughts on why this unique conference and its speakers have such a powerful impact on the school leaders who take part.

The episode also features a 10% discount code (valid until 29 February 2024). Find out more and book your place at the Inspiring Leadership Conference in 2024.

Content warning: please note this podcast episode mentions suicide.

Loneliness, stress, not-fit-for-purpose inspections and burnout: Education Support’s latest research into the well-being of education staff reveals a stark picture of the day-to-day life of the people who work in the sector.

The charity released the findings of its seventh Teacher Wellbeing Index in November 2023. Here, its chief executive Sinéad Mc Brearty shares her thoughts on the findings and their implications with NAHT assistant general secretary James Bowen.

NAHT members can access a dedicated, confidential counselling and support helpline provided by Education Support on 0800 917 4055. Open 24/7, it is staffed by qualified counsellors offering emotional and practical support.