Emma Sheppard is the Founder of The MTPT Project, the UK’s charity for parent-teachers.  A former English teacher and Lead Practitioner, she is now an ICF ACC qualified coach, and runs The MTPT Project full time since.  The UK’s expert on the motherhood penalty in education, Emma co-authored the 2024 Missing Mothers report with The New Britain Project, outlining the importance of working mothers to solving our current recruitment and retention crisis.

Emma joins The School Should Be Podcast to explore how schools can be inclusive and accessible for staff with children. Emma and I explore the discussions, decisions and narratives surrounding parenthood, particularly motherhood, in teaching; the impact of parenting on teaching as a career and how we can navigate the retention crisis by creating a profession that supports some of its best talent (the parents that teach!)

Follow the MTPT Project on LinkedIn, Instagram and get in touch with Emma via LinkedIn too.

We are back! And super excited to be back with the brilliant, Naomi Evans, co-founder and Head of Education at Everyday Racism. Everyday Racism is a platform and organisation that provides anti-racism education for schools and organisations, worldwide.

With over 20 years' experience in teaching and senior leadership, Naomi joins the School Should Be podcast for a candid discussion about how teachers can navigate conversations about racism, discrimination and the discomfort and vulnerability educators often feel when discussing sensitive and difficult topics.

Everyday Racism have also recently launched an Anti-racism School, joined by expert educators to support training and development on anti racism in education and the workplace.

Follow Everyday Racism on social media:

@everydayracism_

@The_antiracist_school

Professor Damien Page, Deputy Vice Chancellor, and soon to be Vice Chancellor, at Buckinghamshire New University, joins the School Should Be Podcast to share how schools, teachers and educators across communities can work together to support working class students pursue and sustain a career in Higher Education (HE). About a year ago, Damien shared his thoughts on LinkedIn about navigating the world of HE and executive leadership as someone who grew up in a working class household. The post attracted a wide audience and led to the launch of the Working Class Leaders in HE network, which hosts monthly webinars sharing the lived experiences of fellow execs in HE who grew up Working Class too. On the podcast Damien and I talk about so many aspects of education, from the journey from primary school, to incentivising HE to complement entrepreneurship and the ever changing landscape of Higher Education. This is such a valuable conversation and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did recording it!

In this episode, I am joined by the Sadia Siddiqui to talk about how schools and teachers can use inclusive language in the classroom and sustainably nurture a classroom and school culture that is safe for all students. One of my favourite episodes to date, we talk about inclusivity across the curriculum, difficult conversations in the classroom, using compassion and knowledge to build a culture of belonging and so much more!

My guest, Sadia Siddiqui has worked in advertising for 20+ years and held senior leadership positions in several London agencies. Four years ago, Sadia launched an Instagram account @_languagematters, which has over 13 thousand followers, as a space to examine problematic language. Initially focused on race and ethnicity, it has now broadened its focus to help foster inclusive language across all underrepresented communities and groups. 

In this episode, I speak to the brilliant, Anita Grant, Assistant Chief Officer for Trust and Legitimacy at Sussex Police all about why students should consider a career in the police force. We talk about Anita's own journey into the police force (from a background in education and Sure Start settings), her relationship and thoughts about the police growing up and why policing is an attractive, purposeful and impactful career of choice for young people today. The opportunities are immense and we need to be the change we want to see in society.

...plus, who wouldn't want to go on a ride along?!

I loved talking to Anita and there is so much for students, teachers and parents to learn from her in this episode, particularly if you know young people who are looking for a little direction with their careers and next steps...

Sufian Sadiq, Director of Talent and Teaching School at Chiltern Learning Trust joins the School Should Be podcast to talk about the importance of teaching and living in the community and how to ensure community engagement and targeted interventions are effective and successful for marginalised and underresourced students.

This is such an engaging podcast and so valuable for anyone looking to engage unheard voices and groups of students who have become victims of 'stereotype threat' at your school. It is well worth a listen for teachers and community leaders looking to overcome barriers and stigmas that face marginalised groups of students. We discuss intervention, lived experiences, exams and so much more.

This was a difficult episode to title. Effectively it is two friends, two educators, one Muslim and one Jewish, coming together in a safe space to talk about how we are feeling amidst the rise of Islamophobia, antisemitism, the war on Gaza, the awful pictures and videos we are seeing day in and day out on social media and the utter feeling of helplessness watching an entire people suffer beyond belief.

I met Penny through Social Media and have so much respect and love for Penny's work in the anti-racism space. I have so much to learn from Penny as do all of us. This is the first of a short series of episodes that we will be recording navigating our understanding of antisemitism, islamophobia. Of course we've had plenty of conversations about this, but Penny was one of the first people I reached out to after the Oct. 7th attack on Israel. We checked in on one another and ever since, we've had much needed, safe and heartwarming conversations to somehow deal with the dread that fills our hearts every day. We hope this podcast provides the same for you.

Please support much needed aid for Palestinian families here: https://linktr.ee/opolivebranch

About Penny:

Penny Rabiger is an ex-teacher who was one of the founding members of The Key for School Leaders and has worked with education start-ups, charities and social enterprises since 2007. She is a school governor and co-founder of the national race equity charity The BAMEed Network. Penny is Lead Coach on the Anti-Racist School Award at the Centre for Race, Education and Decoloniality, Leeds Beckett University, where she is also completing her PhD.

In this episode of the BHS takeover, Jasmine, Ellie and Kareena talk all things GCSEs, from choosing your options, to what different GCSEs entail, along with workload, revision and managing expectations in years 10 and 11. A must listen for students choosing their options or students who have just started their GCSE courses.

*if you are a student and you are concerned about your wellbeing and mental health, please get in touch with your teachers at school or a trusted adult. For wellbeing and mental health advice, please visit: mind.org.uk

Jasmine, Ellie and Kareena are back to answer your questions with their tips and thoughts on navigating friendships and peer pressure at secondary school.

Listen in as they share their reassuring thoughts and wisdom on something we all think about on day one of year 7: friendship.

*if you are a student and you are concerned about your wellbeing and mental health, please get in touch with your teachers at school or speak to a trusted adult. For mental health support online, please visit: mind.org.uk

Jasmine, Ellie and Kareena, Sixth Form Students at Beaconsfield High School have taken over the School Should Be episode to help students navigate revision and wellbeing!

Sharing their thoughts, advice and wisdom after successfully completing their GCSEs and now on their A level journey, they reached out to students in years 7-10 to ask what questions and concerns do they have about their wellbeing at secondary school. Over the next few episodes, join them as they answer a range of questions and share their thoughts to get students through a very critical period of time: exams.

Tune in for some brilliant advice, plus they'll make you laugh along the way too.

Jasmine is a Politics Ambassador. She is currently studying A level History, English Literature and Politics. Ellie is an Economics Ambassador and currently studying A level Maths, Economics and Psychology. Kareena is a Philosophy and Ethics Ambassador and currently studying A level English Literature, Philosophy and Ethics and Psychology.

*if you are a student and you are concerned about your wellbeing and mental health, please get in touch with your teachers at school or a trusted adult. For wellbeing and mental health advice, please visit: mind.org.uk