Episode 148: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I'm joined by Lloyd Williams-Jones for an exploration of his implementation of an approach to the teaching of reading. As part of the chat we discuss....

1. What have you done?

2. How have you done it?

3. What has been the impact?

4. What challenges have you had to overcome?

5. What improvements would you like to make?

...plus much, much more. Whether you're new to the profession or an experienced senior leader, you won't want to miss this one.

Support the podcast via www.ko-fi.com/tdape or by subscribing to www.youtube.com/@TDaPE 

If you would like to submit a question, email us at [email protected] or join the TDaPE discord, where we have a special channel for unseen question submission.

Episode 147: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, Christopher Such and Neil Almond sit down with Professor Kathy Rastle for an in-depth exploration of morphology, early literacy instruction, phonics and much, much more.

It's the finale of Season 6 and, once you've listened, I'm sure you'll agree it is the perfect way to end another wonderful season of TDaPE. But don't worry, there's no rest for the wicked and we'll be back next week with more from your favourite rag-tag band of teachers.

Whether you're new to the profession or an experienced senior leader, you won't want to miss this one.

Support the podcast via www.ko-fi.com/tdape or by subscribing to www.youtube.com/@TDaPE 

If you would like to submit a question, email us at [email protected] or join the TDaPE discord, where we have a special channel for unseen question submission.

Episode 146: In this episode of Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, we speak to Neil Gorton, a senior leader at BIS Vietnam, about the importance of teachers taking control of their own professional development. We discuss Neil's own motivation for self-guided CPD, his guiding principles, and how he balances the time demands of school and family life. We also talk about Neil's approach to supporting the professional development of others, and how he selects whole-school priorities and ensures they remain priorities, even when teacher mobility is high. Finally, we discuss the balance between personalised and whole-school professional development, and whether one is more important than the other.

Key Takeaways

Who should listen to this episode?

This episode is for all teachers, leaders, and anyone interested in professional development for teachers.

Support the podcast via www.ko-fi.com/tdape or by subscribing to www.youtube.com/@TDaPE 

If you would like to submit a question, email us at [email protected] or join the TDaPE discord, where we have a special channel for unseen question submission.

Episode 145: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I'm joined by Jonny Hall for a thorough exploration of www.mathsbot.com and how teachers can get the most from the superb resources available on the site . As part of the chat we discuss...

1. Where did the idea for MathsBot come from and which came first, you learning to code or the idea?

2. What do you think are the three most important features on MathsBot and how can teachers get the most from them?

3. Which feature do you think is utilised least that you wish teachers used more, and why?

4. You’ve been making countless updates during the summer. How have you prioritised these changes? Have you been solely responding to patreon requests or do you have a grand plan for how you’d like the site to support teachers?

5. And what can we expect to change over the rest of the academic year?

...and much, much more! Whether you're new to the profession or an experienced senior leader, you won't want to miss this one!

Support the podcast via www.ko-fi.com/tdape or by subscribing to www.youtube.com/@TDaPE 

If you would like to submit a question, email us at [email protected] or join the TDaPE discord, where we have a special channel for unseen question submission.

Episode 144: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I'm joined by the inimitable Sarah Larsen for an exploration of geography. As part of the chat we discuss...

1. What is geography?

2. What are your guiding principles for the teaching of geography?

3. …and what role does cognitive science have in this respect?

4. What is field-work?

5. How can we design effective/impactful field-work sessions? 

6. You are a secondary teacher with a considerable number of feeder schools. If you could have a basic level of understanding across every pupil coming up from primary, what would it look like? 

...and much, much more! Whether you're new to the profession or an experienced senior leader, you won't want to miss this one!

Support the podcast via www.ko-fi.com/tdape or by subscribing to www.youtube.com/@TDaPE 

If you would like to submit a question, email us at [email protected] or join the TDaPE discord, where we have a special channel for unseen question submission.

Episode 143: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I'm joined by the wonderful Rachel Ball for an exploration of how we might develop and engage with an evidence-informed culture of school leadership. As part of the chat we discuss...

1. What are your guiding principles for developing an evidence-informed and responsive CPD culture in school? 

2. Research comes in many shapes and sizes and, arguably there’s “evidence” for most things in education. What’s your quality threshold for education research and the findings it presents? 

3. What does implementation look like on the ground and can we generalise the process so that others might adopt a similar approach in their own setting?

4. How do you ensure buy-in from everyone? Is that even possible? 

5. Have you ever realised that a change you made or a direction you had taken wasn’t working? And, if so, what did you do about it?

6. Any final advice for anyone who is trying to develop the professional development culture in their school and feeling enthused having listened to this episode?

...and much, much more! Whether you're new to the profession or an experienced senior leader, you won't want to miss this one!

Support the podcast via www.ko-fi.com/tdape or by subscribing to www.youtube.com/@TDaPE 

If you would like to submit a question, email us at [email protected] or join the TDaPE discord, where we have a special channel for unseen question submission.

Episode 142: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I'm joined by Stuart Tiffany for the second episode of Season 6.

Stuart has been a guest on the podcast before but this time we sit down 1:1 to go far into the depths of primary history.

Stuart shares his thoughts on subject leadership, locality and curriculum sequencing as well as his unrivalled passion for the subject of history.

As part of the chat we explore...

1. How local is local history (the context) and how do we become sufficiently expert in our school’s local history to execute our role as effectively as we might hope (the question)? 

2. What does a typical history lesson (I know that might be an oxymoron) look like in your classroom?

3. …and what role does cognitive science play? 

4. If you had to convince someone who was less than enthusiastic that considerations of world building were an effective use of time, what would you say to them? 

5. What are your guiding principles for historical enquiry? 

6. In your book you provide readers with worked examples. How do you hope they will be used? 

...and much, much more. Whether you're new to the profession or an experienced senior leader, you won't want to miss this one!

Support the podcast via www.ko-fi.com/tdape or by subscribing to www.youtube.com/@TDaPE 

If you would like to submit a question, email us at [email protected] or join the TDaPE discord, where we have a special channel for unseen question submission

Episode 141: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I'm joined by Shannen Doherty for the first episode of the eagerly awaited sixth season of the Thinking Deeply about Primary Education podcast.

Shannen shares her reflections on leadership, her own professional growth and how to lead meaningful change across a number of settings.

As part of the chat we explore...

1. When we last spoke, you outlined your plan for establishing Walkthrus across your trust. How has that gone over the last 18 months?

2. Things appear to be going very well. What do you think is the secret to your success?

3. Have there been any instances when you’ve realised that a change you made or a direction you had taken wasn’t working? And, if so, what did you do about it?

4. With change on any scale it is difficult to get everyone moving in the same direction. How do you ensure buy-in from everyone?

5: How have you maintained your own professional development at the same time as supporting so many others?

6: You spend quite a bit of time supporting schools outside your trust as a Walkthrus mentor. What is this like, and would you recommend it to other leaders with a similar interest in coaching?

7: Any final advice for anyone who is trying to develop the professional development culture in their school and feeling enthused having listened to this episode?

...and much, much more. Whether you're new to the profession or an experienced senior leader, you won't want to miss this one!

Support the podcast via www.ko-fi.com/tdape or by subscribing to www.youtube.com/@TDaPE 

If you would like to submit a question, email us at [email protected] or join the TDaPE discord, where we have a special channel for unseen question submission!

Episode 140: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I'm joined by Deputy Head Teacher, Tom Oakley as we discuss persistent problems in the classroom and how we might approach trying to solve them. As part of the chat we explore...

1. What are the most persistent classroom problems?

2. How can we approach these problems?

3. Why do you think x will be the next big research-informed explosion?

...and much, much more. Whether you're new to the profession or an experienced senior leader, you won't want to miss this one!

Support the podcast via www.ko-fi.com/tdape or by subscribing to www.youtube.com/@TDaPE 

If you would like to submit a question, email us at [email protected] or join the TDaPE discord, where we have a special channel for unseen question submission!

Episode 139: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I'm joined by Ben Ebdon (@TeacherInTrain). Ben changed careers 25 years into his working life and I wanted to know what that experience was like, what his motivations were and how things had gone since making the leap into the world of education.

As part of the chat we discuss...

1. What did you do before you were a teacher?

2. Why did you make the change?

3. What have been the positives?

4. What have been the challenges?

5. Have there been any surprises?

6. What advice would you give to anyone considering becoming a teacher?

Support the podcast via www.ko-fi.com/tdape or by subscribing to www.youtube.com/@TDaPE 

If you would like to submit a question, email us at [email protected] or join the TDaPE discord, where we have a special channel for unseen question submission!