Teachers Talk Radio

Today's Friday Morning Break Show with Carl Smith: From Teacher to Principal: What they don’t tell you on NPQH with guest Will Teece

Highly experienced ex primary headteacher and governor Kate Owbridge joins Tony to talk about the issues around the worrying decline in student mental health through primary and onto secondary school.

Darren discussed The University of Nottingham's announcement of closure of its language courses, before moving onto the topic at hand: how you can justify reading when you've so  many other things to do.

We talk the effect of gossip in school and how to manage your mental health through our three regular features!

Burdensome workload is the constant cry of teachers, and marking is so often front and centre of the tasks which weigh us down. Why are we still so obsessed with written feedback? Is it really for the students? Or is it about accountability and box ticking?

Teachers have a lot to manage; lessons, students, emotions. But here’s the question: do those emotions slip into the way they speak? And could changing that change everything? In this show, Seema sits down with Silke Paulmann, Executive Dean at the University of Essex to unpack the powerful link between voice, communication, and emotion in the classroom.

In this month's show, Matt is joined by John Dolman. With over 25 years of experience teaching English and Media, John has been diving deep into how AI can be used thoughtfully in education. They explore what AI can actually do for English teachers, what it can’t, and why it’s not about replacing the teacher but supporting the craft. Expect honest chat, practical ideas, and some myth-busting along the way. If you’ve been curious, cautious or completely confused about AI in your classroom, this one’s worth a listen.

In this reflective show, Famida Choudhary and Aaron Regan explore how metacognitive strategies and Thinking Routines can transform reading comprehension. Together, they discuss how students develop awareness of what strategies work best for them, how they can transfer these approaches across contexts, and how teachers can foster a culture of reflection and independent thinking in the classroom. Packed with real classroom insights, practical applications, and thoughtful anecdotes, this show shines a light on how “thinking about thinking” builds empowered, lifelong readers.

Another exciting one off special show for you! Nathan Gynn is joined by James Handscombe to explore all things curiosity in learning, the topic of his new book "Cabinet of Curiosity - Creating a Superpower". "Curiosity is a superpower: the more curious you are, the more questions you ask, the more answers you get, the more you know, and the more that further stimulates curiosity. The pay-off is both the knowledge that is acquired(and knowledge, of course, is power) - and that virtuous circle. Unfortunately, schools, qualifications and curricula are not always set up to encourage curiosity (and there are ways in which they actually discourage it). The book covers some of the challenges encountered in trying to teach curiosity together with outlining a course that the author has designed and used to kick start that cycle of questioning" Get your copy of the book here: https://www.hachettelearning.com/teaching-strategies/cabinet-of-curiosity

Join the panel of Lucy Trimnell, Rae Whitehouse, Yasmin Omar and Carl Smith as they discuss this weeks speech by MP Rupert Lowe where he suggested that parents should have the right to take their children out of school during term-time for a limited number of days.