Knowledge for Teachers
In the Knowledge for Teachers podcast, host Brendan Lee will be chatting to researchers, teachers and experts about what evidence-informed education is and the nuances involved with actually implementing effective and sustainable school based education.
Episodes
In this episode, Brendan Lee speaks with Dr. Mark Dowley (Associate Head – Staff Development at the Crowther Centre for Applied Educational Research) who has recently released the book, “The Classroom Management Handbook” that he co-authored with Ollie Lovell. In this chat, they unpack the book and how it’s what Mark and Ollie wish they had when they started teaching. They also discuss ten important principles for classroom managem...
In this episode, Brendan Lee speaks with Rebecca Birch, a teacher of English and the Director of Research and Practice at a top 50 independent school in Sydney, Australia. She shares her journey from a career in fashion and advertising to becoming an English teacher. Rebecca emphasises the importance of evidence-based practice and the need for teachers to be sceptical and critical of educational trends. She also highlights the cha...
In this episode, Brendan Lee speaks with Tom Bennett, the Director and founder of researchED and school behaviour advisor to the UK government. He shares his journey from running nightclubs to becoming an influential figure in the education sector and we find out how teaching saved him. Bennett delves into the challenges he faced as a teacher, how he got into writing about behaviour, and his eventual role as the UK's Department for...
In this episode of the Knowledge for Teachers Podcast, Brendan Lee speaks with Sarah Powell. Sarah is an Associate Professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Texas at Austin. She has pretty much dedicated her whole career to researching word problems in maths. She has also contributed to a couple of papers that have recently been released for the Centre for Independent Studies and we touch on those as wel...
In this episode, Brendan Lee speaks with Dr. Nathaniel Swain. He currently works at La Trobe University as a Senior Lecturer, Learning Sciences and Learner Engagement and the Director of Undergraduate Academic Programs. He is also the founder of Think Forward Educators. Nathaniel first appeared on the Knowledge for Teachers podcast in episode 20 and unpacked some of the FAQ about the science of learning. This time they delve into t...
In this episode, Brendan Lee speaks with Dr. Jenny Donovan, CEO of the Australian Education Research Organisation. Jenny has led some of the heaviest hitting bits of research in Australia. In her current role with AERO and previous one with NSW Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation, Jenny has been behind the teams that brought cognitive load theory to prominence and highlighted the lack of evidence behind programs like Rea...
In this conversation, Brendan Lee speaks with James Dobson, an experienced teacher who has been expertly applying the art and science of learning when teaching students in their first year of school (Kindergarten/Prep/Reception/Foundation). He discusses the importance of evidence-based practice, the use of Direct Instruction programs, and the challenges and rewards of teaching young children. James shares insights on maintaining s...
In this episode, Brendan Lee speaks with Dr. Ray Boyd, the Foundation Principal of Dayton Primary School. Throughout the interview he shares his journey into education leadership and the pedagogic shift he led at his previous school West Beechboro P.S. He reflects on the mistakes made and lessons learned during his time there and discusses the surprises and challenges of starting a new school.
Dr. Boyd also explains the vision and...
Brendan Lee provides his key takeaways from the Knowledge for Teachers Podcast for 2023. This year he spoke to people such as Tom Sherrington, Daisy Christodoulou, Christopher Such and many more. Find out what he took away from these conversations.
He has split this episode into three sections:
- Science of reading
- Science of maths
- Implementing the science of learning
Support the Knowledge for Teachers Podcast:
In this episode, Brendan Lee speaks with Dr. Corey Peltier who is an Assistant Professor of Special Education in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Oklahoma. He also contributes to The Science of Math movement that is focused on disseminating research-informed recommendations to enhance math instruction and outcomes for students and this is the area that is unpacked in this episode.
In this episode, Brendan Lee speaks with Dr. Tim McDonald who is currently the CEO of YMCA WA and previously led Catholic Education WA, the Minderoo Foundation and was the Education Lead for Knowledge Society. Recently, he wrote a paper for the Centre for Independent Studies titled: Teaching Behaviour: How Classroom Conduct Can Unlock Better Learning. Throughout this conversation, he touches on a lot of the key points from the repo...
In this episode, Brendan Lee speaks with Jessica Colleu Terradas the Senior Officer Teaching and Learning Literacy and Instructional Coach in Canberra and Goulburn Catholic Education. In 2022, she travelled to the USA, England and France where she met with leading experts to investigate effective literacy screening and instructional practices to support older struggling readers as part of her Churchill Fellowship. She details some ...
In this episode, Brendan Lee speaks with Jessica Del Rio the government and public finance lead at Equity Economics. She has recently been involved in a couple of major reports that have highlighted the poor literacy standards across Australia.
In this episode, Brendan Lee speaks with Bruno Reddy CEO of Maths Circle (Times Tables Rockstars and Numbots). He is the former head of Mathematics at King Solomon Academy and one of the pioneers of mathematics mastery, as we know it today. As you will hear, he is hugely passionate about mathematics and has thought long and hard about what needs to be done to teach it effectively. Some of the things that are just starting to become...
In this episode, Brendan Lee speaks with Emma Turner. She is an experienced school leader, author and co-host of the Mind the Gap podcast with Tom Sherrington. In this conversation, we dig into her recent books:
- Simplicitus: The interconnected primary curriculum and effective subject leadership
- Simplicitus Altius: Leading the interconnected primary curriculum
Listen to this live coaching workshop on implementing the science of learning with Dr. Nathaniel Swain and Brendan Lee.
In this session, you will hear from real teachers discussing their real-world challenges in implementing the science of learning. Dr Nathaniel Swain and Brendan Lee then guide the teachers and school leaders through some possible solutions, taking an evidence-informed approach.
First, you hear from Ainsley from...
In this episode, I chat with Dr. Nathaniel Swain. He is currently a Senior Lecturer, Learning Sciences and Learner Engagement at La Trobe University and has also been a speech-language pathologist, teacher and is the founder of Think Forward Educators.
In this conversation, Nathaniel plays the teacher version of Dolly Doctor and addresses some of the most sought-after questions in education and provides a number of practical, read...
In this conversation, Brendan Lee chats with David Morkunas and they touch on a range of topics including why he thinks so many teachers have such a negative attitude towards teaching maths, what the key elements of his maths lessons are and how to teach mixed-ability classes.
Resources mentioned:
Explicit Direct Instruction
Sigfried Englemann
Kirschner, Sweller and Clark
Hochman and Wexler’s The Writing Revolution
George Book...
In this episode, Brendan Lee speaks with Emeritus Professor Kevin Wheldall and Dr. Robyn Wheldall. They’ve achieved so much throughout their careers including co-founding MultiLit, a leading provider of effective literacy instruction. In this chat, they describe their journeys and how MultiLit came about. They also speak about their recently published book - Effective Instruction in Reading and Spelling.
Resources mentioned:
Book: ...
In this episode, I chat with Christopher Such. He is the author of, “The Art and Science of Teaching Primary Reading” and an experienced teacher, school leader and educational consultant. In our conversation, Chris touches on teacher workload, professional development and he goes through the thought behind his book and how his thinking has developed since its release. We then take a deep dive into teaching reading fluency and look ...
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