The Happy Teacher Pod

It’s our tenth episode of season 2 and we finally managed to get our former colleagues, Bonolo and Sarah, on the show. We all worked together in a growing school, building the Humanities Department and we all look back on those years as some of the best we’ve ever had. So, what makes a good department? And how does a good department make happy teachers? Sarah speaks persuasively on the importance of sharing in a vision whilst Bonol...

Our ninth episode talks about our proudest teaching moments! As a teacher you go into the everyday not expecting to have moments that you remember for the rest of your career but as you have so many interactions it is bound to happen. So as we have both been teaching for 15 years or longer it was bound to happen and we both get a bit emotional speaking about our proudest moments so far and what they mean to us. This was prompted by...

Our eighth episode talks about a very popular topic at the moment - smartphone use in schools. It has been in the news as well as a hot topic for teachers and parents alike, not only thinking about kids using smartphones in school but them using them at all up until the age of 14. Talking about the idea of a smartphone free childhood and how this supports a childhood filled with outdoors, exploration rather than screen time and pot...

Our seventh episode of season 2 focuses in on what makes a good lesson. We both agree that while there are common elements to what makes a good lesson, namely a loose structure that engages students and checks in on their progress, a good lesson comes in many forms. Teachers need to be given the freedom to teach in a way that suits their creativity and their personality. What certainly doesn’t make a good lesson is when senior lead...

On this podcast we have a special guest, Roxy’s husband, Dan! Jenny was under the pump with a cake making emergency and we thought what better than to have a discussion about teaching with two teachers that live together and have been married for 10 years.

In this episode we dive into Dan’s 20 years of teaching and how he has gone from being a professional rugby player to an assistant head with everything along the way. Dan has had...

We’ve had a very special guest on episode 5 today! We’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Rebecca Leek, who has been a SENCO, a headteacher, and an executive head amongst others. She undertakes school reviews and provides advice and mentoring to school leaders. She has also just finished writing her first book on school governance. There was so much we wanted to speak to Rebecca about but we narrowed it down to diversity in educati...

Our fourth episode of season 2 discusses how both Jenny are Roxy put a worth on being a life long learner. When we worked together middle leader training was all about being a life long learner in education (links to retention in previous episode - you need to invest in your staff development beyond ECT and tokenistic gestures/one size fits all training ).

Jenny speaks about her being the Chair of the Board of Governors and just si...

Our third episode of season 2 discusses the teacher retention crisis. Roughly 35,000 teachers leave the state sector every year and 27% of those leaving are women aged 30-39 (that’s people like us!). Despite what the media and the government might say, we don’t have a recruitment crisis, we have a retention crisis. And money alone isn’t going to solve it. The average leaver experiences a 10% pay cut but also a 12% cut in wo...

Our second episode of season 2 is all about boundaries and saying no. If saying no feels a bit too hard for you, why not use Jenny’s tried and tested phrase: “I’m not on that committee!”. In all seriousness, you are allowed to say no. Requests are only reasonable if you are given the time and capacity to carry them out. We discuss the different ways we have established boundaries but check out our socials for further tips.

In this ...

Welcome back to The Happy Teacher Pod and welcome to season 2!

We kick off this season with an episode on workload: one of the key reasons our country is facing a teacher retention crisis. Roxy and Jenny discuss the various ways they have learned to manage their workload over but with an important reminder that the onus should be on the government and school leaders to keep a teacher’s job manageable. Roxy discusses time blocking w...

In our final March episode we navigate the world of Ofsted and how each time has been quite a different experience. Join us in the discussion to see how public and private schools differ when it comes to inspections as well as what to expect when expecting! Roxy has recently been through and inspection and so she gives her insights into what it was like on the two day inspection and how to handle the stress of the days when they co...

This is the follow-up episode to episode 8 on applications. This time, we discuss how to get the most out of the interview process. Student tours, for example, are a great opportunity to get a real feel for the school and to get honest answers to questions you have. We also remind you that YOU matter and YOU are impressive; interviews are a two way process and if something about the school bothers you, you don't have to take the jo...

In this week’s special Mother’s Day episode, we focus on the theme of happy teachers = happy parents. We are delighted to have on not one, but two, guests - Claire Neaves and Florence Norel- who talk to us about how to make the workplace more parent friendly and, by default, more life friendly. Claire and Florence are fellow chapter authors of the book Jenny co-wrote - A Guide to Teaching, Parenting and Creating Family Friendly Sch...

This week, we discuss strategies for putting in successful job applications. We speak of the importance of showcasing your USP (unique selling point), as part of our 100% success rate of securing interviews. As well as how to write a really solid application that should get you the interview every time. Remember to go onto our socials in the week if you are interested in some step by step posts on how to be successful when doing an...

This week, Jenny and Roxy discuss how effective wellbeing in schools can help to create happy teachers. We discuss some good and some not so good experiences we have had with wellbeing in schools. We conclude that at the heart of successful wellbeing lies planning and consideration. Wellbeing, if it is a one-off event to celebrate a particular challenge, such as an inspection, needs to be unique, not just something we could replica...

This week we discuss with our first guest (!) How do life-friendly schools lead to happy teachers? Welcome to Emma Sheppard, founding director of the Maternity Teacher Paternity Teacher Project, the UK’s only parent teacher charity. I have the honour of being Policy Officer for this charity so it’s very close to my heart. It provides support for pregnant and expectant staff, networking, coaching and professional development during ...

This week, Jenny and Roxy discuss the holidays. We begin with a conversation on the importance of taking care of oneself during term time, not pushing to make it to the holidays and then collapse from exhaustion. We also consider the difficulties of holidays for supply teachers and those on fixed term contracts whilst also pointing to opportunities the holidays can bring. We look at the perception of summer holidays and highlight, ...

Join Jenny and Roxy as they both open up about their mental health struggles in their quests to be happy teachers. We discuss our struggles with balancing workload with parenthood and how we both found balance and the right schools for us.

In this week’s Break-time Banter, we hear some hilarious stories from other teachers whilst this week’s Get In The Bin comes from Jenny who condemns senior leadership teams that don’t take mental...

In this episode, we focus on what is needed to make a happy teacher. A great school alone won’t create happy teachers; both what you do inside and outside of school will. Roxy and Jenny discuss their lives and what they do outside of school to keep their happiness level high.

As usual, we begin with a Break-time Banter story, this time from Roxy. It involves a dance class and glow sticks! The episode finishes with Jenny giving her ...