Teachers Talk Radio

This week on The Late Show with Tim Smale, Tim is joined by Darren Goode, Assistant Principal for Inclusion, for a conversation about belonging in schools. England now has one of the lowest rates of pupil belonging in the world, and the link between belonging and achievement is hard to ignore. Tim and Darren ask why it is still treated as the soft stuff when the evidence says it is anything but, taking in inclusion, SEND, the atten...

Why do so many girls disengage from sport during their school years and what can schools do to change that? In this special Teachers Talk Radio show in partnership with the Football Association (FA), hosts Tom Rogers and Rae Whitehouse are joined by Stacey Mullock, Head of Development at The FA, and secondary teacher Helen Tonks to explore the barriers still holding girls back in sport and school life. Whether it be misogyny and ex...

A teacher who “pulled a sickie” to attend a stag do in Portugal, lied about illness, and later ripped pages from his passport to cover his tracks has avoided a teaching ban - but should he have? This week on Points of View, we ask what this case says about trust, professionalism and pressure in teaching. We’ll also debate flexible working in education. Should schools be more open to flexible leave and personal req...

In this thoughtful and practical discussion, Toby and Jo Hrabi will consider the pressures neurodiverse learners may face in busy educational environments, from sensory overload and anxiety to organisation, communication and confidence. They will also reflect on the wellbeing of teachers and support staff, asking how educators can create inclusive, calm and responsive classrooms while also protecting their own energy and mental hea...

Tim Smale talks to Rachel Johnson, chief executive of PiXL and author of Connected: Focusing on `Me` and `We`. Her big idea is simple: to thrive, young people need to be connected both to themselves and to others, yet we rarely teach them how to do either. Tim and Rachel explore what connection really means in schools, why belonging matters more than we admit, and whether much of what we call a behaviour problem was a connection pr...

Suspensions for racist, homophobic, transphobic and ableist abuse in schools have risen sharply but what’s really behind the trend? On this week’s Points of View, we explore the reasons behind rising reports, especially a new BBC one, of prejudicial abuse in schools.

Are social media, divisive politics and online influencers shaping attitudes among young people? Have funding cuts to pastoral and anti-bullying support le...

Teachers are exhausted, overwhelmed and, in many cases, walking away from the profession. But what is really behind the rise in teacher burnout? Is it workload, poor behaviour, endless accountability and SEND pressures or something deeper in the culture of education itself? In this Points of View, we ask why so many teachers are struggling to sustain the job, whether school leaders and governments are doing enough, and what practic...

What does it mean to teach with your heart truly in it? This week on The Late Show, Tim Smale and Khanh-Duc Kuttig are joined by the amazing Christian Mba, vice principal, middle leadership developer, and author of Teach Like Your Heart Is On Fire.

Together they explore the questions at the heart of Christian's book: why you became a teacher, whether knowing your purpose changes what happens in the classroom, and what it really tak...

Nearly one million young people in the UK are currently out of education and work. Alan Milburn’s explosive new report warns of an "economic catastrophe" driven by lockdown scars, social media rewiring, and a broken welfare system. In this show, join JP, Rae, Carl and Jo as they ask the tough questions. Are schools doing enough to build resilience? Has technology created an anxious generation that the system is simply giving ...