SecEd Podcast

In this episode we break-down the secrets to effective adaptive teaching approaches in the secondary classroom. Our experts define what exactly adaptive teaching is and offer insights to help teachers to know when we should adapt our teaching, how we can adapt teaching, and who we should be adapting it for. We discuss the importance of using adaptive teaching to maintain high expectations in the classroom and in order to ensure that our ambitious curriculum is accessible for all students regardless of background or need. We consider what adaptations we can plan in advance of our lessons, with some practical examples, as well as some of the types of live adaptations that we might make use of responsively in the moment. We also consider how teaching assistants might best support some of these approaches. We consider the use of scaffolds, including what these might consist of and how these can be withdrawn once they have served their purpose. Finally we talk CPD and offer some specific tips for new and early career teachers to help them hit the ground running with adaptive approaches.

This episode offers a range of practical ideas, advice and teaching techniques for engaging students in the work of William Shakespeare – both in the English classroom and across the school. Produced in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the episode features a panel of experts and educators who discuss how we can make Shakespeare enjoyable for our students. We talk about Shakespeare's place across the school, in the English and drama classrooms of course, but also in other places such as the assembly hall and extra-curricular work. We offer a range of teaching tips and ways we can make Shakespeare enjoyable and engaging for students, including how we can help them to penetrate the vocabulary of Shakespeare, how Shakespeare can support oracy education, and ideas for how we can introduce Shakespeare effectively in key stage 3. Crucially, we also ask what we should avoid doing when teaching Shakespeare and ask how we can show students the relevance of Shakespeare in today's world. This episode has been produced to mark the launch of RSC's new Shakespeare Curriculum platform, which brings you the next generation of digital resources to support your teaching of Shakespeare. It is free to access for state-maintained schools and SEN schools. More details at the end of the podcast or via: www.shakespearecurriculum.com

This episode dissects the revised Ofsted inspection framework, setting out actions that school leaders can take now to prepare and offering expert insights and tips. Our panel has extensive experience of Ofsted inspection, and they break down the key changes that schools should be focused on and how best we can respond. We highlight key aspects of the revised framework, including the implications of the new evaluation areas and grading points. We interrogate the new "secure fit" model of inspection and Ofsted's new "expected standard". We delve into the inclusion thread that runs throughout the framework and will dominant inspections from now on and we discuss the new focus on school context, asking how school leaders can best communicate this information during inspection. We offer top tips for the Monday phone call, tips for identifying strengths/weaknesses, touch upon the new role of the "nominee" and the case sampling of pupils. Finally, we list actions that schools should be taking now to set themselves in good stead for inspection under the new regime.

This episode focuses on belonging and inclusion in the secondary school – namely how can we ensure that every student can take part in school life. Our panel of experienced school leaders define what "belonging" means in the context of a busy secondary school. We talk school culture: what does a culture of inclusion and belonging involve, how can we develop this in a natural way, and what approaches are in place at our guests' schools – especially when it comes to welcoming new students in year 7. We talk about the role of school staff in fostering belonging and inclusive practice, including in the classroom, and some of the key strategies we can employ. We talk behaviour and what kind of approaches to behaviour management and expectations can support a culture of belonging – including understanding where our families are coming from. We also touch on inclusive curriculum design and delivery, including how to audit our curriculum for inclusivity and what curriculum "accessibility" actually means. And finally talk attendance and family engagement. How we can reduce student absence via a culture of belonging and how can we engage with families to extend this feeling of belonging into our communities.

This episode offers a range of ideas and advice for identifying and supporting students with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) in the secondary school. SLCN are the most common need for the more than 1.2 million students who are on SEN Support in England's schools – and the evidence tells us that there will be many more who are going undiagnosed. This discussion features four experts who look at identifying SLCN, screening students, and the problems of underdiagnosis and "masking" that prevent students from getting the support they need. We discuss what the signs of undiagnosed SLCN are in the classroom and the overlaps between these needs and other challenges such as SEMH, poor behaviour, and school absence. We hear about the approaches being taken in two secondary schools and discuss a range of ideas for practical interventions to help support students with SLCN in and out of the classroom. We also touch upon how we can support teaching staff in this work, including with CPD. This episode has been produced with support from our friends at Speech and Language Link.

This episode considers how teaching staff can effectively support autistic students in the classroom and across the mainstream secondary school. Our expert panel offers a range of practical insights and advice to help teachers and support staff, including teaching tips and pastoral care. We begin our discussion by busting some of the common misconceptions and myths about autism and autistic students before dissecting what makes for an autism-friendly school and classroom environment and strong inclusive practice. We discuss what schools can do to support and foster friendships and social connections for our autistic students – and how can staff build strong relationships with these young people? We touch upon Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) but also why we cannot rely on the paperwork and must engage with the young person if we are to meet their needs – taking a strength-based approach. How can teachers adapt their lessons to include their autistic students without overwhelming them – and what part does technology (including AI) play in making learning accessible for young people? We also ask what needs to change in the school environment to support proper inclusion autistic young people – including asking each of our experts for the one big change they would make in schools… Finally, we discuss the common teaching methods that make things harder for autistic students. How can teachers combine routine with the flexibility that these students need.

In this episode, we consider what makes for excellent library provision in the secondary school, including ideas for supporting literacy and curriculum delivery. We speak with four experienced and expert school library professionals to glean their advice, ideas and tips for excellent library provision. We discuss the most important elements in effective library provision and why schools should consider employing a qualified librarian as part of their provision. We consider how school librarians can work effectively with teaching staff to support whole-school teaching and learning and ideas for how librarians can engage with colleagues across the school. Of course, we focus on literacy and reading and the role libraries and school librarians have to play, including ideas for library-based initiatives, managing library stock, engaging struggling readers, and boosting reading for pleasure. And it's not just about books, we also consider the hidden roles of a school librarian, including the pastoral side. And we finish with our ideas corner when we ask each of our guests to offer their ideas for library provision that schools can adapt and adopt.

This podcast discusses teacher training and induction, offering practical advice for trainee and early career teachers (ECTs) and their mentors. Our expert panel explores the Department for Education's new Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework – due to come into effect in September 2025. The combined ITT-ECF sets out what trainee and ECTs need to know – and know how to do – at the start of their careers and the panel discuss what is in the new combined framework and how it might work in practice, including how the distinct ITT and ECF elements will work together and key elements such as SEND and inclusive practice. We also touch upon the eight standards within the framework and invite our guests to pick out some of the elements crucial to meeting these standards. We discuss the transition from being a trainee teacher to being an ECT, including how trainees can best be supported to progress from trainee to ECT and then to successfully complete their induction and become fully qualified. We offer advice on a number of specific issues, including how ECTs can manage their priorities and embed themselves into their new schools as well as advice for trainees when applying for their first teaching job, among other "top tips" for new teachers. Our panel also discusses mentorship – what skills do good ECT mentors need and what support should they be offering to new teachers? What should new teachers expect from their mentors?

To celebrate the 100th edition of the SecEd Podcast this episode counts down our top 10 most popular podcasts of all time. Have you listened to them all? Launched in early 2020, the SecEd Podcast has been on air for five years and to mark episode 100 podcast co-hosts Pete Henshaw and Matt Bromley reveal our top 10 most listened to episodes – interspersed with clips and highlights from each one. Without giving the game away, themes include oracy education, senior and middle leadership, quality first teaching, classroom management, Pupil Premium, inclusion and SEN, and much, much more. Matt and Pete also pick out their own favourite episodes from the last five years. All these episodes and indeed all of our 100 episodes are available to listen back to via the SecEd website – www.sec-ed.co.uk/podcast – or via your streaming service of choice. Our thanks to you – the teachers and educators of the UK – for listening. Here's to the next 100 episodes!

This episode looks at the opportunities and risks presented by the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in education. We speak to three experts who are working in schools to develop AI in effective and safe ways. We kick off the discussion by asking our panel to list what they consider to be the three biggest benefits of AI in schools and the three biggest risks/threats. We then look at whole-school AI strategy and policy. What does a good AI strategy look like and what elements need to be included in a school's AI policy? What does effective staff training look like? How should education around AI be fed into the curriculum? What kind of "rules" need to be in place? And what does Ofsted have to say about AI? We also talk AI in the classroom. How might teachers use AI in their lesson-planning and resource-creation? We discuss a number of ideas for using AI to create resources/plan lessons. Also, what risks should teachers be aware of when using AI? What pitfalls do teachers need to avoid? We talk about diversity in resource-creation, the pitfalls of prompt engineering, and data protection. We name drop a few resources that our panel are using with success, and we end the podcast with their biggest "lessons learned" so far and their final reflections.

This episode looks at what it means to be a research-informed school and how we can use research to improve teaching, learning, and student outcomes. We talk to three experienced and research-engaged educators about what kind of research it is best for schools to use – and how we can know that any particular piece of research is valid and trustworthy. We then consider how we can balance external research studies and findings with our own evidence collected internally in our schools. Our panel advise how we can help teachers to engage with academic research, including via in-school CPD as well as further study such as doctorates. We also discuss how we can use research evidence in decision-making processes and school improvement planning.

This episode offers practical advice and examples for how we can protect the wellbeing of our teaching staff – with ideas for teachers and schools. The episode has been inspired by the recent publication of Education Support UK's Teacher Wellbeing Index 2024, which has once again painted a worrying picture about the wellbeing of those who give so much to educate our children and young people in schools. As such, we hear from Education Support about the findings of this year's Index research findings and speak to our guests about the wellbeing challenges that teaching staff face. Our expert panel offers practical ideas, discussing what schools can do to develop healthy working cultures, including promoting good working practices, building positive working relationships, and preventing staff burn-out. We discuss preventative action including coaching/mentoring, wellbeing audits, and more. We also consider how teachers can maintain a healthy work/life balance and discuss what individuals can do, including setting boundaries, saying 'no' effectively, safeguarding personal time, and good habits at home. We touch upon diversity and inclusion too, including the wellbeing challenges faced by staff from minority backgrounds and how schools can ensure they are supporting all colleagues.

In this episode we discuss ideas for how we can build a positive and inspiring whole-school culture which is inclusive of all, drives high standards, and sustainable in the long-term. We ask what we mean by "school culture" – the way we do things here – and consider how a school culture intersect with its vision, ethos and values, rules, attitudes, and social norms. We speak with three school leaders about how they have developed the culture in their institutions and offer a range of practical ideas and "lessons learned". We ask how a school leader can go about creating and establishing the right culture in their school – what questions should we ask ourselves? We consider how to communicate your school culture and make it consistent and concrete. How can you sustain your school culture over the long-term and how can you handle any challenges to your culture? We also consider behaviours that can help establish culture – and how we can "nudge" students to adopt these behaviours.

In this episode, we discuss practical actions that secondary school leaders and teachers can take to reduce workload and working hours. The Department for Education's Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders research shows that secondary teachers are working almost 50 hours a week on average while secondary leaders work more than 58 hours a week. This episode features two experienced school leaders who have both undertaken a range of initiatives in their schools to bring workload down for all staff. We discuss some of the most common workload challenges before hearing about some of their approaches, offering tips and ideas, and identifying a number of areas where schools might be able to reduce workload and working hours. Specifically, we cover topics including strategies for assessment and marking, timetable and calendar planning, internal communications and meetings, behaviour management, additional duties, and more. We also touch upon the various forms of flexible working and how some of these can be made to work in the secondary school environment – including touching upon the government's plans to allow teachers' PPA time to be taken at home.

This episode looks at how we can best teach and prepare our examination classes in the secondary school, especially our GCSE groups. A panel of experienced teachers considers what specific challenges come with teaching exam clases and exam course content and discuss how we can best prepare our students for the exam hall experience itself, including how we can build good exam habits alongside teaching course content. We discuss how teachers can support their students' wellbeing during their examination years – especially in years 10 and 11 – and how we can build their resilience, thus helping them to manage stress and exam anxiety as the pressure mounts. We focus specifically on how we can build exam technique, including the dos and don'ts for using past exam papers as learning tools. We look at other teaching techniques too, including modelling good answers. And how and when should we teach and model these exam techniques to ensure they are embedded while avoiding student burn-out? Finally to what extent should we be helping students to plan their exam revision? We ask what self-study and revision skills we should be teaching and how? Our experts even suggest a few particular techniques that they like to use, such as mnemonics and revision games.

This episode offers practical advice for the effective use of teaching assistants (TAs) in the secondary school classroom. Packed full of practical ideas and examples, the episode features three experienced educators, including teachers and TAs. We ask why we need TAs in the modern secondary classroom and the kinds of skills, training and CPD that our TAs need to have in order to be effective. From there, we move on to discussing effective deployment and how teachers can work effectively with their TAs to support teaching and learning in the classroom. We discuss a number of ideas and approaches, including flipping the traditional model of TAs providing one-to-one support. We also discuss what role TAs should have when delivering additional interventions. And, crucially, we discuss what effective communication between teachers and TAs looks like. We also touch upon the role of TAs in supporting the social and emotional development of our young people.

In this episode we offer practical advice and tips for teaching staff to help you manage behaviour effectively in your classrooms. Focusing on the secondary school classroom, our experts discuss why school culture is vital to promoting positive behaviour and what this looks like in practice. We discuss where the line lies between overarching principles of whole-school behaviour and how that manifests itself in different classrooms and different subjects? We offer concrete, tangible classroom strategies, ideas and tips for your "in the moment" behaviour toolkit. We consider the role and use of rewards and sanctions/consequences, clear expectations, as well as tips for how teachers can remain consistent and encourage students' intrinsic good behaviour. We discuss the rule of "what we permit, we promote" and ask what that looks like in practice, we look too at how we can "teach" and model good behaviours. We chat about how we can "rebuild" relationships after a behaviour incident and talk about working with parents.

This episode considers what schools can do to spot vulnerable students at risk of suspension or exclusion and how we can intervene to pull them back from the brink. Official figures show the number of suspensions and exclusions is increasing year-on-year, not least due to persistent disruptive behaviour. Related factors seem to include unmet mental health and SEN needs, poverty, safeguarding issues, trauma, criminal exploitation, social media, and more. In this episode, we chat to a secondary school headteacher and a virtual headteacher to find out what they are seeing on the ground. We ask what preventative actions schools can take to keep students in school and what the signs are that we need to be alert to that a student is on a suspension/exclusion trajectory. We discuss a graduated response to supporting students and the role of the school environment and climate for learning, including how routines and expectations can help and "teaching" behaviour. We also touch upon potential interventions for students at risk, including pastoral support plans, unmet needs, a change of curriculum, family support workers and more. We also ask how we can support students who have been suspended to help them reintegrate into school life successfully, including running reintegration meetings.

In this episode we discuss excellent Pupil Premium practice and offer practical tips and ideas for how schools and teachers can support their most disadvantaged pupils. We explore the causes of disadvantage and why the attainment gap between rich and poor has remained stubbornly large. We look at the tangible classroom consequences of disadvantage and what that means for teaching and learning. Specifically, we touch upon how we can improve the attendance of disadvantaged students as well as their language and vocabulary levels. We look at how we can ensure the funding benefits all pupils living in disadvantage – and not just those eligible for free school meals – and we explore the Pupil Premium interventions that tend to work best in most settings. We look at the common ingredients of an effective Pupil Premium strategy, including breaking down the five steps recommended by the EEF (diagnose pupil need, ensure strong evidence, implement, monitor, evaluate). We look at the role and responsibilities of the Pupil Premium coordinator in schools and the part that must be played by senior leaders and governors. And we also discuss how to prepare for an inspection of your Pupil Premium practice.

This episode looks at how to be an effective line manager in the secondary school, offering practical advice, examples and strategies for middle and senior leaders who have line management responsibilities. We chat with two experienced school leaders to discuss the golden rules and key skills required to be an effective line manager. We look at the different type of line manage roles and identify the biggest challenges for line managers. We focus specifically on appraisal – a key duty of line managers. We look at effective appraisal practice, supporting CPD, how to prepare for and have difficult conversations, and dos and don'ts for conducting lesson observations. We also talk about effective quality assurance practice, including how line managers can act on the findings of QA processes. And we discuss staff wellbeing, morale and workload – what can line managers do to protect staff wellbeing, build morale and to help keep workload under control and in check.