Teachers Talk Radio

Tim Smale is joined by Guy Holder, Head of PSHE for a frank conversation about the technology arriving in children's lives faster than schools can keep up. Camera-equipped smart glasses are on sale on the high street, and Guy is campaigning to have them banned. Tim and Guy ask what these glasses mean for consent, for safeguarding and for anyone who could be filmed in a classroom without knowing it. They also get into phone pouches versus brick-phone-only schools, whether 16 should be the minimum age for smartphones, social media and AI, and what teachers can do when Big Tech feels too big to challenge.

In this week's show, Claudia and Martin talk about how to approach the teaching of new courses.

It will come as little surprise to most that work in education to hear that teachers are leaving the classroom in their droves. This is a pattern being repeated around the world, but in England the statistics are above the OECD average, with 7.2% of fully qualified teachers resigning in comparison to a 4.2% average. 91% of these are resignations in England, in comparison to an average of 55% across OECD countries. Membership of Facebook groups which support and promote life beyond the classroom run into the tens of thousands… but why are teachers in England resigning at a higher rate than our international colleagues? Is it workload? Unsustainable expectations? Behaviour? Ofsted? Working conditions? What do you think is driving teachers to leave? What would solve the increasing retention crisis in education? Should the government be holding exit interviews to try and get to the heart of the problem? Join Rae Whitehouse, Carl Smith and Liz Webb live at 10am on the Points of View panel to share your views in part 2 of the debate.

Why are teachers in England resigning at a much higher rate than the international average and what would persuade them to stay? According to the OECD figures reported by Tes, 7.2% of fully qualified teachers in England resigned from the profession in 2024–25, compared with an OECD average of 4.2%. Teachers in England also reported longer working weeks than similarly qualified workers in other occupations. JP, Ollie Bayliss and Tony Harwood join the Points of View panel to debate what is driving teachers to leave. Is workload the biggest problem, or do pupil behaviour, pay, leadership and accountability play an equally important role? We’ll explore what these international comparisons reveal, whether England’s expectations of teachers are sustainable, and what schools and government could do to keep experienced staff in classrooms.

Join Famida Choudhary on The Lunch Show with English educator and trainer Divya Joyce J as they explore how public speaking can transform English learning. From building confidence and vocabulary to supporting quieter learners, strengthening oracy and finding an authentic voice in the age of AI, discover practical ways to create classrooms where every child feels they have something worth saying.
 
 

Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner John Tizard recently declared: “School exclusions are failures.” He argues that minimising exclusions could reduce crime and help young people build positive futures. Join Tom Rogers live on Teachers Talk Radio as he asks John what prompted the statement.

Homework has long been a bone of contention between home and school. A report in the TES this week reports that “Homework is Vanishing” as teachers set less and family lives make its completion increasingly difficult. And this is before debates over content, time taken, level of challenge, too much vs too little and access to resources are considered. Times have changed. More young people are living in homes where both parents need to work and time together is built around after-school care and clubs. Should small windows of family time be spent in a battleground on homework? Teachers’ workloads have exploded; setting, marking and chasing homework is yet another administrative task which absorbs time but is the value added worth it? Would teachers be better spending this time adding value to face-to-face teaching? However, with curriculum time increasingly stretched, is homework the only time for certain tasks to be completed? Is homework an important opportunity to consolidate learning? And with revision the ultimate goal, do we need to lay the groundwork for this from early on? Has the time come to evaluate who and what homework is really for? Join Rae Whitehouse, Lucy Trimnell, Maud Waret and Liz Webb on the panel live at 10am to add your views to the debate..

In this episode, Toby talks to Hayley Carlyon about creating lessons which engage, entice and motivate learning. We go from the importance of building relationships to discussing activities and strategies that work in the classroom.

We talk how to cope when things change in and outside the classroom.

In this show, Darren looks at a UK Teacher forum and discusses what the participants say keeps them in the profession.