Teachers Talk Radio

Join Michael Wright and guest Katharine Kirk for the Sunday Lunch show which cover reflections on the recent TTR Connect event and to discuss the question: “If you had complete freedom to design your perfect school, what would it be like?” It’s set to be a fascinating conversation.
He’ll also be sharing details of a special YouTube video filmed at TTR Connect that dives even deeper into this topic. Go to our Teachers Talk Radio Youtube channel for more details.

What a shocker of a week. How was yours? Let's talk it out

Darren talks about distributed leadership and asks the question: Do too many cooks spoil the broth?

Carl Smith chats to expert, Helen Atkins, on whether autism is a spectrum, how our understanding of autism has changed over the years and how schools can support young people with autism.
A must listen for anyone interested in the current debates about autism.

Lee is joined by Jonathan Keay, the Deputy CEO of the Creative Learning Partnership Trust. They will be 'looking in the rear view mirror' of their careers, reflecting on lessons learned in leadership. They will also consider how their experiences have shaped their current thinking. Check out their extra special guest for the last part of the show! 

New research shows that 1 in 4 children start school without being toilet trained, meaning teachers spend an average of 2.5 hours a day dealing with the impact. The panel discuss this, followed by a look at Schools minister Georgia Goulds letter to Ofqual to say that "for the lifetime of the current GCSE specifications in these subjects, students should not be required to memorise formulae and equations for assessment purposes." On the panel: JP, Rae Whitehouse and Rachel Gilyeat.

Tom Rogers is joined by Alice Faulkner and Zoe Higgins to discuss why Parental engagement is a vital – and sometimes challenging – part of delivering effective RSE and PSHE in primary schools. In this live discussion brought to you with Kapow Primary, we explore how schools can build trust, communicate clearly with families, and ensure parents feel informed and involved in what their children are learning. We’ll discuss why parental engagement matters so much in RSE and PSHE, what meaningful communication with parents should look like, and how schools can respond to common misconceptions about the curriculum. The conversation will also look at the practical realities of the new statutory guidance, including how schools can share curriculum resources, consult parents effectively, and maintain transparency without overwhelming families. The discussion will also cover key topics such as puberty education, the distinction between relationships education and sex education, and parents’ withdrawal rights, as well as the growing importance of engaging parents around the online world and digital safety. Whether you’re a subject leader, classroom teacher, or school leader, this session will offer practical ideas for building a clear and confident RSHE communication strategy with parents. Join the live conversation and share your views in the chat.

Join us on Teachers Talk Radio for AI in the Maths Classroom, where we bridge the gap between cutting-edge technology and everyday teaching. This show features Ben Ford (Maths Education Consultant and former Head of Maths with 20+ years of experience). We explore how to bring math to life using technology, data, and real-world applications.

Tim Smale hosts Alan Johnson to explore what schooling must do to prepare children who will leave school in 2040. They question whether current vision statements, the new white paper, and existing exam-driven systems truly ready students for emerging careers, technologies and societal change.
The discussion covers practical classroom strategies including oracy, metacognition, retrieval practice and questioning alongside system-level barriers like assessment, investment and inequality. They argue change needs both teacher-led culture and broader systemic reform to be genuinely transformative.

In this show, we explored with Ioanna Karagiorgou, a university lecturer and fierce ballerina, why ballet classes often maintain strong focus, discipline, and commitment, while university classrooms struggle with engagement, and what educators might learn from the pedagogical culture of dance training.