Unlearn Something

Hello!  Welcome back to the next episode of the Unlearn Something podcast. Today, Miss S and Miss D talk about an issue that impacts many people across the education sector...menopause.  With more than 134,000 teachers in England aged between (40-49), this is a big issue for all schools. This is 27% of the teacher workforce of approximately 500,000. We explore what the issues are, what support is...

Welcome to the next episode of the Unlearn Something podcast! Miss D and Miss S examine the plans Nigel Farage has unveiled to change the English National Curriculum should he win office in the next general election.  He has plans to follow the program of a private Christian university based in Michigan, USA and implement this into UK schools. WTAF?  There is no sense in any of this and we talk ab...

Welcome back to the next episode of the Unlearn Something pod!  Miss S and Miss D share their reflections on some conferences and seminars that they have recently attented - the 'Education Unveiled' seminar run by NME and the 'Being Poor is Expensive' conference run by Bashy.  Attending these events is such a great opportunity to connect with like minded people and engage in di...

Hello everyone! We are back with another episode! This week we are reflecting on:  1) What is happening in our classrooms this week  2) Discussions in school, broader reflections on the state of the world, misinformation and disinformation.... AND what do you know about FILOFAXES?  3) and lots of reminders that if we want a village, we need to be a villager! Send us Fan Mail If you have any commen...

Hello and welcome back to the latest episode of the Unlearn Something pod! Miss S and I had the pleasure of playing mas together this year and we have a lot of thoughts to share and celebrate. We delve into the history of Notting Hill Carnival, discuss our experience playing mas and other reflections on what was a truly memorable day.  Its a week later and we are both still listening to soca non s...

Hello and welcom to episode 45 of the Unlearn Something pod! Today, Miss S and Miss D talk about the topic of school exclusions, the DfE stats and what this means.  Racism in schools saw 15,191 pupils suspended in the 2023 - 24 academic year, more than doubled the 7,403 recorded in 2021. - with children as young as four being suspended. We talk about our experiences and what we think should happen...

Welcome back to another episode of the Unlearn Something pod! Today, we share what's been happening in our classrooms, we try a new segment - Win or Bin' and we also discuss the UK government's changes to SEND provision in May/June 2025.  There is a lot to take in and sadly, the consequences of underfunding and increasing hoop jumping for SEND pupils and their families are significa...

Hello, Welcome to the next episode of the Unlearn Something pod! Today we are discussing the pros and cons of ready to teach schemes of work in schools. Miss D shares her recent adaptations in Geography, History and English - using a de/colonial lens - and Miss S shares how she works with schemes in secondary DT teaching.  Join us for this discussion of how we can critique these ready to go scheme...

Hello,  Welcome back to the next episode of the UnlearnSomething podcast!  Today we talk about the applications of AI in the day to day lives of teachers. Miss S and Miss D both admit that we are using it more to do certain jobs, but we pose the question - what is the future of AI in education?  What do you think? Send us an email and let us know your thoughts.  Send us Fan Mail If you have any co...

Welcome back to the Unlearn Something pod,  In today's episode we discuss a topic that has dominated social media and conversations all over the world: 'Adolescence' on Netflix.  Teachers - from EYFS to FE - know the deal and that this has been happening over a long time. Teaching is harder than its ever been. The system is outdated and increasingly irrelevant, behaviour systems are...

Welcome back to the Unlearn Something Pod, Miss S and Miss D discuss predominantly white institutions (PWIs), what they represent and why they are still a thing?  They are not just white spaces, or in an educational context independent or private schools, but culturally MOST state schools are PWIs.  Join the conversation! Show Notes Saturday school links -  https://saturday-club.org/ Information f...

Hello everyone! Welcome to episode 38. Today, we are talking about what challenges teachers face with student attention spans and methods of communication changing as well.  We shar our honest thoughts about the challenges of teaching who some might refer to as Gen Alpha, a lot of whom do not give a single 'eck about a single thing.  Have kids always been this way? Is it the influence of the...

Hello everyone! We are back.  It's been a while but we are back in the studio and we have a new episode for you. This time we are catching up on things that are happening in the classroom and out in schools. We are talking about half term rest, workload and INSET training and the differences between racism and anti- blackness.  Show Notes  BE Truth To Power fundraiser - donate here!  https://...

Welcome back to the Unlearn Something pod! This week, we are well into the school term and things are looking good. Many teachers would have made the leap into SENDCo positions starting September. She shares her wealth of knowledge, what motivates her to continue her work in the SEND/Inclusion space and what it means to be a successful SENDCo. A great SENDCo can be transformative for so many in th...

Welcome back to the UnlearnSomething Podcast and our first episode for the school year.  In this episode, Miss S and Miss D reflect on the summer of discontent.   We discuss the results of the general election, the appointment of Bridget Phillipson as the new Education Secretary and we give our thoughts on the anti-immigration riots and online disinformation. Send us Fan Mail If you have any comme...

Hello! We are back with another episode of the Unlearn Something podcast. Today, we are tackling a big topic that every school has a responsibility to address- Islamophobia. The reality is that in many schools across London and the UK, the majority of our students are Muslim. The reason why this has come about is a different episode. Teachers who want to unlearn and tackle this topic can join two...

We are back! Its been a great summer - full of good times, rest and relaxation - and Miss D and Miss S are back in the studio with some exciting new guests on the show and a some new topics to discuss.  In today's episode, Miss D and Miss S are joined by Miss O for a discussion on how she juggles her career as a middle leader in a secondary school and her time as a new Mom.   We will discuss...

In this week's episode, Miss S and Miss D tackle some common scenarios that teachers need to navigate when communicating with parents.  Fortunately, most of the time parent interactions are overwhelmingly positive but sometimes things can get a little tricky.  Today's episode hope to shed some light on what we would do in different situations. This is one example of the invisible workloa...

Welcome back to the Unlearn Something pod! This week, we take a look into the education manifestos from each of the major parties and see what the plan is for this big education system in the UK.  There are some plans to address some of the concerns coming out of the education sector but the OVERWHELMING majority seemed full of non statements, smoke and mirrors.  Listen to the hear our thoughts! I...

Hello! Miss S and Miss D are back and today we have an episode where we discuss the things that teachers have to remember during teacher transfer season. Often there is movement in schools - just like in any other workplace - but schools can sometimes have their own challenges. Who is going where? What does that mean for class allocations? Who is going for Head of Department roles? It's all h...

Hello everyone! It has been a while since we have been in the studio but Miss S and Miss D are back in full effect. We've had a rejuvenating half term and we are ready to rock the last half term of the academic year here in the UK.  In this episode, Miss S shares her experiences and reflections from the recent 'Policing and The Black Child Conference', held on May 18th at the Univer...

**Trigger Warning ** This episode contains discussions of stress, burnout and other difficult situations that sometimes face teachers. If this these topics are something that might be difficult or cause harm, please listen to a different episode of the Unlearn Something podcast. Today, Miss S and Miss D continue their discussion from the last episode about what we can expect as teachers in terms a...

** Trigger Warning ** This episode includes discussions about challenging experiences in the classroom from a teacher's perspective. If this is something that might upset or cause harm, check out another episode of the Unlearn Something podcast! In this episode, Miss S and Miss D discuss some interactions during the school day that made us question ourselves. Let's face it, teaching in t...

*** TRIGGER WARNING *** This episode contains references to personal experiences of racism in schools.  Welcome to Episode 26 of the Unlearnsomething podcast. Today, we have a candid interview with Miss A. Miss A is an expert primary school teacher, education consultant and university lecturer in teacher training. She shares her experiences of racism in her place of employment and how she took act...

Welcome to episode 25 of the Unlearnsomething podcast. Thank you for listening and supporting us. We are enjoying the process, meeting some wonderful people and hopefully sparking some conversations in your classrooms! This week we share our reflections on our road trip up to Birmingham for the BLAM book launch. Another bonus is that Miss S was part of a Black educators panel on why the BLAM resou...