Beyond Good

Pritesh is a science teacher, head of science and assistant head in charge of teaching and learning at Ark Soane Academy.  Known as the best science teacher in the country because of his student’s outstanding results, Pritesh takes us through the what, why and how of his approach to classroom teaching, including direct instruction, rehearsal, participation, the three phases of questioning, indepen...

In this episode Matt talks to Femi about the things he has learnt from his visits to some of the highest-performing schools in the country and reflects on the ways he would change his teaching as a result. The pair talk about answering in full sentences, paired talk, choral response and rehearsal, amongst many other things. Get in touch with comments, questions and suggestions: @BeyondGoodPod on X

A short announcement from me to say that we have decided that the last published episode will be the final episode in Season 2, an announcement which simultaneously heralds the arrival of Season 3.  I’m excited to say that you can expect more guests on the show in the coming series – Our interviews with star science teacher Pritesh Raichura, and eminently sensible super head Barry Smith are both i...

Today Femi and Matt discuss their career changes, both recent (in Matt's case) and forthcoming (in Femi's) and how they are thinking about teaching and learning, and education going forward.  This context should throw some light onto some of the conversations they have had recently or that are coming up.  

The discussion today was prompted by a listener question about students being late to lessons, so Matt and Femi each give their take on that.  They discuss what they think the relevant psychology is and how they each handle this situation.  They talk about whole-school policies and dealing with a culture of lateness as middle and senior leaders – and different ways that schools approach the starts...

The topic of today’s discussion is Matt's visit to Ark Soane Academy, and in particular the impressive whole-school culture and the remarkable impact of that on student behaviours, attitudes and learning.  Femi and Matt talk about the best science lesson Matt has ever seen, and wider discussion about starting and running schools and embedding shared routines across the school. As always, all...

The topic of discussion this week is warning systems – so very much a behaviour-based episode rather than a maths one.   Matt and Femi cover a fair bit of ground: from classrooms with names written on the board and hundreds of warnings being issued each day through to classrooms with no warnings and students absorbed in their work.  And from supporting colleagues with behaviour issues through to t...

This week Femi and Matt debate the pros and cons of homework - a particularly slippery beast to nail down.  They get into some general principles and challenges of setting good homework, and what they have tried and each do now, among other things.   By all means let us know if you think you have this one cracked: @beyondgoodpod on X. 

In this episode Femi and Matt talk about modelling - in all it’s various forms from leading on behaviour through to explicit teaching strategies.  In particular they discuss pre-made teacher models and explanations vs modelling live, in real time, and explore some really interesting nooks and crannies of that facet. X: @BeyondGoodPod

In this episode Femi and Matt discuss setting, the term ‘bottom set’, attitudes towards, and working with students who have low prior attainment.   As you’ll hear both advocates of ensuring that those students get the highest possible quality education, that we meet them where they are, and that we work hard, carefully and mindfully as a community to ensure that we divorce that honest recognition...

In this episode Matt and Femi talk about Adam Boxer’s Book: How to Teach Secondary Science. In particular, they discuss Adam’s concept of ‘Directions of travel’, which provides a nice framework for characterising the way that we move through explanations.  Both feel that many teachers could spend more time thinking about and planning explanations than they tend to, so Adam's conceptualisation...

Today’s topic is Year 11 mock examinations.  Matt and Femi discuss: -          Holding 2 or 3 sets of mocks vs just 1. -          That mocks should not be the main means by which we discover what students can and cannot do. -          Conditions for students to learn and improve on knowledge gaps exposed by tests, the  implications for ‘going through’ the test in lessons, and why that is rarely ef...

Femi and Matt speak to Dave Taylor on the topic of the maths curriculum.  Dave is a maths specialist and lead practioner, well known in maths circles for his ‘increasingly difficult questions’ and ‘backward faded maths’.  Dave has thought long and hard about curriculum issues such as sequencing and mastery, and has experience of creating maths curricula, so the trio go deep on the considerations,...

Today’s discussion is prompted by the Bill Rogers interview that recently appeared in the TES titled: ‘Bill Rogers: Where we are going wrong on behaviour’. Matt and Femi discuss: -          The problem of COVID and re-victimising students -          Teacher’s being inclined to appease students rather than lead on behaviour. -          If you’re not in control it’s not a safe environment -         ...

‘Passive passengers!’ - students who are not especially engaged in lessons. Matt and Femi discuss some of the indicators and consequences of passive behaviours, how we might think about that as teachers in terms of tackling it vs accepting it, some causes of passivity, and how we might tackle it.

Today's guest is American Educator, Coach and Podcast host Dr Zach Groshell for a fascinating discussion about his work in US government funded schools and his drive for an increasingly evidence-based pedagogy. Matt and Femi talk to Zach about his role as an instructional coach, more and less directive coaching methodologies, the configuration of coaching within US public schools, characteris...

Today’s episode is prompted by a recent post on X which posed the following question:  “What do you do with your mathematics teachers while you do your whole school professional learning on literacy, reading or writing?” Femi and Matt discuss the two main failure modes for students on ‘worded’ maths questions – noting that the more common and critical failure mode is one that won’t be addressed in...

In today’s episode, Femi and Matt discuss differentiation!  They talk about adaptive learning, differentiation as an advanced teaching skill that relies on solid foundations of strong learning behaviour and pedagogical subject knowledge and the botheredness to actually go and do it (especially when classes are compliant.) They talk about prioritising differentiating to support weaker students firs...

In this episode Matt and Femi discuss culture - particularly from the perspective of heads of department trying to shape the culture of teaching staff in their corner of the school.  This one is not maths-specific –  the discussion is relevent to colleagues from any subject area or team. They consider the fact that culture exists – whether you actively seek to shape it, or not, the characteristics...

Today Femi and Matt are speaking about lesson observations and related activities such as lesson visits, coaching and feedback.  They talk about being clear on why the observation is happening; good and less good reasons for doing lesson observations and some of the issues around lesson observations as part of the performance management process. On lesson visits i.e. ‘walking the shop floor’, they...

Today's episode is about mistakes, disappointment and failure – with the discussion ranging from 'recognising that my last lesson didn’t go as well as I wanted', through to acknowledging and responding to under-performance at the level of the whole school. Matt and Femi discuss the importance of recognising and admitting when things aren’t good enough and taking responsibility for t...

Today’s episode is about 'hit and run' CPD, which Femi and Matt approach with an attitude of constructive criticism and attempting to offer a vision of positive alternatives.   'Hit and run' CPD is really just any so called ‘training’ which is a singular, stand-alone event, with no follow up.  All too often these sessions will involve all staff in the hall, with no attempt to e...

Today's episode starts with Matt and Femi chatting about Femi’s observations of coaches at his 6 year old's summer tennis camp, which turns out to be a fascinating lens through which to discuss the characteristics of great teachers as it is all about the ‘how’ of what is being done, and not the ‘what’ – which is so often the focus of discussions in teaching. They discuss the critical imp...

In this episode of the podcast Femi and Matt share their thoughts on four different topics selected from X (formerly twitter): 'textbooks', 'locking the toilets', 'group work' and 'moving schools'. They discuss what the ideal textbook looks like, mixed revision, and workbooks.  The pros and cons of locking the toilets during lesson time, mobile phones, and m...

In this episode Femi and Matt discuss Line management!  The duo get into what good practise might look like; things line managers should do and should avoid, regularity of meetings, line management as a partnership – so a collaborative process, and approaching line management outside of your specialism with genuine humility and curiosity. They discuss the importance of looking at material in advan...