Education Sense

How can we motivate children to do well at school and home? Engendering motivation in children can be divided into two key areas: intrinsic motivators, i.e. the motivation that comes from within a pupil, such as having a sense of success when completing a task, and extrinsic motivation, that which is developed by external factors, like praise and stickers. In this episode, Isabel and David are joi...

Exploring harmony in our educational settings with Richard Dunne & Hilary Wyatt. In this episode, we look at the idea of harmony in education, discussing art, music, geometry and nature and how these aspects of a curriculum can bring harmony both to children and adults, parents, teachers, the staff body and the wider community. Richard Dunne is a former state school headteacher with a 30-year...

What would a dream school look like? Join us - co-hosts David Marshall and Isabel Rich - and our guest, Dr Rebecca Torrance-Jenkins, as we discuss what a dream school might look like… In this episode, we chat about some of the aspects of life in a school that perhaps is not working for pupils, particularly for those who have learning needs. Rebecca discusses a panoply of solutions to make school a...

Welcome to Education Sense, a new podcast from the team behind The Rest is Education! This week's episode is brought to you by David Marshall and Isabel Rich. Together with teacher, Steph Vega, we'll be discussing Daniel Willingham's seminal education text Why Don't Students Like School? We will summarise what the book is about and also tease out some of the practical tips about how we can all bec...

How do we make space for the curious child? In a society where we are eroding subjects such as music, art and dance from the curriculum, where knowledge and achievement are valued above play and creativity, how do we encourage curiosity in children and allow it to thrive inside and outside the classroom? Ross Borthwick, Isabel Rich and David Marshall approach the question of curiosity in Episode 5...

Part two of our mini-series on school curriculum sees co-hosts Isabel Rich and Ross Borthwick interview Neil Burch, Senior Master and former Deputy Head Academic at Bradfield College, a leading independent senior school. Neil has been teaching for over twenty years having worked in both state and independent sector, here in the UK and overseas. His role has enabled him to be involved with, amongst...

In this episode, David Marshall welcomes guests James Page and Dr Cindy Gause-Vega to discuss the question: What makes an excellent primary curriculum? James Page is Chief Executive of Haringey Education Partnership (HEP) which has 120 member schools and supports 35,000 school-age children. Dr Cindy Gause-Vega is an educational consultant based in Prague focused on professional learning and collab...

In Scotland, the government states that all children will have the opportunity to experience a four-night residential trip at some point during their time at school. With at least two-thirds of our educational experts based in Scotland, we took this opportunity to examine the role of education outside the classroom. This week co-hosts Ross Borthwick and Isabel Rich are joined by Tom Mason, Head of...

Since the age of smart phones, navigating friendship, safety and self-esteem is ever more perilous and challenging for young people. Parents are seeing their children grow up in a world increasingly different from their own, while schools are having to adapt to a blurring of home life, school life and the online world. In Episode 1 of Season 3 of The Rest is Education, we ask what an education cen...

In this week's episode, we discuss the mental health crisis affecting staff in schools and look at some of the best ways to help develop a supportive wellbeing culture in schools. David talks with Hilary Plant and John Ansell, both experts in their own fields and experienced at providing support for schools in this area. Hilary is a local authority governor at a North London primary school. In add...

With increasing numbers of pupils boarding, both within the UK and overseas, Ross is joined by highly experienced boarding practitioners Vicky and James Eales. The trio discuss the reasons why, despite the stereotypes, boarding is on the rise*. *ISC Census 2023

In episode 5 of season 2, David and Ross are joined by Rebecca Kennedy de Lorenzini to discuss the question, 'Is history the best subject?' Our working title 'The best is history' riffs off the popular UK-based podcast The Rest is History, a far grander and more established purveyor of fine historical discussion than us: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-rest-is-history/id1537788786 Howeve...

In this assessment-focused episode, Ross interviews Julia Martin, the ISEB's effervescent CEO, on how the UK's oldest examination board is pioneering new forms of assessment after 120 years. The Independent Schools Examination Board, founded in 1903 and utilised by 340 schools worldwide, is leading the way with a raft of innovative assessments from the project-based iPQ to revolutionary creative w...

In Episode 3 of Season 2, we address the pressing question of AI in education. David is joined in The Rest is Education (digital) studio by Holly Thomas and Barry Cooper. Barry is Principal of The Global College, an IB institution based in Madrid: https://theglobalcollege.com/ Holly Thomas is Head of IT and Digital Innovation at a prep school in North London. Organisations mentioned on the podcast...

In this episode, Ross and David explore the British house system from its (probable) origin in the clans and dynasties of medieval Europe to the sorting hat and houses of Hogwarts. With a few diversions to Latin mottos and international schools, they discuss boarding houses, sports days and house chants. Outside of Harry Potter, houses are ultimately a place of pastoral care and cross-year friends...

Season 2 of The Rest is Education begins with a discussion about classics in education. David speaks to Anna Bell from the charity Classics for All, alongside author, musician and classics teacher Julia Gray, asking the question, 'Why should we teach classics?' In this episode, mention is made of the organisation and charity Classics for All, details for which can be found here: https://classicsfo...

Ross and David welcome guest presenter Isabel Rich to discuss the value of homework in schools. We explore some of the research around homework and discuss our own experiences as teachers and parents. The poem read by David to begin is Homework! Oh Homework by Jack Prelutsky https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/homework-oh-homework-2/ Books Discussed John Hattie - Visible Learning: The Sequel (2023) ht...

Join co-host Ross Borthwick on this extraordinary episode as he interviews New Zealand tech pioneer and founder of revolutionary report-writing software Reportal.ai , Frazer Findlater. Frazer introduces us to the website that makes report writing a breeze and explains how artificial intelligence is helping teachers worldwide to write better reports. Hold onto your pods as this one is going to crea...

Staffroom chats, after work socials, friendly corridor greetings - all these interactions make life a bit better in the day-to-day life of a school. But on days when things are really tough, connecting with a colleague can be a lifesaver. Ross and David chat great colleagues on this Rest is Education special looking at the social life of schools.

This week, join Ross and David as they discuss what schools can and are doing to develop kind citizens. It features an interview with Alan Marshall, David's Dad, who undertook national service in the military in the early 1950s. The recording of this episode coincided with the 200th sovereign's parade at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst - the UK's military leadership college and whose maxim is...

PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) is a worldwide study by the OECD intended to evaluate educational systems by measuring 15-year-old school pupils' performance in maths, science and reading. This week, David interviews Lucy Crehan, qualified teacher, author and educational consultant. Her book Cleverlands (2016) combines educational research with an exploration of the world's t...

This week, Aaron and David are joined by Isabel to discuss picture books and how they can be used to support children's learning from early childhood through school and beyond.

At just over 360 worldwide the Thinking Schools Network is growing but just what does it mean to be a Thinking School? Is it right for all schools and does an organisation need to join the network to be a 'Thinking School'? This week join David, Ross and special guest George Wienekus as they explore what it means to be a 'Thinking School'.

To kick off 2023, David and Ross interview a former colleague: New Zealander Thomas Primrose. Now the deputy head overseeing curriculum development in one of New Zealand's oldest schools, Thomas shares why it's an exciting time to be involved in education at both Hereworth and New Zealand as a whole.

For our final episode of the year, David interviews Shane Leaning, Head of Teaching Development at Nord Anglia, China. Shane is responsible for professional development at eleven bilingual schools across the region and oversees programmes such as the teacher training programme and the Becoming Bilingual course. In this episode, Shane takes listeners through the processes and features of profession...