Emma & Tom Talk Teaching

In this small but perfectly formed episode, Emma and Tom are joined by two guests: Rachel George and Rhodri Jones from Ysgol Maes y Coed, a school for pupils with additional learning needs. Fresh from delivering a session with the PGCE students, Rachel and Rhodri talk about how the expressive arts form a central part of the learning experience for their pupils, whose additional learning needs (ALN...

It's time for another book review! Emma and Tom are joined again by Dr Judith Kneen to look at Tom Sherrington's 'The Learning Rainforest', a book that Judith rightly describes as 'a thing' in the education community right now. What will Emma, Tom and Judith make of this book which promises to tell us about 'great teaching in real classrooms'? After that. Judith brings her wellbeing tip, shoutout...

For episode 12 of the podcast, we're joined by Fiona Heath-Diffey, Programme Leader for PGCE Secondary PE at Cardiff Met. Fiona is doing her PhD research on the concept of physical literacy, and has come in to talk to us about how we can transform the way people think about being physically active, their motivation and the way they view the interface between mind and body through physical literacy...

It's episode 11 of the podcast, and Emma and Tom are joined by June Hurcom, senior lecturer in early years education, for her first podcasting experience! This episode is for anyone who's ever felt that they might like to embark on the journey to becoming a teacher, and is full of great advice for things to do (and not to do!) when preparing to apply for a programme that will get you that all-impo...

Happy new year! The podcast is back with an extended episode featuring not one, but two special guests. Emma and Tom are joined by Dr Judith Kneen who runs the PGCE Secondary English course, and Sharne Watkins, Deputy Head of Initial Teacher Education, PGCE Primary literacy specialist... and Tom's line manager - gulp! Emma, Tom, Judith and Sharne bring us a meaty 57 minutes in which they review a...

It’s that weird bit between Christmas and New Year, and it’s time for a bumper PGCE podcast special!  Emma and Tom are here with a 68-minute epic that contains the absolute bare minimum of wholesome educational content, and an enormous number of self-indulgent treats. In place of the usual slots, we recommend a few of our favourite podcasts, and Tom tells the story of how the PGCE Podcast came to...

Emma and Tom have taken the PGCE Podcast on the road again (and are hankering after their own PGCE tour bus) - this time to the brand new Ysgol Nantgwyn in Tonypandy. Nantgwyn is a 3-16 school that's a hotbed of innovation for the new curriculum in Wales. Its Head of Expressive Arts is Kath Lewis, a curriculum pioneer who's spent the last few years co-developing the new expressive arts Area of Lea...

Emma and Tom are joined by Dr. Kate North to discuss creative writing: its place as a creative art, its interdisciplinary nature, and the fact that everyone has the right to write! Kate tells us how creative writing can be used as an innovative way of collecting research data, and how in the process of doing so it can gently break down language barriers, throw light on competing priorities and lev...

In their longest episode yet (a massive 51 minutes, so settle in!) Emma and Tom discuss the work of Australian educationalist John Hattie, and look into his famous 'visible learning' ranking of factors affecting pupils' learning and progress. The main focus of the discussion is 'jigsaw technique' - a highly-ranked strategy for pupil-led learning of content. The wellbeing slot takes a turn for the...

Episode 5 is all about the joys of working in a cross-curricular (or interdisciplinary) way. Tom makes his way upstairs from his decidedly humble ground-floor room to Emma's glorious penthouse corner office, and proceeds to be rude about the view from the window... With that small misunderstanding ironed out, Emma and Tom describe a project they have been working on to bring drama and music togeth...

Emma and Tom tackle all things digital in episode 4! The introduction of the Digital Competence Framework in Wales, and the rise of digital technology in general, means that teachers need to be able to use a variety of techie tools with confidence and panache. Where do we stand on the debate about technology in the classroom, and how should we approach the arguments on both sides? The wellbeing sl...

Emma and Tom are joined this week by guest contributor Sally Bethell, Senior Lecturer in PGCE PE at Cardiff Met. Sally's research specialism is the relationships between student teachers and their mentors on placement, so she has plenty of good advice for student teachers about how to make the best impression, as well as tips for school mentors about how to ensure the student/mentor relationship i...

Emma and Tom try to get to the bottom of the difference between coaching and mentoring, and what's best for student teachers at different times in their course. The regular wellbeing slot explores an idea from David Allen's famous book 'Getting Things Done', we shout out to a multi-talented drama PGCE student from the 2017-18 cohort, and Tom finds a good use for an hour-long countdown timer in his...

In their first attempt at a podcast all about the wonderful world of the PGCE, Emma and Tom sit in a boiling hot hotel room in Bolton musing on the BESA2018 conference we have attended. There were talks on everything from equity in international education to school improvement strategies. The wellbeing slot is all about taking the time to do something to enhance your own work life, we shout out to...

The second trailer for Emma & Tom's PGCE Podcast. Join us on September 7th for the very first episode.

Emma and Tom are coming soon with their brand-new podcast! Subscribe on iTunes or anywhere else you get your podcast fix. We're on twitter - @ethayer_cmu and @thomasbreeze