Psychology in the Classroom

This week Dr Grace Molloy discusses Unconscious Bias, something she believes we all need to be thinking about more carefully particularly in the context of how it can impact students and families we work with.  Closely linked to prejudice, it is a tricky topic to address and to be able to address it, we need to be able to create a safe and open culture in schools.  If you want to look at the readi...

Psychological and Educational research is often difficult to access and fully of jargon that makes it hard to understand.  In this interview Edward and Bradley from InnerDrive talk about how they have made research more accessible, their favourite pieces of research, why they are important and how they can help teachers in the classroom.  We discuss their book the ' Science of Learning - 99 Studie...

Ever wondered about the difference time makes to your teaching practice?  This week David Weston from the Teacher Development Trust discusses the difference between novice and expert teachers, how teachers develop expertise in their craft and how schools can best create conditions for teachers to thrive professionally - all of which is underpinned by research.  With top tips for both early careers...

Want to know why you should listen?  Here's a little bit about the podcast and how it could help you in your teaching practice.

It's really hot today!  Some schools have closed, others have cancelled events such as sports day.  But how much does weather really affect our mood and behaviour.  Does wind really make kids a bit wild?  It is the last episode of the year and as a bit of fun I have been researching how weather affects us and the implications this might have in the classroom. Trevor Harley's book the Psychology of...

This is the third and final episode with Professor Willem Kuyken.  Over the last two episodes we have discussed the national picture of mental health in young people, the role of schools in providing mental health and wellbeing education to young people, what mindfulness is and how it might help people with their mental health.  In this episode we discuss the findings of the Myriad Trial (My Resil...

In this second podcast with Professor Willem Kuyken, we explore mindfulness - what it is, how it can be practised and how it can benefit mental health. We debunk the idea of mindfulness as a panacea and explore instead for whom and under what conditions it might be helpful. We consider the many facets of mindfulness such as curiosity, kindness and compassion and how we learn mindfulness through ou...

This is the first of 3 podcasts with Professor Willem Kuyken in which we discuss mental health in schools culminating in an episode about the Myriad Trial (My Resilience in Adolescence) which looked at the impact of a brief Mindfulness intervention on the wellbeing of young teens. In this episode we start with a broad discussion around mental health in young people, the role schools have in suppor...

This week Bee, Tiegan and Maciej, RE-STAR YRAPpers, along with researchers Sylvan and Georgia discuss their experiences of neuro-atypicalities.  This honest and vulnerable discussion demonstrates why we should never make assumptions about behaviour and always be curious about the young people in our classrooms. This is the second part of the RE-STAR podcast interview.  You can listen to the first...

This is the second of the RE-STAR research project episodes, taking a 'behind the scenes' look at the planning, considerations, challenges and applications of a large research project over 4 years.  Many young people with neuroatypicalities such as ADHD and ASD traits develop depression during adolescence – but we currently don't know which individuals are at risk, what underlying processes increa...

The Pupil-Teacher relationship has a huge impact on educational outcomes and yet we, as teachers, often fail to spend time on building, maintaining and repairing those relationships, often to the detriment of the most vulnerable of pupils.  In this week's episode I talk to Dr Ben Looker from the University of Worcerster's Social Psychology of Education Research Group about the importance of the Pu...

This week Dr Nicola Cann, Founder of the Family Sleep Consultant, talks about how sleep is different for teens, the importance of sleep in learning, how to help teens make the most of sleep and getting them to buy into the importance of a good night's sleep as well as the usual screens and sleep and finally the impact that covid has had on teens' sleep. You can find out more about sleep for teens...

This week and next we are delving into the world of sleep and its importance for everyday function, wellbeing and learning. This week Amber Tout talks passionately about the importance of sleep for teachers.   We cover the importance of sleep to carry out the job of teaching effectively. Amber shares top tips on how to get a good night's sleep and the possible links between positive traits and goo...

Psychology in the Classroom has been up and running for almost two academic years and by the end of the term will have just shy of 100 episodes.  But sometimes it is worth just taking time to reflect on the learning that has been afforded by the researchers who have contributed.  This week I reflect on the 3 things I will be taking into my teaching when I return to the classroom in September.  And...

In this episode Dr Chris Bagley discusses masking in schools, student voice and whether the education system is fit for purpose.  Chris is Director of Research at States of Mind and a lecturer, tutor and doctorate research supervisor at The Institute of Education, UCL. He is a teacher, Educational Psychologist and writer.   As a practitioner, Chris has spent many years working with the most margin...

Dr Martin Graff is is a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of South Wales and his main area of research is in CyberPsychology and in particular how romantic relationships are formed online and how our digital world affects our mental health and wellbeing.  TO find out more about Martin's work please visit his website www.martingraff.com

Curious - I was too, how on earth could getting pupils to watch a baby and parent help improve mental health and wellbeing.  Alison Waterhouse has a wealth of experience as a teacher, SENCo, Psychotherapist and more.  Over the last 8 years she has developed Circles for Learning to improve wellbeing in classrooms from KS1-KS5.  It is a fascinating project and offers some real insight into everyday...

When do we teach pupils how to learn? For most the answer is never, it is an assumption that they know how to get information into their memories in an effective way.  Patrice Bain is on a mission to change this and is an experienced teacher who has worked with cognitive scientists for over 15 years to develop effective methods to support pupils' learning.  Today she talks about the four powertool...

Adele Bates is Behaviour and Education Specialist, Author and Public Speaker. She empowers school leaders and teachers to support pupils with behavioural needs and SEMH to thrive with their education. She's an International Keynote Speaker, a features expert on teenagers and behaviour for BBC Radio 4 and the author of "Miss, Ion't Give A Sh*t," Engaging with Challenging Behaviour in Schools . We d...

Planning revision requires practice and thought and yet we very rarely teach or model good revision planning with our students.  In this podcast we look at the when (creating a realistic timetable), what (what to revise and how to set revision targets) and how (how to map what you want to learn onto your timetable) of revision planning to ensure that time is well spent both in and out of the class...

Between the ages of approximately 10 and 25 the brain undergoes a huge change.  Whilst this is happening we see what is typically described as 'teenage behaviour' - emotional, irrational decision making, risk taking behaviour, parents becoming less important and peers becoming more important, none of which is ideal for revision.  If we use what we know about teenage neuropsychology though we can p...

A little bit of stress is not a bad thing - it helps motivate students to revise for exams, but too much or too little can lead to students giving up on revision for a variety of reasons.  But how can we enable students to deal with exam stress (the worrying thoughts they may have) in the build up to exams.  In this podcast we look at two strategies - controlling the controllables and ' if…then …'...

Many of the students taking exams are feeling anxious, this is perfectly normal and we need to teach our students how to manage anxiety. This podcast covers the normal response to an stressful event, how to help students understand what is going on then identify this response in their own body and then four strategies to manage anxiety in the moment.  If you want to learn more about helping studen...

Retrieval practice is quite simple the act of retrieving information from memory and research has shown that the process of retrieving information aids information retention more strongly than simply reading information through.  The challenge is getting students to do retrieval practice more than looking over notes or watching youtube when they are revising for exams.  In this video we consider t...

In the UK students will be sitting public exams for the first time a since 2019.   This means that the current year 13s won't have done GCSEs and many teachers that have joined the profession haven't taken a cohort through the exams process and this may mean there is some additional apprehension about the whole process.  With this in mind I thought I would start this term with a week of short podc...