The Independent Teacher

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Send us Fan Mail In the first episode of Season 3, we talk to Herminder Channa, OBE, Regional Director for the West Midlands of Oasis Learning. Herminder talks about her own leadership journey, diversity and equality in education and the need to change the national approach to education in the maintained sector in England.    

Send us Fan Mail In the first of our out-on-location short summer conversations, I chat with MFL teacher, Dr Sheila Blain, who reminisces about being a pupil in Scotland in the late 1960s and 1970s. 

Send us Fan Mail In our final studio-based programme of Season 2, before we head out on location over the summer holidays, we talk with journalist and radio producer Anya Ryan . Anya discusses her love of the arts, as well as the grit and determination needed to pursue a successful career in the media.  Anya reflects on her own education and the teachers who inspired her; it is a thought-provoking...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Joe Dale an educational consultant who works with various organisations including the BBC, the British Council and the Network for Languages talks about his own education and explains how his interest in language teaching developed. He talks about how he helped to create the very popular 'MFL Twitterati' and his pivotal role in sharing resources and mate...

Send us Fan Mail Hannah Wilson is a former Executive Headteacher, co-founder of #WomenEd and founder of #DiverseEd. In this episode, we discuss Hannah's passion for and commitment to promoting diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI).  We also talk about aspects of the book Diverse Educators: A Manifesto , which Hannah co-edited with Bennie Kara.  For anyone interested in education, this is an...

Send us Fan Mail  Kitty Cattell, a trainee teacher with King Edward's Consortium in Birmingham, reflects on the benefits of a school-centred approach to teacher training. We also talk about the best elements of Kitty's training year and briefly discuss some of the challenges. At the end of the programme, Kitty speaks with great fondness about her own memories of school and education.

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of 'The Independent Teacher' podcast, trainee teacher Zara Binji talks with real enthusiasm about her training year,  what she has found most enjoyable, as well as the most significant challenges. She reflects on her own education, the teachers who inspired her and what she may potentially be doing in five years' time.

Send us Fan Mail Dan Cottle is a Lecturer in Secondary Education (Physics) and Director of Secondary Initial Teacher Education at the University of Birmingham.  After reading Physics at the University of Birmingham and training to be a Science teacher at Sheffield Hallam University, Dan taught Physics in many different schools for over 15 years. He is a Chartered Physicist, an Ogden Trust Teacher...

Send us Fan Mail In our 20th episode of the second series of 'The Independent Teacher' podcast, we talk to Lauren Elliott, the co-founder of a great music school for young children- Music Monsters. Lauren talks about the organisation's origins, and how she was determined to provide engaging musical learning activities for young children aged 3 to 7 years old. Lauren also talks about...

Send us Fan Mail Former Hull Grammar School student, Danny Levy reflects on the role of his education, and his teachers, in helping him to achieve success. Danny has worked in senior leadership roles in Singapore for over 10 years, specialising in sales and marketing and is currently the Managing Director of a leading global business organisation.  In addition, Danny is the founder and host of the...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Antonia Spinks ,  Co-CEO and Director of Education at Pioneer  Education Trust, talks about the importance of flexible working for all teachers and its crucial role in retaining and recruiting staff.  We also talk about the DfE's flexible working Ambassador School initiative  and learn about the way in which diversity, equality and inclusion have shaped Anton...

Send us Fan Mail Robin Hardman , Head of Politics at a school in south-west London and author of 'The Writing Game', talks about his lifelong passion for improving his own students' writing skills. Robin explains how and why his own love of writing developed and his subsequent determination to produce an evidence-informed book consisting of engaging lesson activities applicable in a...

Send us Fan Mail Sarah Garrington,  international speaker and Head of Resilience at a leading law firm, discusses the importance of resilience in education and the problems of perfectionism in students. We touch on the issue of gender and resilience, as well as considering how teachers can manage some of the stressful situations they often encounter. We also put Sarah's expertise to the test...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we talk to Judith Fenn, Executive Director of IStip . We chat with Judith about her own career, her leadership of IStip, the 'Early Career Teacher' programme,  some of the problems related to the recruitment of teachers in light of the pandemic, as well as the role of the 'over 50s' in the profession.  Finally, Judith explains why she thinks te...

Send us Fan Mail Dan Locke-Wheaton, Principal of Aston University Engineering Academy, talks about the importance of engineering in the curriculum and provides an insight into the groundbreaking work he has pioneered at the school. Dan also takes us on his own leadership journey in this fascinating and inspirational episode.

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Aishwarya Machani, a UN Foundation Next Generation Fellow, talks about her role working with the UN Foundation, the challenges facing young people today, the importance of inter-generational justice as well as the crisis in Ukraine. We also discuss the importance of Aishwarya's own education both at school and university in helping her to become one of only e...

Send us Fan Mail Susan Pallister catches up with two of her former students, Furqan Alamgir and Alex Yeung, founders of Connexin , one of the UK's leading telecommunications firms.  In a wide-ranging discussion, Furqan and Alex reflect on their time as students, the skills they think schools should be developing, as well as taking time to reflect, quite movingly at times, on their own educati...

Send us Fan Mail Harry Ellis , the former international rugby player, joins Susan Pallister to talk about life after playing rugby at the very highest level, how and why he was inspired to become a PE teacher, Harry's love of Leicester, his work in the local community, as well as the importance of sport and competition in the curriculum.  Two games into the Championship, at the time of the re...

Send us Fan Mail Grace Gwynne , a leading barrister at No5 Barristers’ Chambers and Tedx Speaker , talks about the importance of resilience, determination and strength of character- key characteristics essential for success in the legal profession.  Grace talks about her education, her inspirational teachers and the role models, in both her personal and professional life, who have been pivotal in...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of our podcast, Dr Katie Reilly, Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham, talks about the importance of her university's outreach programme , working with primary and secondary school pupils. Katie also talks about her own research, the problems of plastic pollution, informing government policy, as well as her views about COP 26.

Send us Fan Mail Tom Arbuthnott , Deputy Headteacher with responsibility for Partnerships at Eton College, discusses the importance of schools working together and shares some examples of the work he is currently undertaking at the school. Tom talks about his publication, The Missing 2000 ,  The Thames Valley Learning Partnership , Schools Together , as well as Eton's acclaimed online learnin...

Send us Fan Mail In this captivating episode, Jack Symes , host of the 'The Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast' discusses life after school teaching, his love of philosophy, studying for his PhD at Liverpool Unversity, and his fantastic new book, Philosophers on Consciousness.  

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Lauren Zhang ,  the BBC's Young Musician of the year in 2018, describes how her love and passion for the piano developed and she reminisces about the exciting months leading up to and then winning the BBC Young Musician competition. We also talk about her plans for the future, as well as her current studies at Harvard University .  At the end of the show, Lau...

Send us Fan Mail Mike Carter , a successful playwright, film director, body language consultant and former teacher, talks to Susan Pallister about the importance of creativity in the school curriculum. Mike is 'Playwright in Residence' at Hurst College , where students produce their own films as part of the school's annual House Competition . Mike has directed two feature films, Con...