Thinking Deeply about Primary Education

Episode 117: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I'm joined by Neil Almond and Christopher Such for an in-depth exploration of story and the privileged position it holds in the human mind, including what this means for teachers, how we can utilise it in the classroom, and the potential pitfalls to avoid. As part of the chat we discuss... 1. Dan Willingham says that stories ar...

Episode 116: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I'm joined by Neil Almond and Christopher Such for an in-depth exploration of English orthography, including how it compares to other orthographies, the relationship it has with morphology, and the impact it has on the teaching of early reading and spelling. As part of the chat we discuss... 1. What is an orthography? 2. How do...

Episode 115: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I'm joined by Shannen Doherty, Jonny Hall and Elliot Morgan for an in-depth exploration of task design, including key principles to keep in mind when designing tasks, how to tell they are going as planned, and what to do if they don't. As part of the chat we discuss... What are the features of a well designed task? What about a poo...

Episode 114: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I'm joined by Dan Rosen and Elliot Morgan for an in-depth exploration of science practical experiments, including key principles to keep in mind, and what their purpose is at all . As part of the chat we discuss... 1. What is the purpose of practicals in science? 2. What are the principles of effective science practicals? 3. What p...

Episode 113: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I'm joined by Lloyd Williams-Jones and Christopher Such for an in-depth exploration of communication with parents/carers, including how it can go wrong, as well as effective communication strategies for teachers and/or as a school leaders to help make sure it doesn't . As part of the chat we discuss... 1. What do we mean by communi...

Episode 112: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I'm joined by Lisa Coe, Shannen Doherty and Sarah Farrell for an in-depth exploration of multiplication tables, the fallout from the first official multiplication check in England and how we can support all pupils in developing automaticity and understanding in this area of mathematics. As part of the chat we discuss... 1. With reg...

Episode 111: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I'm joined by Chris Such and Neil Almond for an in-depth exploration of teaching writing and how we can support all pupils in becoming proficient, confident writers. As part of the chat we discuss... 1. What are your guiding principles for teaching writing? 2. To what extent does primary teaching of writing match these principles?...

Episode 110: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I'm joined by Dave Taylor and Neil Almond for an in-depth exploration of Backward Faded Examples and how we can get the most from them in the classroom. As part of the chat we discuss... What are backward faded examples? How can we get the most from backward faded examples? What pitfalls should we try to avoid? ...plus much, much m...

Episode 109: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I'm joined by Gareth Rein, Stuart Tiffany and Neil Almond for a curriculum conversation covering a range of themes including... How important is the local element of curriculum design? To what extent is it the responsibility of schools to include themes such as financial literacy in their curricula? Can a high quality curriculum su...

Episode 108: This week on Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I'm joined by Christopher Such to discuss how we can support pupils who are struggling to learn to read. Drawing on Christopher's vast experience and expertise, we discussed... 1. What do we mean by struggling readers? 2. How can assessment be used to to help us support struggling readers? 3. Interventions naturally involve pupils...

Episode 107: This week on TDaPE, I'm joined by Neil Almond and Matt Swain for an exploration of they have taken steps to improve their planning systems and processes in order to foster greater collaboration, save teachers time, and allow them to focus on fewer things in greater depth during their precious planning time. Whether you're new to the profession or an experienced senior leader, this epi...

Episode 106: This week on TDaPE I'm joined by Christopher Such for an exploration of the changes Chris would make to his stellar work, The Art and Science of Teaching Primary Reading. Why does Chris want to make changes to this clearly wonderful book? If he had the chance, what changes would he make? We explore each of these questions and much, much, more; taking a trip through phonics, morphology...

Episode 105: This week on TDaPE, I'm joined by Chris Such, Tom Oakley and Cassie Young for an exploration of evidence informed practice. Answering questions written by Dr. Sam Sims, my guests consider their favourite type of research book, how they deal with resistance to research engagement from senior leaders, the watershed moment that changed their engagement with 'evidence' and much more. Whet...

Episode 104: This week on TDaPE I'm joined by Neil Almond and Christopher Such as we say goodbye to 2022 with the conclusion of this year's edition of The Great Subject Knowledge Compendium. This episode covers history, geography, science, art, design and technology, and computing with a focus on highlighting those places to go if you want to take your subject knowledge to the next level. Whether...

Episode 103: This week on TDaPE I'm joined by Neil Almond and Christopher Such for the return of the immensely popular Subject Knowledge Compendium. Splitting the compendium into two this year, this episode covers reading, mathematics, grammar and writing with a focus on highlighting those places to go if you want to take your subject knowledge to the next level. We'll be back to explore the remai...

Episode 102: This week on TDaPE, I'm joined by Neil Almond, Christopher Such and Lloyd Williams-Jones for an exploration of how teachers and leaders might support HLTAs in their schools. What is a HLTA? How can we support the long-term professional development of HLTAs? How can we support HLTAs in on a daily basis? We cover all of this and much, much more. Whether you're new to the profession or a...

Episode 101: This week on TDaPE, I'm joined by Shannen Doherty, Neil Almond, and Lloyd Williams-Jones for an exploration of all things wellbeing. What is wellbeing? How can we look after; our own wellbeing, the wellbeing of our colleagues, and those we lead? We cover all of this and much, much more. Whether you're new to the profession or an experienced senior leader, you won't want to miss this o...

Episode 100: This week on TDaPE, Lloyd Williams-Jones is joined by host, creator and executive producer of the Thinking Deeply about Primary Education podcast, Kieran Mackle. In January 2020, Neil Almond demanded that the 100th episode, should we get that far, be an opportunity for the TDaPE irregulars to field questions back in the direction of the person responsible for the grilling of countless...

Episode 99: This week on TDaPE I'm joined by Rachel Walker (@mrswalkerteach) and James Rayburn (@mrradburn) to discuss the place, if any, technology has in the primary classroom. Does technology have a place? What are the guiding principles for effective utilisation? What should teachers avoid? We answer each of these questions and much, much more. Whether you are new to the profession or an exper...

Episode 98: This week on TDaPE I'm joined by Shannen Doherty, Atul Rana, Neil Almond and Jonny Hall for an exploration of the utility of manipulatives, both virtual and physical, in the mathematics classroom. Based on the panel from MathsConf30, I ask our panellists; Are manipulatives worth it? Do manipulatives have to be physical? Which manipulative has the greatest versatility across school math...

Episode 97: This week on TDaPE, almost exactly a year since the last time, get ready to continue our exploration of mathematical problem solving with Gareth Metcalfe. What does problem solving look like in lesson? Is there ever a reason to ask pupils to struggle on a problem they won't be able to answer? How can we place problem solving at the heart of what we do? We answer these questions and muc...

Episode 96: This week on TDaPE we return to the chat format and what a way to ease ourselves into this new era than with a discussion of Primary History with Stuart Tiffany. What is Primary History? What is its function? Is evidence really important in Primary History? We answer all of these questions and much more. Whether you're new to the profession or an experienced senior leader, you won't wa...

Episode 95: In what seems like the blink of an eye, Term 1 is in the rearview mirror and we’ve arrived at the end of Season 5. But fret not, because I have a wonderful Finale to share with you today. I usually try to get in and out of the description as quickly as possible but I need to take a moment to thank all of our wonderful guests from this season for sharing their wisdom and experience thes...

Episode 94: This week on TDaPE I have the tremendous honour of sharing the penultimate episode of Season 5 with you; "Retrieval Practice" with the one and only Kate Jones. What is retrieval practice, what role does it play in our curriculum design, in our classrooms, and when designing knowledge organisers? We explore these questions and much, much more. Pen and paper at the ready. As usual, you'l...

Episode 93: This week on TDaPE it brings me tremendous pleasure to share another episode with two truly inspirational guests, James Pembroke and Richard Selfridge. During the episode we talk about all things assessment, including; whether tracking systems have an upside, standardised testing has a downside, what their guiding assessment principles are, what they would do if they became schools min...