TTS Talking Early Years

In this episode, Adam Marycz - Early Childhood Educationalist at TTS and host of this podcast - is joined by Dr William Zoppellini, a researcher, educator, and founder of Coffee & Theory, whose work focuses on understanding how children learn and develop. Adam and William explore the critical role of play-based learning in education, emphasizing its importance in developing essential skills fo...

In this episode, Adam Marycz - Early Childhood Educationalist at TTS and host of this podcast - is joined by Tina Farr, Headteacher of St. Ebbe's Primary School in Oxford, and a strong advocate for play in education.  Tina shares her journey of embedding play-based learning into Key Stage 1 and discusses the impact of play on children's learning and wellbeing. Discover how a focus on play enhances...

In this episode, Adam Marycz - Early Childhood Educationalist at TTS and host of this podcast - is joined by Professor Julie Fisher, an independent Early Years Adviser and Visiting Professor of Early Childhood Education at Oxford Brookes University. They discuss the vital role of play in early childhood and Key Stage 1 education and explore research evidence, practical strategies, and policy impli...

In this episode, Adam Marycz - Early Childhood Educationalist at TTS and host of this podcast - is joined by Ruth Lue-Quee to discuss the Play is Learning Campaign and the broader role of play in education.  Ruth heads up the Play is Learning campaign and talks in depth about its origins and overall aim to make play and continuous provision statutory in England’s Key Stage 1 curriculum. Adam and R...

In this episode, Dr Shaddai Tembo and Louisa Reeves discuss how speech and language skills are used across each curriculum area. They discuss when planning a curriculum, how important it is for teachers to consider their cohort's abilities to ensure that every child is supported. Louisa talks about the role senior leaders have in creating a communication-focused school culture and how staff are su...

Dr Shaddai Tembo and Louisa Reeves tackle the understanding of speech and language development and provide practical strategies for teachers, including training opportunities available to them. Shaddai and Louisa discuss how hard it is to develop oracy skills and look at the intersection of language, behaviour and mental health. Louisa references statistics on who is facing challenges and the pair...

In this episode, Dr Shaddai Tembo and Louisa Reeves, discuss the different types of speech and language challenges. Louisa shares how a child’s upbringing can affect their early communication experiences and touches on how speech and language challenges can be prevented. Louisa goes into detail on early intervention and identification and better understanding groups with speech and language challe...

Dr. Shaddai Tembo is joined by Louisa Reeves, Director of Policy and Evidence at Speech and Language UK, to introduce and discuss language and communication and highlight its value to everybody.  Louisa explains her career journey as a speech and language therapist and her role at Speech and Language UK. She touches on the role that her organisation has played in supporting educators, families and...

In this episode, Dr Shaddi Tembo and Co-found of Dyscalculia Network, Rob Jennings discuss dyscalculia and differentiation. Rob touches on spotting signs – with the help of a free checklist resource - and putting an assessment in place, which may help lead to a diagnosis. Rob and Shaddai discuss the importance of early intervention and support on number sense at an early age. Rob offers his future...

Dr Shaddai Tembo and co-founder of Dyscalculia Network, Rob Jennings, dive into the topic of maths anxiety. They discuss how Dyscalculia can cause anxiety and the gender dynamics in mathematical learning.    Rob and Shaddai discuss understanding safe talk and the assessment challenges for children with dyscalculia. The pair also focus on supporting parents who have dyscalculia themselves, and help...

In this episode, Dr Shaddai Tembo and co-founder of Dyscalculia Network, Rob Jennings, discuss what language and number sense is, and what it means for children with dyscalculia.  Rob Highlights the importance of concrete materials in teaching as well as touching on teacher training and attitudes towards mathematics. Rob explains why visual learning is important for early years children and how a...

Dr. Shaddai Tembo is joined by Rob Jennings, co-founder of Dyscalculia Network, to discuss dyscalculia and the links to oracy. Rob defines dyscalculia and highlights the awareness levels around it, as well as how the learning disorder is identified in early years settings.  Rob explains the long-term implications that can arise from children not being diagnosed or supported with dyscalculia, and h...

Dr. Shaddai Tembo is joined by Adam Marycz for a final episode to discuss success stories within oracy and touch on intervention strategies. They discuss understanding the needs and interests of children and knowing how to support them.   Adam discusses giving children the space to interact in a way that feels comfortable to them and highlights alone time versus one-to-one interactions. They also...

In this episode, Dr. Shaddai Tembo and Adam Marycz reflect on the influence of screen time and how a one-way interaction has influenced how children communicate now. They discuss how videos can influence accents and pronunciations in children, as they are learning from a screen and not real-live experiences.  Shaddai and Adam discuss fostering an environment that allows children the space to think...

Dr. Shaddai Tembo is joined again by Adam Marycz to discuss upbringings and backgrounds, as well as socioeconomic factors that affect oracy education. They highlight ‘cultural capital’ and the need for equity to provide everyone with access to opportunities and ask educators to think about what success looks like when supporting children from different backgrounds  The conversation moved on to how...

Dr. Shaddai Tembo is joined by Adam Marycz, Early Years Education Consultant at TTS. The pair discuss what oracy can do to set up a young person for success in the future.  The conversation moves on to highlighting the lack of awareness on defining oracy and how there is still room to build understanding. They also focus on the context behind what we say, listening, ability to participate and lear...

Dr. Shaddai Tembo is joined by Amy Gaunt for a final episode to look at the role parents can play in supporting oracy in young learners.  Voice21's YouGov polling found over 80% of parents support oracy in the curriculum and the pair discuss how helping educate parents on what oracy is via workshops can spark inspiration at home.  Shaddai and Amy discuss how teachers need to think carefully about...

In this episode, Dr. Shaddai Tembo and Amy Gaunt discuss strategies and activities for in the classroom, such as debate, drama and storytelling.  Amy and Shaddai look at giving students the skills they need to develop their oracy skills, such as how to debate and creating spaces for expression. They also consider a child’s journey through school and the wide-ranging oracy rich curriculum.   Practi...

In this episode, Amy and Shaddai discuss oracy benchmarks and what we mean by high quality oracy education. Amy discusses the levers teachers have to help identify oracy as well as the high expectations set on oracy education.  Amy and Shaddai discuss being ambitious for students and using your voice to deliberately involve all children. They talk about valuing different accents and dialects and c...

Dr. Shaddai Tembo is joined by Amy Gaunt, Director of Learning, Impact and Influence at Voice21, a national oracy education charity who work with schools across the UK.  Amy and Shaddai discuss how oracy is defined and how we deliberately think about the way we speak with children. They highlight the benefits of an oracy-rich curriculum to support life beyond school and help children to be good fr...

Dr. Shaddai Tembo is joined by Mike Gardner for a final episode, to discuss embedding oracy in school culture by integrating into policies, practical steps for teachers and the role of parents in collaborative oracy education.   Mike highlights the everyday opportunity that pick-up and drop-off times can offer educators to engage and collaborate with parents to demonstrate what good social interac...

In this episode, Dr. Shaddai Tembo and Mike Gardner discuss the role of oracy in building self-efficacy and supporting emotional regulation through talk. They touch on how educators can support children to build confidence in the classroom and communicate their thoughts and feelings.  Mike and Shaddai talk about children’s identity and how this links to oracy, as well as how adults need to help fo...

Dr. Shaddai Tembo is joined again by Mike Gardner to discuss how teachers can use oracy in their assessment practices. They touch on how oracy helps to model new learning and shifting from teacher talk to learner talk.  Shaddai and Mike talk about the role of the whole school in supporting and enabling educators to roll out an oracy-rich curriculum, allowing practitioners to think whether their ow...

Dr. Shaddai Tembo is joined by Mike Gardner to discuss the importance of oracy and the causes of language gaps in classrooms.  They discuss the challenges of screen time, further compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic, and how this period in our history and a lack of pedagogy around digital technology has resulted in a lack of ability for children to self-regulate.   Practitioners can learn more abou...

Mark Loveday is joined by Michael Surr for a final episode, to discuss partnerships and resources for SEN, as well as the role of technology in education.   The episode highlights the role that nasen plays in SEN support and Michael discusses the new partnership with TTS, who have agreed to be nasen’s strategic partner for the next two years. They also discuss nasen assured products, like the TTS...