What I wish I knew as an NQT/ECT

You know those moments when suddenly everything makes sense? That was the feeling I had when I read Graham's new book 'Changing Perceptions'. Why? Because the book unpicks challenging behaviour. Not only what causes it and motivates it, but how best to respond in a difficult situation whatever the problem is. When I was a teacher and headteacher I did lots of things instinctively, as there was lit...

For the last episode of the school year I am speaking to the most enthusiastic teacher (no, that should be the most enthusiastic person), I have ever met. Marna is an absolute breath of fresh air, and by golly we need that now with the current heatwave making us weary at the end of a long term. She said her mum taught her as a little girl to 'Choose joy' and she is the very embodiment of that appr...

Jane Clapp has to be one of the most perceptive teachers I have ever spoken to. She has the ability to cut through all the chaff that litters education, all the fads, all the pointless ideas that add little to the quality of a child's experience at school. Listening to Jane is truly inspiring; she just gets what great education is about. She has so many thoughts about how to create a wonderful lea...

Paul Sully is an exceptional headteacher, who really understands learning and how to develop a school community so that everyone is focused on ensuring the children have the very best education it is possible to have. After his school's second successive Outstanding Ofsted judgement (even though the HMI called his school scruffy!), Paul really knows what makes a wonderful school and he shares his...

Vicky Kendell has done it all in primary education, including being a headteacher. But when she realised that she wasn't loving the job she was doing, she went back to a role that gave her the best of both worlds. She is now an Assistant Headteacher working with the children every day and loving it! Vicky is a person who has the courage of her convictions and she is never afraid to do the right th...

Helen, never planned to work in schools, but her mum said she was bossy and liked organising things so why not be a teacher. Being a good daughter, Helen did what her mum said and became one! And a very good one she is too, because everything she does is for the benefit of the children she teaches. Now many decades after listening to her mum, Helen is sharing her wisdom with us, and, just like her...

Having been asked many questions by this year's crop of trainee teachers from the Essex Primary SCITT, I decided to make a podcast of me answering some of the questions based on my knowledge and experience of 40 years in primary schools. I could have made 15 podcasts with the number of questions they asked, but I have selected 5 questions for this podcast and will repeat the Q and A approach in fu...

Zoe has had a passion for teaching, since she was just 7 years old, and that was because she had a fantastic Year 3 teacher who inspired her and made her love learning. After leaving school, she set off on her own journey to become a teacher, and, though the path has been long and arduous (2 years at college, 6 years at the Open University, 4 years working in school, and all whilst bringing up a t...

Danny Nicholson, like many youngsters, wanted to be a vet. But having done a degree in animal biology at Birmingham University, the teaching bug began to bite. Now some 25 years later Danny is an author, Science teacher, ICT Consultant, PGCE lecturer and Computing / Interactive Whiteboard Trainer. He has delivered training courses across the UK, in Europe, and in Canada. He has also been a co-writ...

Jo Palmer-Tweed has worked in education for the past 26 years and she has packed so much in during this time. She has been an advanced skills teacher in Drama, a primary headteacher in an improving schools team, an advisor at the Department for Education, the Strategic Lead for the Expert Subject Advisory Groups (which is a group of 300 independent experts across the UK), and on top of all that sh...

Gill Haysham is the guest for the final episode this term. Gill is a Freelance Education Adviser for Mathematics who works mainly in Essex supporting teachers in primary schools and training new teachers. For 12 years prior to that she worked for Essex Local Authority as a Mathematics Adviser. All this after qualifying from university with a 2.1 in Mathematics and Education. Now if you think that...

If your job is to eat a frog, what do you do first thing in the morning? Eat the frog of course. What's that got to do with teaching I hear you ask? Well listen to the podcast and you will find out. It is just one of the many words of wisdom that Stephen Saunders shares with us. Having trained in Manchester University, he moved to Essex to take up his first teaching job and he has been here ever s...

Teaching is in the blood for John Cosgrove, as his parents and other family members have all been part of this glorious profession. In almost 40 years of teaching, John has seen just about everything. During his career he taught across England in secondary schools (as a French and Spanish teacher), before transitioning to primary schools, where he went on to become a headteacher. He also wrote art...

After 1 year of teaching Ilse was wondering if teaching was the job for her. Working in a school where the headteacher bullied everyone had left her disillusioned by a career in education, even though she loved teaching her class and working with her very supportive colleagues. Having plucked up the courage to change schools, which was no easy task due to the unpleasantness she had to go through t...

"Children with special needs bring so much joy, they’re so lovely, they’ve got so much to give and they are an important part of our society". So says Melissa Stead who always wanted to be a teacher of children with special needs. In her career she has been a mainstream primary school teacher, a special educational needs teacher and she is currently a special educational needs and disabilities coo...

Maria Brosnan is a specialist. What in? Well amongst other things she's a coach, mentor and trainer in wellbeing and her expertise has never been more needed than it is now. For over 15 years she was MD and co-founder of two educational companies that created award-winning resources The Story Spinner and Striver. As a consultant and coach, she has worked with numerous clients, from schools to mult...

Don't you just love experts! I do, and I'm talking to one in this podcast. Wendy Cobb has extensive experience working in a number of primary and secondary schools across Kent, London and Essex in a variety of teaching, leadership, advisory and coaching roles. That alone would make her a great person to listen to as she has so much to tell. But Wendy has done much more than work in schools. Indeed...

Lucy Williams has just completed the first term of her teacher training. She has worked with children for the last 18 years, so she definitely started young. She studied child development at GCSE, then completed a diploma at college, before gaining a 1st class honours degree at university. And now she’s putting all of that study into practice by training to teach. In this episode we discuss ... Ho...

Graham Chatterley is a former SEMH school leader who recently started his own training company. Having experienced a huge range of behaviour as both a Primary and Secondary teacher, Graham then started work in an EBD setting in 2007. Graham has now left his school leadership role to train and consult full time. He published his first book ‘Building Positive Behaviour’ last year. Graham has led tra...

A 'friend' once told Lorraine she wasn't clever enough to be a teacher. What! This is the woman who worked full time as she did an Open University degree, studied and passed her English, Maths and Science GCSEs and gained a Level 3 in Forest Schools, whilst making sure during all of this that her family were well looked after and fully supported. Now if that is not a definition of a superwoman, I...

"Teaching is a great and noble profession and the sheer joy of changing lives and getting children to believe in themselves is magic. Great teachers are alchemists and have the power to turn something normal into gold." So says Richard Sutton-Smith. And he should know. He's had six primary headships, was a national leader of education and set up one of the first Teaching School Alliances in the co...

Jean Crook is 90 years old. Can you learn much about teaching today from a 90 year old? You sure can! If you were a great teacher in any era you would be great today and Jean was as good as anyone. And don't think that I'm biased because she's my mother, no not at all. When former pupils from 50 years ago are still visiting her and taking her out to lunch you know she was a special teacher and in...

Hannah is just 3 months into her teaching career and is still smiling ... alot. She always enjoyed school and had the pleasure of being taught by some really great teachers who inspired her immensely. She grew up with a mum for a teacher and so was surrounded by all things educational! Although she got fed up of the school environment in the 6th form and decided she didn’t want to be a teacher any...

Alastair is the most positive person you will ever meet and in this podcast he shares the most important things he has learnt from his own teaching and from training hundreds of new teachers. He has had a varied career since university that has taken him from car insurance, into primary schools, then to being head of IT in a college, then back to primary, including 2 headships, and now he is the D...

Clare still believes that teaching is the best job in the world, even though it is tiring and demanding. When you listen to Clare speak about teaching you will recognise why she loves it so much and also why she is such a great example of an outstanding teacher. If I had to go back to school then I would want Clare to be my teacher; she is an inspiration! In this podcast we talk about ... How spea...