Key Voices

This week we talk to Emma Sheppard founder of the Maternity Teacher Paternity Teacher Project. Emma tells me about why she set up the project, and its mission to empower teachers to engage with professional development while on parental leave if they want to.

This week we talk to Jamie Rogers, Head of Recruitment and Community at The Difference, and Hammad Ali, Senior Leader at The Pendlebury Centre in Stockport - part of the second cohort of Difference Leaders.  They explain what The Difference aims to do, why and how they both got involved, and we hear from Hammad’s first-hand experiences as a Difference Leader. We consider how wellbeing, inclusion and managing behaviour are especially important in all schools at the moment as pupils deal with the anxieties and challenges posed by COVID-19. Jamie and Hammad dispel some of the myths around Alternative Provision and share their view on what mainstream education could learn from the expertise found in AP. We finish by looking to the future and thinking about how approaches such as those promoted by The Difference can help lower exclusion rates and improve outcomes for vulnerable pupils.  You can learn more about the work of The Difference hereAs mentioned in the podcast, applications for cohort 3 open on 5th Novemb

This week we talk to Alex Quigley, author of both ‘The Reading Gap’ and ‘The Vocabulary Gap’. Alex speaks in more detail about these “gaps” and the impact they are having on our education system.

This week we talk to Will Millard, Head of Engagement at The Centre for Education and Youth (CFEY). We start by attempting to define social and emotional learning (SEL), emphasising its increased importance in a post-COVID world. We discuss the evidence linking SEL to improved academic outcomes and consider issues such as parental involvement and how cultural differences impact the teaching of SEL. 

This week we talk to Nicola West Jones, Head of Market Research at The Key, and Stephen Morales, CEO at the Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL), about The Key's latest research examining how the role of the school business professional (SBP) has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.    We dig into the findings around changes to working hours and wellbeing. We also examine how many SBPs felt the focus of their work had shifted to spend more time on health and safety, and premise management. We hear about what SBP’s thought about the advice they received from the government, local authorities and their trusts (where relevant) and where else they might be going to for support. Looking to the future, we share some recommendations for schools, national and local government and professional bodies and training providers. We end by appreciating the heroic work done by school business professionals serving in our schools.    You can download a free copy of The Key’s report  ‘The challenges of school b

“We’ve been speaking out about [issues that affect the sector] in a way that is always respectful, always calm. Nevertheless, we’ll quite often have cut through and we’re hearing back from government and HMCI, so we know that our voice is being heard”  This week we talk to Professor Dame Alison Peacock, CEO, and Cat Scutt, Director of Education and Research, from the Chartered College of Teaching. We learn more about the purpose of the College and the benefits of membership. Given the fierce debates around education in recent months, we consider the role of the College as an independent, evidence-informed voice of the profession.  Dame Alison also explains the College’s #FutureofTeaching campaign and the establishment of the Education Exchange to share learning and ideas about this on a global scale. Cat tells us about some of the work that has been done to support schools responding to Covid-19 including their research, adapting their professional development offer and to challenging the Prime Minister. We a

“This is all about making tutoring a tool of schools rather than an add on.”   This week we speak to James Grant, Co-Founder and Managing Director of MyTutor, Susannah Hardyman, Founder and CEO of Action Tutoring and Jed Cinnamon Senior Programme Manager at Nesta, about the National Tutoring Programme and its proposed role in helping students “catch -up” learning lost as result of COVID-19.     Jed covers the principles behind the programme, timelines schools should be aware of and how the provision of support via academic mentors and tuition partners will work. Suzannah and James both run tutoring organisations that were involved in this summer’s pilot programme. They explain how each of their organisations works collaboratively with schools to make tutoring effective and simple to co-ordinate. We also hear more about the impact tutoring can have on the motivation and academic performance of young people, and the different ways they source, train and support their tutors. We end by considering the future rol

“When you are dealing with emotional uncertainty between the DfE guidance and the staff you are responsible for, you become a sponge of emotion.”This week we talk to Ernest Jenavs, Founder of Edurio, and Nicola West Jones, Head of Market Research at The Key who joins us to share some of the insights she has picked up from her conversations with school leaders over the last 6 months.Our conversation covers findings from Edurio’s survey of pupils, parents and staff conducted over the summer, looking into how English schools responded to COVID-19. This research sought to better understand the experiences of these three groups, when it comes to learning, community, leadership and wellbeing during partial school closure,and to help schools learn for the future. We dig into topics like pupil anxiety, the role of parents in education and the challenges faced by school leaders. We also shine a light on the great work many schools have done to communicate frequently and honestly with their communities. You can read Ed

“I am working with a lot of children who are already thinking to themselves it will be impossible for them to go back to school...“ This week we talk to Tana Macpherson-Smith, Founder of Clear Minds about how children might be feeling about the return to school. Tana shares some practical ideas for whole-school approaches to mental health and wellbeing, as well as how teachers can identify and monitor individual pupils who may be struggling.  With an alarming 50% of all adult mental health illness being already set in place by the age of 14, Tana talks about the importance of good mental health to a child’s development and shares the way she explains mental health to pupils. 

"If you are a school teacher, school leader, headteacher, whoever you are - you have to accept that sometimes you'll go home and not everything has been done."   This week we talk to Darren Morgan, Headteacher at Kings Road Primary School in Trafford. Darren explains his career path to headship, the school improvement journey he and his team have been on at his current school and how he has developed team spirit and staff morale.  We also discuss how Darren adapted his working practices during lockdown and how he achieved a work-life balance that worked for him. We also consider some of the challenges of headship and the stress that it brings, and think about ways headteachers can feel more supported in their role.  You can get more information about Kings Road Primary here

"I think sometimes people are looking to remove all risk for staff and that is just not possible, it is about how you manage and mitigate potential risk. " This week we talk to Martin Baker, CEO and Mike Glanville, Director of Safeguarding Services, at My Concern.  Martin and Mike share what they have been learning from supporting Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs)  over the last 6 months. They talk about how remote learning has affected the role of the DSL and offer some practical tips for schools on how to prepare for a potential increase in safeguarding workload when all pupils return in September. We also consider what impact this period and increased use of technology might have on safeguarding in the future.  Mike and Martin mention the debrief they did with over 250 DSLs, you can read the report from this session here “Just think about the level of concern, confusion and challenge that all of those safeguarding leads have experienced, but I’m so impressed by their resilience and their commitment to s

“Those lessons, like speaking with parents when you need to get on the front foot, how you set up your governance. How were you supposed to know that if you are an academy trust leader… and no-one was sharing learnings about what had failed?” This week we speak to Sir David Carter, Executive Director of System Leadership at Ambition Institute and Laura McInerney, Co-founder of Teacher Tapp about their new book Leading academy trusts: why some fail but most don’t. We discuss why things might go wrong in trusts and who gets to learn from those failures, but also how those running trusts can avoid some of those pitfalls too. We examine how a trust needs to demonstrate clearly to parents, pupils and staff how they will benefit from selecting, attending or being employed by their organisation.  We talk about being a CEO and the many challenges of the role but also the rewards of doing the job well. We consider how CEOs and boards, but also regional and national schools commissioners, might be able to tell if trust

“We need to find more ways to make sure that we as a church in education hear what young people have got to say, they’ve got a lot to say and we need to hear it” This week we talk to The Reverend Nigel Genders, Chief Education Officer at The Church of England. We discuss the Church of England’s role in running schools and teacher training establishments, and its vision for education.  We consider the challenges small rural Church of England primary schools face and how they are collaborating to support each other. We also cover topics such as RSE, the importance of pupil voice and why we need an Ethical Leadership Commission.  The RSHE resources that Reverend Nigel mentions can be found here. This interview was recorded in March.

This week our podcast presenter, Caroline Doherty, gives a whistlestop tour of this year’s episodes of KeyVoices. If you’ve only recently discovered the podcast, this episode will provide you with a handy snapshot of what it’s all about.  Caroline groups the episodes together around particular themes, so if you are interested in a particular topic, such as mental health, trust development, governance or SEND for example, you can find out which episodes might be most relevant to you.  Thank you to all our wonderful guests this year and thank you for listening. We will be continuing to release new episodes over the summer. Information about all of our Key Voices episodes can be found here and they are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify etc.

“This isn’t the national curriculum online, this is a resource bank that will support you if you need it how you need it.” This week we talk to Anne Heavey, Specialist education lead,  Oak National Academy and Director of Whole School SEND, and David Thomas, Curriculum Director, Oak National  Academy and Principal at Jane Austen College, about their work to create and develop the Oak Academy offer.

“There were no league tables when I started and there are going to be no league tables this year! That opens up a space, I think, for a different kind of conversation. I just hope there’ll be the will to have that conversation when this immediate period is over.” This week we talk to writer, journalist and campaigner Fiona Millar. We discuss how her role as a governor has helped her write about education over the years in a meaningful way. She also considers how governance has changed since she began as a parent governor in 1992. We talk about how she managed her role as chair alongside a busy career, as well as parenting, and think about the challenges ahead for schools and their governing bodies.

“I’m really excited about the fact that families have caught up with their children and with each other.”This week we talk to David Sammels, Headteacher at Mayflower Community Academy. We discuss the impact remote working and learning has had on staff and pupils. Dave shares his “5 waves” of parental engagement and explains how Mayflower has developed its own communication channels with parents during school closure. This includes a daily newsletter, a daily livestream on Twitter called “Tea at Two'' where the community can come together to discuss issues, and online courses for parents delivered by staff to help them support their children.You can see examples of Mayflower Community Academy’s daily Covid-19 newsletters here. Follow @DavidSammels and @Mayflower_MCA for more details about the “Tea at Two” sessions as well as other things we discuss in the podcast.  This interview was recorded in late April 2020

N.B This episode was recorded in early March during a residential training session of level 7 senior leadership masters and we’ve updated the introduction briefly to reflect some changes over the past few months. This week we talk to Nick Heard, former school leader and Learning Experience Manager at The National College of Education, and two participants on the senior leadership masters course - Rachel Lisserman, Head of Year 10 at Northampton School for Girls, and Dane Carton, Vice Principal at St Martin’s Catholic Academy in Hinckley. Nick explains how the Apprenticeship Levy works and how schools can use it to develop their workforce. Nick debunks some of the myths about apprenticeships in general and then we discuss in more detail how apprenticeships can be used to develop existing members of the education workforce, as well as to attract young people into it. We focus particularly on how the  senior leadership masters apprenticeship works in practice and hear from some of the participants about how they

“This contrast between the experience of the head and experience of the rest of the teaching body has really become so polarised during lockdown. And it really is a worry what will happen for school leadership in the near future.”This week we talk to Dr Becky Allen, Co-Founder of Teacher Tapp. She explains what Teacher Tapp data reveals about the likely impact Covid-19 will have on the teaching profession. In particular, we look at the different levels of stress and workload experienced by teachers and leaders, and the very real danger of a significant number of headteachers leaving the profession altogether. We delve into Becky’s book, The Teacher Gap, covering issues such as recruitment, workload, CPD and retention, and consider questions such as ‘should we train teachers in the UK as we train doctors’ and ‘do we set NQTs up to fail’? Becky also shares many of the recent insights Teacher Tapp has been able to gather about remote learning, including what schools are providing and the factors that affect enga

“You know your schools incredibly well, the sector incredibly well, and your pupils incredibly well. Take confidence in the decisions you are making, and the autonomy you have to do what you think is best for your school.” This week we speak to Stephen Morales, CEO of the Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL), Russell Dalton, COO Diocese of Worcester Multi Academy Trust and Kaley Foran, Lead Content Editor at The Key. We discuss how schools have coped with the practicalities of reopening to more pupils following an easing of lockdown measures, and potential ways forward to make sure more children can safely return to school. We consider the ways in which the government could work more closely with the sector and speculate on what their plans for summer catch-up could be. We also discuss ways school business professionals can best prepare for what September might bring.  This podcast was recorded on 16 June 2020.