SecEd Podcast

The SecEd Podcast: New to leadership?

This episode offers practical advice to those taking on new leadership roles in the secondary school, with dos and don'ts, useful tips, and lessons learned from our experienced panel. If you are a teacher taking on a new leadership role in school – whether that be a headteacher, senior leadership or middle leadership post – then this episode is for you. Three experienced school leaders offer us some golden rules for taking on a leadership role and discuss how we should start out in our new post, including how we should approach the first half-term in post and what missteps we should avoid. We ask what the biggest misconceptions of leadership are and what surprised our panelists most when they first stepped up. We discuss how new leaders can establish credibility and ask our panellists what they would do differently if they could go back to their first term as a leader. We look at how leaders can prioritise and at people management skills, offering tips for managing difficult conversations. We also advise on managing workload and work/life balance as a leader. We touch on the power of mentoring and coaching for leaders and hear about some of the early leadership experiences of our three panelists. It's a discussion with lots of practical tips and powerful ideas.

The SecEd Podcast: Teaching high-attaining students

This episode offers practical insights for teachers on how best we can support our high-attaining students in the secondary school classroom. Our panel discusses the language we use when referring to this cohort of students and how we might define what "high-attaining" means. We then move on to outline a number of classroom strategies for teachers to help them teach and support these learners as well as some common mistakes to avoid. We discuss how we can create a culture of scholarly ambition in our classrooms and approach the curriculum challenges faced by high-attaining students. We also offer tips for making a success of extension activities. We ask, too, how we can help learners to become increasingly independent and to stay motivated and engaged – even in the face of challenges and set-backs. The panel includes an English and a maths specialist but many of the strategies discussed apply across the curriculum.

The SecEd Podcast: Communication needs in the year 7 classroom

In this episode we offer practical tips and ideas for how teachers can support the communication skills of students as they make the step-up to the year 7 classroom and key stage 3 study. An experienced panel – including a speech and language therapist – discuss how we can help those students who struggle with communication needs, including oracy and vocabulary. We consider the increase in academic rigour that students transitioning into year 7 encounter, including increasingly complex language and vocabulary. We then outline some adaptive teaching techniques as well as tips for developing oracy and speaking skills, vocabulary and academic language, and literacy and reading skills – with lots of ideas for the year 7 classroom. We also explore general lesson planning and teaching tips that support SLCN in the secondary classroom with examples of practice from our guests' schools. And we talk briefly about effective interventions to support these learners. This episode has been supported by our friends at Speech and Language Link. Visit www.speechandlanguage.link [http://www.speechandlanguage.link]

The SecEd Podcast: Supply teachers

This episode talks everything supply teaching – with practical advice for schools on how to enable your supply teachers to excel as well as a range of tips for supply teachers themselves. In the first half of our discussion, our expert panel focus on how secondary schools can set their supply teachers up for success, including what must be in place before they arrive at the gate and top tips for how to support them during the placement. We discuss behaviour management and support, how to share key documents and information effectively, organising lesson plans and resources, and common mistakes we should avoid at all costs. Then in the second half of the discussion we offer tips and advice for our army of supply teachers who keep our schools running every day. We look at how to prepare for your placements, key questions to ask the host school, tip tips for your first day and beyond, what to do if things go wrong or if resources or lesson plans are not available, and some common mistakes to avoid. We round off the podcast with a range of practical tips that can be implemented – by schools and supply teachers – tomorrow.

The SecEd Podcast: The perfect classroom environment

This episode discusses how teachers can create the perfect classroom environment for their students, offering a range of practical tips and quick wins. Our expert panel discuss four core aspects – the physical classroom environment, the social environment, the emotional environment, and the learning environment. Physical environment: We ask what we can do to create a positive physical space in the classroom to support learning, including the use of displays, the layout of furniture, and issues like temperature and natural light. Social environment: We look at the tenets of positive social classroom environments, including how senior leadership and teachers can work together to create a "this is how we do it here" culture that is consistent across lessons so that children know what they will encounter when they walk in the door. We touch upon behaviour for learning, addressing low-level disruption, common lesson routines to reduce anxiety and maximise focus, and much more. Emotional environment: This concerns students' emotional response to our classroom environment. What can we do to create a classroom environment that is conducive to challenge but which is unthreatening and a place where pupils become comfortable with hard work, including via the use of rewards and sanctions. Learning environment: This concerns the way that learning is structured and organised in order to ensure every student values their work and strives to achieve, including the adaptations we make for SEND and other disadvantaged students. We discuss how to motivate students and consider a range of teaching techniques.