We’ve reached the end of another year of podcasting, and ready to give you all a summer break from our dulcet tones. To wrap up our seventh year in front of the microphones, we’re delighted to welcome back Richard West from Stanwell School. Richard’s here to contribute to our occasional series of episodes unpacking the nature of different subjects as they are experienced by pupils in the classroom. This time around, it’s the turn of physics: a subject with a fearsome reputation, a shortage of teachers and a whole host of myths that Richard’s keen to take on.

In the course of our in-depth discussion, Richard shares his passion for the subject, his pitch for why we should study it, a call for more physicists to consider teaching it, and plenty of interesting goodies to make us all think.

Thanks to Richard for giving up his Friday evening to record, and to you for sticking with us for another year of podcasting. We’ll be back (hopefully…) in September with version 3 of our So You Think You Want to be a Teacher episode. Join us then!

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Recorded in studio B2.15 at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Cyncoed Campus on 9th May 2025

When we heard that Finola Wilson from our friends at Impact Wales had published a book, our first reaction (after congratulations!) was to realise how ridiculously long it’s been since we last spoke to our fellow Welsh education podcasters. Long-time listeners will know that we visited their HQ in Caerphilly (and Tom has particularly fond memories of hauling the sound equipment through an incredible downpour of rain) just before Covid to talk about the sterling work that they do in schools.

Now, Finola has made a trip in the opposite direction to visit our studio and talk about how we support disadvantaged pupils to achieve the best they can. As she explains, disadvantage covers so much more than poverty (though this is an important angle, as several of our past episodes cover) and the keys to mitigating disadvantage lie not only with those in charge of strategy and policy, but with individual teachers in their classrooms.

In this extended interview, Finola gives us some golden bits of information from the book, as well as a few controversial opinions. Enjoy it!

Finola’s book is Closing the Disadvantage Gap in Schools: A Visual Workbook, and is out now, published by Routledge. You can find Finola and Jane on the web at impact.wales

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Recorded in studio B2.15 at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Cyncoed Campus on 21st May 2025

It's something of a tradition to haul Emma in for a doctoral progress check, and today she's digging into her chosen research approach: participatory research.

If you listened to Emma's last episode, you'll remember that she examined her own research worldview and values, and concluded that she couldn't find out what she needs to know without making her participants into co-researchers, which makes for a complicated setup!

Today she's telling us what her participants said about what and how she needs to go about discovering how new drama teachers learn to be teachers. If you're not a drama person, there's plenty in the discussion about how to involve the subjects of your research in shaping the project, and that's likely to be relevant for the increasing number of teachers doing their own research and enquiry, whether for an MA, doctorate or as part of improving their teaching.

Thanks to Emma for the update!

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Recorded in studio D0.18 at Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus on 25th November 2024