334 episodes
- Learn more about The Story of Maths and ACEL Pro - www.alta-education.com/tsom-overview and https://www.acel.pro
For maths curriculum questions contact us here or via support@alta-education.com
Get your tickets for the TDaPE Conference Edinburgh
Maths PD Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow - https://alta-education.com/cpd-tour-26-27/
For show notes, links, and a summary episode, sign up for the Hey! What You Reading For newsletter. Mondays at 7am BST - https://tdape.beehiiv.com/subscribe
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What if burnout in education is not primarily a problem for individual teachers to solve?
Episode 317: Ruth Poulsen has spent more than two decades working in schools around the world. After experiencing burnout herself, she began looking much more closely at the conditions that allow teachers and leaders to thrive, and at the systems that gradually make that harder.
In this episode, Ruth joins Kieran for a conversation about boundaries, leadership, chronic stress and the culture of self-sacrifice that still runs through much of education. They explore the difference between caring deeply about the job and allowing it to consume you, alongside the responsibility leaders have for creating schools that do not depend on people continually going above and beyond simply to keep things functioning.
The conversation eventually widens into something bigger: whether we think about schools too much like machines, searching for individual problems to fix, rather than complex ecosystems in which decisions, relationships and unintended consequences are deeply connected.
A timely conversation about burnout, professional responsibility and how we might build schools in which people can do excellent work without being slowly depleted by it. - Learn more about The Story of Maths and ACEL Pro - www.alta-education.com/tsom-overview and https://www.acel.pro
For maths curriculum questions contact us here or via support@alta-education.com
Get your tickets for the TDaPE Conference Edinburgh
Maths PD Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow - https://alta-education.com/cpd-tour-26-27/
For show notes, links, and a summary episode, sign up for the Hey! What You Reading For newsletter. Mondays at 7am BST - https://tdape.beehiiv.com/subscribe
AI For Teachers newsletter
Raheema Makhani believes that good teaching starts with knowing the person in front of you.
Episode 316: In this episode, Raheema joins Kieran to talk about the relationships that shape her classroom, why understanding pupils’ interests can change the way they engage with learning, and the importance of making children feel genuinely valued.
That philosophy also shapes her work as a teacher and Director of Digital Strategy and Innovation. The conversation explores personalisation, adaptive teaching and how technology can open up different ways for pupils to learn and express what they know. There is plenty of discussion about AI too, but less about the technology itself than about how schools respond thoughtfully to a world that is already changing around them.
Raheema also reflects on leadership, teacher autonomy and the kind of culture that allows people to try things, admit when something has not worked and ask for help without feeling judged. Along the way, she questions some of the pressures schools place on themselves and makes the case for teachers being a little kinder to themselves too.
A wide-ranging conversation about relationships, trust, innovation and why knowing the people in your school might be the starting point for everything else. - Learn more about The Story of Maths and ACEL Pro - www.alta-education.com/tsom-overview and https://www.acel.pro
For maths curriculum questions contact us here or via support@alta-education.com
Get your tickets for the TDaPE Conference Edinburgh
Maths PD Dublin, Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow - https://alta-education.com/cpd-tour-26-27/
For show notes, links, and a summary episode, sign up for the Hey! What You Reading For newsletter. Mondays at 7am BST - https://tdape.beehiiv.com/subscribe
AI For Teachers newsletter
Episode 315: Todd Brown came to teaching later than most, after a previous career in podiatry and a long-standing feeling that he might one day find his way into the classroom.
Five years in, he has become deeply interested in the small things that make learning more likely: the routines that settle a class, the opportunities that keep everyone thinking, the fluency that frees pupils to tackle something harder and the knowledge that allows them to make sense of what comes next.
In this episode, Todd joins Kieran to reflect on the experiences that have shaped his teaching and the ideas he is still trying to refine. The conversation moves through mathematics, classroom culture, explicit instruction, curriculum and the balance between structure and challenge.
There is also a strong thread running through Todd’s thinking about attention. For him, high expectations and well-established routines are not ends in themselves. They create the conditions in which pupils can participate, think and learn.
Todd also reflects on what high-quality education looks like beyond a single classroom, why background knowledge matters, the value of consistency across schools, and why he is wary of rushing too quickly towards data and assessment before children have had time to settle into a new environment.
A thoughtful conversation with a teacher still relatively early in his career, but already thinking very deliberately about what deserves pupils’ attention, what deserves teachers’ time and what actually helps learning stick. - Learn more about The Story of Maths and ACEL Pro - www.alta-education.com/tsom-overview and https://www.acel.pro
For maths curriculum questions contact us here or via support@alta-education.com
Get your tickets for the TDaPE Conference Edinburgh
Maths PD Dublin, Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow - https://alta-education.com/cpd-tour-26-27/
For show notes, links, and a summary episode, sign up for the Hey! What You Reading For newsletter. Mondays at 7am BST - https://tdape.beehiiv.com/subscribe
AI For Teachers newsletter
Work with Ben in Panama - https://www.tes.com/jobs/vacancy/early-years-teacher-panama-2349341
Episode 314: Ben Cooper has spent much of his career thinking about what helps teachers get better, and what schools can do to make great teaching more likely.
In this episode, Ben joins Kieran to reflect on his journey from classroom teacher to headteacher, the experiences that shaped his thinking about professional development, and how moving from Manchester to Dubai and now Panama has influenced the way he sees teaching and leadership.
The conversation explores the tension between structure and professional judgement, the role of coaching, the importance of clear communication and what happens when schools become more interested in particular strategies than in the learning those strategies are meant to support.
There is also a wider discussion about what headteachers can do to protect the conditions for good teaching, how expertise develops over time, and why some of the most important decisions in a classroom cannot be reduced to a checklist.
A thoughtful conversation about teaching, leadership and the judgement that sits behind both. - Learn more about The Story of Maths and ACEL Pro - www.alta-education.com/tsom-overview and https://www.acel.pro
For maths curriculum questions contact us here or via support@alta-education.com
Get your tickets for the TDaPE Conference Edinburgh
Maths PD Dublin, Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow - https://alta-education.com/cpd-tour-26-27/
For show notes, links, and a summary episode, sign up for the Hey! What You Reading For newsletter. Mondays at 7am BST - https://tdape.beehiiv.com/subscribe
AI For Teachers newsletter
Episode 313: Marwa Alsaraf does not want pupils simply to know what to do. She wants them to see how the thinking works.
In this episode, Marwa joins Kieran to talk about the classroom practices she has built over more than a decade in teaching, from clear routines and live modelling to the kind of dialogue that asks pupils to explain, challenge and build on one another's ideas.
Her own journey into teaching began differently from most. Marwa arrived in the UK at 18 with limited English, later worked as a teaching assistant, completed her degree while raising a family and eventually qualified as a teacher. After beginning her career in Birmingham, she moved to the UAE, where she now teaches and leads mathematics.
That experience shapes much of the conversation. Marwa explains why she models using the same books and equipment pupils use, why she deliberately makes and corrects mistakes in front of them, and why strong routines should never be confused with silence or rigidity. For her, a well-run classroom is one in which pupils know what is expected well enough to concentrate on the learning and talk about it.
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Welcome to Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, the podcast that gives you a peek inside the minds of some truly inspirational primary teachers. Whether you're new to the profession or a school leader with tons of experience this podcast is a must listen. For references, links and extended cut video episodes head over to www.thinkingdeeply.info
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