In this episode of The Becoming Educated Podcast I speak with Dr Carl Hendrick about the science of learning. The conversation delves into the intricacies of memory and its impact on learning and teaching. It explores the limitations of working memory, the importance of retrieval practice, and the role of schemas in organising knowledge. The discussion emphasises effective teaching strategies that align with cognitive science principles, highlighting the need for explicit instruction and spaced ...
May 14, 2025•57 min•Ep. 97
In this episode of The Becoming Educated Podcast , Blake Harvard discusses the concept of attention contagion in classrooms, emphasising how inattentive behaviours can spread among students. He explores the importance of classroom design, the limitations of working memory, and the significance of cognitive load theory in instructional design. Harvard introduces the SAR method (Sense, Attend, Rehearse) as a strategy for students to enhance their learning process and emphasises the role of retriev...
Feb 24, 2025•54 min•Ep. 96
In this episode of The Becoming Educated Podcast , Zach Groshell discusses the importance of effective explanations in teaching, emphasising the value of direct instruction and cognitive science principles. He reflects on his own teaching experiences, critiques traditional discovery-based learning, and advocates for explicit teaching methods that enhance student understanding and engagement. The discussion covers practical strategies for teachers, the role of storytelling, and the significance o...
Feb 20, 2025•49 min•Ep. 95
In this episode of The Becoming Educated Podcast , Chris Such discusses his philosophy on teaching reading, emphasising the need for a balanced approach that supports both novice and experienced teachers. He explores the intertwined nature of word recognition and language comprehension, the importance of phonics instruction, and the necessity of accurate decoding practice. Chris also outlines effective reading lesson structures that promote independent reading and addresses the significance of a...
Feb 18, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 94
This week I am joined Dr Jo Castelino who is a secondary Science teacher based in Yorkshire. Jo has a TLR for leading homework in her school and has recently shared her knowledge of how homework can become a successful part of schooling at ResearchEd. Jo writes about her work on her blog which can be found here . I would recommend this article Jo wrote for Impact where she discusses how homework, done well, can become a ‘significant motivator for learning.’ In this episode we discuss the followi...
Nov 28, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 93
This week I am joined by Ross McGill, founder of Teacher Toolkit , his alter ego you might say. Ross is the bestselling author of ‘Mark.Plan.Teach’, Teacher Toolkit and Just Great Teaching and has also co-authored brilliant books including ‘The Revision Revolution’. Recently, Ross released 'The Teacher Toolkit Guide to Memory' and it really is a fantastic addition to the cogsci discussion. Ross describes it as a beginners guide to memory, but it is so much more than that and we unpick some of th...
Nov 07, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 92
This week I am joined by Adam Boxer . Adam is the head of science at Totteridge Academy, co-founder of Carousel Learning and author of the brilliant book ‘Teaching Secondary Science’. In the book Adam distils years of hard-won experience and outlines his approach to teaching and it goes well beyond just science. The huge 100 plus pages on explanations are worth the purchase of the book alone and his outline on how to build a culture of retrieval. In this episode we discuss the following and so m...
Oct 31, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 91
This week I am joined by Amarbeer Singh Gill. Singh is a lead practitioner of secondary maths and a teacher educator. He blogs at unpackingeducation.wixsite.com and you can find him on twitter @InspiredLearn_ Recently, Singh wrote a brilliant book as part of the In Action series, 'Dunlosky's Strengthening the Student Toolbox in Action' and we discuss the contents in todays episode. Dunlosky's research focussed on study strategies that are regularly employed by our students during their independe...
Oct 24, 2022•52 min•Ep. 90
Subject Specific: English This week welcomes the first subject specific episode of Becoming Educated and I am joined on the interviewing side by Nikki Waite, an Assistant Principal for Teaching & Learning, and an English Teacher. We explore Ready to Teach: A Christmas Carol with the authors Amy Staniforth & Stuart Pryke. Stuart Pryke is an English teacher and Teaching and Learning lead in a secondary school just outside of Ipswich, Suffolk. He is a LitDrive regional advocate and has work...
Jun 27, 2022•57 min•Ep. 89
This week I am joined by Alex Gordon. Alex is Assistant Principal of Teaching & learning at Chingford Foundation School. In this episode Alex and I discuss his schools evidence informed journey including: What this has involved since September 2020 How Alex went about refreshing his schools pedagogical principles The five strand interconnected model for professional development How Alex shares best practice in the school This was a great conversation and there is so much gold for Teaching &a...
Jun 13, 2022•52 min•Ep. 88
This week I am joined for the first of the Teaching and Learning Lead Series by Rachel Ball. Rachel is Assistant Principal at Co-op Academy Walkden and we discuss how she is leading evidence informed teaching across her school. In this episode we explore the following: Why it is important for the teaching and learning lead to be evidence-informed Why it is important that there is a vision for teaching and learning in a school How Rachel has helped create a shared language around teaching and lea...
May 30, 2022•49 min•Ep. 87
This week's podcast is a little different as I am joined by my friends Arthur and Mike from the T and Teaching podcast for a brilliant crossover episode. In this episode we share six things that we have learned from our respective podcasts which are: Understanding how students learn needs to form a greater part of teacher training and CPD The teaching profession needs supervision as much as coaching Teaching well is relationship building A focus on improving teaching improves almost everything i...
Apr 25, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 86
This week I am joined by Harry Hudson, Harry is a History teacher at the West London Free School in Hammersmith, West London. He’s also a freelance writer and has written for a range of publications including The Times, The Telegraph and The Spectator. In this weeks episode Harry and I discuss the following and so much more: Why teaching has an image problem Why money could be an issue in getting good people into teaching Why the fact that everyone has been to school contributes to the image pro...
Mar 28, 2022•53 min•Ep. 85
This week I am joined by Abby Hughes. Abby is the Assistant Headteacher: Teaching & Learning and Head of Divinity at the West London Free School. In this episode I follow up on Abby's excellent talk for the We Are in Beta Curriculum Thinkers group and we explore the following and so much more: The 7 principles of a West London Free School Lesson Divinity, the divinity curriculum and why as ED Hirsch notes ‘No person in the modern world can be considered educated without a basic knowledge of ...
Mar 21, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 84
This week I am Joined by Helen Howell. Helen is director of English at the Blue Coat School in Oldham. She previously worked at the Radclyffe School as English AST and lead teacher for literacy, where she was instrumental in developing a knowledge-rich KS3 curriculum and a culture of reading for pleasure. Helen recently published a great book, alongside Ross Morrision McGill of Teacher Toolkit, 'The Revision Revolution, How to build a culture of effective study in your school' and we explore thi...
Mar 14, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 83
Michael Chiles began as a geography teacher, head of department and senior leader with responsiblity for teaching and learning. Michael is now a head of department at a school in the north west of England. Michael is the author of three books including 'The Sweet Spot: Explaining and Modelling with Precision' We discuss the following and much much more: What teachers should consider when planning their classroom layout What we should consider when planning our wall displays as 'paying attention ...
Mar 07, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 82
This week I speak with Professor Rob Coe and Jamie Scott from Evidence Based Education and we explore the Great Teaching Toolkit Project, their online professional development platform which follows on from the Great Teaching Toolkit Evidence Review, published in June 2020. In this episode we discuss the following and much more: The Great Teaching Toolkit Evidence Review What the team have been working on since the review How schools can use the Toolkit to focus a teachers professional learning ...
Feb 28, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 81
This week I am joined by Alex Quigley. Alex is a former English teacher and school leader, of over 15 years standing, who now works for the Education Endowment Foundation, supporting teachers to access research evidence. He can be found on twitter @AlexJQuigley and blogs at www.theconfidentteacher.com He is the author of ‘The Confident Teacher’, ‘Closing the Vocabulary Gap’ and ‘Closing the Reading Gap’. In this episode Alex & I explore the vital importance of reading in our schools and Alex...
Feb 14, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 80
In this episode I speak with Jon Hutchinson, Director of Training and Development at the Reach Foundation. Jon is also a Visiting Fellow at Ambition Institute for their Masters in Expert Teaching programme. Jon has spoken at ResearchEd events and has contributed a superb chapter on Instructional Coaching for the 'ResearchEd Guide to Leadership'. Jon blogs at www.pedfed.wordpress.com We explore in depth Jon's thinking behind his 'Five Best Bets for Teaching & Learning' which are: 1. Low Stake...
Feb 07, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 79
In this episode I speak with Doug Lemov, author of Teach Like A Champion 3.0 & The Coach's Guide to Teaching. Co-Author of Teaching in the Online Classroom, Reading Reconsidered and Practice Perfect. Doug is the Managing Director of Uncommon School and leads its Teach Like a Champion team, designing and implementing teacher training based on the study of high-performing teachers. We explore in depth his thinking behind Chapter 1 of Teach Like A Champion 3.0 and the five principles Doug share...
Jan 31, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 78
In this episode I chat with Dr Liam Printer of The Motivated Classroom podcast in a unique collaboration. We talk about our roles as 'teaching and learning research leads' at our respective schools, how we got into these positions, why we feel its important to have internal, evidence based, professional development on-going throughout the year and how we got started on this podcast journey! A brilliant conversation that we could have continued all day! You can find Liam on twitter @motclasspodca...
Jan 24, 2022•52 min•Ep. 77
Joe Dale is an independent languages consultant who works with a range of organisations such as Network for Languages, ALL, The British Council, the BBC, Skype, Microsoft and The Guardian. He was host of the TES MFL forum for 6 years, former SSAT Languages Lead Practitioner, a regular conference speaker and recognised expert on technology and language learning. He was recently described in a Guardian article as an ‘MFL Guru’ and ‘the man behind the #mfltwitterati'. You can follow Joe on twitter ...
Jan 17, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 76
Bruce Robertson is the Rector of Berwickshire High School in the Scottish Borders. Bruce is the author of the brilliant ‘The Teaching Delusion:why teaching in our schools isn't good enough (and how we can make it better)’. ‘The Teaching Delusion 2: Teaching Strikes Back’ and ‘The Teaching Delusion 3: Power Up Your Pedagogy’. You can purchase the book here: https://www.johncattbookshop.com/the-teaching-delusion-3-power-up-your-pedagogy You can read Bruce's blogs and other material here: https://t...
Jan 10, 2022•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 75
Neil Almond is a Deputy Head at a South London School leading on Curriculum, evidence informed practice and assessment. Neil writes a blog which can we found at www.nutsaboutteaching.wordpress.com Neil can be found on twitter @Mr_AlmondED The talk that Neil gave on this topic can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FAYG7sQHnQ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Dec 06, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 74
Bradley Busch is a Chartered Psychologist with extensive experience working in schools, he is a leading expert at helping schools utilise psychological research through his work at InnerDrive. Outside of education, Bradley works with elite athletes including professional footballers and Team GB. Bradley is a co-author alongside Edward Watson of ‘The Science of Learning:99 studies that every teacher needs to know’. Please visit the InnerDrive website which cna be found here: https://www.innerdriv...
Nov 29, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 73
This week I am in discussion with Anne Glennie & Stuart Farmer on the topic of Professional Learning. We discuss the following and much much more: How we currently take part in Professional Learning? Is it working? What would great Professional Learning look like? How do we create a system that allows us to realise this dream of meaningful Professional Learning for all? You can support the ongoing work of #becomingeducated by following this link: www.buymeacoffee.com/dnleslie Hosted on Acast...
Nov 08, 2021•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 72
Josh Goodrich is the founder of Steplab, an English teacher, former MAT Professional Development lead and a coaching geek. In this episode we explore Instructional Coaching and unpick Josh's series of blogs on this topic. https://notes.steplab.co/post/BPav00-5/When-we-talk-about-Instructional-Coaching-what-do-we-mean You can follow Josh on twitter using the handle @Josh_CPD. You can support the podcast using the following link to buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dnleslie Hosted on A...
Nov 01, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 71
Nikki Cunningham-Smith has experience as an assistant headteacher, SENCO and centre lead in a pupil referral unit. She coaches teachers to support them with behaviour management in the classroom and writes a behaviour blog for TES. Nikki is also the author of 'Feel Free to Smile: The Behaviour Management Survival Guide for New Teachers'. If you want to support the podcast please do so at buymeacoffee.com/dnleslie Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Oct 25, 2021•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 70
Bruce Robertson is the Rector of Berwickshire High School in the Scottish Borders. Bruce is the author of the brilliant ‘The Teaching Delusion:why teaching in our schools isn't good enough (and how we can make it better)’. ‘The Teaching Delusion 2: Teaching Strikes Back’ and ‘The Teaching Delusion 3: Power Up Your Pedagogy’. You can get the trilogy now from John Catt Educational. Want to support the ongoing work of the podcast: buymeacoffee.com/dnleslie Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...
Oct 18, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 69
Zoe Enser was a classroom English teacher for over 20 years as well as head of department and school leader in charge of improving teaching and learning. She is now lead English specialist advisor for Kent with The Education People. Mark Enser has been a geography teacher for the best part of two decades as well as a head of department and research lead. He is the author of Making Every Geography Lesson Count and Teach Like Nobody’s Watching and is a TES columnist. Their latest book 'The CPD Cur...
Oct 11, 2021•52 min•Ep. 68
