Those of you who listened to our epic Christmas special in December will remember Tom reading out a stream of tweets from Dr Emily MacLeod, who had just completed her doctorate about teacher recruitment. Well, now we have Dr Emily in person, speaking to us down the line, to delve deeper into the fascinating study she undertook which seeks to understand what motivates (and demotivates) people to become teachers.  Using a massive treasure trove of longitudinal data from the ASPIRES project at the Institute of Education, Emily takes us through some of the really interesting things she’s fou ..read more

Welcome to our not-very-light Easter holiday special! As ever, we bring you some random things to liven up your school holiday, and as usual for our Easter special we’ve ended up with something a bit less than fluffy… Nevertheless, we hope you find it interesting, useful or just a break from our usual service! Emma’s three things: Getting Started with Key Concepts Taking a stand against the pedagogy of professional decline Things fell apart: the most mysterious deaths Tom’s three things: Fighting Choirs Thousands of AI authors on the future of AI Zombie leadership: dead ideas that still ..read more

It's always a special podcast episode when we get our student teachers into the studio, and today's discussion is no exception! Just after Christmas this year, we spent an exciting couple of weeks digging into the details of our expressive arts subject disciplines, and the potential for making powerful connections between them. Today, some of those student teachers are here to tell us and our listeners what they found out! Chloe Griffiths and Tianna Hancock (PGCE secondary drama), Serena Hancock (PGCE secondary art and design) and April Pinch (PGCE secondary music) tell us what they've come to ..read more

Artifical Intelligence: is it going to revolutionise learning and the world of work? Or take our jobs and then kill us all? We've had our eye on doing an episode on AI for quite a while, but needed a guest who would give us an education angle and avoid the sensationalist stuff... step forward Karl Jones from Cardiff Met's School of Technologies! Karl was previously in Initial Teacher Education with our colleagues in Trinity Saint David, Carmarthen, so knows his way round a classroom as well as a computer. He joins us in the studio to discuss what teachers need to know about AI, where it can he ..read more

Today we welcome back our colleague Dr Anne Hodgson, who's here to talk to us about adverse childhood experiences and trauma-informed practice in schools. It's a wide ranging discussion with some hard-hitting facts about the challenges facing many of the children in our classrooms. As Anne says, being informed about the impact of these adverse factors is everybody's business, and we can all make a difference. Thanks to Anne for joining us again! ---------------------------------------------- Recorded in studio B2.15 at Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus on 20th November 2023 ..read more

For this episode we welcome (and bow down to) our colleague Kerry Bevan! Programme leader for PGCE secondary languages, but also still a practising languages teacher in school, Kerry recently completed her thesis for the National MA Education (Wales) programme and stormed to a mark in the 90s for her research into perceptions of decolonising the languages curriculum. In today's discussion, Kerry tells us about the subject-specific issues around a white, Euro-centric approach to languages, and what her research told her about new teachers' perceptions of the problems and potential future advan ..read more

We always like a good collaboration here on Cardiff Met's initial teacher education (ITE) programmes! Today we welcome to the studio our colleague Sioned Dafydd, and podcast veteran (from all the way back in season 1, no less) Sarah Cason from Palmerston Primary School. Since she joined us last time, Sarah has been upgraded to headteacher, and has a key role in partnership with Cardiff Met, creating the best possible experiences for our student teachers. The project, funded by two regional school improvement consortia (CSC and EAS), aimed to improve people's understanding of Wales's very aspi ..read more

Happy new year! Despite Emma and Tom both being performing arts specialists, we've never had an episode on the podcast about dance. Having recently met and collaborated with National Dance Company Wales, we didn't want to miss an opportunity to invite them to our studio to talk all about this very special art form. Paul Kaynes and Maris Lyons from NDCW talk to us about what makes dance unique, the challenges and opportunities of incorporating dance into the curriculum, and how NDCW support schools with exciting events and resources to dip their toe into what can be an intimidating subject to ..read more

Merry Christmas one and all! Yet again we find ourselves between Christmas and New Year, hopefully enjoying a well-earned break. And for the sixth time we have entered the studio with a total of twelve (one for each day of Christmas) weird and wonderful gifts for our listeners.  This year we have everything from poetry to scary sounds, from the joys of solitude to a nostalgic unsung hero of music, to join you while you recharge the batteries or set out on some nice long walks to blow away the cobwebs. We hope you enjoy this extra-long light episode, and wish you all the best for a restfu ..read more

To celebrate our five (and a bit) years on the air, we've gathered together 24 of our favourite light episode items to brighten up the end of this long autumn term! These festive gifts will disappear after Christmas, so enjoy them while they're here! Today, we join our friends and original inspiration: Becky and Amy from And Then What? The Podcast All About Stories, to hear a Brothers Grimm fairy tale that didn't quite make the cut... Merry Christmas from all of us at the podcast ..read more