Shows
Beyond GoodPrivate vs State SchoolsMatt and Femi discuss Femi's experience of working in both state and private schools, what the major differences are for teachers and what each can learn from the other.2025-03-1539 minBeyond GoodAccountability Culture AND Power of VideoThis episode has 2 unrelated topics... In the first half of the episode Femi and Matt discuss what it means to have a culture where you can 'hold colleagues accountable' for the benefit of the whole team. In the second part of episode (starting at 20:30), Femi and Matt turn their attention to the Power of Video - particularly with regards to modelling and feedback for teachers.2025-03-0847 minBeyond GoodDrop-in CulturePrompted by Pritesh's tweet regarding the number of observations completed and feedback given in the autumn term, Femi and Matt discuss attitudes and culture around drop-ins.2025-01-1843 minBeyond GoodRefusalFemi and Matt wrestle with the concept of students who refuse instructions and what schools can do about it.2025-01-1142 minBeyond GoodThe Lost Art of PlanningFemi and Matt's discussion is prompted by an article of the same name:https://thinkingflexibly.com/2024/10/18/the-lost-art-of-planning/They discuss the pros and cons of planning lessons, designing lesson sequences and preparing resources from scratch vs having off-the-shelf schemes of work, resources and teaching powerpoints.2025-01-0449 minBeyond GoodFront-loading Your ExplanationsMatt and Femi discuss explicit teaching (direct instruction), questioning, AfL and much more!2024-12-2837 minBeyond GoodKatharine BirbalsinghMatt and Femi talk to Katharine Birbalsingh, founding member and head teacher of the Michaela Community School in Wembley Park.2024-11-301h 09Beyond GoodBarry Smith on Classroom TeachingFollowing on from their video analysis of his lesson, Matt and Femi talk to Barry Smith about some of his principles for classroom teaching. Starting from a lense of MFL teaching, we extract the general pedagogical principles that Barry believes lead to exceptional outcomes in the classroom.2024-11-231h 08Beyond GoodMetacognition with Nathan BurnsMatt and Femi chat to metacognition enthusiast Nathan Burns about metacognition, knowledge, knowledge organisers and much much more.Check out Nathan's resources on his website:https://www.mrmetacognition.com/2024-11-1648 minBeyond GoodThe Enactment Gap & Developing TeachersFemi and Matt discuss the enactment gap - teasing apart what it is exactly, diagnosing solutions to the problem and then get into the pragmatism of supporting teachers to improve elements of their practice - trying to figure out when and how to intervene if a colleague is struggling with students during unstructured time.2024-11-0940 minBeyond GoodQ3 Academy Langley & Participation RatioFemi tells Matt about his recent visit to another high performing school - this time Q3 Academy Langley in the West Midlands.This brings up the topics of participation and thinking ratio - leading to a spirited discussion about 'pair talk', 'everybody writes' and other approaches to increasing thinking and participation.2024-11-021h 02Beyond GoodThinking about Professional DevelopmentFemi talks to Matt about how he is now thinking about PD - from individual all the way to whole-school.2024-10-0531 minBeyond GoodDuties and Interactions with StudentsMatt and Femi discuss duties, handling pupils, being authentic, leadership, supporting colleagues and much more!2024-09-2835 minBeyond GoodMiriam Hussain on Behaviour and Whole-School SystemsMatt and Femi talk to Miriam Hussain about whole-school systems for behaviour, for teaching and learning, about SLT, the vision of the head teacher and much more!2024-09-1446 minBeyond GoodReflections and PlansMatt and Femi reflect on leading departments, the evolving process of implementing coaching and department meetings as colleagues' needs change over time, and turn their thoughts forward to leading culture change, teaching and learning and implementing coaching whole school.2024-09-0745 minBeyond GoodResponsive Coaching - Josh GoodrichMatt and Femi are joined by Josh Goodrich, author of 'Responsive Coaching', former teacher and senior leader and CEO of steplab.Responsive Coaching https://www.amazon.co.uk/Responsive-Coaching-Evidence-informed-instructional-coaching/dp/1036003213Steplabwww.steplab.co2024-08-311h 10Beyond GoodA Student Perspective - with LilyMatt and Femi speak to former student Lily about school and learning from the other side of the desk. Their discussion ranges from the impact that a great teacher can have on a student's choices and life, through to accounting for students who are struggling with pastoral issues and even to the teacher recruitment crisis and questions of how to get intelligent people like Lily into the profession.2024-08-171h 01Beyond GoodChecking For UnderstandingIn this episode Matt and Femi discuss various means and considerations around checking for understanding.2024-08-1038 minBeyond Good'Booklets' with Matt BurnageMatt Burnage is one of the founding senior leaders of Ark Soane Academy, History teacher, and assistant principal leading on curriculum and assessment. In this episode we do a deep dive into the subject of booklets - what they are, how they encapsulate the curriculum, impact on learning, the ways they are used in lessons, implications for whole school routines, how they are made and developed, implications for department meetings and much much more.2024-07-2758 minBeyond GoodMy Visit to Michaela!Matt debriefs Femi on his visit to The Michaela Community School. They discuss teaching and learning, students, staff, family lunch and yard time, curriculum, routines, culture and much more.2024-07-2042 minBeyond GoodBarry Smith! Part 2Join Matt and Femi for the second part of their interview with Barry, as they talk about his leadership style, teaching, developing teachers, SLT and much much more.Barry Smith was a founding Deputy of Michaela School, Wembley. The kids’ amazing French and his unique approach to MFL teaching created huge buzz at Michaela. He went on to become head of Great Yarmouth Charter School - the tenth head in 10 years, at a school that was rated inadequate for a decade. In 5 months, Ofsted declared Charter, ‘a miraculous turnaround’. Barry went on to lead the turn around of inadequ...2024-07-1351 minBeyond GoodBarry Smith! Part 1Join Matt and Femi as they talk to Barry Smith about his experience of taking over and turning around a failing school.Barry Smith was a founding Deputy of Michaela School, Wembley. The kids’ amazing French and his unique approach to MFL teaching created huge buzz at Michaela. He went on to become head of Great Yarmouth Charter School - the tenth head in 10 years, at a school that was rated inadequate for a decade. In 5 months, Ofsted declared Charter, ‘a miraculous turnaround’. Barry went on to lead the turn around of inadequate Hackney New School.Barry no...2024-07-0647 minBeyond GoodCoaching!In this episode Femi and Matt discuss what they've learnt and are discovering about coaching: how powerful it is, and how it's harder to do really well than it looks!In particular they dive into the ideas of sequencing/structuring teacher development, giving the coachee the opportunity to own and unpack what they've done well, and the importance of rehearsal, amongst other things.They reference the fantastic 'Responsive Coaching' by Josh Goodrich:https://amzn.eu/d/0bKPFOMq2024-06-2941 minBeyond Good3 Ways I Would Improve My TeachingIn this episode Matt talks to Femi about the things he has learnt from his visits to some of the highest-performing schools in the country and reflects on the ways he would change his teaching as a result.The pair talk about answering in full sentences, paired talk, choral response and rehearsal, amongst many other things.Get in touch with comments, questions and suggestions: @BeyondGoodPod on X2024-06-1446 minBeyond GoodChanges are afoot!Today Femi and Matt discuss their career changes, both recent (in Matt's case) and forthcoming (in Femi's) and how they are thinking about teaching and learning, and education going forward. This context should throw some light onto some of the conversations they have had recently or that are coming up. 2024-04-2127 minBeyond GoodLate To LessonsThe discussion today was prompted by a listener question about students being late to lessons, so Matt and Femi each give their take on that. They discuss what they think the relevant psychology is and how they each handle this situation. They talk about whole-school policies and dealing with a culture of lateness as middle and senior leaders – and different ways that schools approach the starts and ends of lessons, as well as transitions. Femi and Matt also muse on some of the interesting situations they’ve faced in which the more effective approach contradicted school policy. 2024-04-1439 minBeyond GoodMy Visit to Ark Soane AcademyThe topic of today’s discussion is Matt's visit to Ark Soane Academy, and in particular the impressive whole-school culture and the remarkable impact of that on student behaviours, attitudes and learning. Femi and Matt talk about the best science lesson Matt has ever seen, and wider discussion about starting and running schools and embedding shared routines across the school.As always, all questions or comments welcome: @beyondgoodpod on X.2024-03-3155 minBeyond GoodThe Warning SystemThe topic of discussion this week is warning systems – so very much a behaviour-based episode rather than a maths one. Matt and Femi cover a fair bit of ground: from classrooms with names written on the board and hundreds of warnings being issued each day through to classrooms with no warnings and students absorbed in their work. And from supporting colleagues with behaviour issues through to the prospect of creating a school-wide culture around behaviour that leaves deleterious learning behaviours at the school gates. 2024-03-2442 minBeyond GoodHomework!This week Femi and Matt debate the pros and cons of homework - a particularly slippery beast to nail down. They get into some general principles and challenges of setting good homework, and what they have tried and each do now, among other things. By all means let us know if you think you have this one cracked:@beyondgoodpod on X. 2024-03-1041 minBeyond GoodModellingIn this episode Femi and Matt talk about modelling - in all it’s various forms from leading on behaviour through to explicit teaching strategies. In particular they discuss pre-made teacher models and explanations vs modelling live, in real time, and explore some really interesting nooks and crannies of that facet.X:@BeyondGoodPod2024-03-0353 minBeyond GoodBottom SetIn this episode Femi and Matt discuss setting, the term ‘bottom set’, attitudes towards, and working with students who have low prior attainment. As you’ll hear both advocates of ensuring that those students get the highest possible quality education, that we meet them where they are, and that we work hard, carefully and mindfully as a community to ensure that we divorce that honest recognition of differing starting points from any judgements of value or personal worth. Contact us @BeyondGoodPod on X.2024-02-2548 minBeyond GoodDirections of TravelIn this episode Matt and Femi talk about Adam Boxer’s Book: How to Teach Secondary Science.In particular, they discuss Adam’s concept of ‘Directions of travel’, which provides a nice framework for characterising the way that we move through explanations. Both feel that many teachers could spend more time thinking about and planning explanations than they tend to, so Adam's conceptualisation is useful because it enables us to expand our vocabulary and add nuance to our discussions and reflections on explanations.2024-02-1750 minBeyond GoodMocksToday’s topic is Year 11 mock examinations. Matt and Femi discuss:- Holding 2 or 3 sets of mocks vs just 1.- That mocks should not be the main means by which we discover what students can and cannot do.- Conditions for students to learn and improve on knowledge gaps exposed by tests, the implications for ‘going through’ the test in lessons, and why that is rarely effective- Best practice for giving feedback from mocks, and some examples of poor practice.- Issues with question level analysis- How Mocks can crystall...2024-01-2143 minBeyond GoodDave Taylor - Maths CurriculumFemi and Matt speak to Dave Taylor on the topic of the maths curriculum. Dave is a maths specialist and lead practioner, well known in maths circles for his ‘increasingly difficult questions’ and ‘backward faded maths’. Dave has thought long and hard about curriculum issues such as sequencing and mastery, and has experience of creating maths curricula, so the trio go deep on the considerations, nuances and complexities of developing and implementing an effective maths curriculum.Topics covered include:-The value of having schemes of work-The fact that students don’t come into Y7 all at the s...2024-01-141h 00Beyond GoodWhere We Are Going Wrong on Behaviour - reflections on the Bill Rogers interviewToday’s discussion is prompted by the Bill Rogers interview that recently appeared in the TES titled: ‘Bill Rogers: Where we are going wrong on behaviour’.Matt and Femi discuss:- The problem of COVID and re-victimising students- Teacher’s being inclined to appease students rather than lead on behaviour.- If you’re not in control it’s not a safe environment- Relationships and how to respond and relate to students- How do things change when you know the causative pathology for the a student’s antisocial behaviour2024-01-0746 minBeyond GoodTackling Passivity‘Passive passengers!’ - students who are not especially engaged in lessons.Matt and Femi discuss some of the indicators and consequences of passive behaviours, how we might think about that as teachers in terms of tackling it vs accepting it, some causes of passivity, and how we might tackle it.2023-12-1046 minBeyond GoodTeaching and Coaching in US Public Schools: Dr Zach GroshellToday's guest is American Educator, Coach and Podcast host Dr Zach Groshell for a fascinating discussion about his work in US government funded schools and his drive for an increasingly evidence-based pedagogy.Matt and Femi talk to Zach about his role as an instructional coach, more and less directive coaching methodologies, the configuration of coaching within US public schools, characteristics of more effective teachers, implementing whole-school changes, high expectations, and structural impediments to raising standards in US schools.They discuss professional development, and some common misconceptions that are still being promoted, the adoption of pedagogical...2023-11-1959 minBeyond GoodMaths Teachers and Whole School LiteracyToday’s episode is prompted by a recent post on X which posed the following question: “What do you do with your mathematics teachers while you do your whole school professional learning on literacy, reading or writing?”Femi and Matt discuss the two main failure modes for students on ‘worded’ maths questions – noting that the more common and critical failure mode is one that won’t be addressed in a whole-school context. They talk about the rarely considered element of ‘opportunity cost’, optimum ways of developing student ability on worded maths questions, what the maths department could actually be doing on...2023-11-121h 11Beyond GoodDifferentiationIn today’s episode, Femi and Matt discuss differentiation! They talk about adaptive learning, differentiation as an advanced teaching skill that relies on solid foundations of strong learning behaviour and pedagogical subject knowledge and the botheredness to actually go and do it (especially when classes are compliant.)They talk about prioritising differentiating to support weaker students first, priority learners, and really knowing who needs your help. The amount of one to one interactions in lessons as a marker of teacher skill. Some of the mistakes we can make when trying to ‘extend’ more able students, share some examples...2023-11-0551 minBeyond GoodCultureIn this episode Matt and Femi discuss culture - particularly from the perspective of heads of department trying to shape the culture of teaching staff in their corner of the school. This one is not maths-specific – the discussion is relevent to colleagues from any subject area or team.They consider the fact that culture exists – whether you actively seek to shape it, or not, the characteristics of good culture, shaping and maintaining culture, so called toxic environments: and how incongruence, unfairness and wilful blindness from leaders can play a role there.They talk about failing to lis...2023-10-2950 minBeyond GoodLesson ObservationsToday Femi and Matt are speaking about lesson observations and related activities such as lesson visits, coaching and feedback. They talk about being clear on why the observation is happening; good and less good reasons for doing lesson observations and some of the issues around lesson observations as part of the performance management process.On lesson visits i.e. ‘walking the shop floor’, they discuss culture, feedback and follow up and then get into coaching observations and feedback: 3 common mistakes, models for structuring feedback, initial identification of the big ticket items and subsequent follow up stayin...2023-10-011h 06Beyond GoodDealing with FailureToday's episode is about mistakes, disappointment and failure – with the discussion ranging from 'recognising that my last lesson didn’t go as well as I wanted', through to acknowledging and responding to under-performance at the level of the whole school.Matt and Femi discuss the importance of recognising and admitting when things aren’t good enough and taking responsibility for the outcomes, how to identify when outcomes haven’t been good enough, and also reflecting on when and why things went well.The pair share examples from their own experiences of failure; what it means to be ab...2023-09-1743 minBeyond GoodHit and Run CPD (Inset!)Today’s episode is about 'hit and run' CPD, which Femi and Matt approach with an attitude of constructive criticism and attempting to offer a vision of positive alternatives. 'Hit and run' CPD is really just any so called ‘training’ which is a singular, stand-alone event, with no follow up. All too often these sessions will involve all staff in the hall, with no attempt to evaluate prior knowledge, and no differentiation for the widely varying contexts and levels of expertise.The duo discuss what is meant by the term; what the problems are with singular...2023-09-1049 minBeyond GoodThe Person In Front Of The KidsToday's episode starts with Matt and Femi chatting about Femi’s observations of coaches at his 6 year old's summer tennis camp, which turns out to be a fascinating lens through which to discuss the characteristics of great teachers as it is all about the ‘how’ of what is being done, and not the ‘what’ – which is so often the focus of discussions in teaching.They discuss the critical importance of enthusiasm and passion; Steven Kotler’s model of motivation for flow; the ability to differentiate; flexibility to deviate from the plan; use of names, and subject knowledge.The conve...2023-09-031h 01Beyond GoodTextbooks, Locking the toilets, Group work and Moving schools!In this episode of the podcast Femi and Matt share their thoughts on four different topics selected from X (formerly twitter): 'textbooks', 'locking the toilets', 'group work' and 'moving schools'.They discuss what the ideal textbook looks like, mixed revision, and workbooks. The pros and cons of locking the toilets during lesson time, mobile phones, and managing students asking to go to the toilet during your lessons. Group work, independent practise, collaboration, variety in activities around the school, and noise levels in the classroom, and finally some thoughts both for colleagues starting in a new school in Se...2023-08-2743 minBeyond GoodLine ManagementIn this episode Femi and Matt discuss Line management! The duo get into what good practise might look like; things line managers should do and should avoid, regularity of meetings, line management as a partnership – so a collaborative process, and approaching line management outside of your specialism with genuine humility and curiosity.They discuss the importance of looking at material in advance of the meeting (when applicable), minimising admin, getting to know the subject and department that you line manage, putting aside your own comfort zone and seeking to understand what is effective in this subject, line man...2023-08-2052 minBeyond GoodMastery and Conceptual UnderstandingIn this episode of the podcast Femi and Matt discuss the ideas of Mastery and 'Conceptual Understanding' in teaching and learning. The conversation covers:- Mastery- Layers of understanding- A pragmatic definition of understanding- Common issues in the classroom- ‘rich’ activities vs repetition- Chunking and isolating skills- aha moments- Knowledge is power- Mastery takes time- Traps for enthusiastic teachers- Split classes- Extending top end students in the classroom- The optics of maths lessons (and skill acquisition in general) – which can look ‘boring’ from the o...2023-07-3045 minBeyond GoodBonus Episode: Behind the Scenes!Welcome to this bonus episode of the Beyond Good podcast! The idea here was just to offer a little insight into what goes on behind the scenes at Beyond Good HQ in a very casual chat between Matt and Femi. They share reflections on how the podcast has evolved, a few thoughts on Edutwitter, discuss Matt's view that we don’t need any more 'maps of the territory'; and talk about teacher training, school visits and podcast guests.Nothing too deep here, we just want to say a big thank you to all our listeners and open up o...2023-07-2626 minBeyond GoodWellbeingIn today’s podcast Femi and Matt discuss Wellbeing. After making the important distinction between wellbeing and workload they discuss- Attitudes to work- Being present – finding engagement with the task at hand- Meditation- Spiritual practice and gratitude- The effects of being asked to do meaningless or supercilious work- Socialising and social factors- Sport and the importance of physical activity- Truly meaningful relationships with colleagues and students: - Community and comradery- Perfunctory token efforts to improve wellbeing vs substantial approaches by schools such as centralising b...2023-07-231h 03Beyond GoodSetting and De-escalationIn today’s podcast Matt and Femi discuss two main topics which are 'setting', and 'de-escalation'.In both cases the points raised should be of interest to colleagues from all subjects.In the long-overdue chat on setting the duo touch on streaming vs mixed attainment; some reasons why different approaches might be more or less suited to different contexts; Why year 7 is not ‘the start’; sink groups; setting by ability not behaviour; tackling attitudes and historic mindsets around streaming; set changes; managing setting as a HOD and supporting teachers with issues around set changes.On d...2023-07-0957 minBeyond GoodReflections on the National Behaviour SurveyIn today’s podcast Femi and Matt dissect the recently published findings of the DFE national behaviour survey. This is another conversation which is not at all subject-specific and should be of interest to all colleagues.In this episode the duo discuss the challenges with collecting and reporting the data; the student perspective; the gap between what leaders are saying and what teachers and students are saying; walking the shop floor; wilful blindness and false praise; the importance of accepting reality as a precursor to improvement; variation within the data; variation within school compared to variation between sch...2023-06-2557 minBeyond Good'Experience'Today Femi and Matt discuss teacher effectiveness vs years of service and some issues with the word ‘experience’ which is generally used as a proxy for competence. As is increasingly the case the discussion is pertinent to all subjects and is not by any means maths-specific. There’s a lot of thinking out loud here and, unusually(!), the boys actually managed to land some insight and conclusions that both found helpful.The conversation covers:- The will-skill matrix - Possible reasons why some people move sideways whereas others move up- ...2023-06-1159 minBeyond GoodHomeworkIn this episode Matt and Femi dig into the dilemma that is ‘homework’! Reflecting on their experiences over the years they ask; how effective is it (academically)?, weigh the costs and benefits, and highlight the demands on teachers. They discuss the different approaches to homework they have tried over the years, the problems each approach threw up and the strategies used to overcome them. They talk about the social pressures at play for students, setting homework for the benefit of parents, Matt's ABCDE of homework and other issues.This is not at all a maths–specific discussion so hopefu...2023-06-0447 minBeyond GoodHandling ComplaintsToday Femi and Matt discuss their approaches to handling complaints. None of this is specific to maths and so the conversation should be relevent for colleagues from a wide range of backgrounds. The pair talk about - Receiving complaints well- Prioritising responding to parents and acting promptly- The importance for people of simply being heard- The pros and cons of different approaches to investigating complaints about a colleague. - Avoiding big surprises by knowing what is going on in your department - by walking the shop floor- Rela...2023-05-2152 minBeyond GoodTeacher Quality: A discussion of Dylan Wiliam's ArticleToday Femi and Matt discuss an article by Dylan Wiliam titled ‘Teacher Quality: why it matters, and how to get more of it’. In addition to this central theme the pair touch on the failures of policy initiatives to raise standards, teacher learning communities, considerations of the alignment of personal professional development with the school priorities, the learning cycle of teacher improvement, the common failings of school leaders to be strategic and to prioritise effectively, and the forces that incline us all towards initiative central. They also talk about alternative approaches to professional development (including coaching), the need for initia...2023-05-1444 minBeyond GoodCPD!Matt and Femi are in a pensive mood for a thought-provoking discussion on CPD. They discuss the good and bad of inset days, utilising skilled practioners to model and share expertise, team building, sequencing and differentiation in professional development, ‘hit and run’ CPD vs sustained behavioural change, coaching and culture, Jim Knight and the Impact Cycle, video, email, the tremendous importance of being able to see good practise in action, the reluctance to recognise differing levels of expertise in this profession; and other topics. 2023-05-0748 minBeyond GoodTom BennettIn this episode of Beyond Good Tom Bennett joins Matt and Femi to discuss all things schools and behaviour.Tom Bennett began teaching in the East End of London, and is currently the Director and founder of researchEd and a Teacher Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. From 2008-2016 he wrote a weekly column for the TES and TES online, and is the author of four books on teacher-training, behaviour management and educational research – most recently ‘Running the Room’.In 2015 Tom was long listed for the GEMS Global Teacher Prize, and was also listed as one of...2023-04-3057 minBeyond GoodThey're not listening!In this week’s episode, Matt and Femi discuss a comment made by Adam Boxer –that the most common issue he sees in classrooms he has visited is that students are simply not properly paying attention to the teacher.This is another conversation that will be relevent to teachers of all subjects – it is not maths-specific. The duo talk about why this is a problem and how it makes teaching harder, what ‘good’ looks like in this respect and how norms are established and broken, ways that attention gets diverted from the core principle the teacher is...2023-04-2346 minBeyond GoodOfsted!In this episode Matt and Femi discuss Ofsted. What is on offer is not a position on Ofsted, it is simply a balanced discussion limited to the perspective of class teachers and middle leaders. There is no subject-specificity to this one, so hopefully educators of all stripes will find this useful.The discussion took in some of the following features of the landscape:Ofsted preparation and the body of knowledge and skills accrued through daily effort over years versus cramming ‘the night before’. The incremental improvements on paper to the school inspection framework and Ofsted attempt...2023-04-1749 minBeyond GoodCentrally Planned Lessonsin today’s episode Femi and Matt discuss centrally planned lessons. Their discussion extends to the various forms of lesson resources such as starters, practise materials, and mixed revision as well as teaching examples. They talk about workload, modelling, the use of different media, meeting the needs of the students sat in front of you, the effects on pedagogy and teacher development, the utility for cover and non-specialists, ECTs, worksheets, textbooks, consistency, expectations and many other issues.2023-04-0951 minBeyond GoodChecking for UnderstandingIn this episode of the podcast Femi and Matt discuss the broad ranging, but critical, topic of 'checking for understanding'. The discussion covers the various time-scales at which teachers might check for understanding; from moment to moment through the lesson all the way up to termly tests, and they discuss a variety of strategies that teachers use to check for understanding and debate their effectiveness.2023-03-2648 minBeyond GoodReturn To Teaching!In this episode Femi and Matt speak to Rachael Southern who they asked to come on the show after learning about her fascinating and inspiring story: Rachael has recently returned to teaching after nearly a decade out pursuing a successful career in corporate law in the city.Not only is Rachael’s journey a fascinating one, but she is in a fairly unique position to share her observations and insights as an informed and knowledgeable 'outsider'. Along the way Rachael’s passion, energy and enthusiasm for teaching is palpable, which Femi and Matt both found refreshing, invigorating and in...2023-02-191h 01Beyond GoodPeople vs SystemsThis episode begins with some further thoughts on department development plans - following on from episode 15 on that topic. Matt and Femi talk about defining what processes will be running in the department rather than trying to describe a particular endpoint and also incorporating teacher’s career ambitions into departmental development plans.They then posit that teachers are the most important resource that a school has and that results are largely determined by them, and not the systems and structures in a school. Matt and Femi recognise that you do need systems and structures but conclude that the...2023-02-1229 minBeyond GoodOutliersIn this episode Femi and Matt speak to Aparna about her experience of education as a mother of two exceptional children. The conversation shines a light on some of the challenges students, their families, teachers and schools face when the children don’t fall into that broad middle 99% that we are accustomed to working with. Hopefully the conversation provides some awareness and stimulates thinking about those children who live life at the far edge of the distribution– whether that is in terms of physical or emotional needs, natural ability, cognitive approaches, or any other dimension of relevance to a success...2023-02-0558 minBeyond GoodDepartment Development PlansMatt and Femi turn their attention to the subject of Departmental development plans and, as you will hear, this is a topic that they come at from quite different perspectives. They discuss the issues with development plans in the way they all too often appear in schools, vision and ambition for the department, auditing the current state of affairs, and the importance of pricing in the available capacity to enact said plans. They touch on the tension between the need for differentiated individual development vs commonalties across the whole team. Line management, the relationship with a line man...2023-01-2954 minBeyond GoodTeaching Low Ability StudentsThe central theme of the discussion in this episode is ‘teaching low ability students’. In a fairly wide-ranging discussion, Femi and Matt touch on expectations, setting and sink groups, profiling, behaviour, avoiding conflict, and some common pitfalls they have seen, amongst other things. Although they do cite a few maths-specific examples, on the whole this is another episode that is largely not specific to maths teaching so should be of interest to teachers of all subjects. 2023-01-2258 minBeyond GoodSLTIn this week's episode, Femi and Matt mull over a topic which seems to get a disproportionate amount of air time on social media, which is teachers’ thoughts and feelings about their SLT. As always, the Beyond Good team would love to hear your thoughts and responses to the episode: @BeyondGoodPod 2023-01-1546 minBeyond GoodResilienceIn this episode of The Beyond Good Podcast, Matt and Femi discuss resilience. There is an old adage that students should be working harder than the teacher, and they explore this, discuss what they each think is right at the core of good teaching, talk about engineering success, what that looks like in the classroom and how it evolves over time, metacognitive understanding and touch on teacher resilience amongst other things.2023-01-0853 minBeyond GoodThings Schools Could Stop Doing!The theme of Femi and Matt's discussion in this episode is “things that schools could get rid of - or at least do less of”. While it is rarely the case that these ‘things’ are totally ineffective, more likely they are effective to some degree, but in the cost-benefit analysis do they meet the threshold of being effective enough to justify our time? Could they be culled in order to allow us to spend more time doing things that are even more effective?With no subject specific element to this topic, and colleagues from all walks will hopefully e...2023-01-0252 minBeyond GoodHow Has Your Teaching Evolved?In this episode Femi and Matt discuss what they were each doing at the beginning of their teaching careers that they felt was very effective, and as importantly what they were not doing, and then what other aspects came in later when more bandwidth came online as they developed automaticity (unconscious competence).This is a discussion about low hanging fruit / first order effects / climbing the steepest part of the curve as quickly as possible and the law of diminishing returns. For the most part this episode is not maths-specific and there is value here to t...2022-12-111h 12Beyond GoodMaking the Most of Your Training YearThis week Femi and Matt discuss ‘making the most of your training year’ – in response to listener demand! Much of what is covered will be useful for trainees and ECTs, as well as mentors and anyone thinking of taking on a mentoring role. Indeed, some of the conversation is ever-green as they do cover areas such as planning, resources and feedback. 2022-12-0441 minBeyond GoodMeetings!In this episode the seemingly mundane topic of 'meetings' comes under Femi and Matt's scrutiny. Both have sat in meetings, like so many of us, with utter dismay at the terribly ineffective use of time and frankly sometimes callous disrespect for colleagues' time as lengthy agendas are gradually ticked off with a series of mainly one to one discussions...In this conversation Matt and Femi don't do much complaining: instead they focus on what they are currently doing differently now that they are in charge of how their meeting times are used.This has a huge effect on...2022-11-2756 minBeyond GoodA Performance Mindset for Teaching - with Sam RobertsIn this episode Matt and Femi speak with Sam Roberts. Sam Roberts is best known for his work in sports broadcasting - particularly as a rugby commentator. However Sam is also a teacher, and so is able to speak from the intersection of a fairly unique Venn diagram – bridging the worlds of teaching and elite-level sports performance.As you will hear, Sam speaks passionately about performance mindset and mental fitness for teaching. He discusses how he was inspired by Don McPherson and the millennias-old concept of ‘monkey mind’, thinking about teachers as elite performers and how they can benef...2022-11-201h 03Beyond GoodDeveloping TeachersJoin Femi and Matt as they share their thoughts and experiences of running professional development for teachers in their departments. Mentioned in this episode is the EEF - the Education Endowment Foundation and if you are not familiar with their work, we highly recommend spending some time on their website, and in relation to this episode, reading their guidance report on 'Effective Professional Development'.2022-11-1350 minBeyond GoodRunning A Year Group - Mike StuartThis week on the podcast Matt and Femi talk to special guest Mike Stuart about his many years of experience as a head of year. They discuss relationships, 'the first assembly', taking assemblies, tutor times - and being a visible presence amongst the year group, fierce conversations, "not just the naughties", role clarity and looking after yourself, amongst other topics.2022-11-061h 00Beyond GoodDiscussing 5 Damaging Educational MythsIn this episode Femi and Matt discuss Robert Pondiscio's AEI Op-Ed titled 'Confronting 5 Damaging Educational Myths'. The discussion elicits some interesting and useful points with the following 6 myths coming under fire from the duo:“I don’t teach facts. I teach critical thinking.”“Reading is a skill.”“This is too hard/inappropriate/irrelevant for my students.”“Children have different learning styles.” “Teach kids to think like a scientist” (or a historian or other expert)“Who needs rote learning? You can just Google facts.”2022-10-3047 minBeyond GoodBeyond Good in Science - Rob NewmanIn this episode Femi and Matt explore high quality science teaching with Rob Newman. They discuss the importance of identifying and then observing established good teachers, having quality conversations about teaching, filtering the noise of ‘advice’ coming from all corners and crucially; ignoring the feedback that was not helpful. Rob talks about where time is wasted in lessons and what good teachers do instead, the power of relentless routines, clarity of teacher talk – concise clear explanations / modelling, lots of practise time and time on task for students. They discuss the ever present tension between time spent practising vs covering the curri...2022-10-231h 12Beyond GoodTips for Cover Lessons!In this episode Matt and Femi discuss how they approach cover lessons. They cover etiquette for leaving cover, running cover lessons in your own subject and running cover lessons outside of your specialism. What emerges are a wide variety of useful tips and tricks that teachers can use to take the pain out of cover lessons and achieve better outcomes for all involved!2022-10-1646 minBeyond GoodPhil Naylor - Wisdom From 170+ Interviews!Femi and Matt are excited to be back after the summer break and kicking off season 2 with an interview with Phil Naylor. Phil was the long-standing host of the most excellent Naylor’s Natter podcast and he has recently relinquished his seat behind the microphone in order to make time to pursue his writing and his work – he is a full time deputy head in blackpool. His first book, also called Naylor’s natter, brings this wisdom to the page using a cleverly blended format whereby QR codes throughout the book can be scanned to go directly to relat...2022-10-091h 09Beyond GoodE22 - Education Over The Years - Patrick Ottley-O'ConnorIn the final episode of season 1 of the podcast, Femi and Matt interview Patrick Ottley-O’Connor. At the time of recording Patrick was just a few days into his retirement from a fascinating and diverse career in education spanning over 35 years, and including roles from classroom teacher all the way to head and CEO. His experience encompasses primary, secondary and special educational settings as well as a whopping 21 Ofsted inspections! Patrick was kind enough to share his experience of education starting in an era that predates the national curriculum, Ofsted and league tables right through to the current day. In thi...2022-08-191h 14Beyond GoodE21 A Pupil Perspective - Part 2This is part 2 of Matt and Femi's interview with Amelia, in which she gives a student perspective on school. If you haven’t yet listened to the previous episode it is recommended that you start there. In this episode the trio discuss meta-cognitive strategies, the nature of revision as an individualised process, resilience, fear of failure, making mistakes, paired work and partnering, how teachers help students when they are stuck (and how they sometimes don’t!) Verbal and written feedback, the starts of lessons, PSHE lessons, the importance of passion from teachers, learning objectives, setting vs mixed ability, relationships and oth...2022-08-121h 00Beyond GoodE20 A Pupil Perspective - Part 1In this episode Matt and Femi speak to former pupil Amelia. Although Amelia has just finished her A-levels, they mainly discuss secondary school, and are broadly inclusive of all subjects and not just maths. As you will hear, Amelia is extremely qualified for this role – in addition to being incredibly intelligent, both her parents are in education and so she enjoys, and is well versed in, discussing school matters. The discussion is presented in two parts, with the second featuring in Episode 21.In this episode they discuss the student view of attending an inner city school with some...2022-08-0542 minBeyond GoodE19 - September!With thoughts inevitably turning to September and planning the return to the classroom, Femi and Matt discuss some of the key aims for the first few lessons of a new academic year and delve into the approaches one might use in order to achieve them. In particular, thinking of the first week or two with a new group as being all about creating the classroom culture that you want for the rest of the year, and about training students to become very effective learners. I.e. this period is about ‘learning to learn’ and the actual material, topics...2022-07-2952 minBeyond GoodE18 Sam Strickland - The Behaviour ManualIn this episode of the podcast Matt and Femi speak with Sam Strickland. Sam has had a long and interesting teaching career – he is currently the principal of Duston school where GCSE results have gone from the bottom 20% nationally to the top 20% under his tenure. Sam is also the author of 3 fantastic books: education exposed, education exposed 2 and his latest work “The behaviour manual”. In this interview Sam discusses visible leadership, data, teacher workload, centralised behaviour systems, the importance of a school’s mission, vision and values to drive the school improvement plan, implementing new initiatives in schools, st...2022-07-221h 22Beyond GoodE17 Sonia Gill: Successful Difficult Conversations in SchoolOn this episode of Beyond Good Matt and Femi talk to Sonia Gill - author of the books ‘Journey to outstanding’ and ‘successful difficult conversations in school’, the latter of which is the primary focus of this episode.Topics covered in this episode include attitudes towards difficult conversations, why we should have them and who loses out when we don’t, structuring the conversation, scripting the opening sentence, reframing, the two worlds technique, outcome vs solution and some other common mistakes along with other advice from Sonia for anyone who would like to have more effective difficult conversati2022-07-1558 minBeyond GoodE16 New To Leadership (Part 2)In this episode Femi and Matt pick up where they left off last week with the theme of taking on a new leadership role. In a more discursive conversation than last time they cover the importance of getting out and about, introducing yourself to students and contacting parents, carefully planning initial team meetings, understanding SLT and working with and not against your line manager. Femi gives some sound advice regarding talking about your previous achievements, colleague’s loyalty and inertia under a change of leadership and we discuss what superpowers both senior and middle leaders ought to cultivate for succ...2022-07-0843 minBeyond GoodE15 New To Middle LeadershipWith the summer nearly upon us, many colleagues will be turning their attention from teaching students towards planning and organising for the next academic year. That will especially be the case for anyone who has taken on a role with increased responsibility for next year, whether within their current school, or pastures new, and so in this episode Femi and Matt reflect on what that process is like and each give their top tips for those new to middle leadership. Some of this advice has been hard won, and both would agree that their younger selves would have found th...2022-07-0154 minBeyond GoodE14 - AssessmentIn this episode Femi and Matt dive into assessment – specifically how they use short but frequent class tests to inform planning and teaching, and to maximally support student progress. They compare their different approaches and see how these arise from having slightly different objectives. They discuss some guiding principles of testing – what they consider to be good and bad practise, including a few words on question level analysis, debate the pros and cons of teacher marking vs self-checking, and deliberate on the extent to which students making corrections or copying down the correct method actually translates into sustained improvement in the...2022-06-241h 02Beyond GoodE13 - Head of Year, Champion For Pupils - With Helen SydenhamIn this episode Matt and Femi chat to pastoral legend Helen Sydenham. Helen is head of year at an inner city school and is known for her skill, tenacity and passion for working with students who often have particularly challenging circumstances and behaviours. They talk about how Helen tackled an out of control year group that she took on, how she works with parents, managing parental meetings, dealing with teachers who don’t always get it right, and what she thinks are the most important characteristics that teachers need if they are going to have a big positive impact on st...2022-06-1752 minBeyond GoodE12 - Pupil Discussion In The ClassroomIn this episode of the podcast Femi and Matt explore the topic of ‘discussion in the classroom’. They try to tease apart nuances such as the difference between pupils having to explain the work to each other because the teacher’s explanation was not good enough versus pupils engaged in a rich discussion that extends thinking from an existing strong foundation of knowledge. They examine the pros and cons of classroom discussion along with possible traps and pitfalls, teachers asking for silence versus ‘silence just happens naturally’, and ‘casual classrooms’ and what this suggests about the level of challenge and the quality...2022-06-1058 minBeyond GoodE11 - Beyond Good in English with Amy GreenIn this episode of the podcast Femi and Matt are joined by Amy Green - an English teacher and head of English who has honed her craft in tough inner-city schools.Amy talks about using ‘silent and solo’ with knowledge recall questions to create powerful starts to English lessons, giving students more concrete structures for answering questions than the traditional PEE paragraphs, and how effective English teachers use pause points throughout lessons. The trio discuss the importance of ‘reading the room’ and putting ‘concrete’ before ‘abstract’, touch on the use technology to help students read, the folly of trying to show...2022-06-031h 00Beyond GoodE10 - No Such Thing as an A-level Specialist, with Simon KingIn this episode Femi and Matt are again joined by guest Simon King as they explore the claim that the very best A-level teachers are also, in fact, the teachers achieving the best outcomes with bottom set Year 9, or middle-ability Year 7 students, for example. Simon provides valuable insight into the differences and similarities between sixth-form teaching and the teaching of younger and less able students, and the trio try to articulate why the elements of teaching that make lessons go well lower down the school (expectations, explanations, differentiation, relationships and routines, for example) only serve to strengthen teaching as s...2022-05-2751 minBeyond GoodE09 - Walking the Shop FloorIn this episode Femi and Matt discuss lesson observations and lesson visits - the process Femi calls 'walking the shop floor'. They touch on the bizarre phenomenon of teachers doing something other than 'business as usual' when being observed, the questionable practice of once-per-year observations or departmental reviews, feeding back after lesson visits and the importance of triangulation: looking at books and talking to students.They talk about 'the 3 Bs' and other heuristics (such as 'angle of lean' and 'speed of pen'), about 'closing the loop' (what leaders actually do with all the information they gather in order t...2022-05-201h 19Beyond GoodE08 - 'Set Zero' Students with guest Simon KingFemi and Matt are joined by special guest Simon King to discuss teaching strategies and differentiation for those very top end students that we all occasionally come across. While the conversation is focussed on extending the top end students, the principles for teaching and differentiation that Simon describes are applicable to all classes.2022-05-131h 02Beyond GoodE07 - Starters!The themes of Matt and Femi's discussion for this episode are 'starters' and 'the starts of lessons'. The conversation is equal parts philosophical and pragmatic, and many aspects of starters are covered in great depth. The conversation covers the importance of starters, their utility for orientating students towards this subject as they arrive from elsewhere around the school, as a device for recap, building confidence, to facilitate a calm and effective start to the lesson, to guide thinking towards today's topic and many more elements.2022-05-061h 04Beyond GoodE06 - 'The Blue Memo' - Part 3In this episode of Beyond Good, Femi and Matt return to the Blue Memo to discuss the final three points. The central themes of these points are 'challenge', 'practise' and 'sequencing'. If you haven't already listened to the Blue Memo parts 1 and 2, it may be worth listening to episodes 3 and 4, in which the Blue Memo is introduced and the first 7 points are discussed.2022-04-2936 minBeyond GoodE05 - What Makes A Successful Department?In this episode Femi and Matt discuss the characteristics of a good department, visions and values, and achieving consensus within a team about what matters and why we are here. They discuss the impact of formal 'meetings' vs informal interactions between teachers and the value of rich discussions around teaching and learning. The conversation then pivots to the skills and attributes they each wanted to have in place before taking on head of department roles, as well as the opportunity cost of teachers spending too much time talking about resources, and the importance of being aware of your own bi...2022-04-221h 01Beyond GoodE04 - 'The Blue Memo' - Part 2This is the second of the three-part series on ‘The Blue Memo’ in which Femi and Matt cover points 4-7. They discuss the importance of engaging all students, ensuring that no one student takes up a disproportionate amount of time at the expense of others, explanations and feedback. Part 3 can be heard in episode 6, and you can download your own copy of the blue memo from our twitter account, or from our website.2022-04-1544 minBeyond GoodEpisode 2 - Mentors, Golden Rules and Lesson OneIn this episode of the podcast Matt and Femi discuss mentors and some of the key things they took from their mentors that have shaped them as teachers. They discuss the idea of 'golden rules' and 'non-essential essentials', the tremendous importance of the first lesson of the year with a new group and laying the foundations for strong relationships with students for the rest of the year.2022-03-3147 minBeyond GoodEpisode 1 - Raw MaterialsIn this (inaugural) episode of the podcast, Matt and Femi set out what the podcast is and isn’t about, how they each came to teaching and why they’re so passionate about it. They discuss what makes for good ‘raw materials’ in teaching, and how their own natural dispositions may have shaped their areas of interest, and what they each look for in new teachers. They discuss the fundamental importance of liking and being able to engage with teenagers, the degree to which experience gained as a private tutor can be translated into classroom practise and they speculate on possibl...2022-03-1951 min