Emma & Tom's Pgce Podcast

It's episode 11 of the podcast, and Emma and Tom are joined by June Hurcom, senior lecturer in early years education, for her first podcasting experience! This episode is for anyone who's ever felt that they might like to embark on the journey to becoming a teacher, and is full of great advice for things to do (and not to do!) when preparing to apply for a programme that will get you that all-important teaching qualification. From the different routes into the profession to what to do when you get an interview, our podcasters have everything you need to know to help you take those first steps towards teaching. We've also been back out to our excellent Cardiff Met colleagues who have each given their top tips for applicants - in both English and Welsh - so it's worth a listen in case you find one of them doing your interview... It's become a PGCE Podcast tradition for our guests to provide their take on the regular slots at the end of the episode, and June has clearly done her homework, rattling through her we

Happy new year! The podcast is back with an extended episode featuring not one, but two special guests. Emma and Tom are joined by Dr Judith Kneen who runs the PGCE Secondary English course, and Sharne Watkins, Deputy Head of Initial Teacher Education, PGCE Primary literacy specialist... and Tom's line manager - gulp! Emma, Tom, Judith and Sharne bring us a meaty 57 minutes in which they review a fairly controversial publication: Daisy Christodoulou's 'Seven Myths about Education' - a book that ruffled a fair few feathers on its publication in 2014, propelled its author to instant fame as a darling of the traditionalist wing of the education world, and had commentators even tipping her as the next head of Ofsted. The book itself aims to set out seven 'myths' which are apparently dearly-held by 'progressives', and to demolish them with evidence and science. Focusing mainly on the first two myths for reasons of time ('facts prevent understanding' and 'teacher-led instruction is passive'), our intrepid podcast q

It’s that weird bit between Christmas and New Year, and it’s time for a bumper PGCE podcast special!  Emma and Tom are here with a 68-minute epic that contains the absolute bare minimum of wholesome educational content, and an enormous number of self-indulgent treats. In place of the usual slots, we recommend a few of our favourite podcasts, and Tom tells the story of how the PGCE Podcast came to be. We welcome our special guests, Becky and Amy from ‘And Then What? - the podcast all about stories’, and they bring us the hilarious tale of when a hotel stay went horribly wrong courtesy of a flock of seagulls. Colleagues from the Department of Initial Teacher Education at Cardiff Met weigh in with their favourite teachers from fiction (in both English and Welsh!), and then it’s time to hear Emma and Tom’s biggest classroom disasters. Be prepared for two sorry tales involving floor polish, rainwater, an infamous Chilean dictator… and the inevitable trips to hospital. To round off the episode, Becky and Amy return

Emma and Tom have taken the PGCE Podcast on the road again (and are hankering after their own PGCE tour bus) - this time to the brand new Ysgol Nantgwyn in Tonypandy. Nantgwyn is a 3-16 school that's a hotbed of innovation for the new curriculum in Wales. Its Head of Expressive Arts is Kath Lewis, a curriculum pioneer who's spent the last few years co-developing the new expressive arts Area of Learning and Experience (AoLE) for the new curriculum here in Wales. Kath talks to Emma and Tom about what it's been like co-constructing a whole new expressive arts curriculum in heated debates with her fellow pioneers, how you keep school colleagues around you on board when selling major change to them, and brings her own wellbeing tips for us to take on board. Kath has plenty of talented colleagues at Ysgol Nantgwyn, so the shoutout slot is no problem for her, and her 'something to try' is an approach to differentiation that gives us all food for thought. Something for everyone in here, hopefully - not just those wor

Emma and Tom are joined by Dr. Kate North to discuss creative writing: its place as a creative art, its interdisciplinary nature, and the fact that everyone has the right to write! Kate tells us how creative writing can be used as an innovative way of collecting research data, and how in the process of doing so it can gently break down language barriers, throw light on competing priorities and level the playing field between powerful professions and the public they serve. In the wellbeing slot, Kate tells us how she keeps motivated to write when nobody's cracking the whip on her, she shouts out to a student for whom an unfortunate diagnosis was the stimulus for becoming a writer, and gives us a creative writing prompt that has us all cringing even while we acknowledge its genius. Plus, as an added bonus, we didn't want to miss the opportunity of asking Kate to read one of her poems to us! We hope the one we asked for has something to say to all of you - we loved it. We hope you'll be back next time, when we'l

In their longest episode yet (a massive 51 minutes, so settle in!) Emma and Tom discuss the work of Australian educationalist John Hattie, and look into his famous 'visible learning' ranking of factors affecting pupils' learning and progress. The main focus of the discussion is 'jigsaw technique' - a highly-ranked strategy for pupil-led learning of content. The wellbeing slot takes a turn for the slightly bizarre, with an excellent tip from the world of outdoor survival that involves hot beverages. Our shoutout this time around goes to everyone at Teach First Cymru, and Tom gives us some ideas for thinking more systematically about how we put our pupils together to work in groups. Join us again next time for a very exciting guest episode featuring Dr. Kate North, Chair of Literature Wales, who'll be talking to us about creative writing and its place in your life! John Hattie's website is visible-learning.org The Belbin website is belbin.com Jigsaw technique is fully explained at jigsaw.org   Sections: Main d

Episode 5 is all about the joys of working in a cross-curricular (or interdisciplinary) way. Tom makes his way upstairs from his decidedly humble ground-floor room to Emma's glorious penthouse corner office, and proceeds to be rude about the view from the window... With that small misunderstanding ironed out, Emma and Tom describe a project they have been working on to bring drama and music together, and discuss how the proposed new education system in Wales encourages a breaking-down of the traditional dividing lines between subjects. What does effective cross-curricular teaching and learning look like? The wellbeing slot focuses on the importance of being aware of your mood, being able to label your emotions, and making the right decisions about what to do when you feel a certain way. The calorie-free takeaway is a warm-up that'll get your classes focused and having fun whatever your subject. And we shout out to the PGCE students starting to take on their full teaching load next week and wish them good luck

Emma and Tom tackle all things digital in episode 4! The introduction of the Digital Competence Framework in Wales, and the rise of digital technology in general, means that teachers need to be able to use a variety of techie tools with confidence and panache. Where do we stand on the debate about technology in the classroom, and how should we approach the arguments on both sides? The wellbeing slot takes a look at using social media to build a support community while on placement (though it works for serving teachers too!), Tom gives a shoutout to the PGCE Music class of 2018 with a montage created on their mobile phones, and Emma tells us about Finding Nemo round the back of a maths classroom in the Swiss Alps. See you all in a fortnight, when we'll be taking a look at cross-curricular teaching and learning!

Emma and Tom are joined this week by guest contributor Sally Bethell, Senior Lecturer in PGCE PE at Cardiff Met. Sally's research specialism is the relationships between student teachers and their mentors on placement, so she has plenty of good advice for student teachers about how to make the best impression, as well as tips for school mentors about how to ensure the student/mentor relationship is a productive and happy one. One of Sally's many claims to fame is that she teaches an enormous cohort of around 40 student PE teachers each year, and rarely loses a single student from the course. She shares her secrets to ensuring the wellbeing of her students, and celebrates a football specialist who tried her hand at teaching dance with spectacular results. Finally, in the 'something to try' slot, Sally suggest we all take a good look at the presentation of our resources. Follow us on twitter: @BethellSally, @ethayer_cmu and @thomasbreeze - or instagram: @PGCEPodcast. See you in a fortnight, when we'll be talkin

Emma and Tom try to get to the bottom of the difference between coaching and mentoring, and what's best for student teachers at different times in their course. The regular wellbeing slot explores an idea from David Allen's famous book 'Getting Things Done', we shout out to a multi-talented drama PGCE student from the 2017-18 cohort, and Tom finds a good use for an hour-long countdown timer in his lessons. Join us again in a fortnight, when we'll have a guest with us to put the theory into practice and discuss with us how student teachers can get the best from their mentor. (and vice versa!)

In their first attempt at a podcast all about the wonderful world of the PGCE, Emma and Tom sit in a boiling hot hotel room in Bolton musing on the BESA2018 conference we have attended. There were talks on everything from equity in international education to school improvement strategies. The wellbeing slot is all about taking the time to do something to enhance your own work life, we shout out to a performance poet from the 2016-17 PGCE drama cohort, and Emma's calorie-free takeout (!) is called 'power walk'. Spontaneous decisions to record using only the equipment you've brought to a conference don't always result in the best sound quality, so don't judge us on that yet! Normal service will be resumed once we're back in sunny Cardiff. We're on twitter at @ethayer_cmu and @thomasbreeze so please do come and say hello. If you want to know more about PISA, take a look here: https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/ If you've not come across John Hattie's work, check out his website: https://visible-learning.org/ See y

The second trailer for Emma & Tom's PGCE Podcast. Join us on September 7th for the very first episode.

Emma and Tom are coming soon with their brand-new podcast! Subscribe on iTunes or anywhere else you get your podcast fix. We're on twitter - @ethayer_cmu and @thomasbreeze - and this podcast is on Instagram - @pgcepodcast