Emma & Tom Talk Teaching

Emma O'Dubhchair & Tom Breeze
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We’re Emma (PGCE Secondary Drama) and Tom (PGCE Secondary Music) from Cardiff Metropolitan University. Welcome to our podcast, in which we muse about the joys of working with student teachers, the expressive arts, research, and teaching in general. Expect deep discussions, topical debates, celebrations of great practice, and things to steal for your own lessons! Our primary audience is student teachers and early-career teachers, but we hope there's something here for everyone who's involved in the world of education, whether you're new or experienced. Most of our episodes involve a main discussion (often with one or more guests), and two regular slots: something interesting and something to try. And when we hit the holidays, we bring out some weird and wonderful talking points from the internet and just have a chat. Podcast artwork by Beth Blandford (@blandoodles on Facebook and Instagram) Music by Cameron Stewart

  1. TRAILER: Join us tomorrow for the first week of our Senedd Elections Special series!

    SEASON 8 TRAILER

    TRAILER: Join us tomorrow for the first week of our Senedd Elections Special series!

    Next week we'll have interviews with the Conservatives, the Green party and Labour. Here on Emma and Tom Talk Teaching there's analysis after every interview with Tom and Dr Gareth Evans from the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David. Join us on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday for our first three episodes! This Senedd Elections Special series is a co-production of Emma and Tom Talk Teaching and the Impact Podcast.

    2 min
  2. TRAILER: Senedd Elections Special Series

    SEASON 8 TRAILER

    TRAILER: Senedd Elections Special Series

    As Wales's elections to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) draw nearer, the polls continue to suggest that we might see a major redrawing of the political landscape here. Since devolution in 1999, Labour has always held power. That's a quarter of a century of government, with education one of the policy areas that was devolved from Westminster by the Blair government. So we thought it was worth finding out what the six major parties contesting the election here had to offer in terms of education policy. After all, with other big issues dominating the news, there's always a danger of education being overshadowed in mainstream news coverage. We've joined forces with Jane Miller and Finola Wilson from Impact Wales, and will release our interviews with all six parties simultaneously on our podcast feeds during the next two weeks. Here's the schedule: 16th March - Conservative 17th March - Green 19th March - Labour 23rd March - Liberal Democrats 24th March - Plaid Cymru 26th March - Reform UK Then, on 22nd April we'll bring you a special episode analysing everything we've found out from the interviews. Here on Emma and Tom Talk Teaching you'll hear each interview unpacked and analysed by Tom and Dr Gareth Evans, Director of Education Policy at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David. We'll aim to bring an impartial view of each party's offerings, expressing our own independent, hopefully non-partisan opinions which don't represent those of our respective universities. Over on the Impact Podcast, you'll hear Jane and Finola's thoughts after each interview. Remember you can watch the episodes over on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@talkteachingpod

    2 min

  3. 6 MAR

    Teachers' Curriculum Conversations with Dr Mary Woolley

    Friend of the podcast Dr Mary Woolley joins us on the line from Canterbury for this episode, to discuss a research project about teachers' curriculum conversations. The Curriculum for Wales makes the suggestion that if learners are given the opportunity to make 'powerful connections' between subject disciplines, their overall learning can be more meaningful. The curriculum framework empowers schools designing their curriculum to structure learning experiences in more flexible ways than have previously been the case. Our research project, Cultivating Deeper Interdisciplinary Conversations has been funded by Templeton World Charity Foundation to find out more about what this looks like in practice. Cardiff Met have joined forces with the National Institute for Christian Education Research (NICER) at Canterbury Christ Church University, who are leading the work. Today, Mary joins us to talk through the results of a survey of secondary school teachers all over Wales, to find out what conversations actually look like on the ground. You can find out more about the project by subscribing to the Nicernews Substack here. ---------------------------------------------------- Recorded in studio B2.15 at Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus on 23rd January 2026

    48 min

  4. 20 FEB

    'A National Plan for Music Education' with Dr Elizabeth MacGregor and Dr Viv John

    Wales and England have had different education systems for more than 25 years now, so it’s a weird coincidence that both countries published a ‘National Plan for Music Education’ in the same year - 2022.  This was an opportunity that Tom and friends of the podcast Dr Elizabeth MacGregor and Dr Viv John, all being music education specialists, couldn’t pass up. They’ve published, and presented in various events, an analysis of the two plans. The analysis aims to spotlight the presumptions, values and hidden agendas underlying the documents from both governments, and there are some interesting conclusions to be had.  If you’re not a music education person, there’s still something in this for you because the analysis uses a framework called What’s the Problem Represented to Be, which is a great way of digging into, and uncovering the motivations behind, what might seem at first to be relatively uncontroversial policies and plans.  Thanks to Dr Viv for joining Tom in the studio, and to Dr Elizabeth for appearing down-the-line, complete with honorary research team member, Walnut the Dog. If you haven’t dipped a toe into the YouTube versions of the podcast, this might be the ideal moment to take a look! Finally, if you’re someone with an interest in music education research, whether that’s as an academic, research student or practitioner with an interest in research anywhere in the world, you may want to know about GRiME. Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Group for Research in Music Education is a collective of academics at all stages of their research careers, and from several universities, who meet regularly to get things done in what can feel a very niche field. Why not get in touch with us via Tom: tbreeze@cardiffmet.ac.uk? ———————————————————————— Recorded in studio B2.15 at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Cyncoed Campus on 6th and 20th November 2025

    1h 19m

  5. 6 FEB

    Immersing Pupils in a New Language with Dr Mirain Rhys and Dr Katharine Young

    Wales is a country in which two languages (English and Welsh) have equal status in law. So parents can choose whether their children are educated through the medium of English or Welsh. There are lots of interesting issues that arise when pupils educated in Welsh come from homes where English is mainly spoken, and these issues are interesting to teachers anywhere in the world who work with pupils where a different language is spoken at home to the one being used in the classroom. We welcome Dr Mirain Rhys and Dr Katharine Young to the studio to discuss their research into language immersion, which is where pupils receive an immersive intervention in the language to help them make progress in the classroom. They've got plenty of advice about what teachers and parents can do to support pupils whose home language is different from that which they experience in school. You can find the Welsh Government page about this topic (with plenty of Mirain and Katharine's work featured!) here. ----------------------------------- Recorded in Studio B2.15 at Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus on 25th June 2025.

    56 min

  6. 23 JAN

    Pupil Health and Wellbeing with Drs Chris and Suzy Peach

    Most of the guests who pass through our studio are teachers of some kind, so it’s a rare treat to welcome some people who are from a slightly different world, but who have taken a real interest in helping out the profession with their specialist insights! Chris and Suzy Peach are both doctors, and decided that they wanted to make something that could help young people with their health and wellbeing. Their creation is the Peach Wellness Academy, which is now available for schools and has a wealth of resources aimed at helping young people help themselves.  Chris and Suzy tell us some amazing (and quite worrying) things about what’s going on with the health and wellbeing of young people, we try to dig into why some of it is happening, and what we need to be aware of in order to address some worrying trends.  Thanks to Chris and Suzy for coming all the way from Scotland to join us in the studio! You can find out all about Peach Wellness Academy at peachwellnessacademy.com ————————————— Recorded in studio B2.15 at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Cyncoed Campus on 2nd October 2025

    1 hr

  7. 9 JAN

    A Whole-School Literacy Policy with Nicola Lo Celso

    After welcoming Kelly Bubbins from Willows High School in Cardiff to our studio a year ago, we're delighted to be having a chat with one of Kelly's colleagues. Nicola Lo Celso is literacy coordinator at the school, and has been responsible for developing the school's literacy policy. Listeners who remember our discussion with Kelly last year will know that Willows have a strong view about how they want to do things, and we've always found it rewarding to dig into that and see how the school's vision leads to specific things happening in classrooms. Nicola tells us about the school's potentially controversial emphasis on booklets for all subjects, while explaining how she works with subject specialists to make this happen, and outlining the nuts and bolts of what's going on when they are designed. Thanks to Nicola for coming in - with literacy a perennial hot potato, it's always good to hear from someone who's making decisions on the front line. ---------------------------------------- Recorded in Studio B2.15 at Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus on 25th June 2025.

    52 min

  8. 26/12/2025

    Christmas Special 2025!

    It's time for our notoriously long and self-indulgent Christmas special, in which we bring in strange, interesting and (sometimes) festive things we've found, to see what others make of them.  This year we also welcome Emma's stunt-double, Sian Wickersham, who's standing in for some episodes this season, to join in the fun.  We've got everything from poems to articles, festive food and unsung heroes of music (of course), and we hope it whiles away a bit of washing up or a long walk for you over the break.  We'll be back in 2026 with our normal service. Merry Christmas from all of us at the podcast! ----------------------------------------- Recorded in studio D0.12 at Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus on 23rd July 2025 (yes, really...)

    1h 29m
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About

We’re Emma (PGCE Secondary Drama) and Tom (PGCE Secondary Music) from Cardiff Metropolitan University. Welcome to our podcast, in which we muse about the joys of working with student teachers, the expressive arts, research, and teaching in general. Expect deep discussions, topical debates, celebrations of great practice, and things to steal for your own lessons! Our primary audience is student teachers and early-career teachers, but we hope there's something here for everyone who's involved in the world of education, whether you're new or experienced. Most of our episodes involve a main discussion (often with one or more guests), and two regular slots: something interesting and something to try. And when we hit the holidays, we bring out some weird and wonderful talking points from the internet and just have a chat. Podcast artwork by Beth Blandford (@blandoodles on Facebook and Instagram) Music by Cameron Stewart

Information

  • Creator
    Emma O'Dubhchair & Tom Breeze
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    218
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Emma & Tom Talk Teaching
  • Show Website
    Emma & Tom Talk Teaching