The Well Teacher Jamie Thom

If you are anything like me, I’m sure you would agree that the past half term has been a challenging one. As wonderful as it is being back doing our core purpose in classrooms with young people, we are stretched both emotionally and in the extensive new demands on our time. 
It is why this interview with Mary Myatt will, I hope, prove particularly helpful. Mary is a towering and inspiring figure in education, a former teacher and inspector, she now works with leaders and teachers to improve what happens in our schools. She is the author of four brilliant books on education, and her latest ‘Back on Track’ has just been published by John Catt. 
 In our discussion, we explore how we can do fewer things in greater depth – evaluating what is really essential for us to focus on as teachers. From curriculum decisions, to how teachers can differentate efficiently and effectively, this is a conversation that will hopefully help teachers to take control over the work-life balance .
 I hope you enjoy the episode and it helps, like it did for me, to refocus your thinking on what really matters in our schools. 

I’m really pleased that the final espiode of this series of the podcast is an absolute cracker. Bruce Robertson is a Deputy Headteacher and author of ‘The Teaching Delusion’. He also has an infectious enthusiasm for all things teaching and learning – believing it should be central to everything we do in schools.
In this episode we look at what really constitutes great teaching, and how schools can generate a culture of continuous improvement. We also examine the kind of professional learning that will really help develop teaching. Finally, we explore Bruce’s terrific lesson evaluation toolkit, which has transformed teaching and learning in his own school.
I hope you enjoy the episode, and it makes you feel as enthusiastic and passionate about teaching and learning as I did! 
It is a great place to end the first series of the well teacher podcast on. I have loved doing the podcast, and would like to thank all the brilliant guests for coming on. Thank you also to people who have been listening, I hope you have found it helpful. The podcast will be back with a weekly episode from the start of September.
Until then, take care and have a wonderful summer!

How can we keep teachers in the profession? It is a question that many are wrestling with, and the retention rates suggest that in many ways, we are struggling to find the answers.
Haili Hughes, has invested a significant amount of time exploring this issue. She is the author of the excellent new book ‘Preserving Positivity’: Choosing to stay in the classroom and banishing a negative mindset’.
As you will hear, she interviewed hundreds of teachers in preparation for the book, hoping to unpick practical ways in which teachers can overcome some of the challenges we face as a profession.
We explore three of those main driving factors that have resulted in teachers leaving the profession: work-life balance, accountability, and behavior. In each discussion, Haili gives brilliant and practical advice on how we can maintain a positive mindset and not allow ourselves to be overcome by stress and anxiety.
I’m sure, like me, lots of listeners will be thinking carefully about some of the changes they want to make when we eventually return back to schools. I hope this interview offers some guidance on how to make teaching a manageable and enjoyable career choice, one in which we can sustain for many years.

In both of my books there has been chapters on the nature and benefits of a meditation habit. It is something I am hugely passionate about, and has had a real impact on my own stress levels over the past five years. In this chapter from 'A Quiet Education', Tackling Teacher Burn Out, I argued that it is one way in which we can prevent ourselves from becoming overwhelmed by the various demands that teaching places on us. 

For me, it has become an essential way to manage feelings of stress and anxiety, something that sets me up for the start of the day. With the stress that the current situation is causing, and the demands that teachers will face in the new academic year, I feel that it could be a hugely helpful skill for more teachers to learn and practise.
Given this meditation background, and profound belief that it can have real benefits for others, I was absolutely delighted that Richard Burnett, who is the director of The Mindfullness in Schools project, gave into my pestering and has come on to the podcast. Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP) is a national, not-for-profit charity for young people and schools. Their aim is to improve the lives of a generation of children and young people by making a genuine, positive difference to their mental health and wellbeing. They are doing amazing work, and have an aspiration to reach a million children in the next five years.
In our conversation we explore some of the misconceptions about mindfulness, and why some people have been put off from poorly delivered staff training, or exaggerated claims about the impact it can have. We then look at the beneifts of developing a mindfulness habit for teachers, and how you might go about starting a habit. We then delve into some of the superb work that the mindfulness in schools project is doing with young people, and the hugely positive impact of that work.
Richard is a hugely passionate and knowledgable guest, so I hope you enjoy our conversation.

The nature of our curriculum is a hugely topical and vital conversation for educators at the moment. In terms of our capacity to thrive and develop confidence as teachers, our understanding of the nuances of the curriculum, and how best to deliver it, is a vital exploration.
Do we know how best to sequence our curriculum, are we confident pracititioners of our subjects – and what should we be teaching our young people?
These are questions at the heart of the fantastic new Research Ed guide to Curriculum edited by Claire Sealy and published by John Catt. The book has eight contributors, who each share fascinating thoughts on the curriculum.
For this episode of the The Well Teacher podcast, I have been lucky enough to speak to Claire Sealy, Neil Almond and Ruth Ashbee. We dive into the curriculum debates, unpick why curriculum is essential to school improvement – look at how we can really build up our subject knowledge, and examine what curriculum coherence really is.
The book, and the interviews in this episode have blown my mind this week, so I hope you find this episode as thought provoking and interesting as I have.

It was a real privilege to have the opportunity to talk to today’s guest on 'The Well Teacher Podcast': Professor Paul Gilbert. Paul Gilbert is a professor of clinical psychology, and the author of over twenty books, including the bestsellers ‘The Compassionate Mind’ and ‘Overcoming Depression.’ 
He was recently awarded an OBE for his services to psychology, after a forty year career. He established the Compassionate Mind Foundation in 2006 as an international charity with the mission statement: "To promote wellbeing through the scientific understanding and application of compassion.”
In our conversation we explore what that compassionate approach to difficulties is, and how it is vital during the current situation. Paul then offers teachers a range of practical strategies that might help manage the stress and anxiety of the current situation, including how we can make the return to school based working as calm and easeful for ourselves and young people as possible.
Towards the end of the conversation we also explore how we can best support young people both through home working, and when they do return to school – in what ever setting that may be.
I hope that you find the interview as helpful as I did, in this particularly stressful and demanding time for everyone in education.