Christopher talks with Montessori parent, Steve Lawrence, and Montessori teacher, Rhianna Hayllor, about the philosophy and practice of Montessori education in the UK and beyond.

It will come as little surprise to most that work in education to hear that teachers are leaving the classroom in their droves. This is a pattern being repeated around the world, but in England the statistics are above the OECD average, with 7.2% of fully qualified teachers resigning in comparison to a 4.2% average. 91% of these are resignations in England, in comparison to an average of 55% across OECD countries. Membership of Facebook groups which support and promote life beyond the classroom run into the tens of thousands… but why are teachers in England resigning at a higher rate than our international colleagues? Is it workload? Unsustainable expectations? Behaviour? Ofsted? Working conditions? What do you think is driving teachers to leave? What would solve the increasing retention crisis in education? Should the government be holding exit interviews to try and get to the heart of the problem? Join Rae Whitehouse, Carl Smith and Liz Webb live at 10am on the Points of View panel to share your views in part 2 of the debate.

In this third episode of the PSHE Update, PSHE Educator Clare Price considers the importance of teaching about breast cancer in men, supporting staff when planning lessons about the danger of boys obsessing about muscles and how we can update our lessons on online safety to include AI.

Articles referenced:

Campaigner praises Coronation Street male breast cancer storyline - BBC News

https://breastcancernow.org/

Boys and men are obsessing over muscle. Doctors are worried - BBC Reel

Experience AI

Is primary school the ideal time to begin learning another language? Darren Lester and Tom Rogers are joined by Language Angels founders Francesca and Paolo to explore why children aged 5–11 may have a unique advantage when learning languages. They discuss brain development, pronunciation, confidence and the wider benefits for memory, problem-solving and cultural awareness. Drawing on Francesca’s 27 years in the classroom, the conversation also examines how primary teachers can deliver engaging language lessons, even when they are not language specialists themselves, and how schools can build a curriculum that develops pupils’ knowledge progressively. Plus, Francesca and Paolo share the story behind Language Angels, its journey from a classroom idea to a nationwide teaching platform, and what the future holds for language learning in primary schools. Check out Language Angels here: https://languageangels.com/eng

Authenticity is a series of choices.

One of the main causes of emotional rest deficit is wearing a "mask", acting how we think we need to in order to fit in/be successful/be liked.

This is a major issue for teachers and school leaders.

Teachers would agree that it is important to develop their practise. But is this sometimes going too far? Are you a teacher working very hard for significant extra hours beyond your contract, pushing yourself to be better, only to be told in observations and appraisals that it's not good enough? In this show, Yannick and Tony reflect on the line between accountability and the need to improve and the feeling that no matter what you do, it won't be seen as sufficient . Teachers have high expectations placed upon them by wider society, by leaders and trusts, and by external agencies like Ofsted and the DFE. Its right that we are accountable. But have the expectations started to get out of control?

AI is becoming increasingly embedded in education, but the pace of change can make it difficult to separate genuine opportunity from hype, risk and pressure to keep up. In this show, Paula is joined by Nicole O’Connor and Louise Kerr to explore what AI and digital literacy could look like in practice. We’ll consider how AI is already being used by pupils, teachers and schools, what young people might need to understand about it, how schools can approach technological change thoughtfully, and whether AI is really delivering on its promises around workload and efficiency. We’ll also consider the importance of critical thinking, professional judgement, data privacy and long-term implementation and ask what we might actually want the future of AI and technology in education to look like.

In this show, Darren continues to look at how teacher wellbeing can lead to better job performance as he explores the literature which links job satisfaction to teaching outcomes.