The School Leadership Podcast

Jan 28 2025 80 ep. 30 mins 54
The School Leadership Podcast artwork

In NAHT's podcast series, you'll hear interviews with some of the leading voices in education covering topics and issues at the heart of leadership and learning.

  Education
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The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: what school leaders need to know

Jan 28 2025 23 mins  
Published in December and currently making its way through parliament, the government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill would bring about changes to laws affecting safeguarding and schools. The bill includes new rules on branded uniforms, an end to automatic academisation for schools judged to be ‘causing concern’, free breakfast clubs in state-funded primaries and a

How can we make school leadership sustainable?

Dec 19 2024 34 mins  
What does being a leader in a primary or secondary school today really involve? How does the role vary across the UK? And how can we make it more sustainable? In this episode of NAHT’s podcast, Professor Toby Greany of the University of Nottingham and Dr Tom Perry of the University of Warwick are joined by NAHT’s assistant general secretary James Bowen in a conversation addres

So far, so good? What impact has the new government had on schools?

Nov 26 2024 19 mins  
A little more than four months on since the general election, NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman reflects on working with the new government so far, why politicians must rebuild trust among school leaders and what social partnership in policymaking means in practice. He’s joined in conversation for this episode of NAHT’s School Leadership Podcast by NAHT assistant general se

Reducing workload and improving well-being: one trust’s journey

Oct 15 2024 34 mins  
From ditching performance targets to allowing teachers time off – hear how a multi-academy trust is overhauling its policies in a bid to tackle workload and improve the well-being of its teaching staff. Jonny Uttley, chief executive officer at The Education Alliance – a trust based in the East Riding of Yorkshire – speaks to NAHT assistant general secretary James Bowen about

Extra episode: exploring staff absence protection for schools

Sep 24 2024 19 mins  
What does a really good school staff absence insurance policy look like? How can schools support staff well-being and lower absenteeism? What does having an ethical approach to school absence provision mean? In this coffee-break edition of the School Leadership Podcast, you’ll hear Holly Harding, chief operating officer of the non-profit Education Mutual, answer these questions

How do we improve education policymaking?

Sep 16 2024 53 mins  
Whether it's synthetic phonics, the curriculum or school inspection, how are our education policies actually made? Why do they often fail the sector they are intended to serve? And how can we make sure the people actually delivering education to children in schools have a say in what's decided? This episode examines the state of education policymaking in England and how we

Rethinking the curriculum: creating an inclusive primary education

Jul 24 2024 19 mins  
Where do you start to if you want to diversify the primary curriculum? Based on her experience as a primary head teacher, Sarah Wordlaw shares ideas and insight for all school leaders, along with a message for the new government, which has just announced it’ll soon be embarking on an independent review of curriculum and assessment. Sarah Wordlaw is the author of Time to Shake U

An election special

Jun 26 2024 20 mins  
With the 4 July 2024 general election approaching, the School Leadership Podcast explores NAHT’s manifesto for education For Their Future with the union’s general secretary Paul Whiteman and assistant general secretary James Bowen. They talk through NAHT’s key education priorities of recruitment and retention, SEND and school buildings, and explain why our next government ne

Top of the class? Insights from some of the world’s highest-performing school systems

May 13 2024 33 mins  
What can we learn from the world’s top-performing school systems? Join Geoff Masters, CEO of the Australian Council for Educational Research, and NAHT assistant general secretary James Bowen as they discuss the findings of research into the world’s highest-performing systems, including their approaches to assessment. Professor Geoff Masters’ research Building a world-class l

Rethinking leadership development

Apr 09 2024 34 mins  
Liz Robinson, CEO of multi-academy trust and charity Big Education, believes there’s a significant gap between what national professional qualifications (NPQs) cover and what school leaders really need in order to be equipped with the knowledge and skills for their role. Here, she speaks to NAHT assistant general secretary James Bowen about Big Education’s Rethinking Leadershi