For once, we’re recording on location in an actual school during half-term, complete with strategically placed blankets to recreate the “bedroom acoustics” we normally rely on. From there, we catch up on the week: a long drive in an ageing car that can’t decide how it wants to overheat, and a golden wedding anniversary trip to Centre Parcs — described here as a strangely beautiful open prison. If you’ve been, you’ll know exactly what we mean.

Then we get to the main event: a list from a DBS-check provider claiming to explain the “Ten Challenges of Teaching and How to Overcome Them.” The topics will sound familiar to anyone in education — behaviour, workload, SEND, communication, burnout, leadership pressure, safeguarding, motivation, and paperwork.

The problem? Most of the advice boils down to “work harder, but positively.”

We pick apart the corporate language, the Americanised assumptions, and the way genuinely difficult issues like behaviour management, safeguarding, and family challenges get flattened into meaningless bullet points and LinkedIn optimism.

If you’ve ever rolled your eyes at unrealistic teacher advice, this episode will feel both cathartic and painfully familiar. Subscribe, share it with a colleague who needs the laugh, and leave us a review.

What would you put on a genuinely useful list of teaching challenges?

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Then reality bites. We dive into exam season and the world of secondary school SEND management, where access arrangements have to be evidence-based, strictly compliant, and permanently inspection-ready. We talk through a recent Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) inspection that created months of stress and paperwork before being over in minutes — and ask why UK schools seem trapped in a constant cycle of compliance anxiety.

Finally, we put a viral list of “back to school teacher hacks” on trial. From lollipop sticks and visual timetables to classroom décor and “important folders” that sound dangerously close to a GDPR incident waiting to happen, we ask the only question that matters: does any of this actually reduce teacher workload and improve classroom management, or is it just more jobs for teachers already running on fumes?

If you enjoy honest staff-room chat, secondary school comedy, SEND and exams insight, and two teachers questioning modern education, subscribe, share the show with a colleague, and leave a review.

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We revisit frozen sandwiches made on Sunday nights, budget crisps in blank packaging, and the strange mix of shame and comedy that existed in every school canteen.

We’ve also reached Episode 7 — the point where many podcasts quietly disappear into “podfade.” Instead, we talk about what it’s actually like launching a teacher podcast: obsessively refreshing Spotify stats for tiny dopamine hits, experimenting with Instagram clips, abandoning an X account, neglecting a lonely Facebook page, and trying to grow a very small YouTube following.

Then things take an unexpected turn.

Students were never the target audience, yet they’ve become the fastest people to find the podcast — quoting clips back to us, asking for high fives in the corridor, and even attempting to negotiate detentions.

If you enjoy funny, honest conversations about teaching, secondary education, classroom culture, and the internet colliding with school life, this episode’s for you.

Subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave us a review — we’d genuinely love your feedback.

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We’re Ben and James, two secondary teachers, and in this episode we use this ambitious countdown to explore what classroom essentials really mean. From budget pressures to the little day-to-day systems that keep teachers afloat, we talk about what actually makes a difference in classrooms.

We also dig into assumptions about classroom environment and learning, challenging the idea that more colour or more displays automatically improve focus—especially for learners with SEND.

Join us for honest, sharp-edged teacher talk, practical insights, and a few laughs along the way. Subscribe, share with a fellow educator, and leave a review to help other teachers discover the show.

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In this episode, we put a popular “7 ways to improve teacher wellbeing” guide to the test—through the lens of teachers juggling five lessons, duty, and a flood of “quick question” emails.

When the first tips are “move more” and “breathe,” we ask: is this genuine support, or are teachers being quietly blamed for systemic problems?

In this episode:

• Why most teacher wellbeing advice falls apart by Period 3
• The gap between school reality and wellbeing guidance
• The problem with the “just be more resilient” narrative
• What teachers actually need to feel better at work

If you’re a teacher feeling burnt out, overwhelmed, or tired of surface-level wellbeing advice—this episode is for you.

Join the conversation:
What’s the most genuinely helpful wellbeing support you’ve experienced in a school?

Follow the show, share it with a colleague, and leave a review—your support helps more teachers find us.

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In this episode, we unpack the parts that the checklist skips. Why do GCSE requirements sometimes feel oddly disconnected from the subject you want to teach? How do funding and bursaries quietly shape people’s decisions? And why does classroom experience matter far more than most applicants realise?

We also talk honestly about the different routes into teaching—PGCE, School Direct, Teach First and more—and the tension between seeing teaching as a “vocation” versus something you fall into through circumstance, bad luck, or simple pragmatism.

Along the way, we share stories from training and placements, including the very real issue of being placed somewhere you can’t physically get to on time without a car.

We finish with our takeaways: the formal route might be “graduate, train, qualify,” but the emotional journey looks more like hope, panic, and a lot of caffeine.

If you’re thinking about becoming a teacher—or you’re already in and quietly questioning your life choices—this episode offers honesty, humour, and a few uncomfortable truths.

Subscribe, share this with someone considering teacher training, and leave us a review. And tell us: what’s the missing step in the “how to become a teacher” guide?

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So we do what any two qualified secondary teachers would do — we print it out and start reading it properly.

What follows is a line-by-line reality check.

We unpack the idea of “impact” and what it actually looks like when most corridor conversations are about shirts, toilets, and getting to period two on time. We talk about autonomy in the classroom — yes, you bring your personality, but curriculum pressure, accountability, and timetables can quietly reshape what teaching looks like in practice.

We also share stories from our own experience, where recruitment language starts to feel a bit like advertising that has never met a staffroom.

Then we get into progression, pay, pensions, and the great teaching myth: the holidays. We’re not here to exaggerate, but we are honest about what the job does to your evenings, your headspace, and your energy.

James brings the SENCO perspective, Ben brings leadership experience, and we land in the same place: teaching can be brilliant, meaningful, and genuinely funny — but it’s also far messier than the brochure suggests.

If you’re thinking about becoming a teacher, or you’re already in it and want to feel a bit less alone, press play. And if you’ve ever read a job advert for teaching and thought “that doesn’t sound like my school at all,” you’re in the right place.

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We pick apart the claims one by one — from generalist vs specialist teaching, to workload, planning, marking, and the idea that pastoral care somehow disappears after Year 6. What sounds neat on paper starts to fall apart quickly when you’ve actually worked in schools.

We also compare notes on the uncomfortable reality of crossing phases, including a parents’ evening that makes a secondary teacher realise how little we understand about primary routines, language, and expectations.

From there, we dig into transition, curriculum continuity, and the ongoing problem: everyone says primary and secondary should talk more, but nobody builds the time or structure to make it happen.

Along the way we end up asking why science is always in labs, why behaviour systems change so sharply, and why “rewards” in education go from stickers to postcards that may or may not mean anything.

If you work in education — or just enjoy hearing myths about schools get dismantled — this one’s for you.

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We’re Ben and James — two secondary school staff attempting to make a podcast that’s actually worth your commute. To keep it on track, we structure each episode like a lesson: register, objective, “I do, we do, you do”… and then watch it fall apart.

In this episode, we follow a “how to start a podcast” guide and see what actually holds up when you’re recording for real. Expect questionable equipment decisions, DIY recording setups, and the reality of using things like the Zoom PodTrak P4 and Audacity without fully knowing what we’re doing.

Along the way, we get distracted by behaviour systems, phone calls home, staffroom culture, and the strange language of school “vision”.

If you work in education, think of it as informal CPD. If you don’t, it’s a behind-the-scenes look at what school actually feels like.

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We turn up, we say some things about secondary schools, and we try to do better.

 Episodes 1-3 drop on Monday, April 20th at 6:00 AM.

Subscribe now to join the register.

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