All Episodes

As headlines warn of university closures and staff cuts, Professor Huw Morris offers a deeper look at the forces reshaping UK higher education. In conversation with Dr Elin Arfon, he explains why some institutions are struggling more than others, and what role government, regulation, and research can play in building resilience. They also explore the growing shift toward tertiary education and skills development, and what this means for future students. Useful links from this episode: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2025/aug/can-uk-universities-survive-and-thrive-rftrw-s25e03 Image: Alarichall / Wikimedia Commons

In this episode, Louise Stoll tells us her story of 'improve-isation'. Louise tells Mark and Elaine about her career to date. She talks about the importance of building capacity for learning and supporting pupils to thrive in an uncertain future. "You need people to enable you to take risks, to say it's not going to be perfect the first time. It really is important for leaders at all levels to encourage people to try things out and to be there to support and to learn." Full show notes and transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2025/jul/professional-learning-its-not-just-neck-staffroom-s05e06

In this episode, Dr Benjamin Abrams speaks with Hend Aly and Dr Heather Rolfe about their research into public attitudes and how these views shape migration policy and the future of higher education. They explore surprising findings from their report, the role of media narratives, and the strategic challenges facing UK universities. With global competition for talent heating up, this conversation dives into what's at stake for the UK’s academic and economic future. Full show notes and links to research: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2025/jul/britains-got-international-student-talent-what-do-they-really-think-them-rftrw-s25e02

What does supporting teacher wellbeing look like? And how can school leaders create a culture of wellbeing? Samantha O'Sullivan's research finds that teacher wellbeing is found in authentic recognition of their work, appropriate CPD, time to do the job well, good colleague relationships, and autonomy to make decisions for themselves. In other words, all things that leaders can influence for the better. "Good leadership is what's supporting wellbeing... The core, the centre of it, is a culture of good strong leadership." Full show notes and transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2025/jul/wellbeing-dont-give-me-things-pretty-my-life-staffroom-s05e05

Professor Gill Wyness shares her expertise on the intricacies of university funding, the student finance system, and the ongoing efforts to ensure equitable access and attainment. Discover why the current funding model is under strain, how it impacts students from all backgrounds, and what urgent reforms are needed to secure the future of this vital sector. We also hear about the role higher education plays in fostering economic growth and social mobility. Full show notes and links: http://uclioe.info/4nohPrg

Professor Eileen Kennedy shares her experiences regarding the ethical dilemmas encountered in the co-design context, where research participants are actively involved. What unforeseen ethical challenges might surface as the research progresses? Could there be situations where obtaining participant consent is not enough? How should one proceed in such cases? In this podcast episode, Eileen and Hakan aim to explore these questions together. Full show notes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2025/jun/beyond-consent-ethical-dilemmas-co-design-research-research-ethics-s01e04

We explore the growing financial pressures on UK universities and what they mean for the future of higher education. From frozen tuition fees to the reliance on international students, the system is reaching a tipping point. But alongside the challenges, we highlight the research-driven solutions already emerging. Through expert insights and real-world stories, we uncover how universities are adapting and what sustainability could truly look like. Guests: Professor Gill Wyness Hend Aly and Heather Rolfe Professor Huw Morris

Dr Michelle Cannon joins Dr Hakan Ergül to explore the ethical dilemmas that arise when using digital technologies for creative work in the classroom. How do we strike a balance between guiding students in their storytelling while preserving their agency? What strategies can researchers employ to navigate the complexities of confidentiality, privacy, and consent in digital production? In this episode, they discuss how digital tools can empower students, fostering creativity and amplifying their voices without compromising their autonomy. Full show notes and transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2025/jun/embracing-chaos-creativity-agency-and-ethics-digital-storytelling-research-ethics-s01e03

Evelyn Forde shares her lived experience, from not feeling she mattered in school to becoming headteacher of the year. Evelyn tells Mark and Elaine about finding her way back into education, after feeling like she didn't belong and was disillusioned with school. She talks about the importance of making both children and adults feel like they matter – which is shaped by one's actions, behaviour and attitudes. Cultivating this sense of belonging is integral to Evelyn's practice as an educator and a leader. "It's about nurturing leadership without bias, being yourself and just being nice." Full show notes and transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2025/jun/making-sure-everyone-matters-evelyn-forde-tells-herstory-staffroom-s05e04

Dr Sara Young reflects on her experiences collaborating with children in the context of migration. How feasible is it to uphold ethical principles amid the uncertainties of the field? Taking the participants' vulnerability into account, what ethical considerations should be made both before and during fieldwork to ensure that children are actively included as co-researchers? Sara shares her valuable suggestions and insights on ethics, in conversation with Dr Hakan Ergül. Full show notes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2025/may/empowering-agency-collaborating-children-context-migration-research-ethics-s01e02

Sarah and Phoebe from Freshwater Theatre show how drama builds creativity and empathy... and can improve wellbeing for teachers too. Sarah and Phoebe explore how drama can be a vehicle for teachers to enhance lessons and deepen learning – but also a way to inject fun into the classroom, for both students and the teachers themselves. They talk about how drama can enable teachers to have more agency over what they teach and how they teach it, especially when it comes to adapting their curriculum to the needs of their pupils and their communities. "Drama is the best multi-tool you'll find. It's really malleable.. and can bring people and teachers joy alike." Full show notes and transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2025/may/has-creativity-gone-out-fashion-no-its-more-important-ever-staffroom-s05e03

What ethical questions does working with young children raise? A conversation with Dr Karen Wilkes. How should researchers approach collaborating with children in creative ways to ensure the research is beneficial for all involved? In this conversation, Karen discusses her thoughts and experiences on research ethics, offering advice to researchers working with children on ethics preparation prior to fieldwork. Karen shares insights from her recent research on the societal repercussions of rapid gentrification in London, aiming to document the transformations through the eyes of primary school students. Full show notes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2025/may/working-withfor-children-documenting-social-change-research-ethics-s01e01

Julie Dockrell talks to us about how oral language is the foundation for all other learning and what the implications of this are for teachers. Julie talks about how her research aims to help children develop a flexible use of language across different contexts, for instance through a programme that supports children's conversational skills. She explores the importance of developing children's inference skills and oral comprehension by encouraging children to talk about and understand the texts they're reading. Julie also discusses the different types of multilingual classrooms and how teachers can address the challenges of teaching when there are many different languages in a classroom – though she also emphasises the importance of acknowledging the diversity of languages and translanguaging in particular. Full show notes, links and transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2025/feb/if-we-dont-create-opportunities-talk-we-build-disadvantage-staffroom-s05e02

There is no form of culture or society without music – it's something that's part of us all. We take a look at the power of music, and how it intersects with technology, health and wellbeing. Show notes and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2025/mar/we-are-all-musical-rftrw-s24e03

In this episode, Guy Claxton takes us beyond simplified conceptions of the learning sciences and explains why teachers are sometimes vulnerable to fads and trends. "We undersell ourselves as educators, educating young people for the future and for life, if we lazily assume that all we mean by learning is the kind of thing that leads to good grades in schools." Guy shares his hopes as an educator – to help young people develop beyond just the periodic table, the Tudors and examination technique, and cultivate something of more lasting value. He hopes to design a classroom culture that isn't solely defined by Ofsted, GCSEs or A-level results, probing at the question: what are you teaching? What are you teaching for? Full show notes and transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2025/jan/asking-awkward-questions-staffroom-s05e01

Those in creative sectors have made it loud and clear that there’s been a lack of funding and a disregard for the arts in the school curriculum. We hear about why media, arts and play is so important from an educational perspective. Full show notes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2025/jan/state-arts-and-media-education-and-whats-play-here-rftrw-s24e02

The IOE Podcast is delighted to share with you an episode from the UK Data Service's ‘Experts’ Expert Podcast’ series . Professor Jennifer Symonds, Director of CLOSER, Robin Flaig, Co-Director of the UK Longitudinal Linkage Collaboration and Chief Operations Officer for Generation Scotland, and Dr Nigel de Noronha, Research Associate at the University of Manchester, discuss their personal data journeys and what they have found so rewarding about working with data. This episode was first released as part of Love Data Week 2024, where you can listen to more episodes where the group highlight the impact that data and research has had on society.

We look at the potential power of learning and understanding other languages to take on the challenge of bridging cultural differences in an increasingly divided world. Show notes and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2025/jan/how-do-you-improve-language-learning-and-intercultural-understanding-rftrw-s24e01

It won’t come as a surprise to realise that the arts are struggling right now. This is certainly not just a UK-centric issue. When you look at how the cost of living crisis has impacted society, usually policies around the arts are slashed or go unnoticed. In this season of Research for the Real World, we’re exploring the contribution of IOE research on Language, Culture and Arts Education to turbo-charge this much-needed reset. Joining us will be experts from the IOE to unpack the key issues at play. Professor Zhu Hua will talk about the key pressing issues facing language learning and intercultural communication. Professor John Potter and Annie Davey will share artistic research collaborations with external partners and what that means in terms of developing arts education. Professor Evangelos Himonides joins us to talk about how research projects around music can impact our health and wellbeing, and the importance of music education. More Research for the Real World: https://bit.ly/researchfortherealworld

In this episode, Sally Adams tells us about her new role leading adult learning – and the ways teaching can be a great stepping stone for a host of different careers. Sally talks about the complexities of leading professional learning and the barriers teachers sometimes face. She recommends that teachers schedule a little bit of time every now and then to take a step back from day-to-day tasks and really find time to think, reflect and focus on professional development. "I think teachers really need to invest in themselves because they deserve it – and so do the children that they work with." Full show notes and transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2024/dec/early-years-school-research-school-ecf-staffroom-s04e06