Beyond Good

My daughter's drum lessons

15 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Femi relays some very concrete pedagogical observations from his daughter's drum lessons which apply equally well to teaching students in every d...

My Visit To The Totteridge Academy

22 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Femi tells Matt about his visit to The Totteridge Academy, which he was thoroughly impressed by.

If you were a new T&L lead...

08 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Following their visit to Copleston High School, Matt and Femi discuss how they would each approach a hypothetical situation of being a newly appointed...

What's the single most important thing teachers should know?

25 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi reflect on what they would say if asked the question "What's the single most important thing teachers should know?", and ...

How do I improve teaching as KS3 lead or second in department?

18 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi respond to a listener question about steps to improve the quality of teaching in their department as a new KS3 lead or second in departm...

Some Reflections!

11 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt was in a reflective mood recently and shared a few of the things he has been working on and thinking about with Femi.

Are we overcomplicating teaching?

04 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Prompted by listener feedback, Femi and Matt explore the idea that when it comes to teaching we are making something simple more complicated than it n...

Class discussions...!

27 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi discuss what comes to mind when one hears a teacher say "We had a great discussion today about ...".Contact us by emailing bey...

Attention, Participation, Thought

20 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Femi and Matt discuss the utility, pros, and cons of looking at lessons through a simple 'attention, participation, thought' lens, discuss o...

Getting Independent Working Happening in Lessons

13 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi discuss the importance of quiet independent practice for students, and get into the challenges and preconditions for getting this happen...

Rachael Southern - Reading!

06 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi catch up with Rachael Southern two years after her first appearance on the pod and she shares her knowledge around improving reading and...

Sarah Cottinghatt - Meaningful Learning & Coaching

16 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Author, teacher, trainer, and expert coach Sarah Cottinghatt joins Matt and Femi to discuss her book 'Ausubel's Meaningful Learning in Actio...

Rows v Groups & Detentions v Conversations

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this double episode Matt and Femi explore the arguments for students sitting in rows facing the front vs sitting around tables in groups, and then ...

Characteristics of Poor Leadership

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We've all experienced it!  Matt and Femi lay out some of the most important characteristics of poor leadership in schools as they see it.

"There's too much content to get through..."

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes it really is a struggle to get through all the content.  But there's also possibly room for improvement when that claim is used to jus...

Great Teaching Unpacked - Episode 3 Review

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi discuss episode 3 of the great Teaching: Unpacked documentary series.Watch the documentary at steplab.co/watchGet in touch:beyondgoodpod...

High Frequency Teaching Errors

21 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi discuss some of the most common problems they've noticed over the course of many years of lesson visits and drop-ins.Contact us by ...

Respect for the Learners

14 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi chat about a rarely-discussed characteristic of teachers; having respect for the learners.

Coachability!

07 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Femi and Matt explore the idea that some people are more coachable than others...

Great Teaching, Unpacked Documentary - Episode 2 Review

31 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi discuss episode 2 of the Great Teaching Unpacked Documentary - which focuses on behaviour, norms, routines and merits.Watch the document...

First Success!

24 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi discuss the idea of first success, and whether the copncept can inform thinking around teacher development and student learning.

Great Teaching, Unpacked Documentary - Episode 1 Review

10 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi discuss Episode 1 of the Great Teaching, Unpacked documentary.Watch the documentary for free at:steplab.co/filmGet in touch with Matt an...

"A dog with a bone"

03 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi discuss the critical importance of not letting behavioural incidents go unchallenged.

Policies

26 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Femi and Matt discuss the concept of school policies and policy documentation, and what makes them more or less effective.We're not on social med...

Micro Interactions

19 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi discuss those brief interactions with students that set the tone for the lesson, or help transform the way students think about themselv...

'Holding To Account' & 'Won't, Can't, Forgot'

05 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi dive into the phrase that you so often hear amongst senior and middle management in schools: "Holding people to account".

Starting A School From Scratch - Michaela Khatib

29 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi speak to the executive head teacher and founder of Cobham Free School, Michaela Khatib, about the remarkable journey to plan, start and ...

Teacher Knowledge

22 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi discuss the need for teachers to have a basic understanding of how learning happens, as well as barriers and solutions to the problem.

Private vs State Schools

15 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi discuss Femi's experience of working in both state and private schools, what the major differences are for teachers and what each c...

Accountability Culture AND Power of Video

08 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode has 2 unrelated topics... In the first half of the episode Femi and Matt discuss what it means to have a culture where you can 'hol...

Improving is Hard!

01 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Femi and Matt discuss why improving our teaching (or anything) can be so difficult, and how that influences their thinking around coaching and PD.

My team are not doing what I asked!

15 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Femi and Matt ponder the all too common phrase "people just aren't doing it"!

Disagree then Commit

08 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Femi and Matt discuss the concept of 'disagree then commit' in the context of working in a school team or SLT.

Peter Lee - Headteacher at Q3 Academy Langley

01 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi talk to Peter Lee about how he has managed to found and maintain a school which not only achieves outstanding results, but also has not ...

Reflections on 6 months of Coaching

25 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Femi shares his reflections and lessons learnt with Matt on the last 6 months of doing regular coaching - several times per week.

Drop-in Culture

18 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Prompted by Pritesh's tweet regarding the number of observations completed and feedback given in the autumn term, Femi and Matt discuss attitudes...

Refusal

11 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Femi and Matt wrestle with the concept of students who refuse instructions and what schools can do about it.

The Lost Art of Planning

04 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Femi and Matt's discussion is prompted by an article of the same name:https://thinkingflexibly.com/2024/10/18/the-lost-art-of-planning/They discu...

Front-loading Your Explanations

28 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi discuss explicit teaching (direct instruction), questioning, AfL and much more!

Katharine Birbalsingh

30 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi talk to Katharine Birbalsingh, founding member and head teacher of the Michaela Community School in Wembley Park.

Barry Smith on Classroom Teaching

23 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Following on from their video analysis of his lesson, Matt and Femi talk to Barry Smith about some of his principles for classroom teaching.  Startin...

Metacognition with Nathan Burns

16 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi chat to metacognition enthusiast Nathan Burns about metacognition, knowledge, knowledge organisers and much much more.Check out Nathan&a...

The Enactment Gap & Developing Teachers

09 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Femi and Matt discuss the enactment gap - teasing apart what it is exactly, diagnosing solutions to the problem and then get into the pragmatism of su...

Q3 Academy Langley & Participation Ratio

02 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Femi tells Matt about his recent visit to another high performing school - this time Q3 Academy Langley in the West Midlands.This brings up the topics...

Thinking about Professional Development

05 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Femi talks to Matt about how he is now thinking about PD - from individual all the way to whole-school.

Duties and Interactions with Students

28 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi discuss duties, handling pupils, being authentic, leadership, supporting colleagues and much more!

Lesson Analysis: Barry Smith Teaching French

21 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

See the video podcast on youtube.Video Lesson Analysis: Barry Smith Teaching Frenchhttps://youtu.be/qs0S4sYvBZ0?feature=sharedBarry's Full French...

Miriam Hussain on Behaviour and Whole-School Systems

14 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi talk to Miriam Hussain about whole-school systems for behaviour, for teaching and learning, about SLT, the vision of the head teacher an...

Reflections and Plans

07 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi reflect on leading departments, the evolving process of implementing coaching and department meetings as colleagues' needs change o...

Responsive Coaching - Josh Goodrich

31 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi are joined by Josh Goodrich, author of 'Responsive Coaching', former teacher and senior leader and CEO of steplab.Responsive C...

A Student Perspective - with Lily

17 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi speak to former student Lily about school and learning from the other side of the desk.  Their discussion ranges from the impact that a...

Checking For Understanding

10 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode Matt and Femi discuss various means and considerations around checking for understanding.

What Have You Seen Working Well?

03 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Femi and I have been visiting a lot of schools over the last few months - some are incredible and get some of the best results in the country and othe...

'Booklets' with Matt Burnage

27 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Matt Burnage is one of the founding senior leaders of Ark Soane Academy, History teacher, and assistant principal leading on curriculum and assessmen...

My Visit to Michaela!

20 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Matt debriefs Femi on his visit to The Michaela Community School.  They discuss teaching and learning, students, staff, family lunch and yard time, c...

Barry Smith! Part 2

13 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Join Matt and Femi for the second part of their interview with Barry, as they talk about his leadership style, teaching, developing teachers, SLT and ...

Barry Smith! Part 1

06 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Join Matt and Femi as they talk to Barry Smith about his experience of taking over and turning around a failing school.Barry Smith was a founding Depu...

Coaching!

29 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode Femi and Matt discuss what they've learnt and are discovering about coaching: how powerful it is, and how it's harder to do ...

Pritesh Raichura: Academic Success, Character and Culture

22 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Pritesh is a science teacher, head of science and assistant head in charge of teaching and learning at Ark Soane Academy.  Known as the best science ...

3 Ways I Would Improve My Teaching

14 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode Matt talks to Femi about the things he has learnt from his visits to some of the highest-performing schools in the country and reflect...

Season 3 Announcement!

10 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A short announcement from me to say that we have decided that the last published episode will be the final episode in Season 2, an announcement which ...

Changes are afoot!

21 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today Femi and Matt discuss their career changes, both recent (in Matt's case) and forthcoming (in Femi's) and how they are thinking about t...

Late To Lessons

14 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The discussion today was prompted by a listener question about students being late to lessons, so Matt and Femi each give their take on that.  They d...

My Visit to Ark Soane Academy

31 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The topic of today’s discussion is Matt's visit to Ark Soane Academy, and in particular the impressive whole-school culture and the remarkable ...

The Warning System

24 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The topic of discussion this week is warning systems – so very much a behaviour-based episode rather than a maths one.  Matt and Femi cover a fair ...

Homework!

10 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week Femi and Matt debate the pros and cons of homework - a particularly slippery beast to nail down.  They get into some general principles and...

Modelling

03 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode Femi and Matt talk about modelling - in all it’s various forms from leading on behaviour through to explicit teaching strategies.  ...

Bottom Set

25 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode Femi and Matt discuss setting, the term ‘bottom set’, attitudes towards, and working with students who have low prior attainment. ...

Directions of Travel

17 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode Matt and Femi talk about Adam Boxer’s Book: How to Teach Secondary Science.In particular, they discuss Adam’s concept of ‘Direct...

Mocks

21 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s topic is Year 11 mock examinations.  Matt and Femi discuss:-          Holding 2 or 3 sets of mocks vs just 1.-          That mock...

Dave Taylor - Maths Curriculum

14 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Femi and Matt speak to Dave Taylor on the topic of the maths curriculum.  Dave is a maths specialist and lead practioner, well known in maths circles...

Where We Are Going Wrong on Behaviour - reflections on the Bill Rogers interview

07 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s discussion is prompted by the Bill Rogers interview that recently appeared in the TES titled: ‘Bill Rogers: Where we are going wrong on be...

Tackling Passivity

10 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

‘Passive passengers!’ - students who are not especially engaged in lessons.Matt and Femi discuss some of the indicators and consequences of passiv...

Teaching and Coaching in US Public Schools: Dr Zach Groshell

19 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today's guest is American Educator, Coach and Podcast host Dr Zach Groshell for a fascinating discussion about his work in US government funded s...

Maths Teachers and Whole School Literacy

12 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is prompted by a recent post on X which posed the following question:  “What do you do with your mathematics teachers while you d...

Differentiation

05 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode, Femi and Matt discuss differentiation!  They talk about adaptive learning, differentiation as an advanced teaching skill that r...

Culture

29 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode Matt and Femi discuss culture - particularly from the perspective of heads of department trying to shape the culture of teaching staff...

Lesson Observations

01 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today Femi and Matt are speaking about lesson observations and related activities such as lesson visits, coaching and feedback.  They talk about bein...

Dealing with Failure

17 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today's episode is about mistakes, disappointment and failure – with the discussion ranging from 'recognising that my last lesson didn’t...

Hit and Run CPD (Inset!)

10 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is about 'hit and run' CPD, which Femi and Matt approach with an attitude of constructive criticism and attempting to offe...

The Person In Front Of The Kids

03 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today's episode starts with Matt and Femi chatting about Femi’s observations of coaches at his 6 year old's summer tennis camp, which turn...

Textbooks, Locking the toilets, Group work and Moving schools!

27 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the podcast Femi and Matt share their thoughts on four different topics selected from X (formerly twitter): 'textbooks', ...

Line Management

20 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode Femi and Matt discuss Line management!  The duo get into what good practise might look like; things line managers should do and shoul...

Mastery and Conceptual Understanding

30 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the podcast Femi and Matt discuss the ideas of Mastery and 'Conceptual Understanding' in teaching and learning.  The con...

Bonus Episode: Behind the Scenes!

26 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to this bonus episode of the Beyond Good podcast!  The idea here was just to offer a little insight into what goes on behind the scenes at Be...

Wellbeing

23 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s podcast Femi and Matt discuss Wellbeing.  After making the important distinction between wellbeing and workload they discuss-       ...

Setting and De-escalation

09 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s podcast Matt and Femi discuss two main topics which are 'setting', and 'de-escalation'.In both cases the points raise...

Reflections on the National Behaviour Survey

25 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s podcast Femi and Matt dissect the recently published findings of the DFE national behaviour survey.  This is another conversation which ...

'Experience'

11 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today Femi and Matt discuss teacher effectiveness vs years of service and some issues with the word ‘experience’ which is generally used as a prox...

Homework

04 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode Matt and Femi dig into the dilemma that is ‘homework’!  Reflecting on their experiences over the years they ask; how effective is...

Handling Complaints

21 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today Femi and Matt discuss their approaches to handling complaints.  None of this is specific to maths and so the conversation should be relevent fo...

Teacher Quality: A discussion of Dylan Wiliam's Article

14 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today Femi and Matt discuss an article by Dylan Wiliam titled ‘Teacher Quality: why it matters, and how to get more of it’.  In addition to this ...

CPD!

07 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Matt and Femi are in a pensive mood for a  thought-provoking discussion on CPD.  They discuss the good and bad of inset days, utilising skilled prac...

Tom Bennett

30 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of Beyond Good Tom Bennett joins Matt and Femi to discuss all things schools and behaviour.Tom Bennett began teaching in the East End ...

They're not listening!

23 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this week’s episode, Matt and Femi discuss a comment made by Adam Boxer –that the most common issue he sees in classrooms he has visited is tha...

Ofsted!

17 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode Matt and Femi discuss Ofsted.  What is on offer is not a position on Ofsted, it is simply a balanced discussion limited to the perspe...

Centrally Planned Lessons

09 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

in today’s episode Femi and Matt discuss centrally planned lessons.  Their discussion extends to the various forms of lesson resources such as star...

Checking for Understanding

26 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the podcast Femi and Matt discuss the broad ranging, but critical, topic of 'checking for understanding'.  The discussio...

Return To Teaching!

19 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode Femi and Matt speak to Rachael Southern who they asked to come on the show after learning about her fascinating and inspiring story: ...

People vs Systems

12 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This episode begins with some further thoughts on department development plans - following on from episode 15 on that topic.   Matt and Femi talk abo...