In this episode, Claire meets with Alison Philipson, an independent literacy consultant who works predominantly in Yorkshire and the North West of England.
Alison discusses how she supports schools and teachers with their English teaching focusing on strategies to develop reading and writing - in particular, how schools can help children to improve with their spelling.
Claire talks with Alison about how she moved from working in a wide variety of different jobs - such as telephone sales, finance and advertising – to enjoying a volunteer role in her local school which ignited her interest in teaching. Alison discusses how becoming a Leading Literacy teacher led to her working for the Local Education Authority’s English department supporting schools and then, ultimately, leaving to create her own consultancy company.
Alison also reflects on aspects of other educational roles she has held such as being a moderator and assessment lead for the Local Authority. She shares her thoughts on these roles and gives some tips for schools and teachers based on her experiences.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
BEST MOMENTS
“I don’t ever consider myself as having left teaching because that’s why I’m here today: because of my love and passion for it.”
“It is awful having to say to a teacher, ‘Yes, they’ve got great ideas, the punctuation is there, the grammar – fantastic – but the spelling’s not there.”
“Teachers get reading more because most teachers are readers – we read for pleasure, so we get it. Whereas we write lists, we plan, we might write WAGOLLS, but we don’t write for pleasure. We don’t practise. We don’t do it day in day out.”
“I often ask on my courses ‘who writes for pleasure’? Very, very, very few people put their hands up.”
“It’s all about the pace of learning, not the pace of teaching.”
“I would never say, ‘Throw all that out and just do it my way.’ Keep what works and adapt it to work even better.”
“I have really missed working with children… but I do love what I’m doing. I try to think of the all the teachers I work with, all of their children as my children.”
“I do fervently believe that [the work/life balance] comes from within a school: the philosophy and the trust of the leadership team with the teachers.”
“I go into schools where [staff well-being] really is a top priority and that’s absolutely brilliant, especially for new teachers who haven’t got the experience to know what’s important and prioritise.”
“If you feel valued, and that you are important, you are going to learn and get to where you need to be.”
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Alison Philipson - AP Literacy: https://apliteracy.com/
Assessment resources: https://apliteracy.com/resources-2/writing/
The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/
Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/
Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/
LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/
ABOUT THE HOST
Claire Riley
Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide.
Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff.
Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend.
The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.