A Wee Bit of Everything: Recent Episodes
Lewis Cleland
The vision of 'A Wee Bit of Everything' is to Inspire, Teach and Entertain (ITE):
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Inspire: to inspire our audience to be the best versions of themselves.
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Teach: to allow teaching professionals to test the discussed concepts, strategies and insights within their practice.
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Entertain: go on, immerse yourself in the stories told by others, with a wee bit of Scottish patter along the way!
Martin Perry is a professional Scottish para table tennis player, European Team player and British Champion 2019.He was born with a condition known as Congenital Limb Loss & Deformity resulting in him being born with no hands and only one leg. Growing up with three older brothers, Martin wasn’t allowed to feel sorry for himself as they made sure he was included in everything, including sport. Martin played many sports including football, rugby, basketball and athletics until he found table tennis.Martin is also a motivational speaker delivering presentations on overcoming adversity, resilience and harnessing problem-solving skills.
This is episode #2 of our PE comparison series in partnership with SATPE. On this episode we discuss all things PE with our neighbour UK nations and the United States. All questions from this episode series are from the members of SATPE and AWBOE.
Melanie Woods is a former PE Teacher who is rebuilding her life and career after a spinal cord injury in 2018. She is doing this through competing in the racing wheelchair events at the Paralymic Games in Tokoyo 2020 and in the European Championships representing GB & NI.
AWBOE have partnered with SATPE for a brand new series on how Scottish PE compares to other nations. We will publish 3 episodes and look to explore the curriculum, pedagogy and ethos in our respective nations. We will also touch on extra curricular provision in place and the value this brings our young people. All questions below are from the members of SATPE and AWBOE. On the first episode of the series we interview PE teachers from Canada, Czech Republic, Finland and Slovakia.
Libby Clegg is a Scottish Paralympian sprinter who competes at both 100 and 200m events. She has represented both Scotland and Great Britain at international events. Libby represented Great Britain in the 100m and 200m at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, winning a silver medal in the 100m race. Libby won Gold in Rio at the 2016 Paralympic Games in 100m where she broke the world record and 200m, beating the previous Paralympic record in the process, thus making her a double Paralympic champion.
Episode 100 is finally upon us and what an episode it was. We had the pleasure of interviewing Mya and George who are part of the Young People's Sport Panel, which is a platform to represent the voice of young people in Scotland through sport. We chat in depth about their experiences from high school PE and the impact this had on their life. They share their fondest memories along with their greatest challenges and how they would like to see certificated PE delivered in our High School's.
Episode 100 is nearly upon us and what an episode it was. We had the pleasure of interviewing Mya and George who are part of the Young People's Sport Panel, which is a platform to represent the voice of young people in Scotland through sport. We chat in depth about their experiences from high school PE and the impact this had on their life. They share their fondest memories along with their greatest challenges and how they would like to see certificated PE delivered in our High School's.
This week for the penultimate episode of the AWBOE podcast, we welcome Greig Wilson from Duncanrig Secondary School and Keir Geatrell from Stonelaw High School. The guys are on tonight to share their insights on all things PE. We chat about their most memorable experiences and toughest challenges throughout their career's. We also get their thoughts on how we can maximise learning opportunities for our young people through PE. We finish off the episode with both guests sharing their thoughts on what makes a high quality PE lesson.
We are joined this week by the one and only Kevan Egan. Kevan is a former principal teacher of PE and a Quality Improvement Officer. Kevan share his perspective on PE teaching. We hear about his most memorable experiences and toughest challenges through his career coupled with his biggest successes when leading his department. Kevan also shares some excellent lesson ideas within the BGE for better engagement levels.
This week joining us on the podcast we have Deborah Holt from Edinburgh University. Deborah is on to talk to us about the work she has been doing in relation to positive mental health promotion at the university. She shares an insight into what it takes to create a culture of positive mental health and that it should be more than just a targeted approach for select pupils. As always, we conclude by asking our guest the quick fire questions in relation to this episode.
Julianna Murciano is a PE teacher and Rugby coach in New Zealand. She has coached Rugby for over 20 years with 10 of those years coaching at a top women’s club in Scotland. Eventually she was head coach for Scotland’s women and took them to two six nation campaigns. We get Julianna's thoughts on how we could increase participation in rugby in our schools. Furthermore, Julianna shares her top 3 non negotiable behaviours from her players and pupils along with her thoughts on women's sport.
Iain Brown is a Principal Teacher of Pupil Support & PE Teacher at Eastwood High School in Newton Mearns. Iain share his perspective on PE and Pastoral care and what he has learned through his role in both jobs. Iain also shares his view on the importance of extra curricular for our young people and how this cannot be measured. This episode comes with a fantastic story of a pupil Iain had the pleasure of working with and it will be sure to put a smile on your face.
This week we are joined by retired Police Inspector and Development Officer for the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, Scott McEwan. Scott joins us tonight to chat to us a bit about his career in the Police to the work he currently does in the SVRU. We ask Scott what teachers can learn from the work carried out in the SRVU and how we can take this into school. We close with Scott's thoughts on the one thing he wish he had known at the start of his career that he now knows to help him deal with certain situations more effectively.
This week we are joined by former PE teacher and DHT Vicki Rice. In this episode we ask Vicki about her most memorable and challenging times as a teacher of PE and how we can go about bringing colleagues with us when making a positive change in a school.
This week we have two former guests returning to the AWBOE podcast as a duo to discuss the work they are currently doing at the University. Mike Jess and Paul McMillan of Edinburgh Uni join us once again to discuss the research they are currently doing within PE. We get their thoughts on the HWB policy agenda in schools, how PE is closer to the centre of some educational issues and the key features of PE that can help connect to life outside of school.
This week we are joined by Trinity High School Head Teacher, Allison Craig. Allison comes on to chat to us about her career as a PE teacher and Head Teacher. Allison sheds a light on her most challenging and memorable times as a teacher and the value our subject has within school. We also get Allison's thoughts on the importance of feedback and how we can go about improving this in our schools.
This week we are joined by Mo Jafar who is the Head of PE at an all boys school in East London. Mo is on the podcast to share his experience as a PE teacher and some insights in relation to non linear pedagogy. We also get Mo's thoughts on some of the challenges facing PE currently along with some insights on his blog post about Wayfinding (Knowing as we go).
This week on the AWBOE podcast we are joined by Head Teacher and Author of the Teaching Delusion Trilogy, Bruce Robertson. Bruce is currently the Head Teacher of Berwickshire High School in the Scottish Borders and his area of expertise lies in improving the quality of teaching and learning within schools. Bruce shares his thoughts on what makes high quality teaching and learning and how we can strive to improve this within our schools. We discuss the value of a strong professional learning culture within school and how the use of a lesson evaluation toolkit can be an ideal starting point to help improve our teaching at both a personal level and throughout the wider school.
This week we sit down with Ritchie Durno who is Principal Teacher of PE at Trinity High School. Ritchie is on tonight to share his knowledge and experience of teaching Higher PE. As always, we kick off with a brief summary of Ritchies career to date. We find out what Ritchie has learned from teaching Higher PE over the years and his top tips for ensuring the pupils get the best possible experience. Moreover, Ritchie touches on his role with the SQA in relation to certificated PE and how this has hugely benefited his own teaching practice when delivering NQ's. We finish off by getting his thoughts on what makes a high quality Higher PE lesson.
This is the first episode of the new podcast model PErspectives. The aim is to speak with PE teachers past and present to chat about all things PE and ultimately get their perspectives on current affairs within education. We also have a new co-host in the name of Matthew Gallagher who is Clark's colleague at Calderside Academy. This week to kick of the new series is ex PE teacher Jim Smart. Jim shares his thoughts and insights of a life time career in PE ranging from extra curricular and how he was able to build effective relationships with young people.
This week we are joined by Forfar Athletic captain, Ross Meechan. Ross joins us tonight to share his journey in football as a youngster to where he is now. He also chats a bit about the biggest challenges he has faced on his journey and how he overcame them. We touch on the role of the captain and his non-negotiables from himself and the players.
This week we are joined by former Rangers scout Ewan Chester. Ewan collected 35 trophies during his time at Rangers. He spent 20 odd years at the club over two spells. Ewan has also worked closely with Premier League Manager Chris Hughton spending 10 years in England with Fulham, Norwich, Birmingham and Brighton in the Premier League and English Championship. Ewan shares many stories of his time working in professional football and touches on some of the main challenges faced as a scout at the top level and the relationship between the scout and the manager.
Lee is Head of PE at Upton Court Grammar School in Slough, England. Lee is the author of the book is PE in crisis which we explores in this episode. Lee shares his thoughts on the current climate of PE and the importance of having a clear vision as a teacher and when leading a department.
Jonathan is a psychology teacher, teacher educator, author and researcher. He works at the University of Strathclyde (School of Education), teaching on the PGDE, BA and Masters programmes. Jonathan’s teaching focuses particularly on psychology education and psychological perspectives on learning. His research is primarily on memory and metacognition, and he is also interested in how and why teachers engage with research and the links this has with their professionalism and practice.
This week on AWBOE we are joined by Kirsty Giles who is currently involved within a project to reduce violence in Scotland. Kirsty is a Psychotherapist, Trainer and Consultant and chats to us today about all things stress management. She addresses what stress is and how it affects our brain and body. She then takes us through a live guided visualisation exercise which we encourage you to participate in.
This week we are joined by Bradley Busch from Inner Drive. Inner Drive is a mindset coaching company working in education, business and sport. They specialise in realising the potential behind growth mindset, metacognition and stress management strategies and as a result improve motivation, learning, confidence and performance in their clients.
This week we are joined by Allan Turner. Allan graduated as a PE Teacher and taught in Dalmellington H.S, Prestwick Academy and James Hamilton Academy in Kilmarnock until retirement in 2012. Allan was also Head Coach of Cumnock Basketball team from 1974-1993 and was also a founding member of this club.
This week we are joined by Dick Campbell who is the current manager of Arbroath FC. Campbell's playing career was based in Scotland with various clubs and is more known for his management career which includes successful lengthy spells at Brechin City and Forfar Athletic. He also managed Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline Athletic, Partick Thistle and Ross County. He has achieved five promotions at four clubs with the highlights taking Brechin from the fourth tier to the second tier and repeated the feat with Arbroath many years later.
This week we are joined by Ali McGregor. Ali has worked as a qualified teacher for over 15 years, 12 of those have been spent working with young people with SEN. Over the last 11 years Ali has worked for a private educational provider in a number of roles including classroom teacher, Head of PE, Deputy Headteacher and Headteacher. Ali has supported the set up of a number of independent special needs schools over the past 7 years, with one of them being named TES School of the Year recently. Ali has recently led a school to a very successful OFSTED inspection in March 2018, graded Outstanding in all areas. In addition to this, Ali has also played in two Commonwealth Games and one Olympic games as a Hockey player.
This week we are joined by Andy Fleming who is the National Coaching and club manager at Volleyball Scotland. As a volleyball player, Andy has achieved domestic success in all national leagues and cup competitions. As a coach he has developed junior programmes and worked with Men and Women’s programmes in the National league. Andy also spent some time developing his coaching skills in the USA, working in the summer at various college and Universities.
This week we are joined by Dr Mike Jess from Edinburgh University who is a senior lecturer in Physical Education. His personal interests focus on the relationship between complexity thinking, ecological perspectives and professional practice. He is currently project leader of Visions and Voices: a longitudinal project that seeks to develop teachers’ personal visions as a key feature of future developments in physical education. Mike 's recent work is concentrated on complex adaptive practice, boundary crossing, transdisciplinary, becoming, lesson study and self-study.
This week we are joined by Kate Jones who is a teacher, leader and author of several retrieval practice books which provide fantastic resources for our classrooms. Kate is Head of History at The British School Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Originally from Wrexham in North Wales, Kate taught in the UK for six years at Elfed High School before relocating to the UAE in 2016. Kate is also a lead practitioner who specialises in teaching and learning and most notably, retrieval practice, which we discuss in depth in this week's episode.
This week we are joined by Scottish former footballer, George Maxwell, who combined his work as a PE teacher with playing for Kilmarnock FC. George Maxwell had one of his school pupils, Gordon Smith as a team mate during his early days and then later coached Kris Boyd. Not only is he the highest scoring defender in the club’s history, he was also crowned the “Man with the hardest shot in Scotland”. George is on today to talk to us about his career in education and football. We ask George about the greatest challenges he faced and how he overcame them. We also touch on the best coaches he played under and why he felt this was the case. This episode offers lot of excellent take away messages that can be taken into your teaching practice and indeed, your life.
This week we are joined by Scottish former footballer and coach Archie Knox. He was most recently the assistant manager of Aberdeen until leaving the club in March 2013. Knox worked with Sir Alex Ferguson as an assistant manager at Aberdeen and Manchester United winning the European Cup Winners Cup, and with Walter Smith at Rangers helping them achieve the famous 9 in a row. Archie shares some great insights and lessons from his incredible career where he worked for a staggering 20 different clubs.
This week we are joined by Gemma MacLean. Gemma is studying the PGDE PE course at Strathclyde University. Gemma joins us on the podcast to chat to us about her not so straight forward journey through high school and how one teacher in particular never gave up on her. This put Gemma on the career path she is currently on and left us with a crucial take away message - Don't give up on the naughty kids!
This week we are joined by Dylan Scanlon from the University of Limerick. Dylan Scanlon is a PhD researcher in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences at the University of Limerick. Dylan’s research interests include physical education curriculum and assessment, teaching and learning in physical education teacher education, and sociology. Dylan talks to us today about the work he has carried out on integrated learning experiences within examinable physical education.
Today on AWBOE we have former podcast guest Murray Carnie. Murray joins us live from the Premiership Experience offices to chat to us about all things Olympics and examinations.
This week we are joined by Senior Educational Psychologist Donna Carrigan from South Lanarkshire Council. In this week’s episode, Donna shares her knowledge and experience within attachment informed practice. Donna also addresses some of the common myths/barriers surrounding attachment theory and what this means for our practice.
Today's guest is Matthew Gallagher who is a colleague and good friend of mine. Matthew has been teaching for 4 years now including his probation year which he completed in North Lanarkshire. We have Matthew joining us tonight to talk to us about his experiences within his probation year and he is going to answer a few questions created by the 4th year students at Edinburgh university who will be heading out into their probation year this August.
This week we are joined by Hayley Barr, currently acting PT of Health and Wellbeing within the Achievement resource Centre (ARC)at Boclair Academy. Hayley also worked at Stirling University as teaching fellow for the Undergraduate PE degree. She also delivered online training to teachers across the world in line with teacher wellbeing during first lockdown which we discuss in depth in this week's episode.
This week we are joined by Physical Education Tutor from Moray House, Edinburgh University – Brodie Runciman. Following completion of the B.Ed. Physical Education Degree at Moray House, Brodie taught at Bell Baxter High School for 7 years. During this time, he experienced different roles including Head of Rugby, Principal Teacher of Guidance and Head of Participation and Attainment (PEF funded). Brodie has taught and contributed towards SQA National Courses and is currently a marker for the SQA Advanced Higher PE Project. Brodie is on today to talk to us about all things Teaching Games for Understanding and how we can effectively incorporate this within our teaching.
This week on the podcast we are joined by Thinglink Director of Education Community and Partnerships, Louise Jones. Lousie came on to AWBOE to share a variety of creative ways in which we can use Thinglink to make our teaching more engaging. This episode is better watched on YouTube where you can see Louise share her screen whilst talking us through her examples.
This week we are joined by Dance Teacher Kerry McLellan from the Dance School of Scotland at Knightswood Secondary School in Glasgow. Kerry shares her knowledge and experience of teaching dance to help you get started if you are if you are struggling for ideas. Kerry offers practical tips on how you can introduce a block of dance to a class if you are teaching it for the first time. Moreover, Kerry shares her thoughts on what the common barriers are for learners when going through a block of dance and how we can help them overcome these.
This week we are joined by former PE teacher and Scotland Football Manager Craig Brown. We are going to get his thoughts on education when he was a PE teacher and how the skills he developed whilst teaching stood him in good stead when he was giving the opportunity to become a football manager/coach. With the euros action in full flow now, we felt it would be rude not to take this opportunity to chat about Craig’s time managing Scotland and being the last person to lead the team to a major tournament.
This week we are joined by Behaviour Advisor Tom Bennett. Tom is the author of behaviour management books, most recently ‘Running the Room’ which we recommend you get your hands on! Tom shares with us how to teach high quality behaviour and some of the common pitfalls made. Tom also talks about the importance of scripting responses to ensure a consistent approach to behaviour management. This episode is finished off with Tom's top 3 tips for positive behaviour that you can take away and try with your classes.
This week we are joined by PE Lecturer from Stirling University Joe Cowley. Joe was a PE Teacher/sport science lecturer and has worked cross sector before his current post at Stirling University. We covered a variety of topics in today's episode including: cooperative learning when teaching cross country, why there is such a massive decline in physical activity after the age of 16, and sporting careers for young people over and above PE teaching.
Drew Povey joins AWBOE this week. Drew Povey Consultancy Limited is an influential leadership authority with a unique multi sector viewpoint on creating innovative and sustainable change. He has over twenty years’ experience working in elite level sport and education. Drew’s purpose is to develop people and inspire excellence. His work in education was as Headteacher of Harrop Fold High in Salford, Manchester. Drew also appeared in the Educating Greater Manchester series, which we recommend you watch! You can follow Drew on twitter @drewpovey to keep up to speed with the content he posts about leadership and personal/professional development.
Nicola Carse currently works at the University of Edinburgh. Her role is Deputy Head of the Institute for Sport, Physical Education and Health Sciences and works as a Lecturer in the Physical Education courses. Nicola undertook a Postgraduate Certificate in Primary Education at the University of Edinburgh. After graduating from the PGCE she worked as a primary school teacher for eight years where she developed an interest in environmental education and physical education. Whilst teaching she studied on the Postgraduate Certificate in Primary Physical Education at the University of Edinburgh and then progressed to undertake a PhD at the University of Edinburgh which she completed in 2012. After completing her PhD Nicola worked as a lecturer at the University of Strathclyde for two and a half years. Nicola is on AWBOE this week to share her knowledge and experience in delivering the Sport Education model and how to make the most out of it when teaching your students.
Katy joins AWBOE to talk about her Masters project on Pupil Voice. We will discuss how Katy achieves the Pupil Voice principles in her school and the impact this has on school culture, relationships and improved pupil outcomes.
Be sure to check this episode out on our Youtube channel at: https://youtu.be/uYPdDUDL0B0
Owen Coyle Junior is the head coach for the England National Amputee Football team. He was given the task of guiding the the team at the European Championships in Istanbul in 2017 which we shares with us in this week's episode. Owen is also a football agent which he combines with his coaching duties. Owen gives us a good insight into the challenges he overcame through his coaching career and the leadership qualities he deemed essential to do so.
Paul Wright currently works at Northern Illinois University within the department of kinesiology and Physical Education. He has completed his Ph.D. on TPSR at The University of Illinois at Chicago, within the Education Curriculum and Instruction department. Paul’s research interests are specialised in the Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) instructional model. His scholarship relates directly to fields such as positive youth development, social and emotional learning, and sport for development. Paul also has interests in policy and program evaluation as it relates to youth sport and physical activity.
Our FIRST Video Recorded episode! 😎
CHECK IT OUT HERE -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWH2AJSY_eM&t=1007s
Darren Leslie joins AWBOE to talk about High Impact Teaching and how he achieves this in his school. We discuss things ranging from cognitive load theory to interactive questioning and Darren gives clear practical examples of how he would implements this pedagogy in his school.
Our partner of the podcast is Premiership Experience who offer fantastic sport tours within the UK and abroad and provide unforgettable experiences for our young people. We thank them for hosting us for this episode! Be sure to check them out on Twitter @premiershipexperience.
We had a ball! Darren is a very knowledgeabe man and we took lots away from what he had to say 😊
We hope you do to 😄
Dillon Landi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology within the College of Health Professions at Towson University. His research and teaching are focused on health, physical activity, and education. In addition, his work encompasses social theory, research methods, equity and diversity, and gender/sexuality. Dillon has achieved Ph.D., Education at The University of Auckland in 2019 exploring LGBTQ+ youth experiences in health, physical activity, and educational settings which we touch on in today's episode. Today Dillon is on to discuss his critical accounts of models to teach quality PE. Dillon will soon to be joining Strathclyde University to work with the education team in Glasgow which we are both really pleased to hear.
This week's episode marks the 3rd webinar from the boys at AWBOE. We were joined this week by DHT Marie Kerr from Smithycroft Secondary School in the east end of Glasgow. Marie came on to share her experience on how to best manage behaviour in the classroom and gave good practical examples of how to implement restorative practice effectively. We decided to change the way the questions were created this week by asking the listeners upon sign up to think of a question they would like answered. We then chose 4 questions from the list that we felt captured a wide range of concerns in relation to this topic.
This week we are joined by former head of PE and Olympic British Hockey coach Murray Carnie. Murray shares insight into his philosophy that he developed as a PE teacher through the years. He also tells us about his time as a hockey coach and how he was able to transfer the things he learned from coaching at the elite level into his teaching practice. We also received some top tips for introducing hockey to a class for the first time - it would have been rude not to pick his brains on this. An episode we wish we could have recorded in person with lots of laughter and jokes at the hosts expense!
Today we are joined by Professor Kate Wall on AWBOE. Kate’s work focuses on the development of innovative pedagogies and research methodologies (including visual approaches) that facilitate effective talk about learning (metacognition). As a former Primary teacher, she is interested in the development and exploration of democratic spaces where learners can talk about their experiences of learning. Today on the podcast Kate discusses the value of practitioner inquiry. She has worked extensively in partnership with teachers of all ages and stages, using practitioner enquiry approaches and has a growing interest in how tools with pedagogic and methodological origins can be used to support the development of practice. Kate has used the same ideas when working under a 'students as researchers' or ‘student voice’ heading with children as young as 4. Finally, Kate is interested in methodologies for gathering learners’ views on experience, curriculum and learning.
PE teachers, Jordan Flynn and Stewart Ferns join us today on our second live webinar where they share their thoughts and experience on the Broad General Education curriculum. On today's episode, the boys delve into how they deliver this area of the curriculum within their school for maximum impact and how they plan their learning intentions and success criteria to help them assess their pupils.
Menno Slingerland is a physical education teacher educator and researcher in the School of Sport Studies at the Fontys University of Applied Sciences, in the Netherlands. He holds a PhD in human movement sciences from Maastricht University. Before starting at Fontys University he worked as a PE teacher in secondary school. His teaching and research interests mainly focus on assessment, student motivation, teacher professional development and teacher education within the context of physical education. Today we chat with Menno on all things formative assessment and how we can best utilise this within the context of PE teaching.
This week we have put a different spin on the podcast by hosting a webinar for PE students across the country. Joining us for this episode was former podcast guest Aaron Anderson (PE Teacher at Madras College) and Jonny MacWhirter (DHT at Beeslack Academy). Today's episode was looking at the release of Aaron's book on teaching strategies for delivering Higher PE. Aaron shares some good insight into some of the strategies within the book and how he has applied them within his context. Jonny talks to us about the whole school remote learning approach he is trialling in his school to help the pupils feel less overwhelmed with online learning and shares some excellent advice for student teachers going forward. Another episode filled with actionable points that student and current PE teachers can benefit from.
Garry Hay joins the boys on A Wee Bit of Everything this week to talk about all things school of football. Garry is a player and coach development officer with the SFA in the South West Region. Garry is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played in over 300 Scottish Premier League games for Kilmarnock. Garry won the Scottish League Cup in 2012 against Celtic and also made his debut in the opening day of the 1999/2000 season against Rangers. Gary also represented Scotland B team in 2005 against Poland at Rugby Park.
This week on the podcast, we are delighted to welcome Claire Davies. We were introduced to Claire via social media from a good friend and previous guest on the podcast Ross Hyslop, who met Claire whilst hiking Scotland’s finest Munros up the North of Scotland. Claire is on today to talk about her experiences travelling and how she ended up cycling across South East Asia from Hanoi to Bangkok which is 3000KM. Claire also has a background in triathlon, which is how she got into cycling. In 2019, Claire completed her first ultra marathon, the Type 2 Fun Run with a distance of 66 trail miles in the Cairngorms and competed in the Trans Alba which is a 1066 mile self supported bike race around Scotland. She has also recently become a mountain leader and is starting to lead bike packing trips in Scotland. An inspiring episode that will make you want to plan your next adventure.
This week on the podcast, we are delighted to welcome Allan Campbell. Allan is a former colleague of Clark's at Calderside Academy 5 years ago. Even back then Allan showed enthusiasm and passion for ICT within PE. Today on the podcast Allan will discuss his top tips for high quality digital learning for Physical Education. Allan will delve deeper into the Do’s and Don’t whilst teaching online and how to engage pupils in the learning process. A very informative episode not to be missed in today's educational climate.
Today we welcome Janice Smith and Jamie Baxter onto a wee bit of everything. Janice is a Principal Teacher PE & Achievement at Smithycroft Secondary and Jamie is a PE teacher at Denny High School. We are going to delve into how to answer Section 3 questions effectively and discuss key tips for NATIONAL 5 teachers from each of the guests. We thought this episode would be relevant for National 5 teachers at the moment so we hope you enjoy and take something from it.
This week on the podcast, we are delighted to welcome Jonny Penman from Caledonia Primary, Glasgow. Jonny is passionate about the delivery of high quality PE and is a massive advocate of allowing pupils to problem solve when participating in Physical Education. Johnny talks us through how he delivers this problem solving curriculum through teaching PE. By creating a problem, Johnny then shares this with the class and the children decide the most appropriate benchmarks to solve the problem. This then shapes the focus of the learning for the activity blocks. This episode will make you re-think how you deliver your BGE blocks. A lot of great takeaway's from this episode so make sure you tune in.
This week on the podcast, we are delighted to welcome Professor David Kirk on to the show. David is currently the Professor of Education and former Head of the School of Education (2014-17) at the University of Strathclyde. He is an educational researcher with teaching and research interests in educational innovation, curriculum history, and physical education and sport pedagogy. David is the founding editor of the peer reviewed journal Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy and editor of Routledge Studies in Physical Education and Youth Sport. He has held academic appointments previously in universities in England, Australia, Ireland and Belgium and is currently Honorary Professor of Human Movement Studies at the University of Queensland. His most recent book Precarity, Critical Pedagogy and Physical Education was published by Routledge in 2020. Which we find out in more detail about in today’s episode.
This week on the podcast, we are delighted to welcome Paul McMillan on to the show. Paul is a lecturer in the PE programme at the University of Edinburgh. He is passionate about teaching: the complex nature of it and how Lesson Study may play a role in developing further teachers’ practice. We are about to hear about the key insights from his research and how he has worked with teachers using this approach.
This week on the podcast, we are joined by Donnie MacLeod. Donnie is the Head of Education Services at Glasgow City Council. Donnie began his career (post Jordanhill College at Scottish School of Physical Education) as a PE Development Officer in the Scottish Borders based at the Queens Centre, Galashiels. Following this, he spent 18 months as a Graduate Assistant in the Physical Recreation at Stirling University. Afterwards, Donnie spent 10 years as at PE Teacher Larbert High School in Falkirk as teacher and assistant Principal Teacher. He was then PT PE at Lenzie Academy in East Dunbartonshire and spent 14 years as a school inspector with HMIE – firstly as a secondary inspector and National Specialist for PE and Lead Inspector for Outdoor Learning. He then moved to Area Lead Officer linked with the Ayrshire Education Authorities. His last two years have been spent as Head of Service with Glasgow City Council Education.
This week Ross Hyslop makes a repeat appearance on the podcast to talk to us about the topic of Imposter Syndrome. Ross did a morning vlog every morning during lockdown speaking about different areas of psychology as he went through the alphabet, and one we found particularly interesting was on Imposter Syndrome. A feeling of fraudulence or that you don't deserve to be in the position you are in. This topic seemed to resonate with a lot of people in the comments section of Ross's vlog, therefore we thought we would invite ross back on to pick his brains on this area.
Alexandra Haskett, Physical Education Teacher at St Augustine’s RC High School in Edinburgh, is here to talk us through the Scottish National 5 Physical Education course structure and key strategies she has experience and success with. Alex share a fantastic insight into the success she has using cooperative learning with her certificated classes along with some excellent tips you can take away with you to try immediately within your teaching. You do not want to miss this episode!
This week we are joined by Blaine McKenna. Blaine specialises in Football Coaching and currently works abroad in Thailand. Blaine holds the UEFA A Licence coaching qualification and has achieved a MSc in Sport Psychology. The Northern Irishman has coached in 11 countries on 5 continents. We hear first hand about his successes and challenges throughout his career. Blaine offers some personal advice for other aspiring coaches out there!
This week we are joined by Nickademus de la Rosa. Nick specialises in endurance coaching and is a gait analyst. He is passionate about working with individuals who think running isn't for them but maybe they've seen some videos, their friend did a marathon and they kind of want to try it however they have constant niggles or aren’t quite sure on where to begin. Nick is also passionate about the psychological and postural side of running where he often shares his knowledge on his instagram account with informative technical breakdowns of how to improve your running technique. On top of this, Nick is also an avid ultra endurance athlete. His most impressive achievement is winning the Barkley Marathons in 2013 which is considered to be one of the toughest, if not, the toughest running event on the planet. To put this into context, the event has been running for over 30 years and there have been fewer than 20 finishers. Nick also talks to us a lot about mental health and the importance of doing what you do for the love and enjoyment of it as opposed to seeking external validation from others. A very interesting conversation and one not to be missed.
This week on the podcast, we are delighted to welcome Shirley Gray on to the show. Shirley is a Senior Lecturer in Physical Education at Edinburgh University. She has carried out and supported others through many research projects such as Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility, digital health, equality and curriculum development. We are delighted to have Shirley on to talk us through these models. We hope others listening can test the strategies Shirley discusses and take tangible action points back to school to positively influence curriculum development and teaching and learning.
This week on the podcast we are joined by 2 time world record holder and endurance cyclist Mark Beaumont. Mark is well known for his impressive endurance cycling feats with his most recent expedition being an around the planet cycle in 78 days, where he broke 2 world records in the process. That is an average of 240 miles per day for 78 consecutive days. Mark shares how he prepares his body physically and mentally for the expeditions he takes on. He also shares some of the many lessons he has learned throughout his challenges, like the time he and a team of fellow rowers attempted to row across the Atlantic Ocean and capsized for several hours before being rescued by a passing ship.
This week on the podcast we are delighted to welcome Elaine Wotherspoon. Elaine is the PGDE secondary programme leader for all subject areas at the University of the West of Scotland. She has experience in research on Health and Wellbeing in general and how prepared teachers feel they are to meet their responsibility for HWB in schools which Elaine discusses with us in today's episode. Elaine talks to us about her time teaching in Chicago and the impact this had on her as a teacher. Lastly, we find out about Elaine's role at the University and what this entails.
Maureen McKenna Joins A Wee Bit of Everything this week to share her experience with us. Maureen is the Executive Director of Education for Glasgow City council. Maureen shares her thoughts on how education can move forward successfully amidst the coronavirus pandemic. She also shares some great insight into how Glasgow are going to trial a blended learning model to help reduce numbers within school.
This week on the podcast, we welcome Emma Drewery. Emma graduated from UWCC with a BSc(Hons) in Optometry followed by a pre-registration working year at Newcastle Royal Infirmary Eye Department. She worked in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling for independent and group opticians for over ten years. Whilst working she gained a diploma in Sports Vision in 2004 and also began her training with the British Association of Behavioural Optometrists. In 2007 Emma opened her own optometrist practice in Bridge of Allan to help her develop her specialist skills in sport and childrens vision alongside providing high quality family eyecare. Did you know that you can have 20/20 vision but poor visual processing? Emma explains how this can result in injuries within athletes and poor behaviour from our pupils.
We are joined this week by Dan Nash who is an experienced marathon runner holding a PB of 2 hours and 18 minutes. Dan finished 2nd and 4th at Brighton Marathon (2018, 2019). He also holds the world 50km bronze medalist and is the British 50km record holder. On top of his running achievements Dan has a BSc in Biomedical Science, an MSc in Exercise Physiology, and he is a PhD candidate in exercise physiology. It's fair to say Dan has a sound understanding of how to train the body to maximise our running ability and he shares a lot of this knowledge with us during this episode.
This week on the podcast, we are delighted to welcome Cathy Shilling on to the show. Cathy is a consultant in Speech & Language Therapy achieving a BSc in Speech and Language Therapy and Pathology back in the early 90’s. Cathy’s vision is to provide high quality, timely interventions which are tailored to the individual child, their family and their school. Cathy shares practical strategies which can be applied to help tackle speech and language related barriers to education and to evaluate progress made.
This week on the podcast, we are joined by Stephanie Davis. Stephanie is on to today to talk to us about all things running. She is 29 years old from Scotland. Stephanie recently ran a 2:27.40 marathon time at Valencia in December 2019 which reached Olympic qualifying standard. She only recently started taking running seriously over two years ago and has shown how hard work, discipline and a desire to be the best she can be has allowed her to excel in distance running.
This week on the podcast, we are delighted to welcome Dr Andy Dalziell on to the show. Andy is a consultant in Bilateral Integration and a neuro developmental practitioner who helps infants, children and young adults to achieve their best everyday. Andy is renowned for his expert knowledge in using the BMT pedagogy and he will explain the how’s and why's behind this model.
This week we are joined by Tony McDaid who is the Executive Director of Education of South Lanarkshire. Tony gives us a great insight into his career journey where he started out as a PE teacher and worked his way through several leadership roles towards his current position within education. On today's episode we ask Tony about what schools can learn from lockdown to maintain a positive school environment moving forward. Tony also share his thoughts on the current educational climate and how we can ensure teaching and learning remains at a high standard.
This week on A Wee Bit of Everything, we are delighted to welcome Evelyn Hart on to the show. Evelyn is a lecturer at Strathclyde University who has strong interests in building teacher confidence in teaching primary PE. She also is an advocate of pupil voice and the benefits this can bring to education outcomes for young people. Evelyn firmly believes in creating meaningful partnerships in education and we touch on this in today's episode. Evelyn Kindly shares some of her successful projects she led during her time as a primary teacher along with some funny stories.
This week on the podcast we are joined by head of Strathclyde University PE Teaching programme Cara Lamb. Cara talks in depth about the Activist approach and when teaching teenage girls in Physical Education and practical strategies on how this can be implemented into our practice. Cara also finishes off with some words of wisdom for current teachers and student teachers to further develop their skills and knowledge within their subject.
This week we are joined by Cameron Stewart who is also a primary PE specialist. Cameron talks to us about the sport education model and teaching games for understanding and the successes he has had with these models in his own practice.
We are joined this week by primary PE specialist Chris Crookston to talk to us about the teaching methods he has had a lot of success in with his own practice. On todays episode Chris shares experiences using the small sided games approach to teaching along with BMT and how he incorporates this into his teaching. Chris shares some tips on how he observes his pupils to assess them effectively along with practical examples of how he uses each model.
A Wee Bit of Everything: Ep 17 - Interview with Commonwealth Games Volleyball player Seain Cook by Lewis Cleland
This week on the show we are joined by team Scotland and team GB Gymnast, Shannon Archer. Shannon's passion for gymnastics started when she was only 4 years old. As a result of her commitment, work ethic and discipline she has made to the elite level in the sport where she has represented her country at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018 where she managed to get a top 10 finish for her performance. On today's episode, Shannon covers what a week of training looks like for her on the build up to a competition, how she trains her body to remain flexible and the importance of this and how she manages her anxiety prior to performing on the beam. We also find out what makes a high quality Gymnastics performance. It's inspiring for us to see how disciplined Shannon is with her training and how much work is required to stay in peak condition for gymnastics. It seems there really is no substitute for hard work and consistency.
This week on the podcast, Dr Andrew Murray speaks to us about the importance of doing the basics consistently well when it comes to training and how there really is no substitute for it. In this episode, Andrew shares his experiences of the extreme endurance challenges he completed where he ran from John O'Groats to the Sahara desert and completed an ultra marathon in all 7 continents in under a week.
This week we have the pleasure of interviewing Ross McKelvie who is a Scottish Beach Volleyball player. Ross talks us through his training during the volleyball season and the different approaches he uses to achieve and maintain optimal performance within his sport. He also talks to us about the impact the social factor of communication has on his performance in Volleyball and how crucial this is for a successful performance.
Jamie McBrearty joins us on the show today to talk about his journey as a growth mindset consultant and Football coach. Jamie works with Dundee Football Club and coaches the under 14 squad. It is very interesting to hear how he uses a growth mindset teaching model to develop young footballers physically and mentally.
A Wee Bit of Everything: Ep 12 Part 2 - Interview with Strathclyde Sirens Netballer Nicola McCleery by Lewis Cleland
In part 1 of this episode Nicola talks to us about her upbringing and her journey to playing Netball at the top level. She talks tells us about her training methods and the main aspects of fitness she looks to develop playing as a Wing Attack in Netball. She give us an insight into the different fitness tests the team carries out and the technology used to analyse their performance in training and competition.
On the podcast this week we have Aaron Anderson who is a fellow PE teacher and friend. Aaron talks to us about all things Higher PE and offers some top tips that can be easily implemented into your practice with your own classes. He gives a clear breakdown of how he delivers and structures the course. Aaron also touches on cooperative learning and a strategy he uses at the start of the year to install a growth mindset culture within his classes. Aaron's knowledge surrounding this area of the curriculum is second to none and we hope you'll take as much from this as we did.
This is the final part of our interview with UFC fighter Paul Craig. In this episode we delve into the four factors that can impact your performance in sport (Mental, Emotional, Social and Physical). Paul gives us a personal insight into how the emotional factor (Fear and Anger)can impact his performance at the top level, and the strategies he implements to manage these emotions for optimal performance.
In Part 2 of this interview with Paul he goes into depth about his training. We pick his brains about the methods he and his coaches use to gather information on his current performance levels and how he uses this to prepare for an upcoming fight. He also talks to us about how important specificity through his training is to maximising performance potential in sport. We also ask Paul about the methods he uses to monitor his training to ensure he is on track when hitting his goals.
In Part 1 of this interview with UFC fighter Paul 'Bear Jew' Craig we get an insight into his background and how he broke through into the UFC. Paul talks about the barriers he faced when pursuing his dream of becoming a professional fighter and how he overcame these to make his dream a reality. He speaks about one of his fights against Magomev Ankalaev where he went in as a massive underdog and Ankalaev was dominating the full fight until the last second of the last round where he won by the latest submission in UFC history.
This week we had the pleasure of interviewing Ajax ladies goalkeeper, Stephanie Bukovec. During this interview we delve into how information is gathered on Steph's fitness and performance levels and how this information is then used to shape her training when playing at the top level. We also find out how she monitors her progress throughout the season. We touch on the mental factor of concentration and how she, as a goalkeeper manages to keep her focus throughout a whole 90 minute game, especially during times when her team has the bulk of possession. We end this episode with our usual quick fire round of 3 questions where she offers advice to aspiring young female footballers.
If you want to follow Steph on Instagram, below is her user name: @scbukovec
This episode we discuss our 21 day cold water therapy challenge. We do our very best to discuss the science behind it in very simple terms based purely on our understanding of the research we have done into it. We talk about the 3 step process to the cold water therapy along with the suggested benefits. At the end, we talk about our top benefits that we felt based on this mini life experiment. This challenge was inspired by a man called Wim Hof who has several world records relating to withstanding extreme temperatures. Below is his twitter handle and instagram name.
@iceman_hof - Twitter & Instagram
On today's episode we have a good friend, ex colleague and competitive powerlifter. Adam gives us an isight into the training that goes into lifting your as much weight as possible through the deadlift, squat and bench press. Adam was the junior IPF champion when he was 21 and 22 holding the record for all three lifts. His passion for the sport and commitment to his training oozes from him as he goes into some depth about his training methods and how he prepares for competitions. He also touches a little on mental health and anxiety and how this can impact on training along with his methods for keeping this under control.
On this episode we talk about our attempt to conquer the UK's 3 highest mountains and running between them ALL by foot in 1 week. We talk in depth about the planning in terms of training, logistics, and fitting in the full time job of endurance training on top of our full time jobs and university placements. We round this episode off nicely summarising the things we did well, the things we did not do so well and what we would do differently going forward if we are to do this challenge again.
This week we have our friend Ross Hyslop on the podcast. Ross is a counsellor and neuro feedback coach and specialises in addiction. Ross has a wealth of knowledge about the mind and why we do certain things. We try and pick his brains about attitude and ability and how our attitudes are formed from a young age. We ask Ross his thoughts on the impact social media, our upbringing and role models has on our attitudes and beliefs.
In 2017 we made our way back to Brazil to work with the connections we made in 2014. This time, we went to deliver lectures/talks on Growth Mindset through our West Highland Way endeavour that year and coach an under 14's team in south Brazil. We spoke to athletes, school students, parents and coaches about the concept of Growth Mindset and how your abilities are not fixed - they can indeed be developed through task persistence and resilience.
Today's episode takes us to the capital of Spain, Madrid, to speak to Ryan Egan. Ryan is a Physical Educator in an English International school in Madrid. He talks to us about his successes and challenges in his teaching experiences and his life in general. We touch on topics like the process you need to go through to teach abroad and try drawing some comparisons and similarities to teaching in Scotland.
On this episode we are discussing all things West Highland Way and in particular, when we tried to accomplish this feat in an ambitious 24 hours. We talk about the preparation involved and the challenge itself along with reflecting on the key lessons we learnt from it. In this episode, we speak about the power of working as a team to achieve challenging tasks. As always, we finish with our take away messages. We hope you enjoy it!
This episode is an introduction to your hosts and our backgrounds. We dive into our experience when visiting the World Cup in Brazil in 2014. During this episode we talk about the football clubs we visited personally in Brazil and Argentina to learn from culturally and from a footballing perspective. We also talk about what it was like going to South America at the raw age of 19 and 20 to take in the biggest sporting competition in the world. Listen to hear the full story!