Ben and James Could Do Better: Two Teachers, No Idea
Ben and James: Secondary School Teachers
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11 recent episodes with transcripts
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Ben and James Could Do Better is a comedy podcast for secondary school teachers—recorded somewhere between the staff room, a lukewarm coffee, and a rapidly disappearing biscuit.
If you’re searching for a secondary education podcast that actually reflects life in a UK classroom, you’re in the right place. Less phonics and glitter, more behaviour management, GCSE pressure, and the reality of teaching teenagers.
With fifty years of combined experience in secondary schools, Ben and James have seen it all—from Progress 8 panic to the chaos of Year 9 on a Friday afternoon. This is the honest, funny take on teaching in the UK, packed with the kind of staff room conversations teachers don’t usually get time to have.
Whether you’re an experienced teacher, an ECT navigating your first placement, or just curious about the state of modern education, there’s something here for you.
No laminated posters. No inspirational assemblies. No budget.
Just real talk about teacher life, workload, behaviour, and surviving the school week.
We all went to school.
Ben and James just never left.
Recent Content Cues
Recent Episodes
S1E11 We Accidentally Forgot to Talk About Education
Kwik Save, Gateway, Safeway, HyperValue... say any of those names out loud and you can practically smell the fluorescent lighting. We start by correcting our own questionable supermarket history…
S1E10 A Publishing Professional Discovers Teenagers
A pair of polyester trousers, a slightly posher tie, and the social politics of the stockroom should not lead to a conversation about literacy, but somehow it does. We start by reliving our early…
S1E9 Made-Up Challenges (Solved With More Paperwork)
Party rings that somehow taste stale straight from the packet, a Huntley & Palmers tin, and the brutal truth that the quality of a school meeting can be measured entirely by the biscuit…
S1E8 Teacher Hacks (And Other Ways to Increase Your Workload)
You can get a GCSE in Welsh, grow up in Wales, and still completely freeze when someone actually speaks Welsh back to you. That confession sends us into a proper wander through language, identity,…
S1E7 Students Found Our Podcast… and It’s Getting Weird
This week, a crumbling Flake somehow turns into a full conversation about childhood, school life, and the packed lunches that still haunt us.We revisit frozen sandwiches made on Sunday nights, budget…
S1E6 “10 Things Every Teacher Needs”… Apparently
A stationery supplier promises “ten things every teacher needs in their classroom”—but how well do these lists match the reality of UK schools?We’re Ben and James, two secondary teachers, and in this…
S1E5 Teacher Burnout & Wellbeing: Why “Just Breathe” Doesn’t Work in Schools
Some wellbeing advice sounds great—until you try to follow it in a real school day.In this episode, we put a popular “7 ways to improve teacher wellbeing” guide to the test—through the lens of…
S1E4 PGCE, Teach First & Other Character Building Exercises
The “official” path into teaching sounds simple on paper: check your qualifications, understand funding, get some experience, choose a course, apply, train, get a job, start your career. But when you…
S1E3 Competitive Salary and Other Bedtime Stories About Teaching
The Get Into Teaching website makes teaching sound like a clean, confident career choice: inspire from day one, teach with freedom, progress at your own pace, earn a competitive salary, and enjoy…
S1E2 Primary vs Secondary: Stickers, Postcards, and Other Teaching Myths We’ve Been Sold
A supply agency calls itself “the home of happy teachers” and publishes a six-point guide to the differences between primary and secondary schools. That alone is enough to get us started.We pick…
S1E1 Two Teachers Try to Start a Podcast (Badly)
Most podcasts lose you in the first five minutes. We’re trying not to.We’re Ben and James — two secondary school staff attempting to make a podcast that’s actually worth your commute. To keep it on…
S1E1 Trailer
Welcome to the trailer for Ben and James Could Do Better, an irreverent journey through the world of secondary education from the perspective of a man called Ben and a different man called James.We…
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