Ben and James Could Do Better: Two Teachers, No Idea
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.
Episodes
10 episodes
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 selection. That’s where we begin — because school life...
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, and the massive chasm between passing an exam a...
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 crisps in blank packaging, and the st...
“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 episode we use this ambitious countdo...
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 teachers juggling five lessons, duty, and a ...
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 actually read Department for Education-style...
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 more holiday than your mates in office jobs....
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 apart the claims one by one — from general...
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 track, we structure each episode like a...