The Long Division

Episode 7, "The February Transition," follows a trainee teacher finishing a second placement and returning to their first, focusing on inclusive practice. The episode covers practical strategies like the Freya vocabulary model, deliberate scaffolding, varied media, and differentiated questioning to reach every student. Highlights include boosting engagement through real-world conversations with a student, and a standout Year 7 sequence on angle work that demonstrated how inclusive methods lift the whole class. The episode reflects on applying lessons learned under pressure and growing confidence in the classroom.

Episode 6 reflects on an essay, the subject knowledge assignment, about why algebra is hard and practical strategies to help Year 10 students retain it: focused starters, live formative assessment, and gradually removed scaffolds across a five-lesson sequence. The writer also discovers variation theory as a powerful tool for helping students notice what makes concepts different. January brings a second placement in a different school with shorter lessons, a contrasting top set and challenging bottom set, and the realities of inconsistent follow-through on behaviour policy. Observing other teachers and adapting to a new rhythm reinforces that teaching is gradual growth — and that motivation often comes from beyond the classroom.

In Episode 5, the host describes a December visit to a Year 5 primary class where the steady routine and contagious excitement during a Christmas play rehearsal reframed their view of student engagement outside secondary school. They reflect on how real subject knowledge is about explaining concepts in multiple ways, sequencing lessons for lasting learning, and setting clear targets for consolidation. Three months into training, the host feels more grounded and ready for the next placement.

Episode 4 covers November, when theory met practice: an ITAP (Intensive Training and Practice) week focused on effective learning behaviours, three research papers on non-cognitive skills, preventative behaviour strategies, and consistent implementation shaped the approach, and trainees worked through case studies and observations. The month emphasized repetition and refinement—better pacing, deliberate scaffolding removal, and using in-the-moment verbal feedback—leading to steadier lessons, growing confidence, and a smaller gap between knowing good practice and producing it under pressure.

In this episode the host recounts October, their first month running full lessons from start to finish. They focus on quietly managing behavior, the struggle with pacing that cut into practice time, and the steps they’ll take to protect learning and retention. They also reflect on experiencing parents’ evening, learning about the SENCO role, and how half-term revealed the unseen workload teachers carry. October marks the moment the training wheels came off and the real work of balancing planning, practice, and student support began.

In Episode 2 of The Long Division, the host describes the overwhelming start to their ITT training through Teach Beyond: inset days, new systems and acronyms, online training, and learning by observing experienced teachers. By the end of September they begin co-teaching, learn behaviour management, adapt from tutoring to full classrooms of up to 30, and discover the workload and the importance of a work–life balance, supported by mentors and fellow trainees.

Episode 1 of The Long Division: on the eve of becoming a newly qualified maths teacher, I trace my path from studying chemical engineering to roles in sustainability and sales, and the Saturday tutoring sessions that ultimately led me to the classroom. I share the quiet nervousness before the first day, the moments that confirmed teaching was the right path, and the promise to post weekly about the messy, rewarding reality of life at the front of a classroom.

Join Joshua King Prah, a London-based math teacher and soon-to-be ECT, as he shares candid, weekly solo episodes about the winding, messy journey into the classroom—from careers in engineering and consulting to chaotic Saturday classes and the everyday highs and lows of teaching. Honest, practical and unfiltered, this podcast is for teachers, trainees, and anyone who took the long route to find their calling. New episodes every week.