Our notorious Easter holiday light episode is back for 2026, and we’re delighted that we have Emma’s dulcet tones on the recording! In order to achieve this, we recorded this way back in July 2025, and Tom’s got his fingers crossed that everything we bring to the table ages well in the intervening nine months.

Building work outside our normal studio means that we’re in a temporary setup for this recording, so YouTube viewers can see our big screen misbehaving, and everyone can hear the sound of grass being mown outside the window. July recordings are fun!

In this episode, Emma, Sian and Tom bring two items each and discuss everything from school teacher retention to the importance of air conditioning and the unpaid labour of mothers. We hope you find something interesting in it to amuse you during your school holiday break. We’ll be back with our normal service in two weeks’ time.

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Recorded in studio D0.12 at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Cyncoed Campus on 22nd July 2025.

In this Senedd Election Special, we tried very hard to interview someone from Reform UK about the party's education policy offerings for the upcoming Senedd elections. As you'll hear, we weren't successful in getting anyone to come on, so we discussed the education content of their manifesto document without them.

As always, here on Emma and Tom Talk Teaching we then turn to analysis from Dr Gareth Evans from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

The manifesto discussion was recorded on 6th March 2026, and is a collaboration between Emma and Tom Talk Teaching and The Impact Podcast. You can also hear it, together with Jane and Finola's thoughts, over on their podcast feed.

Each of the six main parties contesting the Senedd elections in May has a broadcast slot for their interview:

16th March - Conservative

17th March - Green

19th March - Labour

23rd March - Liberal Democrats

24th March - Plaid Cymru

26th March - Reform UK

Then, on 22nd April we'll bring you a special episode analysing everything we've found out from the discussions. Enjoy!

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Presented by Tom Breeze, Gareth Evans, Jane Miller and Finola Wilson

Music: Cameron Stewart

Producer: Darren Evans

Studio Manager: Adrian Rapps

Any opinions expressed by the presenters are their independent views and not those of their respective employers.

In this Senedd Election Special, we interview Cefin Campbell from Plaid Cymru about the party's education policy offerings for the upcoming Senedd elections.

As ever, here on Emma and Tom Talk Teaching we have post-interview analysis from Dr Gareth Evans from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

The interview was recorded on 16th February 2026, and is a collaboration between Emma and Tom Talk Teaching and The Impact Podcast. You can also hear this interview, together with Jane and Finola's thoughts, over on their podcast feed.

Each of the six main parties contesting the Senedd elections in May has a broadcast slot for their interview:

16th March - Conservative

17th March - Green

19th March - Labour

23rd March - Liberal Democrats

24th March - Plaid Cymru

26th March - Reform UK

Then, on 22nd April we'll bring you a special episode analysing everything we've found out from the interviews. Enjoy!

--------------------------------------

Presented by Tom Breeze, Gareth Evans, Jane Miller and Finola Wilson

Music: Cameron Stewart

Producer: Darren Evans

Studio Manager: Adrian Rapps

Any opinions expressed by the presenters are their independent views and not those of their respective employers.

In this Senedd Election Special, we interview Jane Dodds from the Liberal Democrats about the party's education policy offerings for the upcoming Senedd elections.

As ever, here on Emma and Tom Talk Teaching we have post-interview analysis from Dr Gareth Evans from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

The interview was recorded on 25th February 2026, and is a collaboration between Emma and Tom Talk Teaching and The Impact Podcast. You can also hear this interview, together with Jane and Finola's thoughts, over on their podcast feed.

Each of the six main parties contesting the Senedd elections in May has a broadcast slot for their interview:

16th March - Conservative

17th March - Green

19th March - Labour

23rd March - Liberal Democrats

24th March - Plaid Cymru

26th March - Reform UK

Then, on 22nd April we'll bring you a special episode analysing everything we've found out from the interviews. Enjoy!

--------------------------------------

Presented by Tom Breeze, Gareth Evans, Jane Miller and Finola Wilson

Music: Cameron Stewart

Producer: Darren Evans

Studio Manager: Adrian Rapps

Any opinions expressed by the presenters are their independent views and not those of their respective employers.

We're back next week with the final three slots in the series: the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and Reform. Here on our podcast you'll get the usual post-interview analysis with Dr Gareth Evans. Don't forget that Jane and Finola will be discussing the interviews from their point of view over on the Impact Podcast too.

This Senedd Elections Special series is a co-production of Emma and Tom Talk Teaching and the Impact Podcast.

To complement our Senedd election special episodes, we welcome Dr Gareth Evans back to the podcast to set the scene with a look at how education in Wales has developed since devolution in 1999.

Gareth is well-placed to give us the back-story leading up to these pivotal elections, as he is Director of Education Policy at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, and previously the education correspondent of the Western Mail, Wales's national newspaper.

He's just had a paper published in the Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, describing what he calls 'a story of contradiction' in Wales's education policies of the past quarter of a century.

It's a timely moment to dig into these contradictions as we approach what may be a historic election result in a country whose political landscape has, not only since devolution but for 100 years, been dominated by the Labour party.

Apologies to our YouTube viewers who will see the cameras cut out half way through as we overran our studio booking!

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Recorded in studios B2.16 and B2.17 at Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus on 12th December 2025

In this Senedd Election Special, we interview Lynne Neagle from the Labour Party (and the current Cabinet Secretary for Education) about the party's education policy offerings for the upcoming Senedd elections.

As ever, here on Emma and Tom Talk Teaching we have post-interview analysis from Dr Gareth Evans from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

The interview was recorded on 5th March 2026, and is a collaboration between Emma and Tom Talk Teaching and The Impact Podcast. You can also hear this interview, together with Jane and Finola's thoughts, over on their podcast feed.

Each of the six main parties contesting the Senedd elections in May has a broadcast slot for their interview:

16th March - Conservative

17th March - Green

19th March - Labour

23rd March - Liberal Democrats

24th March - Plaid Cymru

26th March - Reform UK

Then, on 22nd April we'll bring you a special episode analysing everything we've found out from the interviews. Enjoy!

--------------------------------------

Presented by Tom Breeze, Gareth Evans, Jane Miller and Finola Wilson

Music: Cameron Stewart

Producer: Darren Evans

Studio Manager: Adrian Rapps

Any opinions expressed by the presenters are their independent views and not those of their respective employers.

In this Senedd Election Special, we interview Angela Karadog from the Green Party about the Greens' education policy offerings for the upcoming Senedd elections.

As ever, here on Emma and Tom Talk Teaching we have post-interview analysis from Dr Gareth Evans from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

The interview was recorded on 18th February 2026, and is a collaboration between Emma and Tom Talk Teaching and The Impact Podcast. You can also hear this interview, together with Jane and Finola's thoughts, over on their podcast feed.

Each of the six main parties contesting the Senedd elections in May has a broadcast slot for their interview:

16th March - Conservative

17th March - Green

19th March - Labour

23rd March - Liberal Democrats

24th March - Plaid Cymru

26th March - Reform UK

Then, on 22nd April we'll bring you a special episode analysing everything we've found out from the interviews. Enjoy!

--------------------------------------

Presented by Tom Breeze, Gareth Evans, Jane Miller and Finola Wilson

Music: Cameron Stewart

Producer: Darren Evans

Studio Manager: Adrian Rapps

Any opinions expressed by the presenters are their independent views and not those of their respective employers.