The Unteachables Podcast

#127: I met the King, and he asked me a question about the work I do with classroom management I was NOT expecting

• Claire English • Season 6 • Episode 127

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Wait, did I just explain classroom management to the King?!
Yep. That happened. In this episode, I’m giving you a front seat to one of the most bizarre, surreal, and pinch-me experiences of my life — being invited to Buckingham Palace and getting to literally talk to King Charles about what we do as educators.

But more importantly, I want to unpack why it was so powerful. Not because it was fancy or royal or Insta-worthy (though…yes, yes it was). But because what I shared with him? It wasn’t shiny. It wasn’t new. It wasn’t revolutionary.

It was real.

The simple, human-first, practical work we do in our classrooms every day — the stuff that doesn’t come with buzzwords or fancy acronyms — THAT is what got me standing in front of the actual King. And I want to tell you why that matters. Because this episode is for you.

If you’ve ever doubted whether your small routines make a difference…
 If you’ve ever wondered whether this values-led way of teaching is actually working…
 If you’ve ever felt like what you’re doing is “just good teaching” and not enough to be noticed…

Let me tell you: It’s radical. It’s rare. And it’s working.

So, shall we roll the tape?

What You’ll Learn:

  • The wild story of how I got invited to Buckingham Palace 🏰
  • What I said to King Charles (and the curveball question he asked)
  • Why actionable classroom practice IS innovative (even if it doesn’t feel like it)
  • How teaching with clarity, consistency, and compassion is changing lives — literally
  • The empowering reminder that things like your entry routine are literally changing lives
  • Why “just good teaching” is more than enough

Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!

RESOURCES AND MORE SUPPORT:

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Speaker 1:

Oh, hi there, teachers. Welcome to the Unteachables podcast. I'm your host, claire English, and I am just a fellow teacher, a toddler mama and a big old behavior nerd on a mission to demystify and simplify that little thing called classroom management. The way we've all been taught to manage behavior and classroom manage has left us playing crowd control, which is not something I subscribe to, because we're not bouncers, we're teachers. So listen in as I walk you through the game, changing strategies and I mean the things that we can actually do and action in our classrooms that will allow you to lean into your beautiful values as a compassionate educator and feel empowered to run your room with a little more calm and, dare I say it, a lot less chaos. I will see you in the episode.

Speaker 1:

Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Unteachables podcast. I hope you're all good on your end. I hope that school is treating you well. I hope that your leaders are treating you well. I hope that your staff treating you well. I hope that all is good. I know that in some parts of the world you're winding down the school year, so that brings with it a whole bunch of challenges with behavior, with your energy, with just everything, and I know that here in the Southern Hemisphere we are just in the thick of the school year, so you kind of get to that middle of the year part. You've got so long left to go, but you've already been in the classroom for so long and you're just desperate for that break. So, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, whatever your current situation is, I am sending all of the good vibes, all the coffee, all the things. So shall we just? Shall we just shoot the breeze for the next 20 minutes, or should I get into an episode?

Speaker 1:

I actually this is the first episode that I have recorded. I record my episodes in kind of like bulk. So I will do four at the start of the month, so all of the podcasts for the month are done. And that's just because I find it really hard to be consistent with things and I find it really hard to do kind of like a lot of task swapping. So when it comes to the unteachables going, I'm going to smash out four episodes and when I'm in that same kind of energy, just get them done a lot quicker. The first episode I record I shouldn't know if anyone cares about this, probably not but the first episode I record for the month, like this episode, for example. I will rerecord that first part probably about 10 times. I will do 10 seconds of talking and go, oh bloody hell, like have to delete it and go back because I say something stupid or I just I'm not in the kind of flow of it. So I find that so much easier because then the rest of the episodes I don't do that because I'm in that kind of podcast flow state. Anyway, all of that to say, this is the first podcast episode that I have recorded since I got back from London, so I don't know if all of you are aware, if you're listening to this. You might not be aware if you're not following me on Instagram or anything like that.

Speaker 1:

But last month, so on the 15th of last month, I was invited to go to Buckingham Palace for the garden party which was celebrating the education and skills sector. So it was like teachers and there were a few nurses there and just people who were doing things in the education space, and when I got the message, so I did put a post up on Instagram about I got a bunch of questions so I thought I'd go through them, but one person said like how did you get invited, literally on Instagram. The Royal Family Instagram reached out to me and it wasn't the king or anything, but it was the. I think it was like the social media manager for Buckingham Palace or like the person who oversees kind of those relationships. She reached out to me and she said hey, I've got an opportunity. Would you like to you know, would you like to hear more about it? Can you please give me your email? And of course, in this day and age, I would be like it's a scam, someone's going to get me there and someone's going to steal my kidneys, because that's just what we think. We're so dubious about things now. So of course I I said, yep, no, worries, send me an email.

Speaker 1:

And I vetted the hell out of these people. I was looking at them on LinkedIn, I was looking at their faces. I was like just kind of sussing out everything about this whole process. I'm like surely the Royal family's Instagram and emails are not going to be hacked just to pull some kind of prank on me, like I'm just a nobody. But uh, so it was all fine.

Speaker 1:

It was all kind of it all checked out, and I guess the reason why it was important it all checked out was because the flight to London from Sydney is between 24. I mean, sometimes you get a flight that's 22 hours, but the actual like commute is 25 hours, at least by the time you like go to the airport and get back. I think I was in transit for like 28 hours on that first leg. So it's not like I'm popping from Birmingham to London, you know, it's not like I'm jumping on a train. I am crossing the seas to the other side of the world without my toddler for the first time. I've never been away from her before.

Speaker 1:

So it was a really big deal for me to go, and I'm so glad that I did, because not only was I invited to the event, I was handpicked to be introduced to the King and for me to be able to explain to the King the work that I was doing and all the things right, and I just didn't understand why. I was like what's going on? It didn't make sense to me. So I went and in my head I'm like okay, I got the email said I was shortlisted for a presentation with the King, which means I was presented to him in some way. But um, I was expecting this to be something that was like hundreds of people, being, you know, potentially just in a room where we might be able to like shake hands with one of the Royal family members. But no, it was. I got there and I was told to meet this lady on the stairs.

Speaker 1:

As we were coming in, we went through the front gates of Buckingham Palace. It was wild. All of that part where tourists are usually kind of mingling and taking photos, that was all blocked off to the public and we had to go through all of these security gates to get in. And we got in there and we had to go through all of these security gates to get in. And we got in there and we went through the front gates of Buckingham Palace and we went around the side to the gardens, which are just vast. They are huge and they're vast and just beautiful. And there were all these tents set up and best public toilets I've ever been to, like they would just pop up public toilets. They were amazing.

Speaker 1:

I stole a tampon. I didn't steal it, they were all there to use. Obviously that's the Western Sydney girl coming out of me, but I took a tampon as a memento of my trip to Buckingham Palace. Anyway, oh my gosh, no one from the royal family is going to be listening to this podcast, so I think I'm safe. So I got there and I was introduced to this lady and she said okay, I need you to meet me back here at this time and be ready, you know. So I met her back there and it was just and I was on this weird run sheet. It said presentations with the King. Claire English was on there and they lined us up at the front door. So everybody else was on the grass like pushed back by the guards, so the guards were standing around and creating a barrier and I was like up next to the doors of Buckingham Palace. I was like what the hell am I doing here? And then the music started and then the other guards came down.

Speaker 1:

The King's guards came down and that was just crazy seeing that all happening and we had to follow them down the stairs in front of 8,000 people, just me, my guest, ali, my best friend. Unfortunately I had to leave my husband at home with my toddler, but I was able to bring my best mum friend, ali, who I met her at antenatal and she was just my best best friend in London. So like just being able to catch up with her was amazing as well. So we went down the stairs and we had to line up in a row and the king came down and was like he there was some guy in a top hat there and he was just. We had to send like a bio through, so the King was prepped on who we were, but then he was being like he was introducing us to the King, anyway. So my face was completely numb so he moved on loads, like five of us with our guests, about 10 people in this line, with like thousands of people lining up around. You know, there was like this vast empty space we were standing in the middle of, like on display. It was wild. So he was coming down the line with Queen Camilla and with, I think, the Education Secretary Bridget was there as well, which we weren't expecting. So we're like, who are you? What's happening?

Speaker 1:

But anyway, so the king was coming down the line, king Charles, and my face was just numb, my mouth was numb and I'm like what am I going to say? Like I just I'd been rehearsing this elevator pitch on the plane and on the way there and I was, you know, trying to rehearse it with my friend Ali, because I'm really bad at talking about what I do. I'm just like, oh, I'm a teacher, like you know, I still just, I still just identify as just a teacher. I'm not saying just a teacher, but you know, that is my identity. My identity is a teacher. So I couldn't just say to King Charles like, oh yeah, I'm a teacher and that's why I'm here in front of you being introduced.

Speaker 1:

So I practiced this, like you know, elevator pitch, and that's all I had in my brain. Everything else was pushed out. So I wasn't expecting anything else but that. I was expecting, like, a polite nod, a handshake. But cue the internal panic when he said to me oh very good, do you think that what you're doing is innovative? Is it working? And honestly, I just went hot, like my face was hot. I'm like, what am I going to say? Because what I do isn't innovative, it's not shiny, it's not new, it's just actionable and real and the stuff that we should already be taught.

Speaker 1:

So this is what I said to him and I've just been, as you can tell, I've just been talking about this off the top of my head, but I have written down what I said to him and I typed it in my phone after, cause I really wanted to remember it. I said well, I help teachers focus on what they can actually do in the room so they can teach all of their students, even the ones who are more vulnerable and need the most support with their behaviors. That was what I said to him. I didn't say it was innovative. I didn't try to like say that I had this like new fandangled behavior approach, because I don't. I don't have buzzwords, I don't have bells and whistles, just I teach the actionable stuff and that is it.

Speaker 1:

And then I was reflecting on that sense and I'm like that is innovation, like I feel like that is the innovative, the real, like the, the stuff that is going to work. It's not some whiz bang tech, it's not being able to. Of course, you can leverage tools. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying I'm going to be stuck in the dark ages, but it isn't some new tech that your leadership has bought in. It's not some brand new educational theory that you need to get your head around yet again. It's not a new structure of the curriculum. It's just us in the room as human beings working with other humans, controlling what we can control, and doing so with connection and compassion and like immense confidence and credibility, and I really never thought in my wildest dreams that it would be radical as a concept to just do the things that are actionable and working in the classroom. And I guess that just reinforces my message and why what I do is so powerful.

Speaker 1:

Because when I run training sessions and when I do work with teachers, I'm not doing anything necessarily that they have never heard of, like I think that every teacher here listening understands that differentiation is important with classroom management. I think you understand that routines are important with classroom management. I think you would, you know, grasp the idea that the way we're showing up non-verbally you've heard of regulation, you've heard of all the things that people talk about in the classroom that work, but what does that actually look like? How do we execute that? How do we execute it so well that it is reducing and mitigating so many low-level behaviors that we're experiencing in our classrooms? How are we doing these things and how are we showing up in the classroom and what are we doing that we can control and that right there, like and just being able to support you with that stuff, that is to me innovative because it's just not being done and that should be the done thing. You know, simple tweaks to our everyday practice. So I never thought it'd be radical to get you know or get real attention for making that link between behavior change and classroom management and well, just simple tweaks to our everyday teaching practice. But here we are, hello 2025.

Speaker 1:

So that moment, I wanted to talk you through that moment because and, by the way, he just said, ah, very good, and then moved on I think that he must have read my bio and he must have also had something prepared as a question in his mind to respond to. By the way, I didn't know what to expect. I'm not necessarily a huge, huge, huge royalist. However, I wasn't sure what to expect. Meeting King Charles, he was incredibly warm and he was really interested in what we were doing like really interested, and he just seemed genuinely engaged in the work that I was doing. So that was. It was really really nice. So I just wanted to say that, not that I'm a massive royalist, but it was. It was really nice to hear that.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, so that moment, right there, I wanted to talk you through it because that is for you and every other teacher or every other leader who has ever sat in a professional development session based on some new fang dangled approach, thinking, what do I actually do, though? Like, what do I do when I'm sitting in a classroom and I have 30 kids chatting away and I'm trying to teach, or leaders, like, but tell me how do I support my staff? Like, how do I create culture shifts? How do I you know, how do I do all of these things? Like, what is the action? Tell me what to do.

Speaker 1:

And I don't necessarily believe that I'm going to be able to give you exacts like this behavior happens and this happens. No, like that's not how it works. I mean just equipping you with tangible, practical things that you are already embedding in your classroom approach, in your teaching, in your learning. That is already doing the work for you. So it's filtering out some of those little behaviors and then, when it gets to responding to behavior, you have the skills to do that as well. And then, when it comes to following up on behavior, you know how to do that as well. It's never going to be perfect. It's never going to be like here's the magic button for every single behavior, but what can you actually control? What can you actually do? That is the work that I do with you and that is the work that is getting attention, not because they understand that it's not necessarily innovative, because it's working and because it's getting attention. So this is for you, doing the work every day that matters. You know you're being intentional, you're making values, led shifts or you're trying your best to do so, and if you can't, you're seeking support and you're making changes. That is radical as fuck. I'm telling you. That is radical, that is innovative. That is you showing up in a way that a lot of teachers don't know how to because they haven't been supported to that right.

Speaker 1:

There is a stuff that changes lives and I had a laugh because I did a post on this and I said like that does change lives, and I said like your entry routine is literally changing lives. Your transitions are changing lives. Your agenda slide is changing lives because the consistency and the clarity there is supporting a young person to engage in your lesson that might have not otherwise engaged because of their anxiety around you know English because it's always been something they've struggled with you really are changing lives by showing up in the classroom and doing certain things. You don't have to be a martyr, you don't have to go and take it on and I know you do, and I know it's easy to do that and to take things home with you but the things that are changing the lives of students are you having excellent teaching practice and controlling what you can control. It's not you being a savior, it's not you being a martyr, but you are changing lives and I'm here to tell you that, and it's just the things that you're doing in the everyday. So I really hope that you got to this point and didn't tune out seven minutes in when I was still bang on about waiting for the game. I hope that you did get. I mean, you're listening now, aren't you? So you did make it to the end, so good work.

Speaker 1:

Feel free to pop into Instagram or something and have a chat with me about if you have any questions, I am always open to. Yeah, to having a chit chat, and podcasting does sometimes feel like a one-sided convo, so please come and have a chat. If you've ever been to one of the garden parties, it's really random how many people have like kind of popped on and go. Oh yeah, like 10 years ago, you know because I was working for this place yeah, or if you just want to make any comments about that, or drag me through the mud for going to Buckingham Palace, that's fine. You do what you need to do. Okay, lovely teacher, I'm going to leave it there and get on to recording the podcast episode, which I'm very excited about, and I will see you there. Bye for now.

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Claire English

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