Change the Narrative with Adele Bates is a podcast that opens up honest conversations about education, inclusion, behaviour, and social impact. Join Adele, her team, and special guests as they explore real stories and practical insights, inviting you into the discussion on how we can create positive change together.
Adele Bates is the Director of ABEducation, an accomplished author, and a multi-award-winning international keynote speaker. She partners with schools and organisations to drive meaningful improvements in behaviour, culture, and inclusion.
Maximising the Impact of Support Staff in Education - S2 Ep5
In this episode, Adele and Keith dig into what it really means to value and support TAs and other support staff around behaviour. They talk about how the TA role has changed over the last few decades, from “general classroom help” to one‑to‑one support, behaviour support and intervention work, and how that shift has created a lot of confusion about what TAs are actually there to do.
Adele and Keith share stories of TAs being underused, misused, or dropped into high‑risk behaviour-management roles with little training, alongside examples of TAs who are among the strongest behaviour practitioners in the building. They explore how leaders can involve support staff properly in behaviour plans and policy, give them access to meaningful CPD (not just the “leftover” training), and create spaces where TAs can learn from each other rather than feeling isolated.
This episode also introduces ABEducation’s TA conferences, and why it matters to give TAs a whole day focused on their role, and how follow‑up sessions help turn that one day into lasting change back in school.
Hosted by Adele Bates
Guest: Keith Bates
Recorded via Riverside
Music by Pocketbeats Music, @pocketsbeatsmusic on Instagram
Production Support by Susan Outlaw
Operational Support by Hannah John
20 Apr 2026
Inclusion and Leadership - S2 Ep4
In this episode, Adele and Keith talk with education leader and coach Shaheen Myers about what real inclusion and humane leadership look like in schools.
Shaheen shares how, during her time as Deputy Director of Education in Leeds, a citywide inclusion model contributed to a period of zero permanent exclusions and what it took culturally and structurally to get there. They explore how behaviour becomes the pinch point for inclusion, why “early intervention” must be more than a light‑touch programme, and how high‑stakes accountability is pushing many heads to the edge.
Shaheen also introduces her current work through her book The Human Side of School Leadership, focusing on coaching, wellbeing supervision and practical ways to lead with care, connection and courage without burning out.
Hosted by Adele Bates
Guests: Keith Bates, Shaheen Myers
Recorded via Riverside
Music by Pocketbeats Music, @pocketsbeatsmusic on Instagram
Production Support by Susan Outlaw
Operational Support by Hannah John
7 Apr 2026
Whole-School Approach to SEMH- S2 Ep3
In this episode, Adele speaks directly to leaders, whether you’re in a school, college, MAT, or any organisation working with young people with SEMH needs, trauma, or behaviour that really stretches staff.
Building on her first book, “Miss, I don’t give a sh*t” Engaging with Challenging Behaviour in Schools, and looking ahead to the next one, she steps back from one-to-one strategies to ask a bigger question: what does whole‑school (or whole‑organisation) behaviour support actually look like in real life, not just on paper?
Hosted by Adele Bates
Recorded via Riverside
Music by Pocketbeats Music, @pocketsbeatsmusic on Instagram
Production Support by Susan Outlaw
Operational Support by Hannah John
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