Every so often, you get to sit down with someone who doesn’t just talk about education — they’ve lived it, questioned it, survived it, and then tried to make it better for everyone else.
This week on Detention Diaries, I had the pleasure of speaking with Ross McGill, the founder of Teacher Toolkit — a platform most teachers will have stumbled across at some point during a late-night Google spiral that started with “how do I survive teaching?” and ended with “ah… it’s not just me then.”
Why this conversation matters
Ross’s journey mirrors that of so many teachers across the UK: passionate beginnings, relentless workload, the emotional toll of the job, and that growing realisation that the system doesn’t always support the people holding it together.
In this conversation, we don’t shy away from the big stuff:
- Teacher workload and burnout
- The wellbeing crisis in education
- What actually helps teachers (and what definitely doesn’t)
- Why schools need honesty, not just another initiative
- How Teacher Toolkit became a space teachers genuinely trust
It’s not a sales pitch. It’s not buzzwords. It’s one teacher talking to another about the reality of the job — the bits we rarely get time to say out loud.
Teaching, but human
One of the things I really valued about this episode was Ross’s openness. There’s no pretending teaching is “fine if you just manage your time better.” There’s an acknowledgment that education is complex, emotional, and often exhausting — and that supporting teachers properly isn’t a luxury, it’s essential.
That honesty is exactly why Teacher Toolkit resonates with so many educators. It doesn’t talk at teachers — it talks with them.
🎧 Listen to the episode
👉 Podcast link:
Make it Make SENDs #5 : Music and Inclusivity – is it even possible? with Kate Campbell-Green – Detention Diaries
- Make it Make SENDs #5 : Music and Inclusivity – is it even possible? with Kate Campbell-Green
- Detention Diaries #5 – Redefining Masculinity: What does it really mean to be a man?
- Detention Diaries #4 What Teachers Really Need: Ross McGill on Workload, Wellbeing & the Future of Schools
- Make it Make SENDS #4 – Aiming for the Edges with Dr Shelley Moore. How inclusion REALLY works!
- Make it Make SENDs #3 – Talking About Talking: Jane Harris on Fixing the Speech and Language Crisis
Whether you’re a classroom teacher, middle leader, senior leader, or someone who’s stepped away from teaching but still cares deeply about education — this one’s for you.
🔗 Find Ross & his work
- Teacher Toolkit website: https://www.teachertoolkit.co.uk
- Training & CPD: https://www.teachertoolkit.co.uk/training
- X (Twitter): https://x.com/TeacherToolkit
Join the Detention Diaries community
If this episode resonates — and I suspect it will — don’t just listen and move on.
👉 Subscribe to the Detention Diaries podcast so you don’t miss future conversations with teachers, leaders, and education voices who actually get it.
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Because teaching is hard enough. We might as well talk about it — honestly.
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