The Hannah & Lucy Show — Girls in Education

What’s really going on for girls in schools today?

In this powerful episode of Education Matters, Hannah and Lucy take on everything from cover teaching chaos to the overlooked realities of period management, mental health and emotional pressure in schools. With humour, honesty and years of experience in UK classrooms, they ask what needs to change — and who’s responsible for making that happen.

• Academic performance vs emotional wellbeing
  Girls often outperform boys in grades, but are we missing the signs that they’re struggling inside?

• The silent load
  Why girls are expected to “just get on with it” and how that shapes everything from behaviour to burnout.

• Period shame and policy failures
  From being refused toilet access to being teased by teachers, the podcast shares shocking stories of how some schools are still getting it badly wrong.

• Is the curriculum out of touch?
  What would happen if we swapped Tudors for consent education, or taught menstrual nutrition before mitochondria?

• The pressure to be perfect
  Hannah and Lucy explore how schools reward silence and compliance in girls — and why that’s a problem.

Hannah shares her lived experience of chronic health issues, medical gaslighting, and how those moments shaped her views on student support. Lucy reflects on moments in school where the 'system' simply didn’t see what students needed — and how easy it is to overlook girls who appear to be coping.

They speak candidly about:

• Teaching during severe pain and illness

• Cover lessons that go rogue

• Students using “the period excuse” — and why it’s not as simple as some assume

• What gets missed when classrooms split boys and girls for PSHE

There’s a strong focus on what education could be doing better:
From addressing period poverty and improving uniform policies to embedding consent, coercive control and healthy relationship education across the curriculum.

The message? Strong test scores don’t mean strong emotional health. If we want confident, resilient young women who understand their rights and respect their bodies, the work has to start in school.

Hannah and Lucy don’t just want better lessons. They want better lives — and better systems — for girls and everyone who works with them. This episode raises serious questions about:

• What we measure

• What we value

• And what we choose to ignore in the name of “good results”

• Teachers and TAs in the UK, US, Ireland and Europe

• School leaders and curriculum developers

• PSHE, RSE and personal development leads

• Initial teacher training providers

• Parents interested in what their children actually face

• Anyone who believes education should include humanity

🎧 Listen now and ask yourself: Are we really preparing girls for life — or just teaching them to stay quiet and pass the test?

🧠 What We Talk About

🗣 Real Talk from Real Teachers

🚺 Empowerment Needs Education

💬 Why This Matters

🌍 Relevant for: #teachers, #students, #lecturers, #educators, #parents