He’s Learning… Finally

0:00This episode is brought to you by the Teach in Further Education campaign campaign. If you're a skilled professional, your industry experience could be more valuable than you realise. The Teach in Further Education campaign is calling on professionals like you to share those skills by teaching in further education. You don't always need prior teaching qualifications to start. You can train on the job, sometimes funded by your employer, so you can start shaping lives and earning straight away. You can also teach flexibly, whether that's part-time or full-time. So why not help inspire the next generation?

0:31To find out more, search Teach in Further Education. Right, you ready? I'm ready. Here we go. What's going on? Little bonus episode, Claire. These lucky, lucky guys. We're getting a little bonus episode off us right now. Hello, and welcome to the Buckleys. That's me and Claire. This is the podcast where we sit down, have a chat, moan a bit, and invite you into our lives. This episode of the Buckleys is sponsored by Teach in Further Education. follow us and subscribe on Spotify or whatever podcast app you like to use and enjoy the show if you do enjoy the show why not go ahead and leave us a review hey I'm trying my best here yeah so am I trying to join in yeah join in come and join in hey how have you been I'm alright mate how are you I'm all good Claire good what have you been up to over the last couple of days well I do actually have something to moan about go on you know what I'm going to talk about because well if I'm right I kept it for this episode No, if I'm right, then you're a bit mean.

1:31Mean. Yeah. I kept it for this episode. Yeah, I know what you're going to say. Yeah, I know what you kept for this episode as well, because it works for this episode. Yeah, yeah. Right, go on then. The shelf. Yeah, all right. Floating, floating shelf. Yeah. Yeah. Difficult? Very difficult to do. Is it? It's quite difficult to do a floating shelf, Claire, without any brackets or anything, to get it all lined up. I did a little floating shelf for you. You did? Yeah. Do we have that floating shelf on the wall? No, it's not there now. And it didn't stay there for very long, sure. No. There are now two holes.

2:04There are, yeah. But in my defence... Go on. You were like, oh, just stick it up, it'll be fine. You love DIY. You're a very DIY gal. Yes. I'm very much... Just get someone in who knows what they're doing. Yes, and the only reason I asked you to do it was because I couldn't do it, not because I couldn't physically do it. I wasn't there. I wanted it done. Anyway, it's a whole big shelf store. In my defence as well... Do you know what I would... Let me interrupt you. No, no. Let me interrupt you. In my defence, I'm not good at that stuff and also I couldn't be bothered. So, go on. That is one thing.

2:37You will not give it up. You won't give up on that. It doesn't matter who is trying to say something. You will win that. You never not say it. Keep going. I was just going to say... This is a sponsored episode. Is this the episode that we get divorced? Yeah, yeah. I would like... This is a complete side note to you. producer guy can I get a little counter on how many times James says in my defence because because I'm always on the back foot every single episode listen I'm on the back foot I'm a married man in my defence Clare married men have to say in my defence and sorry quite a lot throughout the day anyway so what is going to have to happen is I am now going to have to fill those holes sure wait for them to dry repaint it and then do the shelf myself or get someone in to do it properly get a specialist in right in my defence Claire which I'm going to make into a t-shirt soon the old algorithm had been chucking some stuff up at me you were feeling a little bit confident well that was it right I get quite a lot of tradie stuff on my Instagram it's really good not only some of the work you know when you see someone carve something you go my god that's amazing But also the humour and stuff like that on building sites.

3:59I get a lot of that. Well, right, yeah. My red flag, I think the kids call it, is I will see something like that. I'll see somebody building a boat and I'll be like, I can do that. Right. You're like that with everything. You're like that with everything. Sometimes I bite off more than I can chew. I will admit that. I will admit that. You are just like, I can do that. Yeah, yeah. Sometimes I pull it off. Yeah, podcasting. I can do that. I don't want to do this so let's not pull at that thread Buckley right so go on then what made you think you could do it what have you been watching well because of all that stuff all that stuff people building stuff upscaling what do they call it is it upscaling furniture yeah upcycling upcycling furniture I get a lot of that stuff I get a lot of I get a lot of bushcrafts stuff that's what makes me feel like i can i can put a shelf up right okay i get lots of like a bloke on his own in the middle of nowhere building a little basically a shed yeah he ends up with yeah yeah yeah i'm like well i'll be able to put a shelf up i watch lots of that i also watch lots of and these are ones that you have to follow along actually uh cabin building oh i love stuff Yeah, cabin building's great.

5:21There's a few people on YouTube that I'm subscribed to and I've been watching them for years now. Right. One of them's really sad, actually. One of them's quite a sad story. I think it's called The Outsider and him and his dad bought some land. I think it's in Alaska or Canada somewhere. Oh, the dream. Oh, no, did the dad do that? By the way, I understand that Alaska and Canada is different things. I was just thinking of like above America. But him and his dad, they're craftsmen, him and his dad, absolute craftsmen. Is the dad an old man? Yeah. No, he wasn't that old, actually. Oh, he wasn't. I knew you were going to say that.

5:56Yeah. And is the son finishing it? The son's carrying on. Oh. And he's got a young family and a little daughter and stuff like that. But there is a little tinge, every episode now, there is a little tinge of sadness. Because they started this whole thing and the pair of them are brilliant, brilliant craftsmen. beautiful cabin not just like bought some two by four because i watched some of those as well where people buy some land and they basically do build like a sort of shack yeah this was all logs log cabin i'd love that and the work that they put into it and when you sort of stack the logs and you measure everything and you've got to have everything fit flush and then they um fill the gaps and it's all stuff uh all the materials are of land around and it's all like Like pines, stuff like that that they use.

6:47It's absolutely brilliant. And I watch stuff like that and I think, well, I should be able to put up a shelf, shouldn't I? Yeah. Turns out it's really difficult. Here's the detail, right, of this. I'm sure it's called The Outsiders. The floor, wooden floor, right? And obviously you have to screw into the floor. Right. And on top of the nails, the screws that they use to screw in the planks. Yeah. He'd carved into the wood so that the screws could sit below. No, the screw goes below. Right. And he put pennies in like a sort of resin and then sanded them down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it took him days to go through this whole thing and put pennies.

7:33Well, I've seen people, I've seen that on Instagram where people put pennies all over like their haul or something. Well, yeah, they build a floor out of it. that is nuts that's so ugly yeah I don't like that but yeah no I just thought and I've been watching that kind of stuff for years also I did used to fit kitchens and I did used to well that's what I was going to bring up I did used to cut wood and measure things and sand stuff down what's happening and use routers and all this kind of nonsense because this was before me I met James the actor yeah I would love to meet James the kitchen fitter I got when I got my That's way made up my street.

8:11When I first got my big paycheck from the in-betweeners, I instantly forgot all that stuff. And they say money doesn't change it. It does, it definitely does. I instantly was like, my brain just went, just dragged it all into the recycle bin. This episode is brought to you by the Teach in Further Education campaign. You never know what could be around the corner for you with your career. I don't think we'd ever imagined that we'd be doing this, did we? I didn't. I did not. Well, it turned out we were all right at it. Yeah. It's the same with teaching in further education. If you're a skilled professional, your industry skills could be more valuable than you realise.

8:57Say you're in construction, you've probably picked up a load of real world on-site knowledge that you could share with the next generation. And speaking of, teaching can take place on-site, in workshops or anywhere learners can get hands-on experience. You can also teach flexibly whether that's full-time or part-time. Also you don't always need a degree or prior teaching qualifications to start and you can get funded to train on the job so you can start shaping lives and earning straight away. There are hundreds of courses taught in further education so whatever your skills there's likely a job to match them.

9:29Why not share your skills and inspire the next generation of workers in the field that you love? To find out more search teach in further education.

9:40Claire, fame is fleeting. It sure is. And I know that better than anyone. It sure is, yeah. What am I going to do? Once this podcast... This is it. This is the last... This is my Alamo, this podcast. Once this goes down, I'm going to have to retrain. Yeah? I'm going to have to retrain. Oh, that's exciting. But I'd be up for it. Yeah, I'd be up for that. Is there anything you would like to go into? Well, you must know that when we first met... You've got a qualification in decor? Nearly. No, what is it? What's it called? Inside the house. Yeah, what is that called? Interior design. Yes. And I didn't finish it, did I?

10:20Did you not finish it yet? No, I finished the first little bit and I passed that and then I didn't go on and finish it because I was... So you've got the first little bit. But the first little bit, if that means anything. No, it doesn't. But no, I didn't finish it because we had babies and stuff. But, yeah, I would love to one day do that. But also, I do feel like I'm, and I know we are talking about further education and stuff, but I am so for, no matter what time in your life, what age you are, if you want to learn something, go and do it. Absolutely, yeah. Like, I'm so for that. I would, if, like you say, if this all finished tomorrow, I'd be like, right.

11:03Some of the examples are like sort of being a brickie, bricklaying. Yeah. Obviously joinery. Yeah. Carpentry, that sort of thing. I think having a trade is a very good thing. Well, good. Yeah, yeah. Do you know what one I would do? Electrician. Electrician's a good one. Very good one, yeah. I'm just making the, for those listening, I'm doing the, what's that called? The money side. I'm rubbing my fingers and thumb together. Yeah, the money side. Yeah, no, electrician's a good one. Yeah. See, I would like the boys to get a trade. Yeah, no, they will. they need to yeah you have to otherwise she'll be like me useless at putting a shelf do you know what that is literally a saying that I tell people as well I literally have told people if you think I'm a bad actor you should see me put up a shelf yeah alright and then you'll go do you know what he is doing his best bless him yeah fair enough but here's one that I would and even at the time when I was on building sites and things like that I was like, I need to get into that.

12:04I need to learn how to do that. They're like the rock stars of the building site. They're treated like they're artists. Plasterer. Absolutely. If you can master plastering. Yeah, yeah. Mate, you're laughing. Because also you had people on site that were electrician that could do a bit of plastering. Right. And they're invaluable. Right, right. They're just like, yeah, get John in. He can do it all. Right, yeah. He'll do the wiring and then he can plaster over it. Being a plasterer is... That's the dream husband as well, isn't it? I have tried it. Before I met you, I lived in a flat with my mate and I tried to plaster a wall.

12:44Oh, good Lord. Good Lord. What did you do? Did you plaster yourself in? No, have you ever seen the sea? Now imagine that. The actual sea? Yeah. Right. Imagine that, but flip it. So it's facing you. Yeah, and put it on a wall. That's what it looked like. On a really rough day. Yeah, it was a stormy sea. Have you ever seen that? Yeah. Plastering is so difficult. Yeah, yeah. So if you could get into that, man, you're laughing. So that's sort of like construction, sort of building, trading stuff. Can I throw some other courses if you wanted to do some further education? Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Dog training and husbandry.

13:30Husbandry? Do they just lump the dogs and the husbands together and you just try and train them in one go? Is that what it is? Canine emergency first aid. I was about to say I love animals. That's not true. I would love to work with dogs. Look at this. Check this out. 3D modelling and game technologies for creative media industries. See, I feel like that's something that Jude could possibly go into. He's very sort of computer savvy and he loves his gaming. and here's one that I'm sure our production team don't know about video editing and production for creative media industries you could guy sign up get signed up for the love of god get PJ signed up how about this hockey coaching well ice hockey coaching come on or is it the one with the curly wooden sticks well we'll say it's ice hockey yeah because you know go on the Chiefs look there's just loads of stuff that you can do and it's never too late to get involved.

14:29That's the thing as well. Do you remember, this was a few months ago actually, and it was one night we were sitting chatting, we were two boys, and we started talking about what they were going to do and what they were actually looking at because our little Jude, he is very computer-y, he loves animation and all that stuff. I mean, even in your 20s, most people still don't really know what they're passionate about or what they want to do. No. there you go so it's great further education I am so all for it in fact I would actually genuinely love to go back and finish my interior design course you should do and you know it would be so exciting imagine having like your own little business yeah there's nothing stopping you I know that's the thing we all think there is there's this block in it we all think there is I'm like well I'm in my 30s yeah we all think there is there's always a way there's always a way right so we've spent a lot of this episode talking about teach in further education.

15:26The thing is, though, neither of us actually teach in further education. No, no, I've got, I've still got some, I've still got some hoops I need to jump through before I get to the point where I can teach people. No, yeah. So instead of hearing us just talk about it, we thought we'd hear from a gentleman called Simon who has proper trades and skills, unlike me, to hear about his journey into teaching in further education. and he had some anecdotes for us. We've got a little voice note from Simon. Oh, a voice note? Let's listen to it. I spent 25 years in the construction industry. I used to fit kitchens.

16:02Went round somebody's house once to take the kitchen design and quote round to present to them. Knocked on the door and the guy answered the door. Hello, you all right? Nice to see you. Yeah, came in. Dog's sort of right next to me, following me around. Walked into the room. Dog sort of sits down next to me. I'm thinking, oh, OK, fair enough. Anyway, halfway through doing the presentation, dog stands up crouches down there's a massive turd right in the middle of their carpet i'm thinking okay and they don't say anything they just carry on as if it's perfectly normal absolutely stank my god anyway i finished the presentation they said okay thanks very much um i think we'll we'll get back to you okay they're being a bit odd got up walked out and um they said are you taking your dog with you.

16:50I said it's not my dog. So basically they'd open the door and this random dog from the street had walked in with me. So they thought it was my dog. I thought it was their dog. He's got a massive turd in their front room and off we go. Anyway they didn't laugh very much about it. But great story. There came a moment when I realised that I didn't really want to be working in my trade for the rest of my life. I'd already you know employed apprentices and young people and trained them up and the idea is to basically train them well enough that they can go and do it themselves and lots of them have lots of them have gone off and started their own companies and been you know quite successful and that's been a joy to sort of see that that progression and I think it was that point I realized that maybe I could do that for a job so I did so one day I just sat down did a little google search kitchen and bathroom jobs just to see what else was out there and what came up was teaching apprentices how to fit kitchens and bathrooms in a college that was about seven minutes from my house perfect I thought but you know I haven't got a teaching degree I haven't got any experience in teaching but did it anyway had a little go went down and had interview that went well and um I got the job um and that was about six and a half years ago now loved every minute of it oh he should have opened with serious of stuff because we've got to talk about the dog first.

18:14I like that he was like, the dog laid one out on the carpet there and then he was like, I was thinking, what am I doing here? I've got the next generation that should be putting up with this stuff. Yeah. Oh my God, what a great story. That's a really good story. But that's it though, isn't it? Thank you, Simon. If you can teach somebody and then sit back. Let them put up with the stray dogs. Exactly. There you go. That's always good. And listen, it's stuff like that that would make Simon a good teacher. All that experience. That's like the Kit Kat story, but about 10 times worse. That's crazy.

18:50Yeah. You know, we got a bit of pushback on that Kit Kat story. I've seen some comments saying, because we were way, the guy who wrote in, we were like, yeah, just run, run. Everybody was going, you should have went back and gave her your Kit Kat. How do you go back and face that? I don't know. That's what everybody was saying. I think those decisions come up in split seconds. They do. They do. and they're not always right. But it's great hearing from people like Simon who end up teaching and passing on their knowledge. If we were to do the same, what do you think we could pass on? I don't have any knowledge.

19:26I don't have any knowledge. Podcasting. Could I teach someone how to podcast? No. What about acting? Here's something for you, Claire. All right. Acting. I think why they're laughing is because they were waiting for you to say acting. Oh, right, okay.

19:48Let me tell you something. Go on. In my defence. Go on. I like teaching. I would like to teach television acting. Right. Specifically. Right. Because a lot of, even when I was growing up and I was going to like drama clubs and stuff like that, it's all very sort of... It's all very stage or improv and things like that. Whereas I'd like to do a course where we have a camera and we set it up. Because there is things, there's little things that people don't realise about, like, if you're walking into a room and you're saying a line, you're closing the door and you close the door over your line. You've got a time notch.

20:22Like, I was doing a thing last week there with Lenny Rush and we were at a table having breakfast. And I kept saying a lot. I kept putting my cup down over my line. I was going, sorry, can I do that again? And it's just little things like that. Right. Don't block somebody else's life. There's loads of stuff I can get into that you don't learn as a kid. You should start your own little drama school. Do you reckon? Yeah, why not? But yeah, teaching is just a great way. It's so important. Yeah, I mean, and also like what you're saying, so that's like a specialised sort of section of acting that you would want to teach.

20:57So the more specialised or the weirder, the better. And if you feel like sharing them with the next generation rather than just us, why not train others at your local college search teach and further education to learn more. Right, that's it for this week's special little bonus episode of the Buckleys. We'll be back, of course, with normal, what do they call it? Service. Normal service will resume in a couple of days' time, I'm sure. Well, on Thursday, whatever. Remember, you can get in touch with your stories and questions by emailing thebuckleys at platformmedia.uk or you can message us at thebuckleyspod on Instagram and TikTok.

21:33and why not consider sharing your skills where it matters most and help inspire the next generation of workers in the field that you love head to teachinfurthereducation.education.gov.uk to find out more thank you thanks for listening little bonus one for you bye go on the Chiefs Chiefs