The latest figures* suggest that six million (11%) of us listen to a podcast each week, up from 3.8 million in 2016. No longer a niche platform, podcasts have become an essential part of the PR and marketing mix. And the growing popularity of education podcasts is great news for those trying to reach an audience in the education sector.

Recent research by Acast, undertaken by Ipsos Mori, highlights that in the last 3 months, more than 3 out of 5 people who had listened to a podcast had then recommended a podcast, re-told a story, or recommended a product, site or service they heard about to someone else.

Within education, there is a well-established and ever-growing community of podcasters. We asked edu twitter to recommend the ones that they liked best and then listened in to see what we thought. Here are five that we liked a lot.

Mr Barton Maths Podcast
Secondary school maths teacher, Tes maths adviser and blogger, Craig Barton has been producing a regular podcast since 2015. In each episode he interviews someone about an aspect of maths. They may be a maths teacher, maths expert or someone involved in education more widely.

Craig’s education podcasts range from 30 minutes to nearly four hours but don’t let the length put you off. The episodes are well produced and a really good listen.

Where? Available on Android, iTunes and RSS
When? Two to three programs a month

Two Mr Ps in a Pod(cast)
A new addition to the world of education podcasts, Two Mr Ps in a Pod(cast) is a hilarious, chatty podcast about school life. One of the Mr Ps is the well known teacher and blogger Lee Parkinson aka Mr P ICT and he is joined by his brother Adam Parkinson who is a higher level teaching assistant in a primary school.

Episodes vary in length and the show is a mixture of contributions from teachers, comments and anecdotes; everything from the worst to the best to the outright bizarre.

Where? Available on iTunes and AudioBoom
When? Fortnightly(ish)

TES podcasts
Tes has clocked up a range of education podcasts, offering hundreds of informative episodes.

• Tes Podcast – a weekly show that reviews the news, hosted by Ed Dorrell, Martin George and others from the Tes editorial team.

• Tes Podogogy – a fortnightly(ish) show hosted by Jon Severs with leading thinkers discussing teaching and learning. It covers subjects as diverse as why we don’t know what works in education, how memory works and developmental language disorder.

• Tes FE – a fortnightly show hosted by Sarah Simons who speaks to FE experts about the latest news and a range of FE issues.

• Tes English – a monthly podcast that’s just launched. Hosted by Jamie Thom, an English teacher and author, Tes English aims to provide a space for English teachers and experts to discuss their subject.

The EdTech Podcast
A well-established podcast, The EdTech podcast is all about improving the dialogue between education and edtech, with a focus on encouraging useful and effective innovation. Run by Sophie Bailey, the show features interviews with education and tech leaders, and covers a wide range of edtech topics. If you’re interested in edtech and how it can help education, this is a great place to start.

Where? Available on iTunes, Spotify, Sticher, TuneIn and Google Podcasts
When? More than once a month and sometimes weekly!

PE Umbrella
We discovered this great podcast when we were working with the BBC to promote their Super Movers campaign. Hosted by Ryan Ellis, the show discusses primary PE and sport and covers resources, teaching ideas and ways that PE can be used to engage and motivate across the curriculum.

Where? Available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play
When? Fortnightly(ish)

Thanks to everyone that recommend education podcasts to us, including @jodieworld @eylanezekiel @dick_taylor and @sophiebessemer

Got any education podcasts to recommend? Tweet us @PedrozaComms and let us know what we missed! If you want to know more about how to make podcasts part of your education marketing strategy, please get in touch.

*figures sourced from Rajar