The National Thinking Classrooms Programme
Effective questioning to develop speaking and listening, critical thinking, metacognition, and self-regulation in a collaborative classroom.
This programme is brought to you by:
About this programme
Creating a Thinking Classroom where young people can think well together and communicate their ideas, reflect, re-evaluate and reason through a wide range of ideas and subject matter can also help with mental health and emotional regulation – which in turn can impact positively on classroom behaviour and learning.
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This course will give an overview of the Education Endowment Foundation’s research into classroom pedagogies that impact learning, particularly for pupil premium children. Exploring Metacognition and Self-Regulation (being the top ones) – with 7 months additional progress for this intervention in primary and secondary schools – making it one of the best things you can do in the classroom to help pupil learning and development.
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This course will enable Teachers to go deeper into the top 5 interventions researched, Oral Language Development (in Early Years this is Communication and Language approaches) and Collaborative Learning approaches have an additional 6 and 5 months respectively.
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This course will help your teachers develop strategies to use these interventions in the classroom – and in particularly to teach students how to learn and become resilient in their thinking (metacognition and self- regulation).
Creative and Critical Thinking are also key components of this programme and of a Thinking Classroom. Ofsted’s new Inspection Framework emphasises the need for creativity in teaching and learning and the Word Economic Forum’s The Future of Job’s Report noted in the top 10 skills required for future jobs include:
- Analytical thinking and innovation (critical and creative thinking)
- Active learning and learning strategies (metacognition)
- Complex problem-solving (critical and creative thinking)
- Critical thinking and analysis (critical thinking)
- Creativity, originality and initiative (creative thinking)
- Leadership and social influence (collaboration)
- Resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility (metacognition and self-
- regulation)
- Reasoning, problem-solving and ideation (critical and creative thinking)
But above all this course will give you the skills to be able to enable students to think well for themselves, to help them guard themselves against fake news, propaganda, and the influence of others. It provides a ‘space to think’ for pupils in a busy, instrumental, content and test-led curriculum, a place to use their democratic voice and to learn to use it responsibly, it allows them to practice thinking well and to develop critical thinking skills to help them do so, but mostly, it gives pupils permission to think for the sake of thinking.
Course Content
Structure: 8 key areas, subdivided into chapters of 7-20 lessons.
The approach this course gives you is aimed at raising the level of your classes’ speaking, listening, thinking and questioning. You are also going to learn how to get more out of your own class talk and questioning. There are seven areas that encompass the whole of what it means to have a Thinking Classroom:
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Leadership - looking at the research behind the Thinking Classroom course, and how best to manage the course in your school.
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Conditions - helping you set the conditions for a thinking classroom.
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Questioning - questioning skills, types and strategies.
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Thinking - thinking about you, the class and the sessions; generating thoughtful talk, tackling concepts, argumentation and logic.
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Speaking - how to manage class talk, inclusion, speaker selection.
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Listening - helping them learn to listen well to each other and helping you to listen for them.
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Metacognition - developing metacognition and critical reflection in the class.
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Actioning - thinking should impact on your worldview, your ability to evaluate arguments, writing, decision-making and strategising. This section is about helping the class to take their thinking further: into their learning, being and life beyond school.
Release Dates
The Conditions Section will be released first in January as this sets the foundations for the course and for the Thinking Classroom. (January 3rd)
Every week in February a chapter from Questioning (3 chapters), Thinking (4 chapters), Speaking (2 chapters) and Listening (2 chapters) will be released.
In March we will move on to the more advanced sections of Metacognition and Actioning will be released.
In this way, January will release the Foundations of the Thinking Classroom Course, February will be build on this for the Intermediate stages, and March we will release the Advanced stage of the course.
Every week in February a chapter from Questioning (3 chapters), Thinking (4 chapters), Speaking (2 chapters) and Listening (2 chapters) will be released.
In March we will move on to the more advanced sections of Metacognition and Actioning will be released.
In this way, January will release the Foundations of the Thinking Classroom Course, February will be build on this for the Intermediate stages, and March we will release the Advanced stage of the course.
Bundles
You can buy this course for all your teachers on it’s own and they can run through the course in their own time, reflecting on their practice themselves as prompted by the course.
If you want to take the training further you can buy extra support from Specialist Philosophy Foundation trainers and teachers which will include:
Pricing Option 1
£1650 + VAT
Includes:
Expert one to one coaching for five weeks:
- Virtual orientation meeting and needs assessment;
- Detailed feedback on 2 sample hours of your teaching (observed by coach);
- Reflection and feedback on 3 further hours of your teaching (unobserved);
- Open email contact for the five weeks.
Upon completion: Receive a National Thinking Classroom Silver Award.
Expert one to one coaching for five weeks:
- Virtual orientation meeting and needs assessment;
- Detailed feedback on 2 sample hours of your teaching (observed by coach);
- Reflection and feedback on 3 further hours of your teaching (unobserved);
- Open email contact for the five weeks.
Upon completion: Receive a National Thinking Classroom Silver Award.
Pricing Option 2
£2450 + VAT
Includes:
All of option 1
PLUS
A deep dive into your teaching and your class's needs alongside one of our expert coaches. Additionally it means developing a reflective process to ensure the impact of training is sustained beyond the duration of the course. You will receive clear, expert, personalised guidance for the five weeks, and left suggest progression points for your continued development beyond the 5 weeks.
Upon completion: Receive a National Thinking Classroom Gold Award.
BONUS - Following coaching on Option 2 you can apply to become an associate teacher with The Philosophy Foundation (normally £700).
All of option 1
PLUS
A deep dive into your teaching and your class's needs alongside one of our expert coaches. Additionally it means developing a reflective process to ensure the impact of training is sustained beyond the duration of the course. You will receive clear, expert, personalised guidance for the five weeks, and left suggest progression points for your continued development beyond the 5 weeks.
Upon completion: Receive a National Thinking Classroom Gold Award.
BONUS - Following coaching on Option 2 you can apply to become an associate teacher with The Philosophy Foundation (normally £700).
Pricing Option 3
£3350.00 + VAT
All of Option 2
For
Two members of staff to enable them to become Associate Teachers with The Philosophy Foundation in your school and to support other members of staff in their development; Equivalent to 16 hours training and mentoring.
Gold Award: National Thinking Classroom Gold Award (See Award Criteria for more details)
For
Two members of staff to enable them to become Associate Teachers with The Philosophy Foundation in your school and to support other members of staff in their development; Equivalent to 16 hours training and mentoring.
Gold Award: National Thinking Classroom Gold Award (See Award Criteria for more details)
National Thinking Classroom Award Criteria
Any school that has a staff member who has completed this training can apply for the National Thinking Classroom Award. There is no cost to applying.
Awards are given to the school but is carried by the members of staff. So, a staff member who was trained while in a different school may apply for the award for their new school, providing all the requirements are met.
Please note, when evaluating interventions from this course they do not have to have been successful. Evaluation is about the awareness of what has happened and its impact on the students learning and development, rather than just using an intervention.
Bronze Award
- A member of the Senior Leadership Team must have completed the course
- Evidence of a Staff Meeting run by the member of the SLT who has completed the course.
Silver Award
- Most class teachers should be enrolled on the course
- One teacher to have completed the course
- A member of the Senior Leadership Team must have completed the course
- One member of staff to have completed the accreditation training (they can also be the teachers or SLT above).
Gold Award
- All class teachers should be enrolled on the course
- Two class teachers from different Key stages (or equivalent) have completed the course
- A member of the Senior Leadership Team must have completed the course
- Two members of staff have completed the accreditation training (they can also be the teachers or SLT above).
Below are suggested steps and targets for each level of award to support growing thinking skills across the school. To achieve the levels, staff may take any number of steps suggested by the training, or follow their own pathway to achieve a Thinking Classroom. As long as you describe what you have done, why you have done it, and what it has achieved so far, you will be on your way to becoming a Thinking Classroom.
We would recommend that teachers who want to do the Associate Teacher Training (Options 2 and 3) should cover Foundation and Intermediate Stages first before we observe them as part of the training. Those who are on the Associate Teacher pathway can contact The Philosophy Foundation for help and support.
But above all this course will give you the skills to be able to enable students to think well for themselves, to help them guard themselves against fake news, propaganda, and the influence of others. It provides a ‘space to think’ for pupils in a busy, instrumental, content and test-led curriculum, a place to use their democratic voice and to learn to use it responsibly, it allows them to practice thinking well and to develop critical thinking skills to help them do so, but mostly, it gives pupils permission to think for the sake of thinking.
Courses included in Programme
Here are all the courses that are included.
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Free0. The Thinking Classroom Overview
The course will give you effective questioning strategies and techniques to develop speaking and listening, critical thinking, metacognition, and self-regulation in a collaborative classroom.
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Free1. Leadership
An in-depth look at the research behind the Thinking Classroom course, and how best to manage the course in your school.
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Free2. The Conditions
This is the foundation stage of the Thinking Classroom course and will help you set the right conditions to help the Talk Triangle work well for you and your pupils.
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Free3. Questioning
This intermediate course on questioning is central to helping your students think, listen and respond to each other, deepening thinking individually and collaboratively.
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Free4. Thinking
This intermediate course will give you ways to develop and teach critical and creative thinking in the classroom.
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Free5. Speaking
This intermediate course focuses on how to help all pupils contribute to the discussion and develop their voices.
Who you will learn with
