This programme is brought to you by:

Microlink
Teaching Times

Programme's Description:

Closing the attainment gap and helping every child reach their potential using questioning skills to develop oracy, metacognition, critical thinking, and self-regulation in a collaborative classroom from EYFS to A Level.

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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

Key benefits

  • Interconnected:

    Each lesson will have links to other relevant lessons within the course

  • Flexible, non-linear approach:

    Participants can start at any area and progress in any direction. This reflects the interwoven nature of the pedagogy.

  • Practical:

    Each area has practical advice that can be taken into the classroom the next day.

  • Multimedia:

    The lessons will have a balance of videos, presentations and text.

Course Content

8 key areas, subdivided into chapters of 7-20 lessons plus an extra bonus chapter on developing enquiry and reasoning skills in the Early Years and Foundation Stages.

  • Leadership - giving an overview of how the course can help, including research and how to guide staff through the programme, including evaluation of children’s thinking and progress.

  • Conditions -helping you set the conditions for a thinking classroom.

  • Questioning - questioning skills, types and strategies.

  • Thinking - thinking about you, the class and the sessions; generating thoughtful talk, tackling concepts, argumentation and logic.

  • Speaking - how to manage class talk, inclusion, speaker selection.

  • Listening - helping them learn to listen well to each other and helping you to listen for them.

  • Metacognition - developing metacognition and critical reflection in the class.

  • 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.

  • Bonus - Early Years and Foundation Stage module, how to use everything learnt in this course in EYFS and nursery.

Thinking Classroom Evaluations

This course provides you with two tools for measuring impact of implementing a Thinking Classroom approach in your school. The Pupil Tracker and the Metacognition & Critical Thinking (MC & CT) Tracker. They can be used in a number of ways: whole class evaluations, individual evaluations of pupils, to measure the use and successful of critical thinking skills and metacognitive strategies and to help measure progress with speaking and listening skills, reasoning, questioning and other skills developed through this course.

Navigating the Course

The programme has 8 courses (plus the bonus module), all with different chapters and lessons within them. The Leadership Course is aimed at SLT and gives them the knowledge and background on why you should implement this programme in your school and how to do it. Staff can go through the programme step-by-step, from Conditions through to Actioning following the linear numbering as it has been designed to build on each previous stage. Conditions gives you the foundation on which to build the Talk Triangle (Questioning, Thinking, Speaking, and Listening) and Metacognition and Actioning is an advanced part of the programme so you and your classes would need to be confident to be able to implement this well. However, you know which areas of your practice will need the most support or that interest you most, and you can jump into any section of the course at any time, to learn skills that will improve your enquiryand questioning practice in the classroom.

Each section has links to other relevant areas of practice and skill development on this programme so please do follow these links for more information if you haven’t completed that part of the course yet.

We recommend that you begin with Conditions as this will give you foundational knowledge for the rest of the programme. The next sections: Questioning, Thinking, Speaking, and Listening can be done in any order you choose and after completing these sections the more advanced sections of Metacognition and Actioning will be more accessible.

Bundles

Option 1

£1650 + VAT

You can buy this course for all your teachers on its own and they can run through the course in their own time, reflecting on their practice themselves as prompted by the course.

  • Includes full 8 course programme plus bonus EYFS module

  • Unlimited staff attendees

  • 12-month access

  • On a member of the SLT completing the course and running a staff meeting the school will receive a Bronze National Thinking Classroom Award.


If you want to take the training further, you can buy extra support from TPF trainers or qualified Thinking Classroom coach in our Bundle Options 2 and 3.

Option 2

£2450 + VAT

All from Option 1 above plus 8 hours of online or in-person support from a TPF trainer or qualified Thinking Classroom coach. (NB. All In-person coaching will involve additional expenses).

  • Schools can choose how to use these hours, they can be used for a whole school INSET or staff meetings (online or in-person), a smaller regular staff meeting for a core team e.g. staff meetings three times a year, or one-to-one mentoring for a member of staff, with a TPF trainer.

  • The school is eligible for a Silver National Thinking Award when one staff member choose to have associate teacher training (available within this package).

  • To develop a lead teacher, one member of staff can use the allotted hours to have: one-to-one support with The Philosophy Foundation’s mentors to become an Associate Teacher with The Philosophy Foundation, if they pass the training, which includes: Observation of lessons by TPF specialist philosophy teachers not available elsewhere (either online or in-person); Support over 5 lessons: 1 observation / coaching for of one lesson (online or in-person depending on location); 3 feedback sessions on self-reflection after an enquiry; Final observation to give further feedback advice and give TPF associate teacher status if appropriate.


If a teacher becomes an TPF associate teacher they are eligible to become a Thinking Classroom Coach as well.

Option 3

£3350.00 + VAT

All of Option 1, plus 16 hours of online or in-person training.

(NB. All In-person coaching will involve additional expenses)
  • Option 3 could lead you to become a Gold National Thinking Classroom Award School if two members of staff become a TPF associate teacher as above.

A Thinking Classroom Coach can accredit staff who are taking the National Thinking Classrooms course, and be paid to do this work through the programme.

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.

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.

 

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).


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.

Checklists

  • Bronze 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).

  • 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).

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:

Who you will learn with

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What will our Teachers gain from doing the Programme?

    Teachers will enhance their ability to foster critical thinking, speaking, listening, and questioning in students. They will learn practical strategies that can be immediately implemented in the classroom, promoting active and engaged learning environments.

  • How does it help close the achievement gap?

    The programme promotes metacognition and self-regulation, helping students from diverse backgrounds develop crucial academic and life skills. By cultivating intellectual virtues and resilience, it supports students in overcoming educational barriers and achieving higher levels of academic performance.

  • Can it help our high achievers?

    High achievers will benefit from the advanced questioning and critical thinking strategies taught, which will challenge them and promote deeper intellectual engagement. The programme's flexible nature allows for differentiation, providing high achievers with opportunities to explore topics in greater depth.

  • How long does it take? Is it a one-off purchase or an annual subscription?

    Completion time for the programme can range from 20 to 40 hours. If you choose to cover only the key areas, you could complete it in as little as 10 hours. However, this approach won't maximise the wealth of content available. It's an annual subscription. Thinking doesn't stop after a year! This ensures you continually receive updated resources, webinar invitations, and ongoing support to keep improving your teaching strategies.

  • Is it linear or can you cherry-pick what you need?

    The structure is flexible and non-linear, allowing teachers to engage with the material at their own pace. It is organised into 9 key areas, with chapters containing 7-20 lessons each. Teachers can start with any area of the programme and progress in any direction that suits their needs. This flexibility makes the programme adaptable to various teaching styles and classroom needs.

  • Do all Teachers have to do it, or just the SLT?

    The focus of this programme is on enhancing thinking skills to help close the achievement gap. It provides both pedagogy and practical guidance that all teachers will find beneficial. While it's ideal for all teachers to participate and benefit directly, the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) can also complete the course and then ensure that the strategies and insights are effectively shared and implemented throughout the entire school.

  • What is the benefit of having a Coach?

    Having a coach offers personalised feedback and support, which enhances the implementation of the programme's strategies in the classroom. Coaches are expert teacher trainers who can also assist with whole staff training, conduct observations, and review lesson plans and curricula, ensuring that the programme's benefits are maximised.

  • Does it have resources for direct use in the classroom?

    The programme includes a variety of resources such as games and session plans, and we continually add new resources to the course every year to keep it fresh and up-to-date.

  • Is there any accreditation?

    Yes, there is a Thinking Classroom award available in three levels: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. This accreditation recognises the implementation and excellence in fostering a thinking classroom environment.

Get the programme into your school

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