This programme is brought to you by:
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:
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.
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.
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.
£1650 + VAT
£2450 + VAT
£3350.00 + VAT
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.
Most class teachers should be enrolled on the course
All class teachers should be enrolled on the course
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.
Here are all the courses that are included:
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.
An in-depth look at the research behind the Thinking Classroom course, and how best to manage the course in your school.
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.
This intermediate course on questioning is central to helping your students think, listen and respond to each other, deepening thinking individually and collaboratively.
This intermediate course will give you ways to develop and teach critical and creative thinking in the classroom.
This intermediate course focuses on how to help all pupils contribute to the discussion and develop their voices.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
