James Nottingham

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Engaging, thought-provoking and industry-defining are just some of the words used to describe James Nottingham and his stellar contribution to the world of education. As a best-selling author and famed creator of the Learning Pit, a work that has been referenced over 200 million times, he has played a significant role in strengthening learning for students around the world. 

I am fascinated by learning, particularly when it doesn’t occur as we expect it to. This comes, in part, from seeing how my own children experience such varied outcomes: the eldest, a top-grade student and head girl; an autistic son in the middle who would extend his work experience to full-time in a heartbeat; and a younger daughter trying to navigate a year group with the worst reputation in a generation. It also comes from having fallen through the gap at school myself, being kicked out of the family home at 16, and failing miserably at my first jobs in farming and factory work. It was only at the end of the eighties, when volunteering in squatter camp schools, that I found an affinity and easy rapport with other young people struggling to make sense of learning. Thus began a lifelong inquiry to better understand what we can all do – staff, parents, students – to improve learning outcomes for everyone.

My first job in a school was as a teaching assistant with deaf children. Two years later, I started my teacher training, majoring in Philosophy for Children (P4C) and graduating with first-class honours. Then, after ten years teaching in primary and secondary schools, a TV documentary was made about the work I was doing with middle school pupils in Northumberland. This led to invitations from across Europe & Australia to help others create their own ‘learning to learn’ approaches. At the heart of this work was the Learning Pit, an illustration I developed in the late nineties to better prepare my students for the complications and contradictions encountered on route to deeper understanding. 

Since then, I have worked closely with Carol Dweck and John Hattie. My first conference tour with Prof Dweck was in 2010 and then every second year since, and with John Hattie, we took joint responsibility for introducing Visible Learning across Scandinavia for from 2013-19. This VL+ licence, together with the longer-term projects I was already running, meant that I needed to build a team around me and at the peak, we had 25 full-time staff in seven countries. All of which was wonderful until the covid pandemic hit and I put people before business, topping up everyone’s wages and reassuring them (naïvely it turns out) that we’d be back at it in just a few months. Three years and one huge overdraft later, I’m back to where I started – a freelance author and consultant with a passion for learning. 

The silver lining of the pandemic was returning to teaching in local primary & secondary schools; more time being dad; improving my presentations to camera such that commissioned videos to support ongoing professional learning are now a key feature of my work; and taking the time to pull together the very best bits from my first eleven books, update the research and the practical strategies within them and then writing my twelfth (and what I believe to be my best) book: Teach Brilliantly. 

The support I offer schools is as varied as the settings I work with. Much of my consultancy is overseas, particularly in the USA, Scandinavia, Australia and NZ, supporting K-12 schools, colleges, early years settings, school districts, and alternative provision centres akin to pupil referral units. Here in the UK, my work has historically been in Scotland and northern England because of where I live and word of mouth, but I welcome invitations from any setting, anywhere. 

I focus on pedagogy, not content. This means what I share is suitable for all staff – support, teaching, leading and governing – and in every phase from EY to post-16. I use lots of real-life examples to illustrate important research and concepts, and these are always selected to be as relevant as possible to every person in the room. 

The keynotes I give are excellent (though I say so myself), having built a strong reputation for blending research analysis, high expectations, good humour and practical advice into compelling narratives. The half and full-day staff PD sessions are just as engaging, keeping everyone focused thoughtfully and productively throughout our time together. 

I don’t just talk a good game; I walk it too … invite me into your classrooms and I will happily show you the strategies I recommend working with your students in your context. All staff are welcome to observe (and we can record the session for those who can’t make it) so that we can reflect on and critique the learning afterwards. This leads to colleagues trying out the strategies with me there to team teach and support. 

I am of course the best person to talk about the Learning Pit – after all, I created it! However, my interest and depth of understanding spreads wider than that. I share the small shifts we can make – in the language we use, the teaching strategies we choose, and the approaches to learning we take – within the following themes:

· ATTITUDES AND APTITUDES – enhancing students’ approach to learning, including growth mindset, collective and self-efficacy, resilience and agency. 

· CHALLENGE – creating optimum levels of challenge and guiding students through the Learning Pit. 

· DEPTH OF LEARNING – more effectively moving students from surface knowledge to deep learning and transfer of understanding and skills. 

· FEEDBACK – ensuring all students use the advice they receive in a timely and effective manner so that those messages are always formative. 

· HIGH EXPECTATIONS – identifying the characteristics and actions that prove to students that we hold high expectations for their learning (incidentally, this is not a euphemism for ‘behaving’, although clear routines are significant).

· INQUIRY-LED LEARNING – strengthening students’ collaboration and inquiry skills, building dialogic teaching, embedding Philosophy for Children, and broadening students’ repertoire of thinking skills strategies. 

· QUESTIONING – so commonly used but rarely effective for all students. Small tweaks can make a significant difference though. In fact, these adaptations may well give the biggest bang for the smallest buck in almost every setting. 

I don’t have scripts or programmes to follow. I design everything according to context. So, when inviting me to present a keynote speech (45-90mins), choose one or two of the themes above so that I can design a balance of analysis and pragmatism. For staff days and half-days, choose between one to four themes. When we work together on a normal teaching day, then I recommend starting with demonstration lessons observed by staff followed by an after-school staff meeting to review and identify next steps, and then perhaps a presentation to parents to get them on board. 

Longer-term work includes all the above plus coaching calls, team teaching, student interviews (I share anonymised transcripts afterwards), resources for parents, and videos of the best examples and key points covered together so that new and returning staff don’t miss out. 

Please contact the team at The Learning Line if you’re convening a conference or wanting to invite me into your school, (primary, secondary, state, IB or independent), MAT, early years or alternative provision setting, and we’ll take it from there. 

Recent Feedback 

“James Nottingham has the skills of explaining the complex in a way which is accessible and inviting. He is challenging yet encouraging. The examples of how it could be and the insights into what success looks like will leave you wanting to do things differently without a bag of guilt to weigh you down. “

(Professor Mick Waters, former Director of Curriculum for England, Chief Education Officer for Manchester, and all-round good egg). 

Social Media & Websites

•  The Learning Pit 
•  @JamesNottinghm 
• Linkedin