The thinking for learning team and associates are (left to right):
Anne de A'Echevarria, Jo Bowden, Claire King, Liz Hilsdon , Ian Patience,
Robert Peers, Jacqui Pearson, Louise Harty, Richard Kielty,
and (not in photo): Martin Renton
The thinking for
learning team and associates are (left to right):
Anne de A'Echevarria, Jo Bowden, Claire
King, Liz Hilsdon , Ian Patience,
Robert Peers, Jacqui Pearson, Louise
Harty, Richard Kielty,
and (not in photo): Martin Renton
After a few years of youth and street theatre work in
the north Parisien suburbs, Anne
taught for 10 years in secondary schools in the UK and France and as a PGCE
tutor,
before helping to establish Thinking for Learning which she now leads.
Anne’s work reflects her belief that the most powerful
learning experiences come when
learners – both teachers and pupils – are allowed to experience
the pleasure and
excitement of constructing their own meaning and understanding, both individually,
and
together in communities of enquiry. Particular areas of interest, therefore,
include:
supporting schools in the development of enquiry based approaches to learning
and
curriculum design; supporting the development of professional learning networks;
and
linking research to practice by conducting and facilitating action research
in schools – by
students and parents as well as teachers.
Her interests in creative writing and education combine
in her use of storytelling to lead
innovation and change and in the creation of stories to foster student enquiry
into
learning. A recent example is the Year 7 Thinking Through School programme (Chris
Kington Publishing) which won the BESA Education Book of the Year award in 2007.
She is now working on a second narrative based cross curricular project with
Professor
David Leat (Newcastle University), designed to develop enquiry skills at KS3
.
Current projects include: working with a number of local
authorities, helping strategy
managers, consultants and teachers explore how best to implement the new QCA
Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills framework in a creative, meaningful way;
working with the BBC Formal Learning and Cbeebies teams to integrate challenging
thinking into their TV and online services; and piloting the use of Narrative
Enquiry in
Northumberland schools as a tool for supporting organisational change.
return to team photo
Jo Bowden
Jo’s teaching career began with a Y6 class in Sunderland
in a year when
Sunderland was in the FA Cup and the National Curriculum was still in its infancy.
Moving shortly afterwards into the Secondary phase she ended up working on
both the R.E./P.S.H.E team AND the Special Needs Support team in her first
Secondary school. This led to some interesting professional development and
often meant being on more than one team at once.
The primary teacher training came in handy for teaching several other subjects
too
including Geography and Classics!
A passion, from the beginning, for ‘getting children
to think’ led to trying out her
own strategies in the classroom and to networking with others who felt the
same way about teaching. This led to working for several years with
Vivienne Baumfield and David Leat at Newcastle University both as a Research
Assistant with a( TTA-)Nationally Funded Thinking Skills Project and as a
Visiting Lecturer on the Secondary P.G.C.E. This was whilst also continuing
to
work part-time as a secondary teacher.
Through building links with others around the area, Jo
has ended up over the last
few years helping to establish the work of thinking
for learning.
She is particularly responsible for the’ Introduction to Teaching
Thinking’ Certificate which is an introductory course in the theory and
practice of
teaching thinking in the classroom and the ‘Introduction to Emotional
Intelligence’
course.(as well as other courses, which the Team is developing).
She has also made contributions to two of the ‘Thinking Through..’
series of books,
edited by David Leat, providing materials and support for teachers.
As there is demand for training and professional development
from many places
well beyond the reaches of Northumberland, Jo is often to be found teaching
courses
around the country and sometimes beyond…
Other areas of interest include : Emotional Intelligence,
Thinking and Spirituality,
Thinking and Language (currently working with Language and
Communication specialists on materials for learners with language and cognition
difficulties) and developing reflective practice through action research with
teachers.
And my favourite colours are yellow, green and purple…in
case you were interested !
Long-standing interests in education and art
have lead Ian to work as a
professional stained glass window maker, a community educator with the
Open-University, a mosaicist, a teacher, a fine artist, a consultant for the
Wansbeck Thinking for Learning project, a consultant with
Northumberland’s Raising Aspirations in Society Project (NRAIS) and
now, as a consultant with thinking for learning.
He has a MA in Fine Art
and Education and has worked closely with teachers and students at all phases
both here in the UK and abroad..
He is a SAPERE Philosophy for Children registered trainer and values the
transformative effect on people and organisations that results when
Communities of Enquiry are established at every level.
Current projects include: supporting
teacher/student enquiry into the nature,
value and cultivation of creativity, developing
pupils’ imaginative, philosophical
and enquiry skills through ‘Mantle of the Expert’,
the application of 'thinking tools'
in teaching thinking and emotional intelligence, support of Networked
Learning Communities and the application
of Narrative Enquiry in educational contexts.
Ian continues in the conviction that the value of playing football is, uniquely,
beyond question.
Martin teaches Humanities and ICT at Amble Middle School,
from where he
contributesto Thinking for Learning as a part-time consultant. He began teaching
11 years ago as a Head of Music, before becoming a Humanities and ICT
co-ordinator. His involvement in the Aiming High project early in his teaching
career taught him the value of an openclassroom ethos and the importance of
focussing on learning. This brought him to the teaching thinking approach that
was
emerging in Northumberland at the time, attending and running workshops in the
field.
Since then, Martin has worked in a number of schools
around the county as a
teacher and as a consultant in the Secondary Strategy, developing thinking and
learning with individual teachers, whole-school teaching staff and with support
staff,
who he believes have a crucial and pivotal role to play in pupils learning in
schools.
Martin contributes regularly to ‘Teaching Thinking
& Creativity’ magazine and has
published a chapter in the 2006 book, ‘Radical Encouragement: Creating
Cultures
for Learning’. He has recently worked with the BBC, and has been filmed
teaching
for a professional training DVD that focuses on learning through ‘Extended
Dialogue
in the Classroom’.
He is particularly interested in how thinking skills
relate to the National Curriculum
and is also pursuing his passion, working on teaching thinking in Music.
Martin is completing his PhD in teaching thinking at Newcastle University and
is
enjoying bringing together his experiences as a teacher in school and as a consultant
with thinking
for learning.
Following A-Level studies in Business, French
and German.and an
H.N.D. Business at Newcastle College that involved studies of accounting,
marketing and industrial relations and Spanish, Jacqui graduated from the
University of Northumbria in 2002 with a degree in Logistics and Supply
Chain Management. This enabled her to become an Associate of the
Chartered Management Institute (ACMI).
Jacqui joined the thinking for learning
team in September 2002 and has
gone from strength to strength learning and implementing the many new
skills that make her the most effective and efficient (as well as understanding
and patient) Office Manager on the planet. We know so!
Claire took up teaching in 1992 after completing an MA
in Historical Research.
As a high school history teacher she spent seven years developing the use of
thinking skills strategies in her own teaching. Following the completion of
a
Best Practice Research Scholarship focused on teaching thinking Claire began
delivering a range of inset for her own and neighbouring schools. Whilst teaching
she was also invited to do some guest lecturing at the University of Newcastle
and to contribute to the history book within the ‘Thinking Through …’
series
of books edited by David Leat.
As a Secondary Strategy Consultant for Gateshead L.A.
Claire’s work extended
to the development of learning and teaching across the foundation subjects with
a specialist focus on thinking skills and assessment for learning. Success in
these
areas led Claire to be invited to share good practice and lead training for
the
DfES as well as for a number of Local Authorities across the country.
In 2003 Claire began work as a networked learning consultant
and co-leader
working in partnership with the NCSL. Pioneering work in the development of
networked learning communities led Claire to join a national delegation of
teachers and senior leaders on an international study visit to Boston. During
the
visit she led a symposium on the development of networked learning communities
within a L.A.
Claire is passionate about the provision of high quality
professional development
within the context of professional learning communities. She is a strong advocate
of the view that all adults working in education need to update their skills
and
knowledge continuously in response to new research and emerging knowledge
about learning and teaching
Over the past three years she has co-ordinated and managed
the facilitation of
over 40 networked learning communities as well as completing her first book
“Thinking Through Personal and Social Education published by Chris Kington.
Claire is currently works as a Professional Learning
consultant to Northumberland
County Council. Current projects include: the development of organisations through
a range of techniques including Narrative Enquiry, the development of leadership
capacity, facilitating and co-leading networked learning communities with particular
emphasis on the development of professional learning teams which support teachers
to
construct knowledge and develop pedagogies
return to team photo
A qualified teacher and speech and language therapist,
Liz has worked in
Early Years for over 20 years. With a background in special schools and
mainstream primaries, she now works as Lead Early Years Consultant for
Northumberland County Council, providing specialist early years input to
thinking
for learning.
Liz helps with the Teaching Thinking Certificate
and is also a
SAPERE registered trainer, leading the Level 1 and Level 2 Philosophy for
Children Courses. She has worked with early years colleagues producing
support materials for adapting P4C for use with 3-5year olds.
She has a particular interest in assessment for
learning and is researching
ways to help young children use metacognition to understand their next steps
in learning.
After teaching Geology and Geography for sixteen
years, and at the same
time becoming a Chief Examiner, Robert finally discovered that there was
more to teaching than telling when he began work in the Supported Self
Study Unit. Preparing A Level student support materials and the teacher
methodologies to go with them required an appreciation of how people
learn.
This interest continued in the Post-16 Support Unit where he applied this
learning to GNVQand began to offer training
outside the county. It was
whilst working as an Advisory Teacherthat teaching thinking and
accelerated learning came to Northumberland. This was the third
post where Robert sought out a part-time teaching contract. As a result,
he has taught thinking strategies in seven schools in a variety of contexts.
Robert has a new role as Head of Professional Learning in Northumberland
County Council and continues to infuse thinking
for learning approaches
into all the Council's professional development.
He and spends time in the mountains whenever he can.
Louise’s teaching career has spanned many cultures
and phases. She has taught
in France, Italy, Sierra Leone and England to a vast spectrum of age ranges
from nursery to adults. Louise is passionate about languages and language learning
and sees them as the doorway to tolerance and understanding as well as the
enjoyment of other cultures.
Louise has been working for a number of years with teachers in Northumberland
schools to integrate language learning into the primary curriculum. From this
partnership the project “Thinking and learning through fairytales and
fables” has
emerged which seeks to address the anxieties and difficulties of the non
specialist language teacher while ensuring that the language learning experience
in
the classroom is firmly rooted in the principles and beliefs of thinking
for learning.
The project grew predominantly out of a search for a
more meaningful way to
explore language learning that would enable children to connect to other languages
in a way that reflects their own personal development. Fairytales and fables
are familiar territory for young learners and they hold depths of meaning that
can be explored though a variety of engaging tasks.
The project has recently won a European Award for Innovation
in Language
Learning and Teaching. The teachers involved are delighted to have this fresh
new approach to language learning publicly endorsed and valued, and to hear
the judges recognise the success of the project,
“I think the work you are doing is truly inspiring. I really would not
have thought 7 year olds capable of the thinking you are getting them
to do. We always underestimate.”
Brian Page EAL judge.
Richard trained as a primary teacher, travelling on a
career path that led to
teaching secondary pupils and working as a Deputy Headteacher for four
years. Richard's belief; that everyone has a natural tendency toward personal
growth and has the possibility to fulfil their potential, has led him on a personal
journey into the field of psychotherapy.
He is now a Psychotherapist in Training and believes in taking responsibility
for our
decisions and creating more options for ourselves so that we can resolve issues
and move forward in our lives.
His work in coaching teachers and in social, emotional aspects of learning mirror
this philosophy.