Dr James Mannion
Dr James Mannion is the Director of Rethinking Education, an organisation dedicated to improving outcomes for young people through implementation science, self-regulated learning and practitioner inquiry. He has a Masters in person-centred education from the University of Sussex, and a PhD in self-regulated learning from the University of Cambridge.
Until recently, James was a Bespoke Programmes Leader at the UCL Centre for Educational Leadership. In this role, he worked with teachers and leaders to promote research-informed approaches to professional development and school improvement. Previously, James was a secondary school Science teacher for 12 years, and spent 8 years in school leadership roles. He is an Associate of Oracy Cambridge, a Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching and a By-Fellow of Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge.
James is also the host of the popular Rethinking Education podcast, now in the top 3% globally. The podcast features long-form conversations with a wide range of guests about how we might reform education to bring about a more harmonious, less hair-raising state of world affairs. For more information, or to contact James directly, visit rethinking-ed.org or drjamesmannion.com.
Learner effectiveness and the transformational power of oracy
Over the last 13 years, Dr James Mannion has worked with colleagues to develop an oracy-based approach to teaching and learning known as the Learner Effectiveness Programme. An 8-year study at the University of Cambridge found that the LEP led to significant gains in subject learning across the curriculum, with accelerated gains among young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Learner Effectiveness Programme has since been successfully implemented in a range of settings – from early years to universities, from schools in areas of high disadvantage to elite international colleges, and from workplaces to refugee camps.
Often, oracy is defined simply as ‘speaking and listening skills’. But this does not capture the transformational power - or the complexity - of spoken language and communication. When children and young people learn how to speak and listen effectively in a range of contexts, it significantly boosts their confidence and changes the way they think about what they may go on to do in the future.
In this interactive keynote presentation, James will explain how the Learner Effectiveness Programme centres around three key concepts – metacognition, self-regulation and oracy. We will explore how these concepts interact in theory and in practice to help children become more confident, proactive, self-regulated learners.
You can also find out more about James’ live breakout.