Dr James Mannion (@RethinkingJames)

James is an education researcher and consultant who worked as a Science teacher for 12 years, and spent 8 years in school leadership roles. James has an MA in Person-Centred Education from the University of Sussex, and a PhD in Learning to Learn from the University of Cambridge. James’s doctoral thesis is an evaluation of Learning Skills, a whole-school approach to teaching and learning that led to significant gains in subject learning, with accelerated gains among students from disadvantaged backgrounds. James works part-time as a Bespoke Programmes Leader at the London Centre for Leadership in Learning at the University College London Institute of Education. In this role, he works with teachers and schools throughout the UK to promote research-informed approaches to professional development and school improvement. James is a passionate advocate of practitioner inquiry as a basis for professional development, and he regularly presents at educational conferences on this subject. He is also a member of Oracy Cambridge, a study centre and think tank dedicated to promoting effective speaking and listening skills in schools and the wider society. You can contact him at james@rethinking-ed.org.

Kate McAllister (@Rethinking_Kate)

Kate qualified as a French teacher in 2000 and has over 10 years’ experience in school leadership roles. In her last school role, Kate was Head of Entrepreneurship, with responsibility for leading whole-school enterprise and character education. Kate first started work on a year 7 “primary model” curriculum in 2005, with the aim of helping pupils develop the knowledge and skills needed to navigate the difficult transition from primary to secondary school. She spent the next 10 years refining and improving both the methodology and the results, culminating in the whole-school approach to teaching and learning known as Learning Skills. In 2015, Kate took Learning to Learn to new frontiers when she set up the School Bus Project, a charity providing mobile education for refugees. Kate crowd-funded the purchase of a double decker bus, installed solar panels on the roof and spent 6 months working in refugee camps in Calais, providing much-needed education and support for people living in displacement. Following the closure of the Calais camps, Kate set up Crisis Classroom, an organisation providing training and support for volunteers working in the field of refugee education. She is also an Associate of the London Centre for Leadership in Learning at the University College London Institute of Education. Kate specialises in building sustainable partnerships and networks to enhance learning, develop employability skills and enable effective collaborations within local, national and international communities. You can contact her at kate@rethinking-ed.org.