Forget School

Martin Illingworth is Senior Lecturer in Education at Sheffield Hallam University, consultant teacher with The National Association for the Teaching of English and Associate Speaker with Independent Thinking.Martin is a leading voice in English education today. He brings with him good humour, common sense and a passionate belief that what your students need is an education that offers them hope. Martin will inspire you to think about the education you offer.Martin is an English specialist with twenty-four years of teaching experience, both as classroom teacher and as Faculty leader. At Sheffield Hallam, he has responsibility for the training of English teachers on PGCE, School Direct and Teach First routes. He has conducted research in Toronto, Canada into teacher training abroad. He collated his findings into a short book Education in the age of the information super highway (2011) and published in The Canadian Journal for Education.Now more than ever, teachers need to hear some sensible voices in the sea of noise that education is generating. They need to see past the short term goals of children passing exams and schools looking good on the back of those results. The outstanding chasers need to think a bit more deeply about the challenges of providing a genuinely purposeful education for our children.In his new book, Think Before You Teach (2015), Martin asks teachers to reflect on why and how they intend to teach. 'An education of hope' is the offer that Martin extends, in inviting teachers to think about taking responsibility for what happens in their own classrooms.Martin works with schools and universities throughout the UK including recent appearances at The University of Nottingham, The Harris Academy in South London and at The National Primary Grammar Conference in Oxford (with David Crystal and Ronald Carter). He has recently returned from Cairo, Egypt where he delivered CPD at El Alsson School.With a mix of practical ideas and deep thinking, Martin's sessions remind teachers why they became teachers in the first place and inspire them to move forward refreshed.