About James Nottingham
James Nottingham is regarded by many as one of the most engaging and thought-provoking presenters in the world of education. Cited by The Observer as “one of the UK’s most forward-thinking innovators”, he bridges the gap between academic research and practical classroom strategies.
With 30+ years teaching experience, as well as close collaborations with leading researchers Carol Dweck (Growth Mindset) and John Hattie (Visible Learning), he is the creator of the world-renowned Learning Pit as well as author of 12 bestselling books.
- James continues to teach today, splitting his year 50-50 between the classroom and consultancy.
- He has taught every year group in school from 3-19-year-olds as well as college & university students.
- He has been a senior leader in schools, a director of an award-winning social regeneration project, and founder of seven companies in seven countries.
- He is a highly sought-after keynote speaker and in-school consultant.
- He puts his money where his mouth is: give him a class of students, any age, and he will demonstrate excellent pedagogy in action.
- In 2024, he was commissioned by the International Baccalaureate to create videos of his teaching to share with the 5000 schools using the IB curriculum. These were so well received that he is now creating a set of 100+ videos for all teachers working with PK-12 students (see PD-OD.com)
Recent Evaluations
These evaluations and handwritten comments were compiled by the Solution Tree team following James Nottingham’s presentations at the PLC Summit 2026.
Keynote: Boosting Student Engagement
Breakout Session: Guiding Students Through the Learning Pit
Keynote Comments (click images for more)
Breakout Comments
Full Biography
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.
With more than 30 years working in schools, he has an extensive background as both a teacher and a leader. Beginning as a teaching assistant in a special school, he then taught in primary schools, was a teaching & learning lead in a high school, a deputy head in a middle school, and director of an award-winning, multi-million-pound social regeneration project. The impact of this initiative made headlines for all the right reasons – supported by independent evaluations by Sunderland and Newcastle universities – leading to invitations to share his inspiration and practical advice far and wide. So, in 2006, James set up a not-for-profit company, Challenging Learning, growing this to seven companies in seven countries with 30 full-time staff – all supporting schools, colleges and local apprenticeship providers.
When the covid pandemic hit, James returned to full-time teaching and now balances teaching with his in-school consultancy and leadership support. He is also a sought-after keynote speaker, headlining national and international conferences for teachers and leaders.
Highlights of his career include 30+ conferences with Carol Dweck (Growth Mindset); being awarded the exclusive licence to deliver Visible Learning in the Nordic Countries from 2013-2020 alongside John Hattie; designing and leading the implementation of the Challenging Learning Process, a within-school approach to raising standards shown by independent evaluators (Universities of Oslo, Uppsala, Helsinki and Melbourne Graduate School of Education) to be the best value-for-money approach to significantly improving student achievement (increasing by an average of one grade per student). Oh, and he also created the Learning Pit, one of the most popular illustrations of learning to emerge in the last 20 years, with more than 200 million references online and in academic and teaching journals.
He is the author of 12 books, many of them bestsellers in multiple languages, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and is listed in the ‘Future 500’, a “definitive list of the UK’s most forward-thinking and brightest innovators”.
Keynotes – for teachers’ and leaders’ conferences
“More than 30 years in teaching and I thought there was nothing left to learn – until now. Bring on the new school year – I can’t wait! I’m going to be such a better teacher after this.”
Keynotes by James Nottingham are consistently rated as excellent and as the highlight of conferences. He is engaging, thought-provoking, light-hearted, optimistic and practical. He connects with audiences through his strength of credibility and real-life examples chosen carefully to resonate with the phase of education and context represented by the delegates. He has recently keynoted the IB World Conference (International Baccalaureate); the Finnish National Agency for Education annual conference; Skolriksdag (representing every superintendent and headteacher in Sweden); the BETT conference; and the PLC Summit.
PD Days – all staff
James keeps staff engaged all day, weaving rigorous research, clear explanations, practical strategies, encouragement and humour into a clear design tailored to the context. So, whether you have early years, primary or secondary staff; leaders, teachers or support staff – or all of the above – James will create some excellent professional learning around your objectives and plans for improvement. As Professor Mick Waters, former director of curriculum for the UK government, remarked:
“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 staff wanting to do things differently without a bag of guilt to weigh them down.”
Events for Leaders
After a successful career in middle and senior leadership, James assumed he would be in headteacher positions until retirement – that was until he was invited by 22 schools on the English-Scottish border to create a project to raise the achievement and aspirations of their students. The impact of this scheme was so significant that funding was secured to run the same initiative in 250 schools across the region, all led by James. From there, he created a not-for-profit company to share the best of these strategies internationally, growing this to seven companies in seven countries with 30 full-time staff and hundreds of associates. Since then, James has supported leaders all over the world – from teaching heads of small schools to superintendents in large, urban settings with tens of thousands of students in their districts.
His keynotes at leaders’ conferences are exceptionally well-received, and the leadership retreats he has designed and led in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Scandinavia gained such a reputation that bookings are now made years ahead. Although he is not the right person to offer insights into the latest political pivot or regulations about budgeting and safeguarding, what he does do brilliantly is help middle and senior leaders clarify their purpose and guiding principles; offer fascinating insights into educational leadership in 20+ countries; and give everyone the encouragement and safety to put their heads above the parapet to create a clearer vision for their next steps.
In-School Consultancy
James walks the talk – often leading demonstration lessons for staff to observe (or record) and to reflect upon afterwards. He also offers presentations to parents, coaching for staff and leaders, and support with evidence collection and analysis. He has a long-established and highly regarded reputation as a ‘teacher’s teacher’, recognised for his inviting, engaging and evidence-driven presentation style – and is therefore a welcome guest in any educational setting, be it early years, primary, secondary, alternative or further and higher education.
Areas of Expertise
The insights that James offers are broad, but they are not indiscriminate: you will find no bandwagons in his work. Every theme of his work is united by three core principles: a) Is the supporting research trustworthy, relevant and robust? b) Does it respect the learner agency of staff and students? c) Are improvements likely to be meaningful without necessitating extravagant efforts or investments? In essence, will his recommendations deliver substantial value for the resources invested, especially given your unique context, the constraints of curriculum and staff availability, and the resources you have available?
To date, James has written 12 books. Two of these are for parents; the other 10 focus on pedagogical practices that all teachers – of all year groups – can use to improve the learning outcomes. His emphasis lies not in subject-specific knowledge but in teaching methods that are most likely to help all learners (aged 3-19) make significant progress. Broadly speaking, the topics that he is most commonly asked to design from include:
- Agency, efficacy and growth mindset
- Challenge that is relevant and robust
- Engaging all learners
- Feedback that is used effectively by students
- High expectations
- Leading learning
- Learning how to learn
- Philosophy for Children
- Progress and achievement
- Questioning that makes learning stick
- Surface to deep, to transfer of learnin
- The Learning Pit
“James Nottingham has deep knowledge of schooling and a great sense of humour, but most importantly there is seemingly no challenge he is not prepared to undertake to make a difference to the learning lives of children.”
“James Nottingham will help you navigate the world of educational concepts and research with a wonderful blend of clarity and good humour.”
“James Nottingham has developed a rare skill for blending arresting anecdotes, hard-edged research and practical advice into a truly compelling narrative.”
“James Nottingham is one of the clearest and most engaging thought leaders on creating a culture of deep, engaging and appropriately challenging learning in schools.”