Antipodean Professor Helps Teachers in Newham Schools Make Learning ‘Visible’

Newham Learning was pleased to welcome world-leading educational expert, Professor John Hattie to the Old Town Hall in Stratford. The audience of 150 school leaders and teachers from over 50 schools heard him talk passionately about his research into how to make learning ‘visible’. Teachers travelled from surrounding areas, with some even making the journey to Newham from Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Professor Hattie’s work summarises research from across the globe and helps teachers to understand what works best in their classrooms.

Sally Norris, current Chair of Newham Learning said, “Today we harnessed the power of multiple institutions working together. We explored innovative, evidence based approaches to providing children and young people with rich learning experiences.”

David Bailey, Director of Newham Learning said “It was a pleasure to listen to Professor Hattie. His work has been instrumental in shaping previous projects that have helped improve pupil results significantly.”

One of the other leaders present commented “Professor Hattie was great to see, it was helpful to hear about practice based on robust research. There were lots of aspects that would support teaching in my setting, especially teachers reflecting in a purposeful way, with a focus on the experience of the learner.

Another leader remarked, “It was great to get back to discussing teaching and learning after what we’ve dealt with over the past few years. It feels like we’ve turned a corner.”

Professor Hattie, originally from New Zealand, has been Director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne since 2011.

Newham Learning was formed in March 2020 and is a collaborative partnership of 41 schools, based in Newham. In the first three years of the partnership they have developed a strong school improvement offer which runs alongside 7 core communities for subject specific networking and support. These include Computing, Science, Languages, SEND and Attendance. You can find more information about the partnership on their website: https://newhamlearning.co.uk