Our first series was broadcast between October and December 2020.
For access to the recordings and a PDF of all slides used, you are welcome to purchase a Pass.
With a Season Pass, you can access the recordings and a PDF of the slides used for all of these topics:
Topics for Series One
A- Enhancing Classroom Talk to Improve Communication, Confidence & Achievement
B- Implementation is Key: How to Ensure Growth Mindset Flourishes Across Your School
C- How Positive Attitudes Towards Mistakes and Failure Develop Social & Emotional Learning
D- Creating a Culture of Challenge, Efficacy & Engagement
E- How to Build a Safe, Engaging & Inviting Learning Culture (Online & On-site)
F- Using the SOLO Taxonomy to Narrow Achievement Gaps
When you buy a SEASON PASS, you will also be given access to the recordings of all the live events that were recorded from October to December 2020.
Challenging Learning Webinars Schedule, October to December 2020
As a small business we really appreciate every Pass purchased. We put a lot of time and effort into preparation, resources and delivery of our events, and always strive to keep our prices down. So, please bear this in mind when purchasing tickets/passes (in other words, don’t be tempted to share passwords!) Thank you in advance.
The Season Pass will provide you with access to recordings of all six topics (perfect if you want to catch up or press pause at any time)
The Challenging Learning Webinars & Pit Podcasts were presented by James Nottingham, and hosted by Sabina Bhugun and Sarah Unwin.
James Nottingham

James Nottingham is the founding director of Challenging Learning. He is a world-renowned keynote speaker, author of nine books, and creator of the Learning Pit.
Sabina Bhugun

Sabina is the Director of Engagement & Communications for the Learning Pit, responsible for identifying the professional learning requirements of teachers and leaders around the world.
Challenging Learning Webinars – Flyers
Webinar Topics in Detail
Topic A- Enhancing Classroom Talk to Improve Communication, Confidence & Achievement
Classroom talk leads to significant improvements in text comprehension, as well as gains in students’ inferential comprehension, critical thinking and reasoning. (Murphy, Wilkinson, Soter & Hennessey, 2009). However, teachers generally dominate conversations, talking as much as 70-80% of lesson time (Yair, 2000). So, the first steps to improving classroom talk are for teachers to talk less and for students to improve the quality of their contributions.
As such, this webinar will show the best ways to:
- Reduce teacher talk so that there is more opportunity for student dialogue
- Create the conditions in which exploratory talk can flourish face-to-face and through remote learning
- Identify strategies that will make dialogue more active, meaningful, challenging and collaborative
Topic B- Implementation is Key: How to Ensure Growth Mindset Flourishes Across Your School
Growth Mindset can significantly increase students’ willingness to work towards aspirational goals, overcome difficulties, and respond to feedback constructively. However, the two meta-analyses examining growth mindset in schools show disappointingly low effect sizes (0.21 in 2013 and 0.11 in 2019). This is not because of a lack of potential but due to problems with implementation including, over-simplification, conflicting priorities and mixed messages.
Having co-presented with Carol Dweck at more than 30 conferences, James Nottingham will give you a deep insight into:
- The nuances behind the research and the urban myths to avoid
- The systems and patterns of behaviour that may need adjusting to avoid conflict with growth mindset
- The best strategies for building a growth mindset culture so that everyone in the learning community (students, staff & families) benefit
Topic C- How Positive Attitudes Towards Mistakes and Failure Develop Social & Emotional Learning
Students who fear failure or hide mistakes generally respond to setbacks negatively, which in turn leads to self-doubt and a lowering of aspirations and goals. (Haimovitz & Dweck, 2016). Whereas, those who are shown how to examine mistakes and learn from failure are more likely to develop humility, adaptation, and resiliency. Knowing this helps educators to encourage intellectual risk taking and create a safe and thoughtful culture of learning.
This webinar will show the best ways to:
- Enhance lesson design (online & onsite) to create more opportunities for learning from mistakes
- Adapt systems and patterns of behaviour to teach students how to respond more positively to the possibilities of failure
- Demonstrate how failure and mistakes can enhance social and emotional learning
Topic D- Creating a Culture of Challenge, Efficacy & Engagement
Performance is enhanced when students strive towards specific and challenging goals (Feldman, 1997). The attainment of those goals is also closely related to self-esteem and self-efficacy (Light, 2001). In other words, when we create the conditions in which students engage in challenging tasks, they achieve more, feel better about themselves and boost their sense of potential. So why do so many students avoid challenge? This webinar will explore some of the reasons and identify what we can do to encourage all students to step out of their comfort zone.
This webinar will cover:
- Some of the reasons why students all-too-often avoid challenging tasks and how to reverse this trend
- How the Learning Pit® encourages students to willingly step out of their comfort zone
- The best strategies for enhancing efficacy and engagement through challenge, questioning, and an emphasis on progress
Topic E- How To Build a Safe, Engaging & Inviting Learning Culture (Online & On-site)
A school has a ‘good culture’ when staff live by a set of shared values and students succeed as a result (Bridwell-Mitchell, 2018). Unfortunately, components of a positive culture often get lost amid tangible outcomes such as higher test scores, excellent attendance, and improved graduation rates. Indeed, some commentators even describe culture as a ‘soft’ target. And yet, the evidence is clear – there is a strong and significant correlation between organisational culture and that organisation’s performance, and that culture can be designed and deliberately embedded.
This webinar will show:
- How a learning culture (online & in-person) is shaped by five interwoven elements, each of which staff have the power to influence
- A set of values about learning that evidence reviews identify as the most significant for student welfare & growth
- How mental models drive actions and lead to safe, engaging and inviting cultures of learning
Check your local times:
Webinar 9
Webinar 10
Topic F- Using the SOLO Taxonomy to Narrow Achievement Gaps
The SOLO Taxonomy (Biggs & Collis, 1982) is “one of the most powerful models for understanding when to move students from surface- to deep-learning” (Hattie, 2013). It aligns to evidence-based practice and helps identify when to move students from ‘knowing’ to making links and connections between different concepts and ideas. It can also be used to design differentiated learning tasks that, when coupled with attainment-based grouping (rather than ability-grouping), can be effective in narrowing achievement gaps.
This webinar will show:
- How to use SOLO to design differentiated learning tasks that enable students to deepen their learning
- The ways in which SOLO supports students in developing metacognition, self-regulation, self-efficacy, and engagement
- How to recognise and respond to each stage of SOLO so as to deepen learning and close the achievement gap for all students
Check your local times:
Webinar 11
Webinar 12
Schedule:
North & South America
Timings shown for Los Angeles
Topic A
Oct 3- 08.00-10.30
Topic B
Oct 15- 08.00-10.30
Topic C
Nov 3- 09.00-11.30
Topic D
Nov 5- 13.00-15.30
Nov 21- 08.00-10.30
Topic E
Nov 30- 15.00-17.30
Dec 3- 08.00-10.30
Topic F
Dec 7- 15.00-17.30
Dec 9- 08.00-10.30
Europe & Africa
Timings shown for Stockholm
Topic A
Oct 1- 10.00-12.30
Oct 3- 17.00-19.30
Topic B
Oct 15- 17.00-19.30
Oct 22- 09.30-11.30
Topic C
Oct 29- 08.00-10.30
Nov 3- 18.00-20.30
Topic D
Nov 21- 17.00-19.30
Topic E
Dec 3- 17.00-19.30
Topic F
Dec 9- 17.00- 9.30
Asia Pacific
Timings shown for Sydney
Topic A
Oct 1- 18.00-20.30
Topic B
Oct 22- 18.00-20.30
Topic C
Oct 29- 18.00-20.30
Topic D
Nov 6- 08.00-10.30
Topic E
Dec 1- 10.00-12.30
Topic F
Dec 8- 10.00-12.30
Webinar Topics in Detail
Topic A- Enhancing Classroom Talk to Improve Communication, Confidence & Achievement
Classroom talk leads to significant improvements in text comprehension, as well as gains in students’ inferential comprehension, critical thinking and reasoning. (Murphy, Wilkinson, Soter & Hennessey, 2009). However, teachers generally dominate conversations, talking as much as 70-80% of lesson time (Yair, 2000). So, the first steps to improving classroom talk are for teachers to talk less and for students to improve the quality of their contributions.
As such, this webinar will show the best ways to:
- Reduce teacher talk so that there is more opportunity for student dialogue
- Create the conditions in which exploratory talk can flourish face-to-face and through remote learning
- Identify strategies that will make dialogue more active, meaningful, challenging and collaborative
Topic B- Implementation is Key: How to Ensure Growth Mindset Flourishes Across Your School
Growth Mindset can significantly increase students’ willingness to work towards aspirational goals, overcome difficulties, and respond to feedback constructively. However, the two meta-analyses examining growth mindset in schools show disappointingly low effect sizes (0.21 in 2013 and 0.11 in 2019). This is not because of a lack of potential but due to problems with implementation including, over-simplification, conflicting priorities and mixed messages.
Having co-presented with Carol Dweck at more than 30 conferences, James Nottingham will give you a deep insight into:
- The nuances behind the research and the urban myths to avoid
- The systems and patterns of behaviour that may need adjusting to avoid conflict with growth mindset
- The best strategies for building a growth mindset culture so that everyone in the learning community (students, staff & families) benefit
Topic C- How Positive Attitudes Towards Mistakes and Failure Build a Safe & Engaging Learning Culture
Students who fear failure or hide mistakes generally respond to setbacks negatively, which in turn leads to self-doubt and a lowering of aspirations and goals. (Haimovitz & Dweck, 2016). Whereas, those who are shown how to examine mistakes and learn from failure are more likely to develop humility, adaptation, and resiliency. Knowing this helps educators to encourage intellectual risk taking and create a safe and thoughtful culture of learning.
This webinar will show the best ways to:
- Enhance lesson design to create more opportunities for learning from mistakes
- Adapt systems and patterns of behaviour to teach students how to respond more positively to the possibilities of failure
- Demonstrate how failure and mistakes can enhance performance, aspirations and goal setting
Topic D- Creating a Culture of Challenge, Efficacy & Engagement
Performance is enhanced when students strive towards specific and challenging goals (Feldman, 1997). The attainment of those goals is also closely related to self-esteem and self-efficacy (Light, 2001). In other words, when we create the conditions in which students engage in challenging tasks, they achieve more, feel better about themselves and boost their sense of potential. So why do so many students avoid challenge? This webinar will explore some of the reasons and identify what we can do to encourage all students to step out of their comfort zone.
This webinar will cover:
- Some of the reasons why students all-too-often avoid challenging tasks and how to reverse this trend
- How the Learning Pit® encourages students to willingly step out of their comfort zone
- The best strategies for enhancing efficacy and engagement through challenge, questioning, and an emphasis on progress
Topic E- How To Build a Safe, Engaging & Inviting Learning Culture (Online & On-site)
A school has a ‘good culture’ when staff live by a set of shared values and students succeed as a result (Bridwell-Mitchell, 2018). Unfortunately, components of a positive culture often get lost amid tangible outcomes such as higher test scores, excellent attendance, and improved graduation rates. Indeed, some commentators even describe culture as a ‘soft’ target. And yet, the evidence is clear – there is a strong and significant correlation between organisational culture and that organisation’s performance, and that culture can be designed and deliberately embedded.
This webinar will show:
- How a learning culture (online & in-person) is shaped by five interwoven elements, each of which staff have the power to influence
- A set of values about learning that evidence reviews identify as the most significant for student welfare & growth
- How mental models drive actions and lead to safe, engaging and inviting cultures of learning
Check your local times:
Webinar 9
Webinar 10
Topic F- Using the SOLO Taxonomy to Narrow Achievement Gaps
The SOLO Taxonomy (Biggs & Collis, 1982) is “one of the most powerful models for understanding when to move students from surface- to deep-learning” (Hattie, 2013). It aligns to evidence-based practice and helps identify when to move students from ‘knowing’ to making links and connections between different concepts and ideas. It can also be used to design differentiated learning tasks that, when coupled with attainment-based grouping (rather than ability-grouping), can be effective in narrowing achievement gaps.
This webinar will show:
- How to use SOLO to design differentiated learning tasks that enable students to deepen their learning
- The ways in which SOLO supports students in developing metacognition, self-regulation, self-efficacy, and engagement
- How to recognise and respond to each stage of SOLO so as to deepen learning and close the achievement gap for all students
Check your local times:
Webinar 11
Webinar 12