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Martin Illingworth is a renowned educator, speaker and author with over 35 years of experience in education.
His career spans classroom teaching, teacher training, educational consultancy, public speaking and published authorship. Known for his powerful thought leadership and trailblazing approach to curriculum design and teacher development, Martin has built a national and international reputation for inspiring change in education.
A former senior lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, Martin has led courses in English, Drama and Music for PGCE and School Direct pathways, and played a key role in developing the university’s Teach First programme. He has lectured widely at universities across the UK and contributed to significant national research projects, including work on the English Mastery KS3 curriculum.
Before moving into higher education, Martin taught English, Drama and PE across a range of secondary schools, holding leadership roles such as Head of English, Literacy Coordinator, and NQT Coordinator. His depth of classroom experience makes his talks both grounded and relatable, while his leadership background gives him a strategic, whole-school perspective. Martin is also an experienced consultant, having supported curriculum development, A level English teaching, and national grammar initiatives.
As an author, Martin has written extensively on education and pedagogy. His books, including the Amazon Education bestseller Think Before You Teach and Forget School, offer practical, thought-provoking insights that continue to shape classroom practice across the UK. His latest work, On a scale of curiosity to fear, explores how teachers can reframe their practice to better connect with today’s learners.
A charismatic and thought-provoking speaker, Martin is regularly invited to deliver keynote talks at national and international education conferences. His speaking style blends humour with challenge, and warmth with wisdom, leaving audiences both inspired and equipped to think differently about teaching and learning.
Martin has presented at events including the Festival of Education, the National Education Show of Wales, and global gatherings in Canada and Egypt. Whether speaking to senior leaders, early career teachers or MAT-wide audiences, Martin invites you to reflect, rethink and reignite your passion for education.
What do you want the lasting impact of your teaching to be on the pupils in front of you? Practical strategies and deep thinking to support you in embedding relevant skills into the curriculum. Thinking about schooling that supports pupils to pass exams and also leave school with credible life skills.
Young people need to network effectively, manage their finances responsibly, and be digitally proficient and alert to the world around them. A consideration of how schooling culture, curriculum design and pedagogical approaches can be reconfigured in readiness for the emerging shifts and trends in 21st century life and employment.
The focus of this session is to develop transferable skills, with many practical strategies and activities to use in the classroom, that support teachers to think about what they will teach and the ways they will teach their curriculum.
How do we engage those children that just can’t sit still and do what the teacher wants them to do? How can we tap into the instinctive curiosity of a all children? How can we develop a classroom space that motivates children to feel involved and engaged? Real life examples from a lifetime in teaching.
What are our young people saying about their experiences in the classroom? What do they enjoy about their schooling? What do they not enjoy? And in the experience of those pupils that have recently left school, what have they had to learn for them selves after school? How can we use these insights to create a relevant curriculum for all our children?
A practical session looking at ways of making sure that pupils think and write about Shakespeare plays as plays, rather than some linguistic code that needs cracking. We will look at 7 different plays and will sample transferable activities for each that will bring the scripts to life for pupils. This approach will support pupils to write about Shakespeare in examination settings with a clear insight into the language, structure and form of plays, supporting them to centre the act of writing at the heart of their exam answers.
I loved your session yesterday. Really striking a chord with a lot of leaders out there and I will be exploring this further with my team.
Most inspiring talk I’ve ever listened to. I felt very emotional at times and it has really made me think about my role as a teacher. Every school needs to have you visit them.
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