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181: Challenging Learning with James Nottingham

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James Nottingham is the founding director of Challenging Learning, a group of companies with 25 staff in six countries. He is a world-renowned keynote speaker and author and creator of the Learning Pit®, one of the most popular ways to encourage and structure questioning, challenge, and reflection.

His first book, Challenging Learning, was published in 2010 and has received widespread critical acclaim. Since then, he has written many chapters for other people’s books teaching journals, as well as the following books as well as:

  1. Nottingham, J.A. (2020). The Learning Pit. Alnwick, Northumberland, UK: Challenging Learning.
  2. Nottingham, J.A., Nottingham, J., & Bollom, T. M. (2019). Learning Challenge Lessons: Secondary ELA. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
  3. J. A. & Larsson B. (2018). Challenging Mindset: Why a Growth Mindset Makes a Difference in Learning – and What to Do When It Doesn’t. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
  4. Nottingham, J.A. & Nottingham, J. (2018). Challenging Early Learning. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
  5. Nottingham, J.A. & Nottingham, J. (2018). Learning Challenge Lessons: Primary. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
  6. Nottingham, J.A. (2017). The Learning Challenge: How to Guide Your Students Through the Learning Pit. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
  7. Nottingham, J.A. & Nottingham, J. (2017). Challenging Learning Through Feedback. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
  8. Nottingham, J.A., Nottingham, J., & Renton, T. M. (2016). Challenging Learning Through Dialogue. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
  9. J. A. (2016). Challenging Learning (2nd ed.). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
  10. Nottingham, J. A. (2013). Encouraging Learning: How You Can Help Children Learn. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
  11. Nottingham, J. (2010). Challenging Learning (1st): Theory, Effective Practice and Lesson Ideas to Create Optimal Learning in the Classroom. Alnwick, Northumberland, UK: JN Publishing.
  12. Nottingham, J. (2007). Exploring the Learning Pit. Teaching Thinking and Creativity, 8:2(23), 64–68. Birmingham, UK: Imaginative Minds

It was as a teacher that he created the Learning Pit® – a student-friendly version of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development. Quite remarkably, the model has captured the imagination of educators around the world; indeed, do a search online for the ‘Learning Pit’ and you will find well over 200 million references. He also co-founded P4C.com, a resource and collaboration site for teachers using P4C (Philosophy for Children) as a way to develop critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinking.

Before training to be a teacher, James worked on a pig farm, in the chemical industry, for the American Red Cross, and as a teaching assistant in a school for deaf children. At university, he gained a first-class honours degree (a major turnaround after having failed miserably at school). He then worked as a teacher and leader in primary and secondary schools in the UK before creating an award-winning, multi-million-pound social regeneration project supporting education, community groups and businesses across North East England.

In 2006, James co-founded Challenging Learning with Jill Potter (now Jill Nottingham!). In 2009, Martin Renton joined the team and since then, the three of them have established Challenging Learning in six countries: the UK, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the USA. Their team of 25 consultants, researchers, designers and admin staff support pre-schools, schools, colleges, and school districts with long-term projects that strengthen the lives of all learners.

James splits his work time between keynoting conferences,...