It was our recent pleasure to welcome Dr Nathaniel Swain to St Catherine’s for our mid-year professional staff day. A linguist, teacher and teacher educator, Dr Swain is a passionate advocate for effective teaching practice, drawing on the knowledge base of the Science of Learning.

On his keynote to the whole staff, Nathaniel reiterated the importance of understanding the role that cognitive architecture plays in student learning. With a particular focus on the role of memory, he vividly illustrated the limitations of working memory for students hoping to retain knowledge between classes.

Drawing on cognitive load theory, Nathaniel promoted strategies for reducing the extraneous load of a classroom, which are the elements with the potential to fragment student attention. Staff then had the opportunity to rehearse a range of strategies for active engagement in classrooms to ensure that all students are thinking and have a voice. In a time where the development of student thinking capacity is more relevant than ever, it was beneficial to have Nathaniel’s work complement our strong foundations in Teaching for Thinking.

Building on from the keynote session, the Junior School teachers participated in a focused professional development workshop on phonics, presented by Nathaniel. The presentation explored evidence-based programs and approaches to phonics instruction, with particular attention given to phonological awareness, orthographic mapping and morphology – key elements that support both reading and spelling development.

Nathaniel’s passion for education was evident throughout, as he modelled the session as though teaching a class, allowing staff to experience the strategies in action from a student’s perspective. His engaging and interactive approach provided a clear model of how these techniques can be implemented to support student learning.

Dr Nathaniel Swain’s insights on the science of learning, alongside evidence-based phonics instruction, provided the staff at St Catherine’s with a valuable opportunity to grow and embed effective pedagogical practices into their classrooms.