NATE Consultancy
If you are looking for tailored CPD or expert consultancy in any area of English teaching, you have come to the right place.Whether your requirements are related to primary, secondary or post-16, the National Association for the Teaching of English can provide one of the country’s leading practitioners to come and help you. We cover all aspects of the curriculum.
See below for a sample of the professional expertise we can offer. The list below is not exhaustive, either in terms of consultants or areas of expertise. All practitioners have been validated by NATE and all are members of the Association.
Click on an individual’s name to access more information about their professional background and learn more about their specialist interests.
If you would like to book a consultant for any reason or simply discuss your individual training needs, please contact NATE’s Director, Ian McNeilly on 0114 255 5419 or at director_nate@yahoo.co.uk
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Consultant |
Specialisms |
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Gender achievement, particularly improving boys’ writing across Key Stages 3-5; Leadership and Departmental management; Literacy | |
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ICT in English; use of digital archives including historic newspapers; creative pedagogies for learning | |
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A level English Language; A level English Literature; Creative Writing | |
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Poetry, Drama, A and AEA level Examinations | |
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Reading/Teaching literature, particularly poetry; Drama into literacy; Language and learning | |
Sarah Darragh | Poetry and Literature in general – particularly GCSE, but also Key Stage 3; Formative Assessment – AfL; Reading and Writing Non-Fiction at Key Stage 3 and 4 |
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Drama in the primary age range, particularly in relation to English | |
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Literacy: a cultural approach connecting students’ out-of-school literacies; A level English Language and Literature; English and Higher Education | |
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Assessment; many general areas of English teaching | |
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Journalism; Curriculum developments; Sport and English | |
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Writing; Poetry; ICT | |
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ICT; Teaching and assessment of AS and A level English Literature | |
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Creative writing, especially poetry; Creative reading; publishing and performing children’s and students’ writing | |
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Issues relating to English as an Additional Language; Multicultural education; Differentiation | |
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ICT in English including corpus studies; Knowledge about language and language awareness (including A level English Language); English spelling - its history and variety | |
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Teaching A level English Literature and First Year Undergraduate English; Teaching International Baccalaureate English; The English curriculum – history and philosophy | |
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Creative Writing development and responding to literature; Behaviour management; Mentoring and teacher development | |
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The romantic kernel of the subject; Teaching English in an intercultural context; Poetry | |
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Literature, especially poetry and Shakespeare; More able/Gifted and Talented; the English curriculum generally | |
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Poetry at Key Stages 2, 3 and 4; Writing at Key Stages 2 and 3; Speaking and Listening | |
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Drama for literacy and learning; making meanings with storyboxes; developing reflective writers |
Caroline Bentley-Davies
Currently an English adviser, Caroline is a former Head of English who has written and presented a wide range of English courses across the UK.Caroline is an experienced examiner at GCSE and teaches occasional lessons to demonstrate good practice.
She has undertaken research on boys’ achievement and has led a wide variety of projects in her authority including gifted and talented, Assessment for Learning and teaching Shakespeare at Key Stage 3.
Julie Blake
Julie Blake, author of the best selling publication 'The Full English', is a consultant and Visiting Research Associate at the School of Education and Professional Studies at Kings College, London. Her previous roles include that of Principal Teacher at a Sussex College, Project Leader at Villiers Park Education Trust and Associate Lecturer at the Universities of Plymouth and Bath Spa. Julie has undertaken a huge and varied amount of work within English education and her current projects include developmental work for both the British Library and the Poetry Archive.Jane Bluett
Jane is currently a teacher of A level English Language and English Literature. She has worked in sixth form colleges for 15 years, teaching all three strands of A Level English, has been Head of English and held senior management positions as well as having cross curricular responsibility for Enrichment.Jane has an MA in Creative Writing and is currently working towards a PhD. She is a member of the Association’s Post-16 and Management committees. Jane is also a prominent member of the National Association of Writers in Education.
An AQA examiner/moderator for A Level Language and Language and Literature for 12 years, Jane is co-author of Key Skills in A Level English and series editor for Living Language (3rd Edition).
Gareth Calway
Gareth worked for 27 years in secondary schools, teaching English across the 11-18 age range. A former Head of English, Media, Drama and Expressive Arts, Gareth is also an established, published writer of poetry, drama and prose. He has performed his work in many settings, including NATE’s national conference and the Edinburgh Festival.An A level Literature examiner for WJEC and AQA, Gareth is also the author of Perspectives on Linguistic and Literary Theory and KS3 resources for part of OUP’s Rollercoasters series.
Gareth is the official poet of Bristol City Football Club.
Mick Connell
Mick is currently a tutor on Sheffield University's PGCE programme and is a former School Effectiveness Adviser for English and the Arts. He has 13 years experience as an English and Drama teacher and HoD in secondary schools and a further 17 years experience as and English/Drama adviser.Mick was a member of the OFSTED team for eight years and has experience as a School Improvement Partner.
QCA used Mick as an external assessor and principal scrutineer for English for more than a decade and he is also a learning adviser to the Royal Shakespeare Company.
A leading NATE member, Mick serves on the Association’s Management and Drama committees.
Sarah Darragh
Sarah has been teaching English and Drama for nineteen years in a range of comprehensive schools. As well as ten years as a Head of English, she is also an experienced whole-school Literacy co-ordinator.She is closely involved with the assessment of Literature at GCSE as Principal Examiner for Poetry and English Subject Advisor for AQA. She has published several books on English teaching for teachers and for students, and is a regular contributor to NATE periodicals and conferences.
Sarah’s particular areas of interest include teaching poetry at Key Stage 3 and 4, the teaching of non-fiction media, and the use of formative assessment in the English classroom.
Larraine Harrison
In the thirty years since she qualified as a teacher, Larraine has taught all ages and abilities. In 1984 she joined Wakefield MDC’s drama-in-education team using drama as a medium for teaching and learning across the curriculum.In 1997 she became an OFSTED inspector for primary and the following year became a Strategy consultant. She worked as a Local Authority adviser in charge of English for seven years.
Larraine has a national reputation for leading lively, practical but non-threatening courses in drama which link closely to the literacy curriculum.
She has written five books on drama and is a regular contributor to NATE periodicals.
John Hodgson
NATE is very fortunate to have John as both our Research Officer and Chair of our Post-16 committee.A recently retired university lecturer, John has led English departments in large schools.
As well as holding an MEd, John recently completed his PhD which was a longitudinal study of the literacy practices of school students approaching university.
John has contributed to a number of magazines and journals on a variety of aspects of English and cultural studies and is an A level adviser and moderator for AQA.
Bethan Marshall
Bethan worked as an English teacher in London for nine years before taking up her post at King's College. Currently a senior lecturer in education, she specialises in issues relating to the teaching of English and assessment.She was part of the King’s Medway Formative Assessment Project team and, for two years, the director at King’s of the Learning How to Learn project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
She has written extensively on the subject of English and assessment including her book English Teachers: An unofficial Guide and as a co-author of Assessment for Learning: Putting it into practice.
She was the Chair of the Liberal Democrat commission into primary education.
Ian McNeilly
Ian is NATE’s Director.A secondary school teacher for 15 years, Ian has experienced a number of roles and positions of responsibility both in the UK and overseas. His NATE role ensures he keeps up to date with curriculum developments.
A former A level English Language examiner for Cambridge International Examinations, Ian has an MA in Literature Studies and he has published teachers' resources on Dickens, Shakespeare and Austen.
Ian has been a part of teams which have undertaken the Government’s Standards Reviews for GCSE English Language and Literature as well as an international comparison study of equivalents to A level English Literature.
A qualified journalist, Ian is often quoted in the press trying to reflect the views of the Association. He is a Board member of the National Literacy Association and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
A boxing writer in his spare time, he has twice been nominated for the Sport Journalists' Association's Internet Writer of the Year award.
Trevor Millum
Trevor is a widely published writer of poetry and short stories for younger readers.He is also a nationally-renowned trainer specializing in ICT within English.
Trevor, who holds a doctorate in English, taught in five secondary schools (and was Head of English in three) in the UK and abroad before becoming an advisory teacher for English and ICT for Humberside LEA.
He worked as NATE’s Director of Development and Communications for five years and remains a member of NATE’s ICT committee.
Trevor has written lots of curriculum materials for many publishers, including NATE.
Tom Rank
Tom is a highly experienced secondary school teacher and a former Head of Department. Tom, who holds an MEd in the Philosophy of Education, left teaching to edit a website for English teachers and is currently a freelance consultant and was coordinator for NATE of its work for Becta on ICT in English teaching.Currently Chair of NATE's ICT committee, Tom writes a regular column for NATE's English Drama Media magazine.
He has considerable experience as Principal Moderator and senior examiner for A Level English Literature.
Tom's writing includes volumes on The School for Scandal and Poetry of the First World War for York Notes Advanced series. His own website is called Literary Connections.
Michael Rosen
Michael should need no introduction to those who work in English education.Michael says, “Because of the work I’ve done with children, teachers and teacher trainers, I can offer a variety of sessions in schools, professional development centres, INSET days and on courses both for children and teachers.
“Then, because of my work writing books for children and adults, I’m happy to be talk more personally about why I write, how I write, why I’ve written what I write, the writing and drafting process, making books and so on.
“As I also spend a great deal of time making radio programmes about language and literature, I’d be happy to contribute something in this area too.”
Michael has undertaken literally hundreds (perhaps thousands) of school visits and contributed to hundreds of workshops, especially on creative writing and creative reading.
Stuart Scott
After teaching in university in Europe and the USA, Stuart worked in London as an English and EAL teacher, advisory teacher, teachers' centre manager, head and deputy head in schools for twenty years.He has been an Ofsted inspector for English and EAL. He has taught Language and Reading development for the Open University.
He persuaded the ILEA to establish the Collaborative Learning Project (www.collaborativelearning.org) in 1983, and ensured its survival when London education was broken up.
He was involved in the development of the NFER Partnership Teaching Project, and subsequently disseminated it nationally for the Department of Education. Stuart helped found the Intercultural Education Partnership, which supported the sharing of good practice and research across the European community.
He has recently worked as an EAL consultant in Nottingham, and tutor for the DCSF pilot EAL TA diploma. He is Chair of the NATE's Multicultural Committee.
Tim Shortis
Tim Shortis is a consultant and Visiting Research Associate at the School of Education and Professional Studies at Kings College, London. Tim is a former Chief Examiner of AQA B English Language A level. He was previously a Research Fellow at the University of Bristol and is a member of the Committee for Linguistics in Education. Tim's current projects include developmental work for the British Library and a PhD at London's Institute of Education.Gary Snapper
Gary is an experienced teacher of both A Level and International Baccalaureate English, as well as 11-16 English. Following fifteen years as an English teacher, the latter seven as Head of English in an 11-18 comprehensive with an international sixth form, Gary recently completed a PhD in the transition between A Level English and university English.A prominent member of NATE’s Post-16 Committee for many years, he is Editor of NATE’s professional journal English Drama Media.
Gary has worked with PGCE students, A Level students, first year undergraduates, and practising teachers and lecturers in school (IB and A Level) and university English, exploring attitudes and approaches to the teaching of literature, and syllabus design and construction. Gary has also worked with officers, teachers and lecturers from the English and Media Centre, the English Subject Centre and the QCA English team on issues relating to Post-16 English.
Among Gary’s interests are the philosophy and practice of literature teaching and the ways in which different attitudes to literature and the teaching of literature are embodied in the curriculum and put into practice in the classroom, especially at the Post-16 level.
Raymond Soltysek
Raymond has spent the last nine years lecturing in Initial Teacher Education at the University of Strathclyde and before that spent 18 years in secondary teaching as a teacher, Principal Teacher of English and Assistant Head Teacher.Holding both an MA and an MEd, Raymond is a widely published writer. Short listed for the Saltire First Book Award, the film of Raymond’s first screenplay won two BAFTA New Talent awards, including Best TV Drama. He has worked extensively with BBC Education, including scripting TV programmes for 16+ literature study and was the winner of 2006 Robert Louis Stevenson award.
Raymond is a trained Assertive Discipline leader, helping local authorities and school clusters from Shetland to Leeds develop behaviour management strategies. He also coordinates an elective in Behaviour Management for the PGDE (Sec) course. Raymond delivers in-service training in creative writing development, responding to literature, mentoring and interpersonal skills.
A member of NATE’s ITE committee, Raymond is active in research into NEET provision, student teacher placement, probationer teacher development and CPD for teachers.
David Stevens
David is Course Director of the PGCE (Secondary) course at Durham University, and is also responsible as subject tutor for the secondary English course. Before joining the university in 1996, David taught English in four secondary comprehensive schools, in two as Head of English.His research and teaching interests centre on the developing nature of English as taught and learned in schools. In this respect, he is interested in working towards a synthesis of different – sometimes apparently opposing – views of English, focusing on its radical Romantic roots and the implications of such a conception for the contemporary world.
A member of the Intercultural Research Group at the School of Education, David is concerned to promote a broad vision of English as an arts subject in an intercultural context.
David is Chair of NATE's Committee for Initial Teacher Education and is increasingly active in its promotion of this sector’s interests, most recently as a member of the Steering Group of the Subject Resource Network for English (www.ite.org.uk).
David is also external examiner for the PGCE Secondary English course at Sheffield Hallam University.
Peter Thomas
From 1995 to 2008, Peter Thomas was a Lecturer in Education in the Institute for Learning at Hull University. Previously, he taught English in comprehensive schools in Leicester, Wiltshire, Somerset and Oxfordshire, where he was also an Advisory Teacher. At various times he has worked in local radio, adult education and the prison education service before his main involvement in curriculum and assessment as a Principal Examiner for and Assistant Principal Moderator for GCSE.He has written for the national press and educational journals on various aspects of curriculum, assessment, gender and classroom practice. Publications include editions of Dickens novels, various GCSE support materials and Shakespeariences (NATE) and Shakespeare Page and Stage (Longman). He has long been a believer in active practical work with Shakespeare's playscripts and is currently promoting this approach to GCSE Shakespeare coursework as part of Devon Curriculum Service’s Inset programme. NATE published his latest book, The Complete Shakespearience, in 2010.
Peter provides courses for students, teachers, schools and LA advisory services on practical Shakespeare, developing writing, raising performance at GCSE, as well and providing challenge for the Gifted and Talented. He has been an Associate Fellow of NAGTY, researching good practice in teaching the more able.
Joe Walsh
Joe has been a Local Authority English Adviser for twelve years and was a secondary school teacher for twenty years before he took up his current position.An examiner across GCSE, AS and A level since 1986, Joe taught in three secondary schools in the north of England and was Head of English in a large 11-18 mixed comprehensive school for 13 years, also holding whole school responsibility for Literacy Across the Curriculum.
As coordinator for NATE North, Joe has overseen the development of some of the Association’s most successful regional conferences.
Joe has provided whole school and departmental training as well as running regular meetings, courses and conferences for Heads of English and English teachers. He has worked with a range of English departments on revising and updating Key Stage 3 Schemes of Work and on planning approaches to GCSE English and English Literature. Have run training on teaching poetry at Key Stages 3 and 4 as well as at A level.
Joe has written curriculum materials which have been published by NATE and is currently the Association's Vice-Chair.
Simon Wrigley
Simon Wrigley is a past chair of NATE and has been an English Adviser in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire for the past 19 years. He has been a literacy consultant for schools across the UK and abroad, and a keynote speaker at numerous conferences.Simon currently leads NATE's writing project with Dr Jeni Smith of UEA, supported by Professor Richard Andrews of the Institute of Education www.nwp.org.uk.
Simon has served on both NATE's primary and secondary committees and has run excellent workshops on a range of aspects: drama and language, storyboxes, reading and writing, talk and film. He has worked as an inspector and regularly advises on school improvement.
He has published regularly in NATE Classroom and NATE's magazine, EDM.
