Friday 20 March London

Meet the speakers

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Sir Martyn Oliver

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector at the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills

Sir Martyn Oliver started as His Majesty’s Chief Inspector at the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills in January 2024. He has worked in education since 1995 starting as a teacher and joined Outward Grange Academies Trust (OGAT) in 2009 where he became Principal of Outwood Grange Academy and then a National Leader of Education (NLE). In 2016, Sir Martyn was appointed Chief Executive and Accounting Officer for OGAT, a role he held until he started as His Majesty’s Chief Inspector.

Coco Khan

Journalist & Presenter

Coco is a features journalist for the Guardian and a presenter, best known for the award-winning podcast Pod Save The UK, which she co-hosts with comedian Nish Kumar. She regularly appears on Newsnight, BBC R4 and C5, alongside hosting interviews and other live events.

Professor Julia Snell

Professor of Sociolinguistics

Julia Snell is Professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of Leeds. She researches and teaches across a range of topics related to language in education, including classroom discourse and dialogic pedagogies, children’s language variation, and language attitudes and ideologies. She uses her research to tackle educational inequalities related to class and race, inform public and policy debates, and create professional development materials and opportunities for educators.

Sonia Thompson

Author & Headteacher

Sonia Thompson is the Headteacher of St Matthew’s C of E Primary School in Birmingham which is an EEF Research School. Sonia is a trustee of Voice 21, the Education Endowment Foundation and Classics for All. She is the author of An Ethic of Excellence in Action, which explores practical ways to bring Ron Berger’s work to life in schools. She also served as a Commissioner on the Oracy Education Commission.

Louisa Reeves

Director of Policy and Evidence

Louisa Reeves is Director of Policy and Evidence at Speech and Language UK (formerly I CAN). Speech and Language UK exists to help the more than 2 million children in the UK who face challenges in talking and understanding words. We do this by designing tools and training for nurseries and schools, giving advice and guidance to families and putting pressure on politicians. Louisa is a speech and language therapist with many years of experience, she has been involved in a number of large-scale projects, developing and evaluating tools and programmes for early years settings and schools and is responsible for the evaluation of the outcomes and impact of all the charity’s projects and development work. She also leads on Speech and Language UK's policy work including developing and implementing the charity’s campaigns to influence key decision-makers, including politicians.

Professor Jessie Ricketts

Professor of Language and Reading Acquisition

Professor Jessie Ricketts is based in the Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London in England and directs the Language and Reading Acquisition (LARA) research group. Jessie researches language and literacy in children, young people and adults. She is particularly interested in how reading benefits children’s learning and language. Jessie works closely with teachers, educational charities and policy makers to conduct research and consider its implications for education.

Dr Rupert Knight

Associate Professor in Education

With a background as a primary school teacher in London and Nottingham, Rupert has worked in teacher education since 2006 at the Universities of Derby and Nottingham. His research interests include oracy, dialogic teaching and teacher education. Rupert is the author of two books and a number of articles related to oracy and is frequently involved in professional development in this field with schools. His current research draws on classroom observation from primary, secondary and FE settings to investigate the possibilities for, and foundations of, civic voice.