Professor Tim Jay
Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange, Faculty of Social Sciences
Professor of Psychology of Education, School of Education
University of Nottingham
About
Tim Jay is Professor of Psychology of Education and Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Nottingham, UK. His research explores how children learn through interaction, with a particular focus on mathematics education and on the connections between learning at school and at home.
Tim has led and contributed to major research projects investigating dialogic teaching, parental engagement in mathematics and early mathematics learning. He is currently Co-Director of the £10 million ESRC Centre for Early Mathematics Learning, an interdisciplinary collaboration bringing together researchers, educators and policymakers to improve understanding of how young children develop mathematical knowledge and skills.
Across his research, Tim is particularly interested in how interactions can support reasoning, engagement and conceptual understanding, and in translating research evidence into approaches that make a practical difference for teachers, families and learners.
Strand: Learning Through Talk
What Makes Talk Powerful for Learning Mathematics?
Talk is everywhere in education—but not all talk creates equally powerful opportunities for learning. What distinguishes dialogue that develops mathematical reasoning, engagement and understanding from talk that does not?
In this keynote, I draw together findings from a programme of research examining learning through dialogue across different contexts: a large-scale evaluation of Dialogic Teaching in primary schools, the design and evaluation of approaches to supporting parental engagement in mathematics, and recent mixed-methods research into mathematics education in the early years.
Across these different contexts, some strikingly consistent patterns emerge. I will explore the barriers that can prevent productive mathematical dialogue, including the expectations that teachers, parents and children bring to their interactions, and consider what changes when those barriers are addressed. I will identify features of dialogue that create space for children to explain, question, reason and make connections—and consider how educators can create environments in which such interactions become more likely.
I conclude by asking what these findings mean for how we think about the role that talk plays in high-quality mathematics learning, from the early years onwards.