About ‘Super Seminars’

The concept of ‘Super Seminars’ was devised by Roger Sutcliffe, Director of Dialogueworks (www.dialogueworks.co.uk), and refined in collaboration with Dialogueworks associates and presenters as they were brought into the Super Seminars team.

Roger is a leader in the field of P4/wC (Philosophy for/with Children/Communities), having read Philosophy at Oxford and then taught both English and Maths at junior and secondary schools for over 20 years. He has been a freelance trainer, speaker and writer for 10 years now, and is well-known for his balance of critical and creative thinking and for his focus on communicating good practice.

It was in regard to not-so-good practice of professional development, particularly conferences with their ‘quick-fix workshops’, that he came up with the idea of Super Seminars.

Most professionals are familiar with the frustrations of large-scale conferences: little opportunity to question the lead speakers and ideas in depth; workshops that clash with others of equal interest, or that are too short to be really useful; plenary sessions that have no sense of direction; lack of opportunity to discuss and plan with like-minded colleagues, etc.

Super Seminars set out to create a different model of professional development for the 21st Century.

Each seminar will:

• Use just one leading presenter as a catalyst for taking ideas and practice forward.
• Provide proper time for analysis and evaluation of the ideas presented, and for developing syntheses and synergies in small group workshops.
• Be facilitated by a Dialogue Works specialist in collaborative thinking and learning.
• Be limited to 20 participants, so that everyone can put more into, and get more out of, the day’s encounters.
• Provide free ongoing support for collaboration via moderated email and website forums.

Lead presenters will be chosen not only for their salient contribution in their field of operation, but also for their qualities as communicators and collaborative practitioners.

Participants are most likely to be Heads or Senior Managers, Directors of Studies or Curriculum Coordinators, who will be given plenty of opportunity to share their experience as well as their aspirations.

Indeed, when applying for a place on a seminar, participants will be encouraged to provide a short account of their own practice and philosophy, and to put one or two questions in advance to the lead presenter. These will be made available in advance to the presenter and facilitator, so that they can better prepare to meet the expectations of participants on the day. (The information could also be shared, by agreement, between participants on the day or shortly before.)

Quality dialogue and reflection will be encouraged throughout the day, both in plenary and small groups, but the move in the second half will be towards resolution: the creation of strategies and plans for action. Part of the planning could involve collaboration in a ‘support and sustain’ teleconference, and/or an online forum, which Dialogue Works would facilitate at no extra cost.

For flexibility, participants will be also asked when booking to name days of the week or locations that might be more convenient for them than those advertised. If the particular seminar that they are interested in becomes oversubscribed and there looks to be sufficient demand to hold another one, their preferences will inform the planning for a repeat seminar, and they will be offered the chance to change their booking to the new date and place.