- Email: neil@21stcenturylearners.org.uk
- Website: 21st Century Learners
- LinkedIn: Neil Phillipson
Trainer
Neil Philipson
Thoughtful Trainer & Oracy Cambridge Associate
Neil has been a P4C trainer with SAPERE / Thoughtful since 2013. He has facilitated Level 1 and 2 courses for hundreds of delegates, and has supported numerous schools to achieve School Awards. His most rewarding experience has been supporting settings in the Societas Multi-Academy-Trust since 2017, and seeing the amazing impact of P4C on teachers and pupils over the years.
Neil first came across P4C while he was the head of a secondary science department in Stoke-on-Trent in 2009. He retains an interest in both the philosophy of science as a discipline and the philosophical implications of the application of science.
In 2026, he wrote the book, ‘Thinking Together in Primary Science: An oracy-based approach to teaching about the nature of science and scientific thinking’ with Professor Rupert Wegerif of Cambridge University. Through P4C, he became interested in dialogue and oracy, and now works with a range of organisations to bring dialogic teaching and learning to schools.
In addition to his role with Professor Neil Mercer’s Oracy Cambridge group, he works with the Academy of Professional Dialogue and Generation Global. He is an accredited Dialogue Practitioner with the Academy of Professional Dialogue, a Lead Mentor with Keele and North Staffordshire Teacher Education and he is also self-employed at 21st Century Learners.
Neil believes that dialogue is life-enhancing: it improves academic outcomes, but it also improves lives and communities. P4C is an exceptionally powerful way of bringing dialogue, and oracy more generally, to young people
