Education as expanding dialogue – Rethinking learning with Professor Rupert Wegerif
- Sophie Dean
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
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“It’s not about teacher-centred or student-centred. I would argue it’s dialogue-centred.”
In this episode of the Rethinking Education podcast, Dr James Mannion and The Read David Cameron explore these questions with Professor Rupert Wegerif, author of Rethinking Educational Theory: Education as Expanding Dialogue.
Rupert has spent decades researching how dialogue shapes thinking and learning. Drawing on work with Neil Mercer and the Thinking Together programme, he shows how teaching children to reason and talk together can improve thinking, deepen understanding across subjects, and even transform classroom culture.
But this conversation goes far beyond classroom strategies. Rupert argues that dialogue is not just a teaching technique – it is a fundamental way of understanding knowledge, identity, and even reality itself.
In this wide-ranging discussion we explore:
Why teaching children how to talk together can dramatically improve learning outcomes
The origins of the Thinking Together programme and what the research found in classrooms
Why group work often fails – and how simple ground rules for dialogue can transform it
The relationship between oracy, dialogue and thinking
The idea of culture as a “living tradition” that students must learn to participate in
How dialogue can bridge the long-running divide between traditional and progressive education
Rupert’s concept of “double dialogue” – learning through conversation with both peers and disciplinary traditions
Why education should be dialogue-centred, rather than teacher-centred or student-centred
The deeper philosophical idea that knowledge and meaning emerge through dialogic space
What generative AI means for education – and why dialogic thinking may matter more than ever
Along the way, the conversation ranges from classroom practice to philosophy, drawing on thinkers such as Vygotsky, Bakhtin, Paulo Freire, Michael Oakeshott and Merleau-Ponty.
The result is a fascinating exploration of education as something far richer than the transmission of information – a process of entering, expanding and contributing to the ongoing dialogue of human culture.
About Rupert Wegerif
Professor Rupert Wegerif is Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge. His work focuses on dialogic education, thinking and learning, and the role of dialogue in human development. He has worked extensively with Neil Mercer and others on the Thinking Together programme, exploring how structured dialogue can improve reasoning, understanding and collaboration in classrooms.
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The Rethinking Education podcast is brought to you by Crown House Publishing. It is hosted by Dr James Mannion and David Cameron, and produced by Sophie Dean.
Outro track: How it is and how it should be by Grit Control
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