Chatta innovation team scores HundrED hat trick

Chatta has been named as one of the world’s most inspiring innovations in education for the third year running. Global education non-profit organisation, HundrED, considered over 5,000 candidates for its 2021 Global Collection, and Chatta has repeated its successes of 2019 and 2020 by being selected as one of the top 100 most impactful education innovations for 2021. Chatta’s classroom approach combines quality first teaching with multi-media technology to help children become attentive listeners, confident speakers and fearless writers.

Chatta, based at Pocklington School, teamed up with Hull firm, Eon Visual Media, to build their multi-media, cloud-based, teaching and learning platform. Pocklington School is also Chatta’s R&D partner. The dream team was completed by Mercia Asset Management and Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, who invested in the business to support its growth and technology platform development, making Chatta a true Yorkshire success story.

The Chatta approach was developed by ex-teacher Chris Williams and has shown remarkable impact on students’ speech and writing. Designed for whole class teaching, it also shows particularly strong results for children with special educational needs and disabilities, disadvantaged children and children who are learning English as a second language. HundrED’s researchers were particularly impressed this year with the work done by the Chatta team during school closures. Teachers using Chatta were able to transition seamlessly to a remote teaching and learning model without having to learn new methods, and children were able to submit their work via the platform whilst continuing to practise their oracy skills. Chatta was also made available free of charge to thousands of families in over 20 countries and activities and resources were distributed daily to all users.

Williams said: “We are thrilled to be recognised by HundrED for the third year in a row. In the current crisis, our innovation is even more relevant. The pandemic has presented educators with many new challenges, and technology has been the default solution. But whilst our ‘phones, tablets and computers allow us to communicate more than ever before, we are speaking less and less. Talk is the halfway house between thinking and writing and Chatta helps children to bridge that gap. Oracy and oral competence are key indicators of future success and our mission is to get children talking more, whether that’s in the classroom or at home”.

Suzy Ward, Head of Pocklington Prep School said: “Chatta is a truly remarkable innovation and we are delighted it has been awarded this important accolade for the third year running. Pocklington Prep School will this week be taking part in a Chatta virtual workshop that Chris is running as part of the Helsinki Education Week, which the children are very excited about and will demonstrate what a powerful impact Chatta can have.”

Saku Tuominen, Chairman of HundrED, added: “Every year we look at Chatta, it’s innovation and worldwide potential grows stronger. The problem Chatta aims to solve is a global one, and we hope HundrED’s involvement will extend their reach to help millions of children around the world.”

For more information about Chatta, go to www.chattalearning.com