Listening Back to Thinking — SOPHIA Network, February 2026
- Adam Sturdee
- Feb 28
- 2 min read
Today I presented at the SOPHIA Network's online meeting — the European Foundation for the Advancement of Doing Philosophy with Children — as part of a session exploring AI as a tool for P4C practitioners.
The session, titled Listening Back to Thinking, makes a straightforward argument: spoken dialogue disappears the moment a lesson ends, and unassisted reflection is shaped more by memory than by what actually happened. A transcript changes what's available. Used well, AI can make that transcript a focused, private coaching tool — without intruding on the enquiry itself.
The session covers the 60-year research lineage behind transcript-based lesson analysis, a live demonstration of Starlight's discourse analysis and P4C coaching template, and three genuinely open philosophical questions about what it means to make dialogue visible.
We've turned it into a short video — you can watch it below.
If it raises questions, challenges, or possibilities you want to explore, we'd welcome the conversation.
Spark Insight with Starlight and listen back to your thinking.
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The Insight Engine is written by Adam Sturdee, co-founder of Starlight, the UK’s first AI-powered coaching platform, and a senior leader with responsibility for teaching, learning and coaching. This blog is part of a wider mission to support educators through meaningful reflection, not performance metrics. It documents the journey of building Starlight from the ground up, and explores how AI, when shaped with care, can reduce workload, surface insight, and help teachers think more deeply about their practice. Rooted in the belief that growth should be private, professional, and purposeful, The Insight Engine offers ideas and stories that put insight—not judgment—at the centre of development.
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