Senior Product Manager

Maxine Spence

“We have decades of experience��creating levelled readers that build reading confidence. With��Green Sparks, we wanted to harness that��expertise��to��address��one of the biggest themes in education today: sustainability.“

As educators and publishers, we know that children��start��making��sense of the world��around them��long before they can fully articulate��how��they feel about it.��Many children today experience anxiety around issues like climate change and the state of the world.��It became��increasingly��clear to me that we needed a new kind of resource: one that would inform, empower, and inspire��children, rather than overwhelm��them.��

This��need��led to the creation of��, our new strand for international schools, designed for readers aged��four��to��seven. Our goal was simple, but ambitious: to introduce sustainability��to young readers��through engaging storytelling, rich non-fiction, and��age‑appropriate concepts.��What makes this��series unique is��the alignment��of��its��42��carefully levelled books��with the .��All the books are��dedicated to helping children understand and care about their world.

At OUP, we have decades of experience��creating levelled readers that build reading confidence. With��Green Sparks, we wanted to harness that��expertise��to��address��one of the biggest themes in education today: sustainability.

The series��is underpinned by our����system,��which incrementally increases the��level of challenge��and allows children to experience reading success by accessing a text��at the right level for them.��The Green Sparks series is��primarily phonically decodable,��because research shows that systematic synthetic phonics is the most effective way of teaching young learners to read.����We also��introduced����some��topic words��earlier��than��we would usually, where they were essential for��understanding;��sustainability��terms like “waste”��and “flood”��were carefully selected��to ensure that children��comprehend��core concepts.��

Before we started this project, there��was��a��lack��of resources that introduced��the��UN SDGs in a way young learners can��understand and engage with. There were no levelled readers supporting this topic��and certainly none that integrated phonics, global citizenship, and environmental education.��Green Sparks��fills that gap. Although it complements the , we designed it to be adaptable. Schools anywhere in the world, following any curriculum, can use it for reading practice, inquiry‑led learning, or cross‑curricular projects.��

A question I’m often asked is how we translate complex global goals into something meaningful for young learners. Fiction plays a particularly important role in this series. Stories help children explore challenges and emotions at a safe distance: a journey through a forest can spark conversations about habitats. Fiction lets readers step into someone else’s experience with empathy and imagination. At the same time, we knew non‑fiction was essential, not only for knowledge building, but because many young readers are naturally drawn to facts, diagrams, and real‑world imagery. The interplay between narrative and information is one of the series’ greatest strengths.��

In addition��to the clear progression and��levelling��for��every book, we provide��supportive teacher materials, such as��guided activities, prompts, and cross‑curricular suggestions to help adults scaffold understanding. Whether a child is reading independently or exploring a text with a teacher, the structure ensures that concepts are introduced gently but purposefully.��

We were also determined to reflect the global nature of sustainability. The authors contributing to��Green Sparks��come from a wide range of countries and cultural backgrounds, helping us present an authentically international viewpoint. Some books focus on local, everyday experiences while others explore larger global issues, from protecting coral reefs to supporting communities after an earthquake. This balance helps children understand both the worldwide scale of sustainability and the role they can play in their own communities.��

When children understand their world, they care about it. My hope is that��Green Sparks��not only builds reading fluency but nurtures a generation of young global citizens who feel empowered rather than overwhelmed by the challenges ahead.��

The post Nurturing young minds with sustainable storytelling appeared first on ����VLOG Press.

ELT author of Everybody Up and Shine On; Founder of Picker Pals

Patrick Jackson

“To have the resources in terms of editorial, design, marketing, and the whole Oxford team behind your ideas, is really a dream come true for somebody who likes making books”

I started teaching when I went to Japan in the 1990s. I was teaching in a private English language school called the Potato Club, and there I taught kids from the age of two to about 10 or 12. During that time, I started creating materials for my students based on a fun series of potato characters, and we made little books. One day, my sister said, “you should send these to a publisher”. And so, I thought, “Oh publisher, hmm publisher… ����VLOG Press!”

I put the books in an envelope, and I sent them off to ����VLOG Press in New York. Miraculously, they landed on somebody’s desk, who said, “we love these potatoes!” and I got an email back straight away which said, “we would like to publish your potato books.” I’ve since learned that was quite a lucky thing to happen.

Following that, the series was published, and it was lovely to see my books come back with the Oxford treatment in full glorious technicolour. My role as author was to wear a potato suit and to travel around Japan talking to teachers about how to use these books. I would be the only Oxford author to have travelled on a bullet train in a potato suit!

This led on to being asked to get involved in a pretty major course book series, which is called . That gave me something a creative avenue for my ideas and a shared project. My coauthors on that project are great friends to this day and we made great friends with the editors too. We keep in constant touch—only last week one of the editors from that series came to Ireland on holiday and gave me a shout, so we met for coffee. It’s the friendships that have come out of all these creative teamwork projects that really, I think, are one of the most valuable things.��

The relationship between a publisher and an author can be very, very special. Certainly, for me, that’s been a really great experience, having that relationship for over 20 years now. ����VLOG Press has opened an amazing number of doors for me creatively. To have the resources in terms of editorial, design, marketing, and the whole Oxford team behind your ideas, is really a dream come true for somebody who likes making books, making things happen and appear on the page, and to have these brought to teachers, classrooms, and kids all over the world. It gives you a wonderful power to spread your ideas, and that, I suppose, is what publishing is really about.

I am also the founder of an environmental programme for primary school children called , and this programme motivates and equips them to go out into their local environment to make a positive change—by litter picking, through storytelling, and becoming immersed in the “song and story” world of the Picker Pals characters.��

It’s no coincidence that my first books were called Potato Pals, and now I’m doing Picker Pals (the name must have come to me mysteriously!). For that age group, it has to be colourful, fun, engaging, and be based around real actions—’sit and listen’ learning is fine, but not really ideal for this subject.

The first thing I did when I had this idea, was to ask Oxford, “would you be able to help in any way?”. Oxford were terrifically helpful, both by making a financial donation to get the programme into 10 schools in my immediate neighbourhood, and also by hosting a number of workshops where Oxford staff got together and brainstormed ideas, helped me with social media, strategy, and the content. So, the relationship between Picker Pals and ����VLOG Press is strong.

The dream for Picker Pals is that it will be a worldwide experience for people, available to children all over the place. In Ireland, Picker Pals is now in roughly 2,200 primary schools and 4,000 classrooms. Just this year we are starting Picker Pals in London, and we have schools in Portugal.

Programmes like Picker Pals are part of a wider sustainability understanding that, as educators, we are in the best position to make a positive environmental impact on the upcoming generation. Of course, it’s based on local action, but it’s about being a part of a global community.��

The post Your Oxford Story: Patrick Jackson appeared first on ����VLOG Press.

Chief Executive Officer

Nigel Portwood

“Whether in our capacity as a publisher, or employer, we recognize the role we can play in helping to shape and inform a more equal, sustainable, and progressive society.“

For more than 500 years, we have engaged with the most pressing issues facing society through our publishing. Whether ����’s sharing groundbreaking scientific studies, helping millions of children learn to read with Oxford Reading Tree, or building a definitive record of the English language with the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press helps people to understand the world around them and to find solutions to support progress.

We continue to find new methods for sharing our content, with technology providing us with an even greater opportunity to reach more people. However, as new technologies like AI emerge—along with a myriad of other global issues and trends—we also find ourselves grappling with new challenges, such as the rise of misinformation, and how to prepare young people for an uncertain future.

In this global context, we recognize that we have an important role to play; providing access to trusted research and educational content, so that people can navigate an increasingly unpredictable, complex world.

Take climate change, for example. Through educating the next generation about its potential impact, we can inspire and contribute to the conversations that will help us to address its causes and effects. In recognition of this, we developed the for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to inspire discussion about how science education can encourage environmental action. Additionally, our recently launched Oxford International Curriculum for Sustainability gives teachers the tools to engage children with the changes they can make to build a more sustainable world.

We also recognize that finding solutions to the different challenges facing society can be beyond the scope of a single discipline or area of research. In 2023, we announced the forthcoming launch of Oxford Intersections—a new interdisciplinary research resource to help policy and decision-makers address complex topics. I look forward to seeing the first works—Racism by Context, AI in Society, and Social Media—launch early next year.

This is just a snapshot of some of the initiatives we have in place to increase the impact of research and education. Other examples include extending our initiative with the National Literacy Trust to help children who have fallen behind in vocabulary development; providing teachers and schools with practical advice to help refugees continue in education; and donating books and resources to charities across the world to further our educational mission.

And beyond our role as a publisher, we also recognize our responsibility as an organization to operate ethically, sustainably, and in support of our people and the communities we serve.

Over the past year, we have made further progress against our environmental sustainability targets to reduce waste, use paper from certified sustainable sources, and cut our carbon footprint; we are on track to achieve these targets in line with our 2025 goal. As a next step, we are preparing a long-term climate target and strategy to reduce emissions from all parts of our operations and supply chain, and will work closely with colleagues, suppliers, and our communities to make this a reality.

We also maintain our focus on supporting wellbeing, inclusion, and professional development for colleagues globally. Key highlights from the past year include launching a new internal development programme, Pathways, which aims to help all colleagues unlock their potential and develop their careers, whatever stage they are at in their journey; and the second phase of our flagship Global Inclusion Programme, which focused on the theme of ‘awareness to action’.����

Whether in our capacity as a publisher, or employer, we recognize the role we can play in helping to shape and inform a more equal, sustainable, and progressive society. I am proud of the steps we continue to make at OUP, which you can read more about in our latest Responsible Publishing Report.

The post Our role as a responsible publisher appeared first on ����VLOG Press.

Head of International Market Development & Curriculum

Matt Davidson

“At every stage, we’ve had to ask how learning can encourage active exploration and inspire learners to see how they can contribute to solutions—large and small—that make our planet more sustainable.”

The is all about helping learners thrive and flourish in life through education. In recent years, children and young people have become more and more concerned about our environment – and the climate crisis in particular. Increasingly, teachers have been telling us that they want to bring sustainability into the classroom but aren’t sure how to do so, especially without worsening climate anxiety.

So, my team have worked hard with teachers and external experts to develop Sustainability as a new subject for the Oxford International Curriculum.

How did we go about it? How did we make sure we focused on positive action?

We took UNESCO’s definition as our starting point:

We assembled a team of experts from within OUP and from our partners around the world. The lead external developer is Jaimie Cloud, founder of the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education based in New York. Jaimie was joined by primary teacher Jody Ellenby and Geography teacher and author Becky Tudor, alongside experts from Oxford and the wider academic community.

Jamie designed three main domains, each of which is revisited every year between Years 1 to 9 to build understanding through enquiry-based learning:

• Living on Planet Earth

• Taking responsibility for the difference we make

• Making change

To help bring the curriculum to life, we’ve also developed 27 student project packs to be used in class, each of which includes interactive e-books, alongside 324 extensive lesson plans, schemes of work, and assessment criteria.

But when creating the teaching and learning resources for a subject like this, we did face a big challenge which was never simply starting with a “problem”—which is negative.

We always had to start with the goal, or the preferred state, or the vision. Someone once said that problem-solving is mainly about making what you don’t want ‘just go away’, whereas creating involves bringing something you care about into reality, and it takes its energy from dreams or visions of what people truly want to see exist. This is a mindset shift, and creating materials that adhere to this is not easy.

At every stage, we’ve had to ask how learning can encourage active exploration and inspire learners to see how they can contribute to solutions—large and small—that make our planet more sustainable. This is an international curriculum, and we’ve ensured place-based learning, which engages students in their community – including their physical environment, local history, people, or culture.

We worked with partner schools to pilot the curriculum and we’ve incorporated their feedback into the final version. We’ve also seen the learners’ project work from the pilot phase, which has been so inspiring!

Our Oxford International Curriculum for Sustainability has been a very collaborative effort. This is an interdisciplinary curriculum that integrates science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics (STEAM), as well as other subjects such as English, humanities, and social science. The curriculum draws on the expertise of colleagues from across these subjects, and I’m hugely grateful to everyone who has contributed.

I’m really proud of what we have produced and I look forward to seeing it in action later this year.

The post How we created a curriculum for sustainability appeared first on ����VLOG Press.