Impact

Read our 2025-26 impact report

At a glance:
1,041,080 children accessed a Topical Talk opportunity
159,720 children took part in regular Topical Talk discussions
19,777 teachers are teaching Topical Talk lessons

Download the report (PDF)

Highlights

2025-26 has been a year of significant growth and impact:

Over 1 million children reached

An estimated 1,041,080 children experienced Topical Talk in 2025-26 v 532,000 the previous year.

Horizontal bar chart showing student participation in Topical Talk growing from 300 in 2015-16 to over 1 million (1,041,080) in 2025-26.

“Topical Talk should be compulsory in every school...raw talent isn’t enough unless we learn to question, debate, and understand the forces shaping our future.”

Student, United Kingdom

“The next generation will need well-honed critical-thinking skills to thrive in a rapidly changing world. I’m proud to work with an organisation that helps children acquire these skills.”

Robert Guest, Chair of trustees, Deputy Editor, The Economist

Topical Talk is taught in at least 98 countries around the world

Active teacher numbers grew internationally beyond our core UK market (5,401 teachers), with significant expansion across Brazil (2,009), Argentina (1,388), Poland (1,110), France (1,092), and Ukraine (845).

Students taking part in the Leadership for Change Prize in the classroom

Students made significant progress in developing key knowledge and skills

  • 71% of teachers observed significant growth in media literacy in their students
  • 82% observed stronger overall general knowledge in their students
  • Participating classes made an average 7x the skills progress of peers in critical thinking and oracy
Bar chart showing skills progress increasing from 0.40 with no Topical Talk lessons (0 weeks) to 2.00 at 5 weeks (5x progress) and 4.18 at 12 weeks (10x progress).

“Your work helps teachers guide young people through a world that is becoming increasingly
complex – a world filled with misinformation, fake news, and difficult global issues that require critical thinking and open-mindedness.”

Teacher, Poland

Previous impact reports

2025 Impact report (PDF)
532,000 students reached

2024 Impact report (Link)
231,320 students reached

2023 Impact report (PDF)
133,000 students reached

2022 Impact report (PDF)
125,000 students reached

2021 Impact report (PDF)
98,800 students reached

2020 Impact report (PDF)
2,800 students reached

2019 Impact report (PDF)
2,000 students reached

2018 Impact report (link)
1,200 students reached

2017 Impact report (link)
700 students reached

2016 Impact report (PDF)
300 students reached