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Learning to learn advocate says we’re getting it wrong in schools
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Learning to learn advocate says we’re getting it wrong in schools
A top educational reformist is warning school children are not being taught the basic skills needed for future success.
Discussing his book, What’s The Point of School, at the Reform Club in London today, Professor Guy Claxton (pictured) argued students must be prepared for uncertainty, not simply taught to regurgitate information.
And he said many lacked the basic learning skills of curiosity, resourcefulness, resilience and creativity, as well as the ability to mobilise the tools and skills they had through “presence of mind”.
“Education is a preparation for the future and what is crucial is the way we hand on knowledge,” said Professor Claxton.
“If we judge the quality of education as absolutely dependent on how accurately we can predict students’ futures, then we need education geared towards complexity and knowing what to do when faced with uncertainty.”
Discussing the way modern technologies had become everyday tools for young people, but had yet to be fully assimilated into learning, he said: “We are built to be extended into our tools and presence of mind is bringing all those tools together in a meaningful way.”
And while he said changing the way we taught students to learn could not be seen as a magic pill for behavioural problems - research showed that as the learning culture of a school improved so did behaviour.
He went on to say teachers needed to be engaged to introduce subtle important shifts in message - like displaying drafts of work to demonstrate the school was interested in the learning journey, rather than just the destination.
“Schools are becoming like businesses with people measured on whether they can deliver,” he said.
“New ideas need time to evolve, but through the introduction of little things that nevertheless are designed to create a particular culture change, a school can move substantially in three years.”
The professor, who has a double first from Cambridge and a doctorate of philosophy from Oxford, added the change was not intended to affect exam results, or types of qualifications - but to encourage critical reasoning.
“Whether we have a diploma or A-level is not going to affect this issue, you can do this today in a way that nurtures imagination, empathy, investigation and questioning of sceptical claims, not passive acceptance.
“It will not effect exam results much, but you will get much better transfer into the real world.”
He added that cognitively using your hands or your mind required the same level of effort and his ideas were aimed at all areas of learning to learn not just at boosting exam performance.
Source:
http://www.trainingjournal.com/news/2096.html
Discussing his book, What’s The Point of School, at the Reform Club in London today, Professor Guy Claxton (pictured) argued students must be prepared for uncertainty, not simply taught to regurgitate information.
And he said many lacked the basic learning skills of curiosity, resourcefulness, resilience and creativity, as well as the ability to mobilise the tools and skills they had through “presence of mind”.
“Education is a preparation for the future and what is crucial is the way we hand on knowledge,” said Professor Claxton.
“If we judge the quality of education as absolutely dependent on how accurately we can predict students’ futures, then we need education geared towards complexity and knowing what to do when faced with uncertainty.”
Discussing the way modern technologies had become everyday tools for young people, but had yet to be fully assimilated into learning, he said: “We are built to be extended into our tools and presence of mind is bringing all those tools together in a meaningful way.”
And while he said changing the way we taught students to learn could not be seen as a magic pill for behavioural problems - research showed that as the learning culture of a school improved so did behaviour.
He went on to say teachers needed to be engaged to introduce subtle important shifts in message - like displaying drafts of work to demonstrate the school was interested in the learning journey, rather than just the destination.
“Schools are becoming like businesses with people measured on whether they can deliver,” he said.
“New ideas need time to evolve, but through the introduction of little things that nevertheless are designed to create a particular culture change, a school can move substantially in three years.”
The professor, who has a double first from Cambridge and a doctorate of philosophy from Oxford, added the change was not intended to affect exam results, or types of qualifications - but to encourage critical reasoning.
“Whether we have a diploma or A-level is not going to affect this issue, you can do this today in a way that nurtures imagination, empathy, investigation and questioning of sceptical claims, not passive acceptance.
“It will not effect exam results much, but you will get much better transfer into the real world.”
He added that cognitively using your hands or your mind required the same level of effort and his ideas were aimed at all areas of learning to learn not just at boosting exam performance.
Source:
http://www.trainingjournal.com/news/2096.html
