Professor Guy Claxton - Stephen Perse Foundation Future Learning Conference

7/30/2019 Professor Guy Claxton - Stephen Perse Foundation Future Learning Conference

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The virtues of uncertaintyteaching that builds the power to learn

for life

Guy Claxton


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Attitudes for life?

Being right

Creating ideas

Listening to teachers

Questioning things

Working alone

Being active

Remembering facts

Showing initiative

Following instructions

Self-evaluating

Being adventurous

Copying down

Discussing with peers

Accepting what youre told

Working with others

Sitting still

Imagining possible solutions

Showing deference

Taking responsibility

Being evaluated


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Being right

Creating ideas

Listening to lectures

Questioning things Working alone

Being active

Remembering facts

Showing initiative


Self-evaluating

Being adventurous

Copying down



Working with others

Sitting still


Showing deference


Being evaluated


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Learning habits in school?

Being right

Creating ideas

Listening to teacher


Being active

Remembering facts

Showing initiative


Self-evaluating

Being adventurous

Copying down



Working with others

Sitting still


Showing deference


Being evaluated


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Being right

Creating ideas

Listening to teacher


Being active

Remembering facts

Showing initiative


Self-evaluating

Being adventurous

Copying down



Working with others

Sitting still


Showing deference


Being evaluated


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What kind of epistemic apprenticeship?

19th century clerk?

(Planet Gove)

Being correct

Copying accurately

Listening to teacher Accepting what youre told

Working alone

Sitting still

Remembering facts

Showing deference


Being evaluated

21st century explorer?

(The Real World)

Being adventurous

Creating ideas

Discussing with peers Questioning things

Working with others

Being active


Showing initiative


Self-evaluating


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The layers of learning

The shallows

Retention factual information / formulations

Comprehension fluency in discourse

Manipulation limited use (tests)

_______________________

The depths

Dispositions wider learning habits Attitudes, values and interests

Identity and place


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Two lessons

What skills of learning?

What job as a learner?

What conception of

knowledge?


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Two lessons

Transcribing,accepting,solo studying,

recalling

Discussing,collaborating,empathising,deconstructing


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The two crucial questions

1. Which kind of mental exercise

regime gets the best examinationresults?

2. Which prepares young people better

for university, work and life in the21st century?


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Its an old idea - well endorsed

The test of successful education is not the amount of knowledge thatpupils take away from school, but their appetite to know and capacity to

learn.

Sir Richard Livingstone, Oxford University, 1942

The skills you can learn when youre at school will be obsolete by the time

you get into the workplace except one: the skill of making the right

response to situations for which you have not been specifically prepared.

Prof Seymour Papert, MIT, 1998

I can hardly think of anything more worth learning than learning to learn.

Its like money in the bank at compound interest! Unfortunately, most

settings of learning give very little attention to learning the game of

learning.

Prof David Perkins, Harvard University, 2010


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Global dissatisfaction

There is a significant disconnection between

education systems and the needs of the 21st century.

People may or may not have the right clutch ofcertificates, but far too few of them have the

attitudes that employers know are the more

important foundations of that elusive world-class

work-force. Effective Education and Employment: A Global Perspective, 2009


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Singapore

a confident person who is adaptable and resilient, knows

himself, thinks independently and critically, and

communicates effectively;

a self-directed learner who takes responsibility for his own

learning, who questions, reflects and perseveres in the

pursuit of learning;

an active contributor who is able to work effectively in

teams, exercises initiative, takes calculated risks, isinnovative and strives for excellence


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Whats at the heart of Bushfield School?

Its our job not just to help children master literacy and

numeracy but to prepare them for a very turbulent and

complex world. We are failing if we dont prepare them

with the skills they need to cope with uncertainty; tocope with differing perspectives; to cope with working

with different kinds of people; to ask good questions.

Our children are at a very crucial age. We need to get

those skills right into the DNA of the way our childrenthink and learnbefore its too late.

Dr Simon Shum, Chair of Governors


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What about the results?


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Comments from inspection reports

Parents report favourably on the growing confidence oftheir children

The development of skills that prepare students for theworld of work is exemplary

Pupils insights into themselves as learners are quiteextraordinary

Pupils with special educational needs have particularlybenefitted from being trusted to work more independently

One pupil told us, If it is easy, it will be boring, thusreflecting the ethos of the school as a whole

Pupils are given a wonderful preparation for life in thefuture


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Students comments

If somethings hard you dont want to say Oh this is hard, this is

hard, Ill just skip it. You try because the best thing is, if you dont

try whats the point? Because when you grow up you might come

to some answer youll still not know, and you cant skip it then

(Daneisha, 6)

In my old school they just gave you harder and harder worksheets.

But here they really stretch you to learn in different ways. You get

lots of encouragement so you learn to keep going and dig deep

when things get difficult. Now I always like to see if I can take

things one step further (Tom,15)


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[email protected]

www.buildinglearningpower.co.uk
mailto:[email protected]://www.buildinglearningpower.co.uk/http://www.buildinglearningpower.co.uk/mailto:[email protected]


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1. Notice students learning muscles

The four main muscle groups

1. Active engagement locking on to learning

inquiring, persisting, venturing, concentrating

2. Skilful learning the cognitive tool-kitimagining, connecting, crafting, capitalising

3. Thinking and reflecting strategic awareness

organising, self-evaluating, analysing, applying

4. Social sophistication learning with otherscollaborating, resisting pressure, empathising,collecting feedback


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So how do you write reports?What do you act as if its worth capturing about your

students?

Usain is getting better at

careful observation, bringing his own questions into

class, asking when he doesnt understand, working with

a range of others, thinking things through, seeing how

he can improve what hes done

Jessica is becoming more

resilient in the face of difficulty, imaginative in her

writing, thoughtful about her own work, sceptical about

knowledge claims, careful in her checking, willing to

push herself


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2. Plan split-screen lessons

Learning History AND Scepticism

Learning Maths AND Creativity

Learning Science AND Questioning Learning RE AND Self-evaluation


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3. Be a model learner


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Display childrens work-in-progress


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5. Involve pupils in designing /

evaluating / repairing their education

Qualified student teachers

Student lesson observers Give you 2 stars and a

wish

Whats the best groupsize?

How well are weworking?

Harris StudentCommission


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how do we do it? 7 small habit changes for 21st century

teachers

1. Notice positive changes in learning habits

2. Design activities that stretch different learning

muscles

3. Model being a confident learner (not a know-all)

4. Display work in progress and visual tools5. Give pupils responsibility

6. Attribute performance to the habits, not to ability

7. Get students talking about the process of learning


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The NEETs - Lemar

In the juniors you learn toread and write, and then therest of it I cant evenremember, to be honest. The

only way I learn is by gettinginvolved, like they do in thearmy Im thinking ofjoiningIn school they try toteach you the knowledgethey drone and waffleonbut they never teach youhow to learn. Lemar, 17
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://admin.localgov.co.uk/his_localgov/view/images/uploaded/Image/youthNEET.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.localgov.co.uk/index.cfm?method=news.detail&id=70414&usg=__gLQslyq90A9xjVsOHLVkyfO-tnQ=&h=442&w=240&sz=25&hl=en&start=9&itbs=1&tbnid=uIkJWXay-VI_MM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=69&prev=/images?q=neets&hl=en&gbv=2&tbs=isch:1http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/products/bsw/squaddie-01.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage-ask3.tpl&product_id=44&category_id=6&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=62&usg=__uyBWIzu25KHPEHMUs4DNXVgrnBw=&h=400&w=600&sz=43&hl=en&start=10&itbs=1&tbnid=6hierpngZMKIlM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=135&prev=/images?q=squaddy&hl=en&gbv=2&tbs=isch:1


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The Brights - Emily

I know Im bright, and that Im going toget good grades. But I worry Ive becomea tape-recorder. I worry that once Imout of school, and people stop handingme information with questions, Ill belost.

Emily, 16

Going to pieces Dweck research

Oxbridge students lack resilience Spoon-feeding is getting worse

Spoon-feeding works but it works at the expenseof something that British schools have always beenrather good at, namely, turning out young peoplewho are creative, thoughtful, criticalevenintelligently awkward sometimes.

Independent Schools Inspectorate


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The SCIPs - Humphrey

1. I can only count up to two(and Ilike Punch and Judy)

Everything I dont immediatelyunderstand is trendy nonsense

2. What I liked everybody should3. People who fail at school are lazy,

disadvantaged or lack abilityEveryone can get 4As if they try

4. Latin trains the mind; learning

dates is good for youstudying the treasures of the pastautomatically prepares you for thecomplexities of the future
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fzc.dk/thomas/images/ypm15_humphrey4.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fzc.dk/thomas/YesMinister.htm&usg=__GmeMIsCHAHdIiKQivHgcVI8JJgo=&h=234&w=314&sz=8&hl=en&start=3&itbs=1&tbnid=-3rswJMtWvTfYM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=117&prev=/images?q=Sir+Humphrey&hl=en&gbv=2&tbs=isch:1http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.britishblogs.co.uk/images/296477.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.britishblogs.co.uk/search/june%20sarpong/&usg=__eYpYUlw-o8mqIeWNhIuqBoLuhpg=&h=318&w=320&sz=14&hl=en&start=12&itbs=1&tbnid=YWzYkB92p4UADM:&tbnh=117&tbnw=118&prev=/images?q=michael+gove&hl=en&gbv=2&tbs=isch:1http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/3/23/1237811370826/Nigel-Hawthorne-Paul-Eddi-001.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/dec/11/formal-titles-ministers-officials-whitehall&usg=__WwZkax8zHAL27nP6LUullJp2rP4=&h=276&w=460&sz=28&hl=en&start=44&itbs=1&tbnid=6Jhh5cfhCtxFQM:&tbnh=77&tbnw=128&prev=/images?q=Whitehall+mandarin&start=36&hl=en&sa=N&gbv=2&ndsp=18&tbs=isch:1


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Emily, Lemar and Humphrey

Emily stands a better chance of gettingto Oxford AND she wont need counselling when

she gets there

Lemar will discover his element, andlove improving his craft

AND he will be less likely to join Al-Qaida

A rising Humphrey will be able to thinkdeeply about the true needs of youngpeople AND be less of a clever-clogs or an

anachronistic signalman

And all of them will havegreater confidence andcuriosity, and less anxiety,aggression and dogmatism.
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://admin.localgov.co.uk/his_localgov/view/images/uploaded/Image/youthNEET.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.localgov.co.uk/index.cfm?method=news.detail&id=70414&usg=__gLQslyq90A9xjVsOHLVkyfO-tnQ=&h=442&w=240&sz=25&hl=en&start=9&itbs=1&tbnid=uIkJWXay-VI_MM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=69&prev=/images?q=neets&hl=en&gbv=2&tbs=isch:1


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A solid education

Learning Power: what usefullearning habits are beingcultivating (by the way we doContent and Assessment)?

Thin learning power:limited manipulation,recapitulation, explaining,reliance on authority

Rich learning power:perseverance, flexibility,imagination, empathy,

taking feedback,questioning sources

learning

power

assessment

content


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A new metaphor the Mind Gym

Brains are like muscles

Subjects are like exercise

machines

Each lesson is a mental

work-out

The curriculum is a broad

and appropriate fitness

regime

Bright slackers are

wasting their time


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Good intentions are global

Our vision is for young people:

who will be creative, energetic, and enterprising

who, in their school years, will develop the values, knowledge, and

competencies that will enable them to live full and satisfying lives

who will be confident, connected, actively involved, and lifelonglearners. (NZ)

The vision is Thinking Schools, Learning Nation. We aim to prepare a generation

ofthinking and committed citizensThe curriculum must ensure that the skills and

knowledge taught in schools meet thechallengesof the 21st century. (Singapore)

The key skills of the Junior Cycle [include]: being flexible, being positive about

learning, imagining, exploring options, taking risks, discussing and debating,

learning with others, being curious, reflecting and evaluating (Irish Junior Cycle,

Key Skills)

Documents

Professor Guy Claxton - Stephen Perse Foundation Future Learning Conference