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Character for the learning age

Developing Brilliant Learners through Building Learning Power

Professor Guy ClaxtonKing’s College London

May 2015

Achievement PLUS

“The purposes of education include more than achievement… Among the most important…is the development of citizens with challenging minds and dispositions who become active, competent and thoughtfully critical in our complex world…Schooling should have a major impact on the enhancement of character.”

• John Hattie, Visible Learning for Teachers (p4)

“Dispositions to learning should be key performance indicators of the outcomes of schooling. Many teachers believe that, if achievement is enhanced, there is a ripple effect to these dispositions. However such a belief is not defensible. Such dispositions need planned interventions.”

- John Hattie, Visible Learning (p40)

e.g.

The disposition to read (OECD)The disposition to learn (Holt)

How to define the virtues / habits of mind

Traditional • Team spirited• Honourable• Fair-minded• Erudite

• “governing the empire”vs

• Diligent • Respectful• Punctual• Biddable

• “loyal employee”

Contemporary• Fulfilling potential

• Lifelong learner

• ‘Grit’

• …• Vague and unaccountable

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Some possible learning habits

1. Organise and design your own learning

2. Think on your feet (‘floundering intelligently’)

3. Persist with difficulty

4. Manage your attention amidst competition

5. Question and check knowledge claims

6. Form effective teams for work and study

7. Check and improve your own work

8. Adopt multiple perspectives (empathy)

How important are these?

1. Organise and design learning …..

2. Think on your feet …..

3. Persist with difficulty …..

4. Manage your attention …..

5. Question knowledge claims …..

6. Form effective teams …..

7. Check and improve your own work …..

8. Adopt multiple perspectives …..

How important is each for further learning and life?

5 = essential; 4 = desirable; 3 = moderate; 2 = somewhat; 1 = not at all

How well do you develop them?

1. Organise and design learning …..

2. Think on your feet …..

3. Persist with difficulty …..

4. Manage your attention …..

5. Question knowledge claims …..

6. Form effective teams …..

7. Check and improve your own work …..

8. Adopt multiple perspectives …..

How effectively and reliably do we cultivate these?

5 = brilliantly; 4 = pretty well; 3 = moderately; 2 = somewhat; 1 = not at all

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How good is your data?

1. Organise and design learning …..

2. Think on your feet …..

3. Persist with difficulty …..

4. Manage your attention …..

5. Question knowledge claims …..

6. Form effective teams …..

7. Check and improve your own work …..

8. Adopt multiple perspectives …..

How systematically do we collect and act on information?

5 = brilliantly; 4 = pretty well; 3 = moderately; 2 = somewhat; 1 = not at all

Do a PMI

•Plus – positives, benefits

•Minus – negatives, dislikes

• Interesting – questions, wonderings…

Google “Learning at Landau” for the film clip

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How do I respond to…• ‘Developing the habits of effective learning’

• The ‘student voice team’

• ‘We look forward to getting you stuck’

• 2 hour lessons / ‘no set breaks’

• Term-long cross-curricular projects

• Students running staff development sessions

• ‘We’ve been part of the development of a coaching culture’ (peer mentoring)

• Students plan parental consultations

• ‘Learning sessions, not lessons’, ‘extension, not homework’

• Public images of the ‘learning muscles’

Set the tone• No Put Down Zone

• Qn – WAIT – PICK

• Try 3 before me / brain-book-buddy-boss

• The STUCK poster

• Spot your own mistakes

• Learning-focused quotes and heroes

• A Wonder Wall

• Ban erasers

Plan split-screen activities

•Teaching•History and empathy•Maths and self-evaluating•Science and questioning•English and risk-taking•Art and giving feedback•Sport and self-coaching•……………….

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Use the language all the timee.g. how you write reports…

Jake is getting better at• bringing his own questions into class, asking when

he doesn’t understand, working with a range of others, thinking things through, seeing how he can improve what he’s done…

Rashida is becoming more• resilient in the face of difficulty, imaginative in her

writing, thoughtful about her own work, sceptical about what she reads, careful in her checking, willing to push herself…

Be a model learner• Teaching aloud

• Visible projects

• Notice my fallibility

• Your learning life

Building an inquisitive staff community

• “The biggest effects on pupils’ achievement occur when teachers become learners about their own teaching, and when pupils become their own teachers.”• Professor John Hattie

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Building Learning Power

•A series of small, subtle, significant habit shifts by teachers•How we design lessons•Structure of timetable•How we talk to and about students•What we model•What we display•What we record and report•How we work together• Leadership – Head Pedagogical Coach

BLP support

• Literature

•Activity banks

•Coaching

•School to school

•Online• BLP Network

• Expansive Education

International Schools

•Amsterdam

•Geneva

•Sao Paulo

•Santiago

•Buenos Aires

•Dubai

•Hanoi

•Ho Chi Minh City

•Suzhou

• Jakarta

•Singapore

• ….

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•www.buildinglearningpower.co.uk

•www.educatingruby.org

•guy.claxton@winchester.ac.uk