Helping your learners to develop a language of learning

This unit focuses on  – talking about the ‘how’ of learning.

The format of the module will be familiar to you if you have done other modules in this suite:

• Section 1 explores what we mean by ‘talking about the ‘how’ of learning’, details the three aspects of it, and offers some further background reading in the ‘Read More’ sections;
• Section 2 offers some quick wins to practise;
• Section 3 offers you a short cut to making your plan of action, with advice on things to stop doing, things that are worth starting quickly and things you could take your time over doing.

What do the 2 frameworks of Learning Power look like?

Building Learning Power puts at the heart of education the development of psychological characteristics that are judged to be of the highest value in young people growing up in a turbulent and increasingly complex world. There are two main parts to the approach:

A: a model of a learner and learning, in terms of a set of characteristics that work together to make a person a highly capable learner; we use ‘learning power’ to describe the effect. [the supple learning mind]

B: a view of the kind of pedagogy that will nurture and strengthen the learning characteristics in young people. [the teachers’ palette]

These are bound together by the fundamental idea that ‘learning is a learnable craft’, and by explicit, detailed discussion of how learning works, supported by a rich repertoire of words and action.

What constitutes a supple learning mind?

The Supple Learning Mind framework, originally conceived and researched by Professor Guy Claxton, reveals learning as a complex process that isn’t just about thinking and having a good memory; it includes how we feel, how we think, how we learn with and from others and how we manage the process of learning. It gives the beginnings of a learning language that helps teachers think about how learning  behaviours enable students to grow as learners and tackle the curriculum more profitably.

Each domain of learning…social, cognitive, social and strategic… clusters together the high value learning behaviours that best make that domain work well. For example the social domain is made up of interdependence, collaboration, listening and empathy and imitation.

What does the teachers’ palette consist of?

The Teachers’ Palette provides an overview of aspects of a learning friendly culture that combine to create the seedbed for building powerful learners. It includes the types of teacher action that create the conditions necessary for such learning to become habituated – how they relate to students,  the language they use, the types of tasks they design, and the things that they truly value.

The teachers’ palette distils the key teacher behaviours associated with a learning friendly-culture within which the 4 purposes of Successful Futures can flourish.