Phase 1 — Unit by Unit

The course starts not in the classroom but in looking at the learning mind and how we learn. Unit 1 introduces The Supple Learning Mind framework which classifies the learning behaviours identified by research. The framework illustrates that learning isn’t just about having a good memory but involves how we feel, how we think, how we learn with others and how we manage the process of learning (meta-learning)

Unit 1 engages staff in:

• looking at their own learning habits;
• considering the learning behaviours of their students;
• exploring with their class what they think good learners do;
• trying out activities that specifically engage various aspects of learning;
• monitoring which type of learning behaviours are being used most and least across several weeks.
• a structured team meeting to share and build understanding.

Unit 2 takes a closer look at teaching and the role of the teacher in a learning focused classroom. How do teachers need to behave in order to enable their students to become good learners? How this endeavour affects the culture of the classroom; how teachers relate to students; how they talk to students about learning; how they structure learning activities, and how they celebrate learning.

Unit 2 engages staff in:

• exploring their learning culture now;
• recognising the features of a learning culture; its relationships, the talk, the lesson design, the celebration;
• trying out activities designed to enhance student’s perseverance, questioning, collaboration and revising;
• monitoring their development and rating how the classroom learning culture is shifting;
• a structured team meeting where teachers share and build their understanding.

In Unit 3 we look at how learning habits grow, what the growth journey looks like in different learning behaviours and different learners. This initial course concentrates on four key learning behaviours, one from each learning domain. From the Emotional domain – Persevering, from the Cognitive domain– Questioning, from the Social domain– Collaborating, and from the Strategic domain– Revising. The foundational four.

Unit 3 engages staff in:

• discovering the stages of learning power growth;
• developing their own learning growth profile for the four behaviours;
• developing a variety of student learning behaviour profiles;
• recognising how their students differ in their progression in learning behaviours;
• experimenting with activities designed to strengthen learning behaviours;
• a structured team meeting to share understanding about student’s learning behaviours.

In Units 4, 5, 6 & 7 teachers are invited to explore each of the 4 key learning behaviours – Persevering, Questioning, Collaborating and Revising respectively – through the lens of the 4 aspects of classroom culture – how they relate and talk to students, and how they construct learning activities and celebrate learning.

In each unit, they:

• learn more about each of the foundational learning behaviours;
• discover how confident their students are in each of the four behaviours;
• consider how they could embed the learning behaviour into their teaching;
• think about things they should stop and start doing to create a classroom culture within which the learning behaviour might flourish;
• attend four structured team meetings to share experience and build understanding.

In Unit 8 teachers are invited to assess and analyse their actions, their understandings and their possible ways forward.

• Section 1 invites teachers to look back over the past few months and to evaluate the impact of:
  • what they have learned;
  • the ideas that they have tried out;
  • how these changes have impacted on their students’ learning behaviours.
• Section 2 distils the key messages for teaching and classroom culture and explores what teachers might do next to consolidate the positive changes they have already made.
• Section 3 signposts the way ahead and opens up further possible avenues of enquiry.

At this point there are a number of different routes open to schools in phase 2 of the journey.