3. “FLEXPERTISE”?
“21st
Century education should be
the business of coaching the
development of “flexpertise” –
building confidence and capacity
and how to respond to trick
situations”
Guy Claxton
5. WHY IS OUR FOCUS ON
LEARNING?
Our Ofsted of 2008 was a big disappointment
We needed to improve the quality of teaching
and learning
6. HOW ARE WE DOING
IT?
We refocused our plan to improve the
Quality
of Teaching and Learning at the school
We created teacher Teaching and Learning
Communities (TLCs)
7. WHY BUILDING
LEARNING POWER
(BLP)?Because:
“BLP gives Teachers further tools to
engage pupils in activities which
promote Personal Learning and
Thinking Skills, and the development
of ‘learning habits’ to aid pupils’
conceptual understanding.
8. OUR APPROACH TO EMBEDDING
BLP
Graham Powell trained Learning Coaches
to
lead TLCs
Learning Coaches undertook a Learning
Review with Graham Powell
9. POSITIVE KEY MESSAGES
FROM THE REVIEW
• “Students are eager to learn and comply readily with their
teachers’ requests and expectations”
• “They are keen to succeed”
• “Behaviour is impeccable “
• “Students take pride in their work”
• “Year 7 students are naturally curious and inquisitive and are
willing to ask questions and explore possibilities”
10. KEY MESSAGES NEEDING
ACTION
Students:
•“expect their teachers to provide them with the
answers and solutions”
•“lose focus and attention when they are required to listen for
extended periods”
•“In Year 7 students do not get as many opportunities as they might
to exploit and develop these habits of mind.
•“In Year 10 students are more compliant”
“The pressure of examination courses may be causing them to be
more spoon-fed and reliant on their teachers.”
11. THE WAY FORWARD…
• ½ termly TLCs focus on Building Learning Capacity
• Devised workshops to aid in the understanding of
‘Learning Habits’
• All Year 7 students engage with BLP on arrival in
September
• All new Year 12 students engage with BLP on
arrival in September
• Reworked Lesson Planning pro-forma – designed
with learning in mind
• Reworked Lesson Observation pro-forma – designed
with learning in mind
• Pairing off for BLP “observations”
13. LEARNING HABITS
SHOULD BE
• Routine
• Second nature
• Aquired over time
• Used in all learning experiences
• Orchestrated and guided by teachers
• Fostered through experience
15. TEACHERS AND HABIT
FORMING
As teachers we are in the habit-forming
business.
Those habits we model in front of young people
influence the ways in which they perform and
behave.
Therefore, we need to be sure to foster productive
learning habits.
16. TEACHERS SHOULD:
• Provide rich and varied occasions for exercising
learning habits
• Infuse learning habits into lessons to enhance
understanding
• Recognise and celebrate the use and growth of
learning habits
• Expect students to take ownership and responsibility
for their learning habits
• Explore the development of learning habits with
students
17. DUAL OBJECTIVES
At the start of a lesson students should be
asking:
What am I going to learn?
How am I going to learn it?
19. TEACHERS SHOULD DO
LESS OF…
• Being driven by subject content
• Asking all the questions
• Making it too easy for students
• Saying ”That’s right”
• Avoiding the uncomfortable
• Providing solutions too readily when pupil
are
• stuck
• Interrupting learning
• Insisting “will you listen!”
• Over preparing material
• Being the centre of attention
20. TEACHERS SHOULD DO
MORE OF …
• Valuing imagining as part of their subject
area
• Inviting students to really speculate and
experiment
• Exercising lateral thinking habits
• Encouraging thinking out loud
• Showing a real interest in what pupil are
saying
• Using tentative (“could be”, “might be”)
language
21. TEACHERS SHOULD
EXPERIMENT WITH…
Using different media in the
classroom
Making links and thinking in
metaphors
Asking “What if?”
Listening in different ways
22. RECENT ACTIONS
• BLP Handbook
• Students as teachers
• Conferences with Claxton and TLO
consultants
• Students undertaking learning walks
• Developing a language for learning
• Involving governors in training
24. SCHOOL BASED RESEARCH
QUESTIONS
“What is the effect of students leading revision sessions on
test results?”
“To investigate the extent to which new year 12 students
can fully engage with the use of BLP and to reflect on
how my teaching needs to change in response to my
findings.”
“Do teaching techniques affect outcomes? “
“ To investigate how working collaboratively aids
students’ learning capacity".
28. OUR WAY FORWARD
• Sharing our practice with
parents – helping them to model
learning
• Displaying a language for
learning around the school
• Developing our students as
learning coaches for other
students and staff
