Introduction
During the past three years, research has been conducted at the Graduate School of
Education in the University of Bristol into the factors that contribute to an idea called
energy for learning. Though the research has been conducted primarily in schools, it is
hoped that the findings will extend beyond school and provide information about what will
engage people with learning not only in school but also at work and throughout life.
Phase One
During the first phase of research the inquiry had two strands.
i) The first, the scientific strand, involved the production, piloting and refinement of
an instrument called the Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (ELLI). The inventory
provides a way of assessing in a diagnostic and descriptive way aspects of a person’s
energy to learn and to keep on learning. This energy to learn is described by seven
dimensions of learning power:
Changing and learning –
effective learners believe that they can get better at learning over time. They believe
that through effort their minds can get bigger and stronger just as their bodies can. The
opposite of this is being Stuck
Critical curiosity –
effective learners like to find things out, to get to the bottom of things and find out
what is really going on. They like to ask the question WHY? The opposite of this is
Passivity
Meaning making - effective
learners are on the look out for links between what they are learning and what they
already know – from their own life story or from earlier learning. They like to see
how things fit together. The opposite of this is Fragmentation.
Resilience - effective learners
like a challenge and are willing to ‘give it a go’ even if the outcomes and the
way to proceed are uncertain. They accept that learning is sometimes hard for everyone and
that to get something wrong is OK. The opposite of this is Fragility.
Creativity - effective learners
like to look at things in different ways, to find another angle. They are playful with
ideas, and like to use their imagination and take notice of inklings which bubble up in
their minds. The opposite of this is being Rule Bound.
Learning relationships -
effective learners like to work with other people, learning from them and learning with
them. They can work on their own too. The opposite of this is being overly Dependent or
Isolated.
Strategic awareness - effective
learners know about their own learning. They are aware of their feelings, their thoughts
and their ideas for doing things differently in their learning. They have a toolkit of
strategies they might use for different learning situations and they take time out to
think how to use them. The opposite of this is being Robotic.
Each dimension has a positive and
a negative pole. Each can be fostered and developed in the normal routines of classroom
and curriculum activity.
ii) The second strand of research was an inquiry into the kinds of activities and
practices teachers used in order to foster energy for learning in their classrooms. It
highlighted the need to develop a language of learning with children and young people, to
be a learning role model, to provide choice and challenge in learning tasks and ample time
for students to reflect, particularly in relation to work already completed and how
previous learning can inform the next steps.
Phase Two
The second phase of research, sought to look beyond the dimensions of learning and to
inquire into the factors that interact with one another to make up a learning system that
creates the potential for greater learning energy. This has been called the ‘ecology
of learning’. The research involved correlating three different measures across a
data set of nearly 1000 pupils.
The three measures used in the study were:
ELLI – which measures dimensions of learning power and indicates the students’
energy for learning
ALCP – which measures teachers’ learner-centred practices including the
students’ perception of their teacher’s ability to create positive interpersonal
relationships, to honour their voice and to provide challenge and stimulate higher order
thinking whilst catering for their individual differences.
ELA – which measures aspects of the emotional literacy of the school in the
perception of the adults and students who work there.
Relationships: a key to building greater capacity to learn
The findings from this second phase of research revealed several themes that have
implications for classroom practice which will foster greater energy for learning.
One of the most salient findings was that learning power is fostered by teacher-pupil
relationships characterized by affirmation, trust and challenge. There was a strong
statistical relationship between those teachers who were not overly controlling in the
classroom but were able to create an environment that supported students as autonomous
learners and students who had the strongest learning profiles. These were not teachers who
viewed some children as too difficult to teach or reach, neither did they see any of the
phases of life and development as insurmountable blocks to learning power. Rather they
believed that learning is learnable and all children can grow and develop as learners.
Similarly there was a statistically significant correlation between teachers who were
reflectively self-aware and learners with the highest scores on the seven dimensions of
learning. These were teachers who constantly reviewed their professional practice and
looked for new ways to relate to students and to present information. They were, in other
words, learners themselves. Their reflective practice modeled the very qualities they were
seeking to promote in the members of their teaching groups.
Where learning power was high, students perceived their teachers as able to create
positive, supportive relationships, characterized by an ability to truly listen to the
student’s view. These relationships were also associated with a stimulating learning
environment which provided choice and challenged students to engage in higher order
thinking.
These findings present a professional challenge to the teacher. They are not being asked
to create a cosy, warm, learning environment. Rather the teachers who are associated with
the strongest learners can hold the tension between challenge and support. They can create
a robust classroom ethos that asks questions, delves beneath the surface of knowledge,
creates problems to solve and challenges learners to develop their learning power. Yet
they also provide the support that attends to the student in a personal and meaningful way
so that they challenge the beliefs that inhibit or block learning and enable students to
become self-directed and reflective learners.
Learning linked to the wider emotional literacy
Another important finding of the ELLI research is that the greatest learning
power is associated with the emotional literacy of the school as an organization. Adults
and young people in these schools report that they feel it is ‘OK for me to be
here’.
Being ‘OK’ in the school is related to three main areas of practice:
communication, relationships and organizational issues.
One of the keys to an emotionally literate school is having good relationships
(adult:adult, adult:student and student:student). These are characterized by trust,
openness, empathy, connection, valuing and respect. Organizationally, the schools that are
correlated with greatest learning power are those that create a sense of community, that
provide the support structures needed to enable everyone to fulfill their role, to learn
from each other and to reflect so that they can grow and develop and achieve. In these
schools communication is transparent, accessible, warm, engaged, dialogic and
developmental. Everyone is given opportunities to speak and to be listened to so that they
are more engaged in their life and work at school.
Conclusion and questions
These research findings have considerable implications. They suggest that a
greater capacity to learn is related to the relationships between the teacher and the
learner in the classroom. The role of the teacher is shifted away from ‘resident
expert’ and conveyer of knowledge to relational facilitator of learning.
In addition, greater energy for learning is associated with schools that can create an
ethos that encourages a collaborative community of learners.
The findings of phase two of the ELLI research suggest that there is an ecology of
learning. There are factors that inter-relate with one another to create an environment
where good learning grows and flourishes. These factors are primarily centred on the
relationships that take place in the classroom and the school.
Perhaps we should ask the question ‘What are the essential qualities and
characteristics of a good teacher?’ Is it knowledge and subject expertise? Certainly
these things matter in an education system that values examination grades and academic
achievement. Yet there seems to be another set of qualities that are important to
fostering a young person’s capacity to learn. These relate to the ability to create
and sustain positive inter personal relationships and to ‘honour’ student voice.
‘Honouring’ someone’s voice means to attend to it, to give it weight and to
take it seriously. There is a close link between honouring student voice and the idea of
dialogic communication i.e. that which is characterized by mutual listening and response.
Alongside a capacity to make supportive relationships, however, lies the ability to
stimulate and challenge the learner by providing them with choice and challenge in their
learning. For learners to grow and develop, they need to be presented with problems that
make them think and time to reflect on their learning processes as well as on the subject
matter learned.
For further
information email: info@marilyntew.co.uk |
