Sunday 20 January 2008

Just don't tell me that their are groups of young people who can't learn and who can't be successful because I don't believe it...

Recent brain research shows that the ability to learn is universal and is similar in people from various cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. However, what is learned is the distinguishing feature of success in any school. The failure of any student to achieve is a product of there being a mismatch between what is being taught and what is being learned rather than there being some students who “cannot learn.”

We know that the keys to learning are the student’s ability to learn, the way in which the classroom is organized and managed and the relationships between student, teacher and parent.Therefore there are three major issues we need to address...
  • putting in place an appropriate, stimulating and challenging curriculum,
  • engaging every student in the curriculum as without engagement, little is learned,
  • enabling the student to build a positive relationship to learning, and the people who are
    involved in their learning, so that they can become a lifelong learner.

I believe that building a positive relationship to learning is the key to unlocking the potential of all our learners. The problem is that under the current system of accountability, with a highly structured curriculum based on specific standards and the continuous testing of student knowledge, building a positive relationship to learning is the thing we spend the least time on.

Chris

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