Storyline

Learning as a collaborative exercise The importance of language in learning Induction into culture through education: the importance of the narrative mode (Bruner) Brian Boyd [email protected]

Powerful Pedagogies

An advance organiser: Aims Challenges Powerful Pedagogies Brian Boyd [email protected]

UNESCO  Learning to be  Learning to live together  Learning to do  Learning to know

Aims

Scotland  Confident individuals  Responsible citizens  Effective contributors  Successful learners Brian Boyd [email protected]

A philosophical starting point

    All children are capable of becoming successful learners “given a courteous translation” Confidence is built through “challenge and enjoyment” We become effective contributors by applying our learning in new and unfamiliar circumstances Responsible citizens are more likely to emerge from an education which involves them actively in learning, which values them equally and which celebrates diversity Brian Boyd [email protected]

Pedagogy

3 tests:  Teacher experience and expertise  Theories of learning  Research evidence Brian Boyd [email protected]

Teacher experience and expertise

 Face validity  Does it look right, feel right…?

 Sharing practice Brian Boyd [email protected]

Theories of learning

Jerome Bruner “Actual Minds, Possible Worlds” (1986)  “any subject can be taught to any child at any age in some form which is honest”  “most learning in most settings is a communal activity”  “Teachers are not transmission devices…” Brian Boyd [email protected]

Theories of learning (2)

   Language not only transmits, it creates knowledge…reflection is a crucial aspect ot metacognition. The language of education is the language of culture creating not of knowledge acquisition” Piaget: “to learn is to invent” Teachers create a “sense of wonder” Brian Boyd [email protected]

Vygotsky

    “language is a way of sorting out one’s thoughts and feelings” “Human learning presupposes a specific social nature” “Social interaction promotes cognitive development” If a child appears unable to learn, do not assume that the child is unintelligent; rather assume that the child’s intelligence is lying dormant.” Brian Boyd [email protected]

Roles of the teacher

 Teacher as ring-master, show-off, comedian…or as patient, sensitive helper of individuals?

 ZPD  Dialogue  Transmission model: “Teacher talk to students is more certain, settled, less hypothetical, less negotiating than teacher talk to other teachers”. (M. Halliday) Brian Boyd [email protected]

Research evidence

 From the local to the international (Teaching for Understanding)  Review of international research (Assessment is for Learning)  From theory to practice (Philosophy for Children)  From practice to theory (Bloom’s taxonomy of learning domains)  Action Research Brian Boyd [email protected]

Challenges

 Poverty, disadvantage and underachievement  Exams and “attainment”  Inspection and “intelligent accountability” Brian Boyd [email protected]

So, where next?

 Trusting and empowering teachers  Shift of focus from narrow attainment to wider achievement  Closing the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils  Trusting and empowering learners.

Brian Boyd [email protected]

CPD – the focus

Brian Boyd [email protected]