On Wednesday 16th June, we were delighted to welcome Professor Guy Claxton, cognitive scientist and author, to lead an expert webinar. We gathered virtually with almost one hundred education professionals to discuss Guy’s latest book and his thoughts on the future of teaching. Read our summary of the morning below.
From the outset, it is clear that Professor Guy Claxton is incredibly passionate and optimistic about how we can improve the education system in England. He describes himself as a spokesperson for what he sees as an emerging school of thought – how we can link our vision of desirable outcomes for our young people to an education system that is explicitly purposed to achieve those outcomes.
As with many of the expert educationalists we have been privileged to hear from recently, Guy has a specific focus on ensuring that our schools and trusts are fit for the 21st century and warns against returning to traditionalist ideas of education.
“The traditional model of pedagogy becomes more and more questionable when we start to look at being interested in more than just grades and knowledge transmission.”
So where do we as practitioners begin?
Guy suggests that the challenge we face is developing a pedagogy that creates “positive learning dispositions”. Put simply, a pedagogy which harnesses the character strengths of our young people and develops minds that are equal to the stresses, risks and opportunities of being alive in the 21st century – an education for the real world.
The pedagogical approach Guy is arguing for is, he admits, challenging and will require us to be flexible and change our habits. But, as Guy argues, why would anybody be disdainful of developing creativity, resilience and critical appraisal in our students when they are such important elements of character?
“What’s the best we can offer? What do today’s young people have a right to want? Great grades often come at the cost of curiosity, resilience and creativity. That for me is not good enough. That’s why now – the quest for a more ‘whole’ education is vitally important.”
Guy also advocates for involving our young people in meaningful ways, arguing that the business world has been hearing the voice of its customers for decades so why wouldn’t we do the same within education? Young people often have interesting and mature things to say when you build their capacity to be heard, making them incredibly useful partners in developing innovative pedagogy.
When questioned on the role that policy has to play in these changes, Guy suggests that policy tends to follow what is of interest within the profession rather than leading the way itself. Furthermore, Guy argues that political perspectives of the education system are often over simplified and based on the ideas of people who had a positive experience of the traditional system of education he is arguing against. So the appetite for change must come from leaders in the first instance.
“School leaders are the most important people who are innovating and pioneering what I think should (or will, I hope) become the standard, go-to pedagogies for the 21st century. Organisations like Whole Education are cementing that pioneering work but it hasn’t yet caught the attention of policy makers – particularly in England.”
After an incredibly quick ninety minutes of rousing conversation, Guy shares his key takeaway which is not to be bamboozled by an antiquated scientific model. He urges teachers and leaders to trust their own sense of what their young people need and deserve from education. He finishes with an inspiring thought for future change based on our desire to innovate…
“[To the traditionalists] Look out folks, there are seismic changes on the way that are going to create genuinely radical changes in our understanding of education which will cause an upheaval in our hierarchy. These will be the values of yesteryear.”
A huge thank you to Professor Guy Claxton for taking the time to speak with us. If you’d like to find out more about his approach, you can purchase Guy’s book, visit his website or follow him on Twitter.
