Learning Without Limits

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On the one hand, they set out to do whatever was within their power to oppose and lift limits on learning by expanding and enhancing learning opportunities, based on their current understandings of the external forces that shape learning capacity; Since the original study was carried out, we have identified a fourth principle*, which had been implicit in the other three. We now consider that ‘unpredictability’ needs to be recognised as a distinctive principle in its own right because it enables teachers to follow through into practice their belief in the power of the present to affect the future, their awareness that the future is in the making in the present. Present attainments tell us something about the past, about children’s prior educational experiences; they do not and cannot predict the future. There is no way of knowing how children’s learning capacity might yet flourish if teachers can find ways to oppose and lift limits that have hindered development thus far, and create learning conditions that children find more enabling. So, in their decision-making, the teachers actively avoided practices that might foster and sustain self-fulfilling prophecies. Young people were seen, not as ‘types’ of learner, but as unique, complex individuals, who are constantly growing and changing in unpredictable ways. The teachers avoided pre-selecting children to undertake tasks with reduced expectations, preferring to offer an invitation to learn that was open, accessible and challenging for all young people. Guided by the three preceding principles, they understood that outcomes cannot be specified in advance because learning depends upon what learners bring, think and do when engaging in classroom activities and this cannot be predicted.The teachers trusted and expected young people to surprise them; they always kept an open mind, were constantly striving to offer new experiences and to expand learners’ horizons, and were consciously working to create conditions in which surprises were more likely to happen. Working together

Teachers whose practice is guided by the idea of transformability, on the other hand, are convinced that the present does and must play a pivotal role in determining the path of future development. The future is unknowable and unpredictable because it is being actively created in the present. Everything that happens has an effect, for better or worse, on young people’s learning capacity. By understanding the forces that shape and limit capacity to learn in the present, and through the choices they make, teachers can exploit the possibilities available to them for enabling all young people to become better learners. The concept of learning capacity

Purpose

This will undoubtedly turn out to be amongst the most important educational books of the decade. Our capacity to respond, both individually and collectively, to its key insights and messages will profoundly affect not just the quality of our schools, but of our society for years to come. Engagingly and eloquently written, it exposes the intellectual bankruptcy and human destructiveness of widely held concepts of ‘ability’ and offers a richly textured, practical account of how one school moved from ‘failure’ to OfSTED ‘outstanding’ by committing itself to the practicability of a morally inspiring, educationally convincing alternative. If you want to know why ‘the standards agenda’ must inevitably fail and what we might do instead, read this book.” We have found ways to encourage the growth of inventiveness and openness to new ideas. The imperative to "find a way through" for every child is illustrated through examples of actions and approaches characterised by persistent questioning and empathy with children in all their complexity. As Principal, I am very proud of the pupils and our school community and am happy to welcome you should you wish to visit our school.

The first research study was set up in 1999 at the School of Education, University of Cambridge. It was funded by the Wallenberg Foundation for the Improvement of Education, and also by the Faculty of Education Research and Development Fund. Details of the study are set out in our book, Learning Without Limits (Hart, Dixon, Drummond and McIntyre, 2004), published by Open University Press. In 2005, the book received an award from the Society for Education Studies, as one of the 'outstanding books on education published in the previous year'. Research Team University Researchers: Parents and the wider community (e.g. governors, local politicians, LEA, other LEA schools) became involved in and commited to the process of fostering the learning capacity of all young people. This is a brilliant study of a small and very successful primary school in Hertfordshire where the teachers have rejected ideas of fi xed innate ability and believe instead in the limitless potential of all young people. At a time when the Ofsted inspection process employs dubious and limited notions of ‘standards’ and ‘achievement’, it would be good to think that there could be many more schools like this one showing the way towards a new and liberating view of human development. The book deserves a really wide readership.” In short, at Lancaster Academy, we work to educate, support and inspire. We are committed to developing outstanding young people, who'll be sought after because of who they are. By enabling them to prosper, we help our communities to prosper too.For the full analysis, please see our book, Creating Learning without Limits. Support for professional learning It has a collective as well as an individual dimension. Capacity to learn is contained within and constituted by how a group of young people operate and work together as a group, and by the opportunities and resources made available to them as a group. At Lancaster, everyday is an open day. By appointment we look forward to welcoming you through our doors to see our school community at work. Hart, S. (2010) 'Learning without Limits' in J. Rix, M. Nind, K. Sheehy, K. Simmons, J. Parry and R. Kumrai (eds) Equality, Participation and Inclusion 2: Diverse contexts. Abingdon: Routledge The book explores ways of teaching that are free from determinist beliefs about ability. Following a detailed critique of the practices of ability labelling and ability-focused teaching, the book features nine vivid case studies (from Year 1 to Year 11) that describe how teachers developed alternative practices despite considerable pressure on them and on their schools and classrooms. The authors analyse these case studies and construct a model of pedagogy based on the core idea of transformability: the mind-set that children's futures as learners are not pre-determined, and that teachers can help to strengthen and ultimately transform young people's capacity to learn through the choices they make. Society for Educational Studies Book Award 2005

The core purposes (affective, social and cognitive) and principles ('everybody', 'co-agency', 'trust') summarise the practical, pedagogical means through which teachers seek to strengthen and transform young people's capacity to learn; they explain how the teachers worked systematically to build, strengthen and restore the positive states of mind needed if young people are to choose to engage and sustain the effortful activity that worthwhile, personally meaningful learning requires. More detail can be found by following the links to Key Ideas and Principles. In Memoriam Through our tailored curriculum and close connections with companies large and small, we ensure our school leavers are READY for work and the world of work and commerce, by nurturing the qualities and skills they need to succeed. Why does this matter? What is wrong with children judging their performance against others? The deep-rooted problem is a belief that intelligence is fixed and that education should focus on accelerating the progress of the "gifted" and supporting the "less able". As a school we work very hard to counter the view that each child's future attainment can be reliably predicted; as part of this approach, we do not group children by ability. We identified three pedagogical principles that were common to all nine teachers, despite their very different contexts and approaches. These principles were the filter for their classroom decision-making, the means by which they ensured that choices made before, during and after work with young people in the classroom, were best able to fulfil the core purposes outlined above. Co-agency

Lancaster Academy

This is an inspiring book for anyone who is concerned about ability labelling and the damaging effect is has on learners in schools, and who wants to know if it is possible to teach in any other ways.' ( British Education Research Journal). Through a "listening school" approach we have established a culture where children and adults know that they are valued and where innovation and team work are prized more highly than compliance and ranking. As a teaching school we now seek to adopt this approach at a system level. "Creating Learning without Limits" is published by Open University Press, more details here. More information can be found at http://learningwithoutlimits.educ.cam.ac.uk It recognises that external forces as well as internal resources and states of mind are constitutive of learning capacity. The range and quality of learning opportunities provided, and the relationships that support and shape learning opportunities, interact with internal subjective states to create and constrain capacity to learn in any given situation. For more detail, see Diagram 1: Forces affecting learning capacity. We support our students to develop the Babington DNA ‘PROUD’ qualities which ensures our students leave us with the emotional and intellectual literacy and resiliencethatthey need to be effective and active global citizens. We strive for them to leavewith qualifications which give them choices,alongside a desire to be life-long learners.