IB: Approaches to Learning - getting it right

                                                                   (Everett Collection)

“Consistently high level of impact, with pupils making an average of eight months additional progress” Education Endowment Foundation

Meta-cognition and self regulation known in the IB as Approaches to Learning can make a significant impact on students learning according to evidence provided by the Education Endowment Foundation.  Such approaches are: “usually more effective when taught in collaborative groups so learners can support each other and make their thinking explicit through discussion. The potential impact of these approaches is very high, but can be difficult to achieve as they require pupils to take greater responsibility for their learning and develop their understanding of what is required to succeed.”

Before all you progressive education supporters scream “hooray, Yes, I knew it!”  I suggest that we throw caution to the wind.  I gleamed two messages from the summary of the research.  Firstly, successfully engaging students in approaches to learning strategies leads to significant progress. And secondly, that to deploy such strategies effectively is difficult to achieve.  It is this second message that any teacher engaged in developing these strategies in their classroom should pay attention to. If the research suggests such strategies are difficult to achieve then one might infer that these strategies can occasionally, or sometimes, or even often be attempted unsuccessfully.  If so, what are the consequences of such unsuccessful practice? Is it a case of no harm in trying, and students continue on some form of progressive learning trajectory just not as steep? Or do they stall or even regress?  This research indicates that using such strategies are no precursor to significant progress.  It is rarely the what but the how, and as practitioners we need to be diligent and disciplined in how we develop our craft.  My blog on Marginal Gains and the Plateau Effect should hopefully give some indication as to the thought that goes into delivering just one small component of the Approaches to Learning framework (self and peer assessment) as prescribed by the IB.  

Idealism needs to be balanced with rationalism.  Our primary role is to master our craft so that we can deploy the right approaches at the right time to help children learn.  But this mastery should not be at the expense of students learning. We should be strategic in our own learning curve, and practise what we preach.  Using the IB's 5 ATLs: Communication; Social; Self Management; Research; and Thinking as a framework for our own practice, appears a good place to start.