Educating for Lifelong Learning

Ruth Deakin Crick Graduate School of Education

Draft Australian National Curriculum Capabilities

• Literacy • Numeracy • ICT

• Teamwork• Intercultural understanding• ICT

• Thinking skills• Self management• Creativiy

understanding• Ethical behaviour• Social competence

English National CurriculumPersonal Learning and Thinking Skills

• independent enquirers• creative thinkers• reflective learners• team workers• team workers• self-managers• effective participants.

European Council 2006• Communication in mother

tongue• Communication in foreign

languages• Mathematical competence and

basic competences in science

• critical thinking, • creativity,• initiative,• problem solving,• risk assessment,basic competences in science

and technology• Digital competence• Learning to learn;• Social and civic competences;• Initiative & entrepreneurship; • Cultural awareness and

expression.

• decision taking• constructive management of

feelings.

OECD Competences (DeSeCo)

• The ability to use language, symbols and text interactively• The ability to use knowledge and information interactively• The ability to use technology interactively• The ability to relate well to others• The ability to cooperate• The ability to manage and resolve conflicts• The ability to act within the big picture• The ability to form and conduct life plans and personal projects• The ability to assert rights, interests, limits and needs

Haste Meta- Competencies (2001)

• Adaptively assimilate changing technologies• Deal with ambiguity and diversity• Find and sustain community links• Manage motivation and emotion• Manage motivation and emotion• Moral responsibility and citizenship

A perfect storm

all these lists suggest that we are in the middle of are in the middle of a paradigm shift and our education systems need to catch up

“It is time to hold up our hands and admit that our education system just isn’t working well enough.

Our emphasis needs not to be on proving the residual value of outdated curricula, tests and league tables, but on inspiring and challenging children so that they in turn can inspire and challenge they in turn can inspire and challenge us.”

Lord David PuttnamChancellor, Open University.

Introduction to Learning Futures Programme

Learning Past ……curriculum as prescription

• Delivery of outcomes – top down • Students as performers• Teachers as experts• Factory model of schooling• Factory model of schooling• Impoverished language for learning• One size fits all (more or less)• National Curriculum as cage • Values as ‘add ons’

Learning Futures ......curriculum as narration

• Students as authors of their own learning journey• Authentic inquiry – authentic pedagogy• Co-construction of knowledge• Teachers as facilitators of learning• Learning as an ongoing journey • Learning as an ongoing journey • Rich language for learning• Local diversity – place based• National Curriculum as common framework• Values and citizenship are integral

Learning Futures…what should we give our attention to?

Self Competent agent in the world

Identity

Desire

Personal qualities

Learning Outcomes

Competent lifelong learner-citizens,

MotivationStoryRelationships

DispositionsAttitudesValues

Skills KnowledgeUnderstanding

Mechanics,Artisans, nursesEngineers etc

Personal Public

Seven Dimensions ofLearning Power

• Changing & learning*• Meaning making*• Critical curiosity*• Creativity

• Being stuck & static• Data accumulation• Passivity• Being rule bound• Creativity

• Learning relationships• Strategic awareness• Resilience

• Being rule bound• Isolation & dependence• Being robotic• Fragility & dependence

Changing & learning / being stuck & static

I see learning as something I can get better at, and myself as an improving learner. This often reflects a more general interest in ‘self-improvement’, and faith that this is possible. I improvement’, and faith that this is possible. I have a sense of history and of hope. I tend to take ownership of my own learning, and like to be responsible for what I’m learning and how I go about it. I’m usually quite ready to ‘sign up’ to learning tasks that are presented to me

Critical curiosity / passivity

I like to get below the surface of things and see what is really going on. I like to work things out for myself, and to ask my own questions. I tend to go looking for things to understand better, rather than just responding to problems that come my way. I am usually excited by the prospect of learning, and have a good deal of energy for learning tasks and situations. In general, I’m attracted to learning and enjoy a challenge. I value getting at the truth.

Meaning making / Data accumulationI tend to look for patterns,connections and coherence in what I am learning, and to seek links between new situations and what I already know or am situations and what I already know or am interested in. I’m on the look-out for ‘horizontal meaning’ I like to make sense of new things in terms of my own experience, and I like learning about what mattersto me.

Creativity /RuleboundI like new situations, and will sometimes create novelty and uncertainty ‘just to see what happens’. I’ll spice things up to stop them being boring. I like playing with possibilities and imagining how situations could be otherwise. I am able to look at problems from different perspectives. I like trying at problems from different perspectives. I like trying things out even if I don’t know where they will lead. I sometimes get my best ideas when I just let my mind float freely, and I don’t mind ‘giving up mental control’ for a while to see what bubbles up. I often use my imagination when I’m learning, and pay attention to images and physical promptings as well as rational thoughts.

Learning relationships / Isolation or DependenceI like working on problems with other people, especially my friends. I have no difficulty sharing thoughts and ideas with others, and find it useful. I am quite capable of working away at problems on my own, and sometimes working away at problems on my own, and sometimes prefer it. I don’t feel I have to stick with the crowd for fear of being lonely or isolated, when I’m learning. I have important people at home and in my community who share with me in my learning. I am ready to draw on these when it seems helpful. I feel that I live within a supportive social context.

Strategic Awareness/ Robotic

I tend to think about my learning, and plan how I am going to go about it. I usually have a fair idea how long something is going to take me, fair idea how long something is going to take me, what resources I am going to need, and my chances of being successful. I am able to talk about the process of learning –how I go about things – and about myself as a learner – what my habits, preferences, aspirations, strengths and weaknesses are.

Resilience / dependence and fragilityI tend to stick at things for a while, even when they are difficult. I don’t give up easily. I often enjoy grappling with things that aren’t easy. I can handle the feelings that tend to crop up during learning: frustration, confusion, apprehension and so on. I have quite a high confusion, apprehension and so on. I have quite a high degree of emotional tolerance when it comes to learning. I’m not easily upset or embarrassed when I can’t immediately figure something out. I don’t immediately look for someone to help me out when I am finding things difficult, or when I get stuck. I’m usually happy to keep trying on my own for a while. I don’t mind if there’s nobody around to ‘rescue’ me.

Seven scales in a self report, online questionnaire, designed to measure learning power and to stimulate change

Four types of feedback:Four types of feedback:

• Individual • Group or class• Organisation • System wide

Changing and learning

Learning relationships

Critical Curiosity

Type One ELLI Profile

Strategic Awareness

ResilienceCreativity

Meaning Making

Changing and learning

Learning relationships

Critical Curiosity

Type Two ELLI Profile

Strategic Awareness

ResilienceCreativity

Meaning Making

Changing and learning

Learning relationships

Critical Curiosity

Type Three ELLI Profile

Strategic Awareness

ResilienceCreativity

Meaning Making

ELLI - an assessment event

a framework for a coaching conversation that moves between the person and identity of the learner and a particular negotiated learning outcomenegotiated learning outcome

Trust, affirmation and challenge

Critical CuriosityCritical Curiosity

ELLI profiles shown as bar graphs

ELLI profiles shown as pie charts

Study 1Learning Power

seems to get weaker and more fragile as children go

through schoolthrough school

N = 6045 Schools = 116

Cronbach Alpha Co-efficients by age group n= 10496

KS2 KS3 KS4 KS5 Adult All

Changing & learning .69 .77 .75 .72 .76 .75

Critical Curiosity .69 .76 .74 .78 .77 .76

Meaning making .69 .74 .74 .73 .71 .75

Creativity .75 .78 .79 .81 .84 .79Creativity .75 .78 .79 .81 .84 .79

Strategic awareness .82 .85 .84 .86 .84 .85

Learning relationships

.67 .72 .73 .74 .81 .72

Fragility and dependence

.81 .83 .82 .81 .81 .82

Changing and learning across the age range

68.00

70.00

Mea

n of

chn

glng

2.00 3.00 4.00

KeyStage

62.00

64.00

66.00

Mea

n of

chn

glng

Critical Curiosity across the age range

54.00

57.00

60.00M

ean

of c

urio

sity

2.00 3.00 4.00

KeyStage

45.00

48.00

51.00

Mea

n of

cur

iosi

ty

Meaning Making across the age range

61.00

62.00

Mean o

f m

eanin

gm

akin

g

2.00 3.00 4.00

KeyStage

59.00

60.00Mean o

f m

eanin

gm

akin

g

Creativity across the age range

56.00

58.00

60.00

62.00

Mean o

f cre

ativity

2.00 3.00 4.00

KeyStage

48.00

50.00

52.00

54.00

56.00

Mean o

f cre

ativity

Strategic Awareness across the age range

54.00

57.00

60.00

Mean o

f str

ate

gic

2.00 3.00 4.00

KeyStage

45.00

48.00

51.00

Mean o

f str

ate

gic

Learning Relationships across the age range

62.00

64.00

Mean o

f ln

gre

lation

2.00 3.00 4.00

KeyStage

56.00

58.00

60.00

Mean o

f ln

gre

lation

N=851, 5-9, 2004

• Learning power is associated with:

• Attainment (except creativity!)

Study 2: Ecology of learning

• Students perceptions of: teachers ability to create positive interpersonal relationships, to honour student voice, to respect students and to stimulate higher order thinking

• Organisational emotional literacy

Teachers whose students’ have high levels of learning power are characterised by:

Self efficacy; reflective self-awareness; high autonomy support (as opposed to high autonomy support (as opposed to highly controlling) learner-centred beliefs about students.

Study 4Exploring the Learning Profiles of

Underachieving Students

N=900 14 year oldsWe identified the underachievers and We identified the underachievers and compared their learning power with their achieving and ‘over’ achieving

counterparts

Significant differences between groups (ANOVA)

• Changing and Learning• Meaning Making• Critical Curiosity• Creativity

• .003• .002• .001• .345• Creativity

• Learning relationships• Strategic awareness• Fragility and dependence

• .345• .691• .011• .099

Tentative findings….• Underachievers are characterised by• Passivity in learning dispositions• Accepting things at face value• Lacking strategic awareness – of thinking, feeling and planning/doing

• Not looking for meaning and sense making in • Not looking for meaning and sense making in their learning

• Being ‘stuck and static’ in their sense of themselves as learners.

• Being unable to ‘tell their story’

Studies 5 & 6 (N=600 & N=45)

• Learning power is positively related to students’ positive social values, spiritual development and political engagement

• We identified young offenders in prison for violent offences by their learning power profiles. Learning power is negatively related to violent behaviour.

So what works?

• Creating a shared language for learning including metaphors, stories and image

• Coaching for learning - awareness, ownership and responsible self-directionownership and responsible self-direction

• Authentic, active inquiry – bottom up• Scaffolding the construction of knowledge• Extending places and partners for learning

Intervention studies

Study 7

Learning Outside the Box

Impact of self assessment of learning power on highly achieving sixth formers in a Malaysian college

Pre post changes

• N=184 17 year olds Paired T Tests

• Interventions were coaching conversations • Interventions were coaching conversations with tutors responding to ELLI profiles

• Significant change pre to post on six out of seven dimensions

17year old – gains in 6 dimensions

• I have changed so much in my learning ability and this makes me feel a bit more confident in myself. Apart from just learning Apart from just learning whatever I need, knowing why should I learn them is an important part for me and then analysing them.

Study 9 Parkview School Learning in the Outdoor Dimension

• Introducing learning power dimensions • Introducing learning power dimensions through professional actors

INTERVENTIONS

• Coaching and mentoring conversations• Significant use of modelling and imitation and use of metaphor and imagery to and use of metaphor and imagery to introduce the language and concepts

• Self assessment and target setting

N=171 Age 11 Mean Std. Deviation df Sig. (2-tailed)

Pair 1 changing and learning - changing and learning post

-3.07018 23.68942 170 .092

Pair 2 critical curiosity - critical curiosity post

-3.33550 20.64347 170 .036

Pair 3 meaning making - meaning making post

-5.68087 21.89085 170 .001 making post

Pair 4 creativity - creativity post -4.65887 20.50818 170 .003

Pair 5 strategic awareness - strategic awareness post

-4.84330 21.42476 170 .004

Pair 6 learning relationship - learning relationship post

-4.12606 18.24338 170 .004

Pair 7 fragility and dependence - fragdeppost

2.33206 15.08077 168 .046

Student voices

• If we didn’t have the ELLI animals, we wouldn’t know other ways to learn and if we always learned the same way we’d get bored with it. Now we can choose a way that’s best for you (sic).that’s best for you (sic).

• That’s the same for me because I used to sit quietly and think it out for myself but now if I’m stuck I ask questions

Study 11Foundation Years: Language for Learning Project

Language of learning throughLanguage of learning throughmusic and movement – using animal metaphors as a vehicle for modelling and imitation and conceptual understanding

Music

Web weaving spiderHad a silky thread Had a silky thread Connected all the thoughtsTo make ideas in his head.

Learning power in the community

Focusing in on….

Some key areas for further exploration and development

Communication through metaphor, imagery and story

• All of the studies involve teachers and learners accessing complex ideas through image and metaphor.image and metaphor.

• “It’s useful; you can BE that and then try and BE that” (an 11 year old from Cumbria)

Elli Presentation Childhood is the first step of learning for each and individual student. When Elli program was introduced to Gapuwiyak school Sally invited me to see what she and the school has planned. We went out together into the community to discuss with our elders what was happening in the school.

• After long and strong discussions with leaders and elders of community we chose six birds from our song lines to represent six of the learning dispositions. The seventh bird, the bower bird is not in our song lines but was chosen because it is a creative bird. bird.

• I then created seven paintings of the birds. During the painting I decided to have the process photographed so that we would use them in teaching the children the learning dispositions.

• The next step was introducing Elli to the community. The principal called a meeting. Everyone attended the meeting. Elders, community members , parents, all staff and older students.

• This was the first time we had an evening meeting for a long time. It was a positive feeling and everyone felt something new was happening in the school. It was a new beginning for the community to come together within the school. Learning was together within the school. Learning was not just Balanda way but we’re building a strong relationship between the two cultures.

At this meeting I drew the graph of the learning dispositions on the whiteboard to explain about Elli.

• I explained the meaning of the graph.

• I was able to describe the spider graph because I had completed the online survey. The story from my spider graph showed me that I was strong in some showed me that I was strong in some learning dimensions but weak in resilience and strategic awareness. I am working on these by being more confident in asking questions.

Study 12 Learning, Place and Identity NSW

Naming the animals

• CHANGING & LEARNING: SNAKE• Sheds his skin• Dislocates his mouth/ jaw to fit in food• Uses venom & constriction to capture its prey• Changes shape to adapt to its environment

• CRITICAL CURIOSITY: EMU• Always looks up to see what is around its • environment• Curious• Explores and is adventurous• Stares• Proud and strong

MAKING MEANING: PLATYPUSBuilds its own burrow Uses many resources from its environment

CREATIVITY: WILLY WAG TAILProud, fun and playfulIndividual and challenges others, or takes on anything it encountersNot scared, fast, likes to show off.

• RESILIENCE: ECHIDNA• Digs into the ground when

faced with danger• Tough, smart, tricky• Camouflages in the tall grass

• STRATGEIC AWARENESS: WEDGED_TAIL EAGLE• Spirals high in the sky to look

for prey• Patient, strategic, smart,

stealthy, big, strong and proud• Uses aerodynamics

• LEARNING RELATIONSHIPS: ANTS• Work together• Each have a different job,

scout and travel• Can predict rain

Taranga Zoo Break OutThis is a story about some animals that lived in a zoo called Taronga which is in Guringai country. Most of these animals came from different nations that were all over the land that is now called Australia. All the animals would dream about the time when they could return to their own country, hear the stories from the elders, learn the laws, know the ways of their land. At night when all the people were gone they would gather in their language groups and talk about the old ways, the good ways, when there were no fences and captivity. One group of animals were from the Wonnaruahand captivity. One group of animals were from the Wonnaruahnation and had their own names in the language. A willy wag tail or didijiri, the emu or kungkurung, the snake or ta nipa tang, the eagle or ka-wul, the echidna or kuntji kukan, the platypus or pikan and some ants or yunrring that were nearly always too busy to stop and talk. Always the talk would turn to their dreams and of the country that they all wished to return to.

• For the first time since Willy Wagtail told him about his dreams, Snake felt a stirring of excitement wriggle all the way down his coils. He was beginning to get it. He started to feel himself grow and change. started to feel himself grow and change. He was already learning to ask questions and be curious, like Emu. Now he was learning how important it is to be patient and stick at things, like Echidna. His skin felt tight, all of a sudden.

A shape flashed across the light of the moon and its shadow fell momentarily on the scene. All the animals fell silent. The Eagle landed, a little higher up the leaning gum tree, spread her wings magnificently and folded them away with a shake of her feathers. No one spoke. They were all curious to hear what the Eagle was going to say.

‘The moment has arrived. We have anticipated it. Now, everything is in place. Under the full moon, I have called you together to combine your strengths, summon the power of all your learning and fulfil your dream. I have planned for this night. I see everything, from the smallest ant to the whole zoo, planned for this night. I see everything, from the smallest ant to the whole zoo, the city and the vast bush, stretching out West as far as the eye can see. I see each moment: how it arrived on the wings of the past and how it will launch into the great sky of the future. Learn from me as you have learned from each other. I give you your purpose, your direction, your focus and, most important of all, your readiness to accept your responsibility to yourself to achieve your dream.’

All the animals breathed a deep breath of the midnight air and solemnly vowed to accept their responsibility to themselves and the group. They knew that, before the night was over, if they all played their part, they would be free.

One day, they got together again and agreed that they should leave the bush. One dream had been fulfilled. The city children had been sad to lose them. The bush would always be there when they needed to go back to it. They had learned how to travel. They had all survived crossing the F3 the busiest road in their world, to get back to country. It had taken skill, determination and courage to do it but together they had made it, and had learnt together how to do it.Now, they knew they would go on learning for the rest of their lives. They would never go back to the zoo. They their lives. They would never go back to the zoo. They had returned home to the Hunter Valley, home to the Wonnaruah people, their home. Today the animals are working around the schools of the Singleton area, helping children and students to grow and change by passing on their truths and being everlasting symbols of what they discovered on their adventure.

Ratified by the Wonnaruah elders

The iconography of learningThe symbol mediates between experiential knowing (community and tradition) narrative knowing (big, medium and little stories) and propositional stories) and propositional knowing. All ways of knowing are crucial for learning how to learn and to co-create and use knowledge in the global information age

Creativity

• Or ‘springboard zone.’• Thinking around things• Coming up with new • Coming up with new ideas, sometimes a bit crazy!

• Trusting your hunches

RESILIENCE

LENNYHello, I’m Lenny and my learning strength is resilience. I love to challenge my thinking and learning. I don’t give up easily – even when things easily – even when things are difficult.

CURIOSITYGERARD

Hello, I’m Gerard and my learning strength is curiosity. I love asking my own questions to find out what’s really going on.

Focusing in on……Learning power and the re-sequencing of the curriculum

• All of the studies have involved teachers re-sequencing the ways in which students re-sequencing the ways in which students encounter the content of the curriculum

• From the middle outwards and• From top down to bottom up

ELLI facilitates authentic inquiry

• Connects with the PERSON• It matters in their life – significance and engagementengagement

• The challenge for teachers is to facilitate the movement from personal choice to public outcome

The dynamics of authentic inquiry

1. Personal Choice : concrete place/object2. Observation - description3. Generating questions 4. Uncovering narratives 4. Uncovering narratives 5. Knowledge mapping 6. Connecting with existing funds of knowledge7. Interface with curriculum requirements8. Assessment - validation9. Application in the real world

Thinking and Learning capabilities developed through learning power

• Choosing/deciding• Observing/describing• Wondering/interrogating• Discovering/storying• Navigating/mapping

• Creativity• Meaning making• Critical curiosity

• Spanning/connecting,• Interacting/incorporating• Reconciling, validating• Acting in the world

• Resilience• Strategic awareness• Changing and learning• Learning relationships

Sonny’s choice – my dog

• My dog and why he means a lot to me• Why do animals end up in shelters?• Why do they lock people up?• Does locking people up make a • Does locking people up make a

difference?• How have they got the power to lock

people up?• What are their rights?

Shawanda’s choice

• My tangible object of choice was a picture of Anansi the spiderman.

• I chose this object • I chose this object based on my intrinsic drive to explore my ancestral heritage in regards to the West African connection

Why is Anansi important to me?

• He inspires me.• He exemplifies survival.• He reminds me of the fact that my ancestors were not

’slaves’ but were instead a powerful ethnic group befallen through the evils of slavery.

• He reminds me that my ancestors have heavily contributed to the wealth of many powerful countries

• He reminds me that christianity is not the end all of • He reminds me that christianity is not the end all of spirituality

• He reminds me that poverty is a state of mind• And he reminds me to stay strong in the face of

adversities

Values and Learning

The stories and values in

what and how I am learning

My own story and values

The stories and values of my community and tradition

Powerful Learning

Idea-Spinning!in the….

Jigsaw zoneSpringboard zone

and the

(Creativity) (Meaning Making)

Jess’s choice:Cheddar Gorge

• ‘I chose this person and place because it was the time in my life when things were just normal the time in my life when things were just normal at home and it was just me, my mum and my brother and we were all happy. It makes me a bit sad because we don’t have times like that any more but also happy because we had a good day’

Questioningin the….

and the

Detective zonePilot zone

and the

(Critical Curiosity) (Strategic Awareness)

Jess’s questions

• What will be there in 15 years?• What was there before?• How many people have been there?• How was the gorge made?• How was the gorge made?• Have any famous people been there?• What kind of people used to be there?• Why do relationships matter?

Reflectingin the….

and the

Jigsaw zone Gritty zone

and the

(Meaning Making) (Resilience)

Jess• ‘It’s made me not so scared

to learn other things,’ ‘It was a tiny little project and it spiraled into all these other things that were connected.’

• ‘I didn’t think I could learn any more but now I believe you can.’ It’s not just about Cheddar Gorge, it’s about life stuff.’

16 year old voices

• “Learning how to tell your own story would make it easier to do all the other things you have to do – learn subjects, get grades etc”

• “We’re all programmed in a way that makes our experience invisible”

• “More measurable things are given far more attention than the less measurable”

Danny – a ‘NEET’ Learner with profound learning difficulties – targeted Critical Curiosity and Learning Relationships

“It’s changed what I think I can do.”

Finally…..

• Let’s listen to Daniel tell his own story of how he has changed as a result of ‘My World’ (an authentic inquiry, including World’ (an authentic inquiry, including ELLI)

The class were ‘LOST’ on an island and had to find ways to survive…..

While I visited the school, the BNP were canvassing for members – outside the school - Daniel lives in a socially and economically challenged area of Manchester.

Meaning making – connecting my story with my learning in school

Daniel is able to describe his journey from ‘messing about’ to hope in the future through the use of metaphor and metaphor and imagery which has been provided as part of the school’s language for learning and the authentic active inquiry of My World.

The gift of hope and the development of resilience

Learning futures – 3 ideas to take away............

Authentic inquiryIntegration Engagement Engagement