Increasing commitment to learning

What have we found are the ingredients for

commitment to learning?

Schools:

Charles Leadbeater identified four key aspects of good school relationships:

• they build participation• they provide recognition and affirmation• they make people feel cared for• they are responsive to personal motivation.

Schools Attitudes People

Attitudes:

When Henry Ford allegedly said ‘If you believe you can or you can’t… you’re probably right’ he recognised the role of self-belief in achievement.

People:

We’ve heard said that long after you’ve forgotten what they said or even what they did, you’ll remember how they made you feel.

What have we found are the ingredients for

commitment to learning?

It is attitude rather than aptitude that causes most failure. Having a commitment to learning is one of the main reasons why people succeed.

What do we know builds or blocks commitment and success?

Its absence is why many students don’t achieve what they are capable of and many adults look back on school as a time of underachievement.

The challenges

The young people we have spoken to say, ‘I would really like to learn…

– how to become the person

I want to be’

– to have good relationships, especially with my family and close friends’

– stuff I need to get on in life’

– how I can make a difference.’

The challenges

However, too often our learners become the:

– disenchanted

– disengaged

– disappeared

– disappointed.

Research has highlighted 10 areas that hold the key to increasing motivation and creating commitment. We need to ensure that these form a central part of the curriculum we offer young people.

What do we want to achieve?

What do we want to achieve?

1. develop good personal qualities and attitudes2. develop

self-belief3. feel valued

4. have aspirations

We want our learners to:

What young learners have said

What young learners have said

But…

Through their experiences of the curriculum we want young people to be:

• excited and inspired by learning

• engaged and fully involved in their learning

• motivated and able to persist with learning even if something seems too hard or uninteresting

• successful learners who know how to learn and want to achieve.

What do we want to achieve?

What should the curriculum be built on?

5. Positive relationships with teachers

6. Support from parents and carers

7. Support from school

8. Support from peers

9. Inspiring learning experiences

10.Supportive assessment processes

Making the most of…

5. Positive relationshipswith teachers

6. Support from parentsand carers

7. Support from school

Give teachers the time and space to build good relationships with learners (eg longer lessons, residentials and team building experiences).

Some suggestions:

Set up joint learning activities for learners and their parents to do together.

Ensure every learner has a champion within school.

What young learners have said

Making the most of…

8. Support from peers

9. Inspiring learningexperiences

10.Supportive assessment processes

Recognise the individual strengths and skills of different learners and show they are valued equally.

Offer choice and variety in learning styles and opportunities.

Give learners some choice over the way they are assessed.

Some suggestions:

What young learners have said

What young learners have said

What do we know works well and makes a difference to learners’ commitment?

Our research has come up with some ideas that work.

Powerful approaches include:

• involving learners in the co-construction of learning experiences

• making learning more relevant and interesting by taking it out of the classroom

• making assessment part of the learning experience and encouraging peer and self-assessment

• instilling the belief in learners that they can make a difference to what they achieve through effort and positive attitude

• making the most of teachers’ strengths by building on their passion for subjects.

What helped you to commit to learning?

Think about…

• the people who inspired you and helped you to commit to learning

• the experiences you have had that were powerful enough to enable you to commit to learning

• the processes and routines you went through to keep you committed to learning

and describe the mixture that helped you become a successful committed learner.

How could you design your curriculum?

How could you make the best use of:

• positive relationships with teachers

• support from parents and carers

• support from school

• support from peers

• inspiring learning experiences

• supportive assessment processes

as you design your curriculum to enable your learners to commit to learning?

The awesome purpose

Focusing on how to design a curriculum that enables learners to commit to their learning is critical in achieving this.

We want to develop a modern, world-class curriculum that will inspire and challenge all learners and prepare them for the future.

About these slides

These slides were produced as part of a pack of materials designed to support schools and colleges in increasing learners’ commitment to their learning. The pack contains a short booklet and 10 postcards on increasing motivation and developing commitment.

Order copies from the QCA Orderline, order reference QCA/08/3977.