Loyal readers may remember my attempts to wade through the Top 20 Principles of Psychology for Teaching & Learning report from the APA. If you haven’t already read it, don’t bother. This remarkably concise digest, produced by Deans for Impact does the job much better. Well-informed readers probably won’t learn anything new, but I’ve not come across another document which presents the evidence so clearly and gives such unambiguous advice to teachers.

Basically, a group of American independent school heads, ably supported by Daniel Willingham and Paul Bruno, have summarised pretty much everything a busy teacher ought to know about how children learn, remember, solve problems, transfer to new contexts. It also covers motivation and quickly torpedos the most common misconceptions with laudable brevity:

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The report also includes an immensely useful bibliography, which would be an excellent jumping off point for anyone wishing to get to grips with understanding the science of learning.

Do please read and share as widely as possible; this document ought to be distributed to every teacher in the UK.