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Malcolm Gladwell

Is extending school hours really such a vote winner?

2014-01-30T18:10:14+00:00January 30th, 2014|Featured|

This morning saw the world light up with hysterical headlines proclaiming the end of days. School holidays would be slashed from 13 to 7 weeks and kids forced to spend 9 hours a day in school. The Sun: Tories plan to keep kids in school nine hours a day, 45 weeks a year The Mirror: Conservatives mull forcing children to attend school between 9am and 6pm EVERY DAY for 45 weeks a year Daily Mail: Schools could open from 9am to 6pm for 45 weeks a year in move aimed to slash cost of childcare and stop the 'summer slideback' The Guardian: Lengthen school days [...]

Are all difficulties desirable?

2013-10-05T11:07:37+01:00October 5th, 2013|Featured|

I was aghast to read an extract from Malcolm Gladwell's new book, David And Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits And The Art Of Battling Giants in The Guardian yesterday. Not because it's bad, but because it's the book I wanted to write! Or rather, it's not. The David & Goliath metaphor is intriguing, but not really what I'm interested in. What got my heart rate up was an oblique reference to Professor Bjork's work on 'desirable difficulties'. This extract from David and Goliath is, for the most part, about dyslexia. In it Gladwell contends that adversity creates conditions for surprising greatness: Conventional wisdom holds that a disadvantage is something that [...]

Grit vs Flow – what's better for learning?

2013-03-04T23:14:42+00:00March 4th, 2013|Featured, myths|

At least it wasn't Brain Gym! Bugger! Having just put up a new classroom display exhorting the benefits of 'flow' and using the idea in training materials, I have just had this thrust in front of my slack jawed face by my new bête noire, Alex Quigley! (NB: this is not true - Alex is a thoroughly decent chap, and a man I admire greatly.) I've been fascinated by the idea of 'flow' since reading Mihály Csíkszentmihályi's book some years ago. The idea is that if you're totally immersed in the experience of performing a task you will perform it [...]

Deliberating about practice

2013-08-22T12:54:21+01:00April 22nd, 2012|learning|

Should learning be fun? A few years ago I remember saying that was all learning should be. If you weren't enjoying it, why on earth would you do it? But now I'm not so sure. One of the most frequently used (and abused) buzz words in education over recent years is 'engagement'. Now, I'm not suggesting that students shouldn't be engaged in their lessons but I would urge you to check the definition of the word. To engage means either "to occupy the attention or efforts of a person" or, "to attract and hold fast". For a dissenting view on engagement [...]

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