How can we help our students become expert learners?

Dr Robert Massey has experience in teaching History and Politics in private schools, prisons and universities. His contrasting teaching experiences reinforced his belief that anyone has the potential to become an expert learner. The author of From Able to Remarkable: Help your students become expert learners, shares more on the techniques he uses with his secondary school pupils to foster expert learners.

How can educators create deeper learning experiences and foster expert learners?
In my book From Able to Remarkable (Crown House Publishing 2019) I write about the idea of pupils becoming expert learners. If we want deeper learning experiences, by which I understand more long-lasting and meaningful experiences, we can’t just look at teaching. The modelling which teachers display, as Ron Berger showed us in An Ethic of Excellence, can be modelled in turn by pupils: adults lead, students learn, students lead. Giving children the chance to become more self-aware learners is, for me, vital in moving learning forward in any context or subject.

What made you decide to write From Able to Remarkable and what issues does it address?
I wrote this book because I had to. There is very little available for educators who want to stretch and challenge what are often called ‘gifted and talented’ pupils. Since those are the pupils I see every day, I wrote it for myself and my colleagues. The book draws on evidence from behavioural psychology, as summarised by for example Daniel Willingham in his book Why Don’t Students Like School? and by research evidence drawn from experts such as Professor Dylan Wiliam in Creating the Schools Our Children Need. But evidence only helps to a certain degree. The other key ‘evidence’ is classroom practice, so I’ve drawn on skills and techniques adopted by colleagues which work on a Friday afternoon — the toughest test of all!
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What approach can teachers take to create context-specific strategies to support expert learners?
First, hook yourself into a community of educators and learners so that you don’t feel alone. Whether this is in your college or school, or via social media such as Twitter (which personally I find very useful), there are certainly other educators looking at the same issues and problems as you are and trying to find solutions. Secondly, dip into some of the many blogs or a book or two which looks relevant to what you are doing and see what you can take from it. Finally, be yourself. It’s no good modelling yourself on a brilliant educator such as Doug Lemov. Your students would love to know more about you (within reason!) and your learning experiences. I think all educators should be looking at excellence for their own children and their classes. No one will consistently set that standard for you so you will have to do it yourself, so be sure that you know what excellence looks like and aim for it.

Effective leadership starts in every classroom and should not be left to the senior leadership team: setting the bar high, making boundaries clear but applying sanctions flexibly and with recognition of the difficult learning journey some pupils face offers some hope of addressing challenging behaviour. Educators and schools who have unconditional positive regard for their students will never go far wrong in tackling lack of motivation and poor behaviour.

Connect with Dr Robert Massey on Twitter: @DoctorMassey