Transforming Learning and Teaching

`Transforming Learning and Teaching is well worth reading. The story of five schools acting together to improve what they do is a heroic and admirable one, especially in the present climate. The pressure to comply with prevailing orthodoxy, rather than devise orginal treatments, has been too strong for many to act with the same courage and insight as the five Redbridge schools, but it can be done with enthusiasm and integrity, as these teachers, heads and pupils show′ - Ted Wragg, The Times Educational Supplement, Friday Magazine

`Rigorous, realistic, accessible and eye-opening - this book ought to be at the well-thumbed heart of any primary school where building children′s "learning power" is a genuine priority′ - Guy Claxton, Professor of the Learning Sciences, University of Bristol

This book shows how a group of primary schools transformed their learning and teaching. The authors share the practical strategies the schools used for supporting and enhancing

- children′s learning

- teachers′ learning

- the schools′ capacity for learning.

They show how the focus on learning led to significant improvements in children′s motivation, behaviour, engagement in learning and learning outcomes.

This book reminds us that there is more to education than a narrow concentration on target setting and league tables. Based on an action research project in which five schools focused on developing children′s learning and thinking skills, it tells how the schools committed themselves to inclusive education and the provision of a broad curriculum. Through this commitment, the schools enabled young people to develop their confidence, their self esteem and the attitudes needed to become lifelong learners.

The authors describe what worked and draw out the main lessons for: children teachers; support staff; headteachers; parents; external consultants.

This book is for school leaders at all levels and for practising teachers. It will also be useful to student teachers, those who work with schools in an advisory capacity and those involved with school improvement, educational leadership and developing learning and teaching in the classroom.