Creating Learning without Limits

Mandy Swann · Alison Peacock · Susan Hart · Mary Jane Drummond

pri 2012 · McGraw-Hill Education (UK)

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This book tells the story of how one primary school community worked to build a learning environment that is inclusive, humane and enabling for everybody, a place free from the damaging effects of fixed ability thinking and practices. Drawing on compelling accounts of everyday life in the school, it describes how, in just a few years, the school (once in special measures) grew into a thriving community, with distinctive views of learning, curriculum and pedagogy, monitoring and accountability that found expression in every aspect of school life.

The work of the school community was guided by the findings of a previous project, 'Learning without Limits' (Hart, Dixon, Drummond and McIntyre 2004), an empirical study of the classroom practice of individual teachers who had rejected the concept of fixed ability. 'Creating Learning without Limits' explores what becomes possible when the same ideas and principles are used creatively to guide and inspire whole school improvement. This book is not simply a celebration of the success of the school; it engages with the struggles and difficulties encountered by the staff as they set about learning to reshape pedagogy and curriculum by reference to their shared values of inclusion, social justice and human educability. It gives a detailed analysis of how the headteacher harnessed the power of collective action.

The insights generated by this study have enduring relevance and applicability to people in other contexts - for staff groups craving for more equitable school improvement; for individual teachers wondering how best to foster children's learning capacity; for school leaders and teacher educators who find their values increasingly compromised.

"'Creating Learning without Limits' takes on one of the most important issues in education today... This is a must-read for educators, policy makers and parents alike."

Jo Boaler, Professor of Mathematics Education, Stanford University, California. Formerly a teacher and researcher at the Universities of London and Sussex.

"This will undoubtedly turn out to be amongst the most important educational books of the decade...If you want to know why 'the standards agenda' must inevitably fail and what we might do instead, read this book."

Professor Michael Fielding, Institute of Education, University of London, UK

"This is an inspiring and reviving book."

Anne Watson, Professor of Mathematics Education, University of Oxford, UK

"This book provides a grounded demonstration of the importance of educational principles, the most important of which is the understanding that each child's potential for learning is limitless... I urge you to let it influence your thinking too!"

Professor Andrew Pollard, Institute of Education, University of London, UK

"The book deserves a really wide readership."

Professor Clyde Chitty, Institute of Education, University of London, UK

"This book is slim in size but hefty in significance."

Barry Hymer, Professor of Psychology in Education, Education Faculty, University of Cumbria, UK

"A classic for our time, it should be read by all who seek approaches to teaching and learning that are free from externally imposed views of ability and potential.”

Professor Lani Florian, School of Education, University of Aberdeen, UK

"This book could be the catalyst for the educational change that we are all praying for."

Julie Lilly, Head Teacher, UK