"'Creating Learning without Limits' takes on one of the most
important issues in education today. In the last decade schools in
England have taken a path towards putting all children into boxes,
attaching a level to their heads and deciding what they are capable
of achieving. This book shows the possibility of a different
educational path, one in which all students are encouraged to
achieve the greatest they can. Importantly the book also documents
ways in which courageous teachers can do this - promoting fair and
engaging learning environments for all students. 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. Our capacity to
respond, both individually and collectively, to its key insights
and messages will profoundly affect not just the quality of our
schools, but of our society for years to come. Engagingly and
eloquently written, it exposes the intellectual bankruptcy and
human destructiveness of widely held concepts of 'ability' and
offers a richly textured, practical account of how one school moved
from 'failure' to OfSTED 'outstanding' by committing itself to the
practicability of a morally inspiring, educationally convincing
alternative.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. It reminds us
why people come into education - to make a difference for children.
To make a deep difference we have to organize education
differently. It describes a school that vibrates with learning in
an atmosphere of deep humanity and care. Its practices are light
years away from the measuring, labelling, targeting, and testing
structures that have become our recent national norm. The school as
a whole community transforms people." 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. The authors
describe new school and classroom practices through which learning
can be transformed. Their argument has influenced government
thinking on the review of the National Curriculum in England. I
urge you to let it influence your thinking too!" Professor Andrew
Pollard, Institute of Education, University of London, UK"This is a
brilliant study of a small and very successful primary school in
Hertfordshire where the teachers have rejected ideas of fixed
innate ability and believe instead in the limitless potential of
all young people. At a time when the Ofsted inspection process
employs dubious and limited notions of 'standards' and
'achievement', it would be good to think that there could be many
more schools like this one showing the way towards a new and
liberating view of human development. 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. It tells the story of a school driven by ambition,
hope and the self-confidence that comes from a profound faith in
the capacity of every child to be a passionate and engaged learner.
This in the face of powerful and societally dominant messages that
explicitly or more insidiously tell a different and more
deterministic tale: that children (and schools) are fit and proper
subjects for classification, measurement and management. And
there's more - the careful scholarship on which this story is based
prevents this book from being merely a description of what happens
when a unique constellation of propitious circumstances meets a
charismatic leader: this 'other way' is open to all who will take
it - but it will demand the laying of solid and value-rich
foundations, the exercising of autonomy for staff and pupils, the
rethinking of relationships, a focus on learning (letting
performance come as a secondary gift), and the taking of collective
action. It's become a cliche to say of a book that it 'Should be
read by every teacher (or parent, or whoever ...).' This one, and
its predecessor 'Learning without Limits' merits that injunction."
Barry Hymer, Professor of Psychology in Education, Education
Faculty, University of Cumbria, UK"'Creating Learning without
Limits' provides a welcome tonic that can help to offset the
beleaguering effects of a performativity and standards agenda that
reinforces the ability based practices so pervasive in schools
today. Building on the compelling pedagogy first presented in
'Learning without Limits', this inspiring book shows how an
alternative school improvement agenda can produce high academic
attainment and enhanced capacity to learn for everybody. 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"If you share the convictions
of the authors: 'That human potential is not predictable, that
children's futures are unknowable, and that education has the power
to enhance the lives of all', read the book! You will however need
to proceed with caution; it will make some ofyou reflect on what
you do and why you are doing it. This book could be the catalyst
for the educational change that we are all praying for." Julie
Lilly, Head Teacher, UKThis 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.
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