Guy Claxton - The Learning Power Approach: Teaching Learners to Teach Themselves

In person, Guy Claxton balances the precision of academia with the warmth and wit of our most beloved teachers. He challenges, engages, and inspires in equal measure. It is the same when he writes; he transforms complexities of learning into recommendations that are both inviting and inspirational, and he does so without ever losing the subtlety of nuance or culture. He is the perfect critical friend, and The Learning Power Approach is the exemplary handbook.

James Nottingham, Author

The Learning Challenge: How to Guide Your Students Through the Learning Pit

Northumberland, United Kingdom

We have to radically reimagine education if were going to fulfill the potential of todays students as leaders who will address our increasingly global challenges. The Learning Power Approach is a valuable map not just to student success but also to a more peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable planet.

Steven Farr, Executive Director

Global Learning Lab at Teach For All

Washington, DC

The Learning Power Approach helps to validate a belief that the subjective goal of education should be about the liberation of the self, freeing us to choose our own essence in life. This book helps to emphasize optimal learning for all students.

Ken Austin, Associate Professor

Stephen F. Austin State University

Nacogdoches, TX

Guy Claxton challenges the traditional approaches to learning that exist in so many of our schools and presents a compelling and practical strategy to foster authentic thinking and learning for all. The Learning Power Approach is rooted in the belief that we must move beyond systems that categorize and judge people merely on their ability to do well in exams and tests, or learning that promotes the myth of the one right answerto cultures that focus on the cultivation of the confidence and capacity to be a good learner. Claxton identifies and describes the diverse variety of strengths essential to successful learning and presents practical approaches to make these a priority.

This is a great book. It is a must-read for those who understand the uniqueness of abilities in all of their students and would like to set in play a culture of learning that makes this flourisha culture of learning that is inclusive and personal.

Peter Gamwell, Author

The Wonder Wall

Ottawa, Ontario

Reading this book was a joy. As a writer, Claxton is beautifully able to express the whats, whys, and hows of the learning power approach. His argument is urgent, but it is expressed with great warmth, making it a compelling read. Claxtons work has just the right mix of accessibility and challenge.

Central to the Learning Power Approach is the belief that it is every teachers responsibility to nurture the student as learner and to grow learners who are mind fit. Learning itself is learnable! I challenge any teacher to read this and not come away questioning their practice and inspired to tweak their classroom spaces, language, and the way they design lessons. Reading this book will help teachers understand more clearly the way every lesson, every day gradually shapes the way students see themselves as learners and their understanding of the process of learning itself. This is the beauty of the Learning Power Approach. It is not a program, not a subject, not an add-onit is something all teachers can integrate into their practice on a daily basis. Claxtons work helps us notice what lies beneath the surface of our teaching and to attend much more closely to the way we shape dispositions and attitudes to learning. As an ardent inquirer, I found the Wondering section at the end of each chapter particularly stimulating. These wonderings would be a great way to prompt conversation and action among teachers, making it a marvelous text for rich, collaborative conversations across an entire school community.

Claxton often uses the metaphor of a coach to describe the work of teachers using the Learning Power Approach, and there are some fascinating and helpful case studies of such coaches in action throughout the text. After reading this book, I feel as if I have spent time with one of the very best learning coaches there is. I can already envisage