Guy Claxton - What is school for? - Sussex

In this episode I’m speaking with Professor Guy Claxton. Guy is a cognitive scientist, author and one of education’s foremost experts on practical ways of expanding young people's relationship with and capacity for learning. His most recent book, The Future of Teaching, And the Myths that Hold it Back, a work that seeks to reclaim the nuanced middle ground of teaching that develops both rigorous knowledge and ‘character’, and lay the foundations for a 21st-century education worthy of the name.

We discuss:

1. What 'good thinking' is and why there is a dearth of it in schools

2. What teachers, departments and schools can do to better attend to students' attitudes and dispositions

3. What 'expert amateurism' is and how it would challenge the current paradigm

4. Guy’s 'third way' for education or 'guided discovery’

5. How we go about convincing state schools that academic outcomes aren't everything

6. And finally, whether Guy would advocate for a move away from traditional subjects and move towards a more responsive curriculum

Thanks again to Guy for giving up time in his busy schedule to talking so broadly, passionately and practically about the experiences of students and the changes we need to make to respond to a changing world.

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Links:

Guy’s River of Learning and Teaching visual

Future Wise by David Perkins

How We Learn by Stanislas Dehaene

The Gardner and The Carpenter by Alison Gopnik

Education Outrage by Roger Schank

Teaching Minds by Roger Schank