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Improvisation for Conflict Resolution
Expanding the Capacity to Learn: A new end for education? (open access)
by Guy Claxton - University of Bristol, Graduate School of Education. Opening Keynote Address, British Educational Research Association Annual Conference 6 September 2006 - Warwick University All rights reserved. "All skills will become obsolete except one, the skill of being able to make the right response to situations that are outside the scope of what you were taught in school. We need to produce people who know how to act when they are faced with situations for which they were not specifically prepared." Seymour Papert, 1998 "One of the core functions of twenty-first century education is learning to learn in preparation for a lifetime of change." David Miliband, 2003 Introduction As the quotations show, the idea that 'expanding the capacity to learn' might be a goal of education has been around for some time. Being an effective learner, they have argued, is not just a means - enabling students to learn more knowledge more efficiently - but a valuable end. In the last few years, the idea has gathered more momentum. A variety of labels have been used - learning skills, learning to learn, developing positive learning dispositions. Some of these only go as far as developing hints and tips that will help students organise, retain and retrieve examinable information. But for many, the ambition is greater. There is a widespread belief that being an effective, powerful real-life learner is a useful thing to be; and that twenty-first century education should be aiming to help young people develop this generic capacity to learn.
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