Guy Claxton

PROFILE

Guy Claxton has been influencing the way in which we think about learning and about children as learners over several decades. He is perhaps currently best known for his work on Building Learning Power, but this is by no means the only important work he has done.

LINKS

Gardner

Theories about how children learn to talk

Wells

His life

During the 1970s and 1980s Guy Claxton was involved in teacher education in London. For many years he has been the Professor of the Learning Sciences at Bristol University. His writing and theories reflect his interest in lifelong learning and concern for global, environmental, political, economic and spiritual issues. His training in psychotherapy and interest in Buddhism are indicative of the wide range of interests and expertise which he brings to his writing and research.

His writing

Claxton is a prolific writer and the titles of his work often reflect his challenging views. His best-selling and perhaps best known book is Hare Brain Tortoise Mind - why intelligence increases when you think less which was first published in 1997. Other titles include What’s the point of school? (2008) and Wise up! learning to live the learning life (1999). Claxton’s writing is not always an easy read but it is rewarding and worth persevering with.

His theories

Claxton’s theories have spanned many decades and are very wide-ranging. Key elements include:

Intuition - much of Claxton’s earlier writing focused on the role of intuition in work with children. He describes intuition as one ‘way of knowing’, a common theme of his writing. He suggests that intuition involves expertise, judgment, sensitivity, creativity and rumination. These factors together contribute to practitioners’ ability to reflect, which he suggests can be harnessed and developed but which will wither if neglected or ignored.

Slow ways of knowing - this is a term which Claxton coined in his book Hare Brain Tortoise Mind. In that book he suggests that the default mode for modern-day thinking is fast and unreflective - hare brain. He highlights the importance of allowing other ways of thinking - the tortoise mind - to thrive. He underlines, citing several research studies, the way in which too much conscious thinking and too little rumination can undermine perception and understanding. He describes a study undertaken by Jerome Singer (a well-know play theorist). Subjects were asked to select a square from range of squares in front of them that matched a square placed at some distance from them. When the same people were asked not simply to select the appropriate square but to pretend that they had bet on getting the right answer, their performance went down. In a similar study, people were asked to undertake an eye test. When asked to undertake the eye test as part of pretending to be a pilot, subjects did very much better. In each case the amount of pressure, anxiety and frustration felt by people involved in the study affected their performance.

Learnacy - Claxton has chosen this term in an ironic way - saying that he would never want to see it used in planning. He chose it to echo the undue emphasis which he believes is placed on literacy and numeracy at the expense of learning in general. He suggests that 4Rs are involved in exercising the brain:

The building blocks of learning power - Claxton identifies eight building blocks:

Creativity - Claxton has written widely on this subject and writes in a no-nonsense style about ways in which practitioners can support it. In an article on his website (see details below) he explodes a number of myths about creativity, reminding readers that creativity is not always comfortable but that it isn’t wacky or solitary. It does not have one special place in the brain and is not easy to assess. He links it to ‘slow ways of knowing’ by reminding us that often creative ideas have to be put on a back burner and left to bubble up in our ‘intelligent unconscious’.

He goes on to suggest that there are 8 ‘I’s to creativity:

Putting the theory into practice

Claxton writes about all phases of education and age groups but the philosophies he demonstrates in his writing apply very effectively to young children. The common themes that he highlights are in line with many other early childhood philosophies. His theories build on the key characteristics of young learners - curiosity, imagination, and exploration.

By reducing complex ideas to short phrases and individual words Claxton supports practitioners in taking on his complex ideas. Promoting the 4Rs, the 8Is or the 8 building blocks of learning may seem daunting - but perhaps taking on a single idea such as giving children the time and space they need for slow ways of knowing or encouraging them to develop a full range of sensory and physical learning approaches may be more your style!

His influence

Claxton has the ability to make what are essentially esoteric and sometimes difficult ideas accessible. His work is known and used in a number of schools - not only in this country but in Australia and New Zealand. Changing the minds of politicians and policy makers is no easy matter but perhaps Claxton’s influence comes from the fact that he enables practitioners to find a voice. The ideas that he proposes such as slow ways of knowing make common sense to practitioners - appeal to their intuitions which in turn arise from their knowledge of children.

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Comment

Claxton’s work challenges many popular and political ideas of effective education. Traditionalists and policy makers often believe that quick-fixes are needed and that the disappointing results achieved in many schools can be reversed by going ‘back to basics’. This means that Claxton’s messages are not always welcomed by politicians and officials who believe that tighter targets are all that is needed to improve learning. It is all too easy to make ideas, such as Building Learning Power or ‘slow ways of knowing’, sound woolly - but that does not mean that they are without substance or value.

A second criticism is of a rather different nature. It comes from those who support Claxton’s ideas, but who dislike the way they are marketed to draw in business interests. For this group of critics Claxton’s work can feel like a sell-out, as they believe that important educational ideas such as this should be free from financial motives. If asked, Claxton might maintain that this is a valid and effective way to get important messages across to influential people who need to hear and understand what he has to say about children, schools and learning. The personal integrity reflected in so much of Claxton’s writing suggests that this may be the case.

Claxton, in common with Howard Gardner and Susan Greenfield, is critical of the current focus on learning styles. He suggests that the acronym for Visual-Auditory-Kinaesthetic learning (VAK) actually stands for vacuous! Gardner, Claxton and Greenfield all indicate that different learning situations demand different learning approaches and that all human learning involves the merging of different sensory inputs. This is particularly relevant to practitioners working with very young children who need to develop a wide range of approaches to learning since, in the foundation stage, they are laying foundations of all later learning in the brain. All young children are and should be encouraged to be ‘kinaesthetic’ learners. Effective learning at this stage must involve physical action as well as exploration of texture, shape and form. In addition, children must be developing ways of seeing and hearing that inform all of their learning.

Points for reflection

References

www.buildinglearningpower.co.uk

Hare Brain Tortoise Mind Guy Claxton (Basic Books 1997)

Wise up! Learning to Live the Learning Life Guy Claxton (Bloomsbury Network Press 1999)

What’s the point of school? Guy Claxton (One World Publications 2008)

Where to find out more

www.guyclaxton.com

Creativity, Wisdom and Trusteeship Anna Craft et al (eds) (Harvard Business School Press 2008)

The Intuitive Practitioner Terry Atkinson and Guy Claxton (eds) (Open University Press 2000) (see chapter 2)