Learning in the real world

Reading through Keith Ansell's blog earlier this week took me a little by surprise. He had casually informed me that he had returned to blogging after a bit of a break, but I hadn't realised the extent to which he had 'returned'. He is prolific. He is also very insightful about what some might consider the more mundane aspects of teaching. Keith has commented on several recent lectures, school visits, and on numerous ideas and teaching experiences from his own work. It's a very reflective blog and is quite a treasure trove of content. It has all been generated in the last few weeks.

I particularly enjoyed reading his views on bland and joyless curricula, and how to create learning experiences that are the opposite. Too often teachers find themselves under the cosh when it comes to trying to create experiences that are creative and fulfilling. Some just teach to the test, because they are under such pressure to 'get children through' the content. All the innovative, engaging and exciting experiences go to the wall. Keith draws on his own experience as a former primary school teacher to explore the merits of outdoor education, bee keeping and canoeing.

Another of his recent posts tackles a similar theme. In Filling empty vessels Keith reflects on the work of Comenius and Freire and asks how we can move away from simply stuffing facts into children's heads, to a place where we open up their understanding to the world around them. Keith argues for authentic forms of learning throughout his blog. It's great stuff. Authentic pedagogy for real world learning is an important approach many teachers could adopt more often. I'm off now to blog some more, just to keep up with you Keith!

Photo by Steve Wheeler


Learning in the real world by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.