Re-purposing Learning for Examinations

As teachers, we tend to be more about the WHAT rather than the HOW of learning.

No point in a child’s learning journey is more critical to their future than the preparation for the examinations. At the point that they most require your support and input, they are left to study independently.

The information they are required to learn may not change drastically, but the way that they go about mastering it can be radically re-purposed to give them the best opportunity to fulfil their potential in the examination.

Re-Examining Success has been the first opportunity I have had to bring over thirty years of research and development in effective learning in secondary schools together in a single volume. The processes and approaches developed in the book are based on my own learning experiences of both failure and success and the development of presentations, tips and techniques for individual pupils, and for whole school systems.

You will notice that I have not used the term revision so far. I don’t believe in revision. Revision suggests it is a separate learning process to what has preceded it over the span of the course. Making the course and the ensuing examination part of a unified system is the best guarantor of the success of the pupil and the school.

In the book, I show how this can be achieved in terms of pupil motivation and technique, vital background knowledge about key parameters of learning and systematic preparation, collaborations and rehearsal. For example, not understanding the role of Ebbinghaus in your examination preparation means that pupils are left thinking they are taking part in a single-stage memory test, rather than a three-stage acquisition, retention and recall process for effective learning.

The elements presented in the book have been tried and tested in schools nationally, subject to peer review in academic articles, and further refined into an implementable process for your school. I am available to support you if you require.

The page above is the introduction to Chapter 9 which begins the exploration of the extended learning process. Chapter 10 looks at personalising revision and Chapter 11 at a more unusual twist which will pay great dividends – and that is socialising revision. Socialising revision involves taking advantage of the motivational impact of sharing online in a structured way to improve techniques. The mere act of having to edit and select information for an audience of peers makes the pupil much more actively involved in the essential learning process.

Re-Examining Success is available now at Critical Publishing, Amazon and all good bookshops.

About educationalist04

I'm convinced we can, as a species, do much better than this if we set our minds to being much more positive and productive towards our fellow humans. The solution is learning - creating independent and autonomous learners who can problem solve, innovate and create a better more equitable and sustainable world. My books, Future Proof Your School and Re-Examining Success together with this blog, explore how better learning outcomes for all can be achieved.

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