Building Learning Power (BLP)

The idea of BLP (Building Learning Power) is based on an extensive body of research into learning and the brain, pioneered by the work of Professor Guy Claxton.

https://circleoflifetraining.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Building-Learning-Power-Guy-Claxton.pdf

At The Gateway Primary Academy, we use BLP (Building Learning Power) to create a culture in classrooms – and in the school more widely – that cultivates habits and attitudes that enable our children to become better learners; face difficulty and uncertainty calmly, confidently and creatively.

What does BLP look like?

Professor Claxton suggests there are four main learning dispositions:

• Resilience- not giving up.
• Resourcefulness- –being able to use a range of learning strategies and knowing what to do when you get stuck,
•  Reflectiveness- being able to think about yourself as a learner and how you might be able to do this better,
• Reciprocity- –being able to learn with and from others, as well as on your own.

These dispositions are then split into seventeen learning ‘muscles’ that the children are encouraged to ‘stretch’ within their everyday lessons and activities and apply to different aspects of their learning.

Building students as powerful learners:

• is based on a coherent picture of what it takes to be a good learner
• capitalises on previous learning-to-learn ideas
• grows a student’s learning character and habits
• develops the appetite and ability to learn in different ways
• transforms the culture of the classroom and the climate of the school
• shifts responsibility for learning to learn from the teacher to the learner
• engages teachers and students creatively as researchers in learning
• gives schools the opportunity to track students’ learning development

What effect will developing students’ learning behaviours have?

• raised achievement
• improved behaviour
• increased motivation
• supple learning minds
• increased enjoyment in learning
• established habits of lifelong learning
• enhanced creativity

This means that at our school we promote BLP by:

• Using BLP language that promotes learning across the school and its community.
• pupils become confident and fluent in using the language of learning to describe and understand themselves as learners in a wide range of contexts
• Embedding BLP skills and behaviours into the curriculum, building them into the design of lessons and using them to motivate pupils to improve.
• Displaying and celebrating BLP skills and behaviours regularly in the classroom.
• Encouraging pupils to reflect on and articulate their growth as powerful, independent, learners.
• Working in partnership with parents/carers to develop positive learning behaviours in pupils.

Further reading

The Learning Powered School: Pioneering 21st Century Education—By Claxton, Chambers, Powell & Lucas (2013)

 Building Learning Power—By Claxton (2002)

 Building 101 Ways to Learning Power—By Chambers, Powell & Claxton (2005)

Building Learning Power in Action—By Gornall, Chambers & Claxton (2005)

Learning Habits: At a Glance Cards—Available to buy and download from www.buildinglearningpower.co.uk (2015)