Abstract

This seminar will look at what we know about acquiring expertise in diverse areas, such as sport and music and seek to apply it to education, particularly to classroom teaching.

Challenging the widely-held belief that excellence is the result of innate ability, Gordon Stobart’s research, published in his new book, The Expert Learner, shows how ability is developed through applied learning and deliberate practice.

Drawing on studies about expertise, The Expert Learner highlights the importance of:

• Providing opportunities and support to develop skills
• Being motivated to succeed
• Undergoing extensive deliberate practice
• Building powerful mental models to handle and organise information
• Receiving continuous and effective feedback to improve performance
• Developing self-regulation to monitor performance

“If I were to recommend just one book that all teachers, parents, employers and politicians who are interested in education should read, it would be this one. Not only is it full of engaging stories, underpinned by important research, but it goes to the very heart of what it is to be a successful learner and effective teacher.”

Professor Mary James, University of Cambridge, UK

All welcome. Free to attend.