It was his eyes that told me. I’d asked him, this Year 9 kid, who was clearly bored yet beautifully compliant, going about the task
“What would you like to do that would make the learning engaging, interesting, worth caring about?
His answer
”I don’t know. Whatever.”
How many of you have heard that reply before? I bet you’ve asked a version of that question.
It’s such a stupid question to ask
It took this kid’s eyes to make me realise this. He knows he has no say. He knows whatever he thinks isn’t worth saying. His answer - whatever - isn’t an indication of his lack of vim and vigour. It’s a reflection of his acceptance he has no power, that his world and the world of school are not related. He knows that his job is to do what’s asked of him and avoid trouble.
Keep your head down and get out alive
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Margaret Carr and her learning dispositions framework, the idea that for learning to actually happen a learner must be
Ready
Willing
AND
Able
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been in plenty of situations where I may have been able to do something, but was unwilling - mostly due to feeling uncomfortable. This is important. Willingness is a response to culture, the tone of a place, how it feels. And it takes on an increased importance when what is being asked is for a learner to take real risks, to push themselves, be adventurous.
Not everywhere, but too often, willingness is disregarded. Not everywhere, but too often, a warped version of the dispositions takes place
Turn up
Suck it up
Measure up
That’s all the kid I asked was willing to do, because it’s what it took for him to get through the day. We can’t pretend that this experience day after day doesn’t have an impact.
Here’s Guy Claxton’s take
James Heckman, Angela Duckworth and others have shown that success in life, as judged by a whole array of socioeconomic indicators, depends more on the possession of certain character traits than on academic qualifications. These include perseverance, curiosity, open-mindedness, intellectual humility, rational scepticism, collaboration, and empathy.
…
Through neglect of this implicit character-shaping, schools can turn out young people, with good or bad results, who are, for example,
Timid, compliant, and dependent, or
Glib, smug, arrogant and intellectually pugnacious, or
Defeated, resentful, anti-social and anti-intellectual
Assessment for growth means attending to dispositions
If growth is what we’re after, we need to attend to the data that helps us know where to focus our efforts. Assessment for judgement focuses soley on the academic, which from a dispositional standpoint is ‘able’ - what the kid can do. But maybe that’s not the sticking point.
Maybe learner growth will accelerate if the culture makes them feel willing to put themselves out there, persevere, be curious and open-minded, collaborate.
So, what have you noticed about the willingness of your students? That’s data, and it’s just as important as data about what a kid is able to do. It’s data that, if attended to, will improve student learning.