The ecology of learning: factors contributing to learner‐centred classroom cultures

This paper reports on a cross‐sectional case study designed to explore the relationships between learner‐centred variables in five schools from Years 5–9. The variables examined were elicited through three self‐evaluation tools: (a) students' self reports of their learning power measured on seven dimensions of ‘changing and learning’, ‘meaning making’, ‘critical curiosity’, ‘creativity’, ‘learning relationships’, ‘strategic awareness’ and ‘resilience’; (b) students' perceptions of their teachers' learner‐centred practices, based on ‘teachers' ability to create positive interpersonal relationships’, to ‘honour student voice’, to ‘stimulate higher‐order thinking’ and to ‘cater for individual differences’; and (c) students' perception of their schools as emotionally literate places, that is schools which enable students to interact in a way that builds understanding of their own and others' emotions and then to use this understanding to shape their actions. These three sets of variables were compared with student attainment based on teachers' assessment of National Curriculum levels in English, maths and science. These data suggest that there is a complex ecology of learning in schools and classrooms which works to promote or inhibit higher achievement, and which can also predict attainment. We argue that: learning power seems to be a form of consciousness characterised by particular values, attitudes and dispositions, with a lateral and a temporal connectivity. It is powerfully influenced by the learning relationships within which individuals find themselves, particularly with their teacher and with key people in their school community. These three self‐evaluation tools in this study provided a way of enabling learners to become agents of their own learning, and, to some extent, of their learning environment. The ELLI learning profiles in particular are being taken up by a range of LEAs and schools, as well as other learning contexts.

Keywords

• Learning power,
• Learner‐centred practices,
• Emotional literacy,
• Attainment,
• Learning ecology,
• Classroom culture