[SENco-forum] learning styles

Typical of an ed psych to pooh pooh the learning styles. I have been

I am not critiquing multi sensory approaches, I use them on a daily basis, 
what I am critiquing is yet another educational 'diagnosis' that at present 
does not stand up to empirical scrutiny and probably never will.   Why are 
we always looking for the fault to lie within the child or the learner, we 
should bend our practice to take into account the learner's needs and that 
could be little to do with 'learning styles' but more to do with teaching 
styles.   The problem with learning styles is that the bulk of the data is 
correlational and experimental controls are notable by their absence. 
Correlation is not necessarily causation. Educational research has a 
predilection for qualitative correlational approaches, it shys away from the 
causal.  If you doubt me then read the report of the National Reading Panel 
(2000) and the Brooks report (2002).  Education is full of fads and quick 
fixes that do not work once they are removed from the context in which they 
were developed.  How many school cupboards are full of unused whiz bang 
programmes or worse still programmes that did work but did not fit in with 
the 'pedagogical' philosophy of  practitioners and so learners were denied 
access to what the research says works.  If a medical practitioner ignored 
'best practice' he would soon be up before the GMC.  Education, and that 
includes LEA's HMG, academics and teachers, needs to get its house in order 
and start to take a more rigourous approach to what they do to other peoples 
children with other peoples money.

A case in point, the Government recently trumpeted a £10 million grant 
spread over many LEA's to once again trial Reading Recovery.  This despite a 
whole slew of reports that questioned the effects of reading recovery and 
the fact that it faded so that 3 years later the 'recovered' children were 
no further forward than similar children who had not been recovered, see 
Shanahan & Barr (1995). Other research has questioned the ways in which 
progress was measured. which basically was that it taught to the test, those 
who failed or were unlikely to progress were dropped from the statistics, 
all very ethical I am sure.  I do not know what the cost per 'recovered' 
child is in the UK, in the US a cost of $10,000 per child was given.  The 
approach used in RR has been refuted by the Rose Report (paid for by the 
government = the taxpayer) and yet the same department that paid for and 
responded to the Rose Report by altering the early literacy curriculum is 
spending £10M on RR which uses a curriculum and approaches that go against 
their own advice, as the say in the US - go figure.

As to the chalk face, well I am there too with children and adults on a 
regular basis.  With the adults I am working with those who have, to some 
extent or another, been through the education system and still cannot read 
and write to a level that will allow them to function adequately in our 
present society.  If we assume a cost of say £3,000 per year for education 
and 10 years in it then £30,000 has been spent with little return.  Try that 
in a business setting and see how long you last.

You say you have some difficult pupils, well get your school to pay my 
travel and living expenses for a week (B&B is fine) and I will do you a demo 
for your poorest readers at no additional cost. I taught in Herts many years 
ago.   If I get results then you can buy me in at local EP rates and I will 
train up 4 of your staff to deliver the programme.   It is awfully simple to 
learn and deliver, nothing very high tech involved although I am working on 
porting it to a PC as all schools have them in abundance.

As to typical EP, well I am not your typical EP as several of my ex 
employers will no doubt confirm.  I left school at 15 with no qualifications 
but a good grounding in literacy and numeracy and no I am not sunken middle 
class, I was born and bred in the less salubrious parts of Glasgow - 
Anderston (the docks) and the Gorbals.   I thank my teachers for what they 
gave me, basic skills and the fact that I was made to work whether I liked 
it or not,  If I was not learning the way they wanted they did something for 
and to me, they did not look for a learning disability or other label to 
explain my failure to learn as they expected.  ust look at theenormous 
expansion of 'Special Education' over the years.  We now have more and more 
'diagnoses'  based on identifying the problem within the child (child 
centred) and the number and variety of diagnoses is increasing. 
Accomodations and amendments are made to provide for these 'conditiions' and 
yet the problems remain. It really is time to dump the medical model.

Until the education system starts to involve rigorous emprical research  we 
are going to go round in circles to the detriment of the population we are 
paid to serve.

There that feels much better.

Philip EP

Shanahan, T. & Barr, R. (1995) "Reading recovery: An independent evaluation 
of the effects of an early instructional intervention for at risk learners". 
Reading Research Quarterly, 30,  p. 958-996.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jane Scaysbrook" <j.scaysbrook at ntlworld.com>
To: "Philip MacMillan" <P.Macmillan at exeter.ac.uk>
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 5:59 PM
Subject: Re: [SENco-forum] learning styles

> Typical of an ed psych to pooh pooh the learning styles. I have been 
> teaching struggling pupils for over 33 years  and have hundreds, nay 
> thousands, of experiences of pupils with strengths in visual, kinaesthetic 
> areas. Perhaps you should get back to the chalk face, or come and work 
> with some of our children .
> Jane
> SENCo Herts.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Philip MacMillan" <P.Macmillan at exeter.ac.uk>
> To: "WrayJanice Wray" <jwwray14 at hotmail.com>; <sen at tringham.net>; "Becta 
> Senco" <senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk>
> Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 11:06 AM
> Subject: Re: [SENco-forum] learning styles
>
>
>>I agree that using concrete materials can help with learning but is it the 
>>materials or the one to one mediation of the learning that is causal
>> Philip EP
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "WrayJanice Wray" <jwwray14 at hotmail.com>
>> To: <sen at tringham.net>; "Becta Senco" <senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk>
>> Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 3:07 AM
>> Subject: RE: [SENco-forum] learning styles
>>
>>
>> do you know, I wish secondary schools (and primary for that matter) kept 
>> out the  'concrete' maths equipment a lot longer - you know, the 
>> centicubes, the multi-link, the base 10 blocks etc - dyslexia schools 
>> keep this sort of thing in the classroom for a long time.
>> It's like using the wooden letters, the squidgy plastic letters, 
>> plasticine to make letters etc that we use  - I can only really use these 
>> things in my 1:1 lessons with struggling readers in the privacy of my 
>> teaching room if I am to spare these children's embarrassment when they 
>> get to secondary schoo. PityJanice Wray Secondary SENCO, Herts
>>
>>
>>
>>> From: SEN at tringham.net> To: senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk> Subject: RE: 
>>> [SENco-forum] learning styles> Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:49:51 +0000> > 
>>> It is easy to mix cognitive & learning styles. Whether they are 
>>> actually> 'learning styles' they are definitely the persons preferred 
>>> way of learning.> For example you have heard that those with APD ( or 
>>> other Speech and> communication issues) have great difficulty listening 
>>> to and understanding> what has been said. As do those with dyslexia 
>>> whose visual processing or> understanding of text has been disrupted. 
>>> These students will definitely> have a preferred way of learning and it 
>>> will not be the more usual classroom> auditory or text based lessons if 
>>> they are to do it efficiently.> > It may be better to sort sheep from 
>>> goats based on VAK than by SEN so that> the students can learn in the 
>>> way that best suits them. Schools are> becoming more multi-sensory but 
>>> it still helps to know predominate learning> preferences. Beyond the VAK 
>>> you have those who want to work alone or in> groups, with or without 
>>> peripheral noise or music playing or those who need> to move or fiddle 
>>> in order to learn.> > It would be impossible to accommodate everything 
>>> all the time, but knowing> why you have success more easily when 
>>> learning in a particular way can help> students work on their weaker 
>>> areas in a positive way as opposed to> attributing their failure solely 
>>> to themselves rather than a serious clash> of 'learning style'. Nobody 
>>> minds working hard if there is something to gain> at the end -but who 
>>> wants to work hard for nothing?> > 'Learning style' makes it sound as if 
>>> there is a choice when for some it is> impossible to get input in & 
>>> sticking in any other way without a huge amount> of effort. A quick 
>>> survey of teachers and EP's would probably find they are> auditory 
>>> learner with good access to text. No wonder it is so hard to> change 
>>> perceptions or ways of working. Many teachers do not take me> seriously 
>>> until they try a few kinaesthetic based strategies be it for> writing, 
>>> reading or spelling etc.,(or other visual or auditory ones) and> find 
>>> the children can suddenly understand the information when presented in> 
>>> a different way. Like smokers, those converted make the best advocates 
>>> for> multisensory teaching or acknowledging that children need different 
>>> forms of> input whether you call that 'learning styles' or not.> > I am 
>>> kinaesthetic. I like visual input, but cannot visualise. I have good> 
>>> auditory skills, but I find it hard to drive if music is playing and I> 
>>> cannot 'hear' the car. I learn instantly by seeing & doing, like real 
>>> life> case studies to make sense of things and rely on tactile feedback 
>>> for touch> typing and particularly cooking. There are no recipes that 
>>> say 'add milk> until the mixture resists in a certain way!'> > Sharon 
>>> Tringham> > PS The local secondary enjoyed spending a day looking at 
>>> this area, sorting> the children into VAK, teaching each group 
>>> appropriately and getting better> attention & responses. Teachers were 
>>> unsure though where to place a child> with severe dyslexia wearing all 
>>> three badges!> As a learning experience it was good for staff & students 
>>> and even if they> couldn't keep it up all the time it made them all more 
>>> aware.> > -----Original Message-----> From: 
>>> senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk> 
>>> [mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk]On Behalf Of Philip> 
>>> MacMillan> Sent: 13 December 2007 10:32> To: Paul and Philippa Bodien; 
>>> senco forum> Subject: Re: [senco-forum] learning styles> > > Before 
>>> spending your money on learning style inventories you might want to> 
>>> look at the work of thise who have critiqued the idea of 'learning 
>>> styles'.> There is really very little in the literature to show that 
>>> they exist and> have a significant effect on learning outcomes.> > 
>>> Philip EP> > > No virus found in this outgoing message.> Checked by AVG 
>>> Free Edition.> Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.17.1/1182 - 
>>> Release Date: 12/12/2007> 11:29> >
>> _________________________________________________________________
>> Free games, great prizes - get gaming at Gamesbox.
>> http://www.searchgamesbox.com
>>
>> ---
>> avast! Antivirus: Inbound message clean.
>> Virus Database (VPS): 071213-0, 13/12/2007
>> Tested on: 14/12/2007 11:01:54
>> avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2007 ALWIL Software.
>> http://www.avast.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ---
>> avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
>> Virus Database (VPS): 071213-0, 13/12/2007
>> Tested on: 14/12/2007 11:06:05
>> avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2007 ALWIL Software.
>> http://www.avast.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
> ---
> avast! Antivirus: Inbound message clean.
> Virus Database (VPS): 071214-0, 14/12/2007
> Tested on: 14/12/2007 21:46:51
> avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2007 ALWIL Software.
> http://www.avast.com
>
>
> 

---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 071214-0, 14/12/2007
Tested on: 14/12/2007 23:12:10
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2007 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com