Mary Jane Drummond

This book tells the story of how one primary school community worked to build a learning environment that is inclusive, humane and enabling for everybody, a place free from the damaging effects of fixed ability thinking and practices. Drawing on compelling accounts of everyday life in the school, it describes how, in just a few years, the school (once in special measures) grew into a thriving community, with distinctive views of learning, curriculum and pedagogy, monitoring and accountability that found expression in every aspect of school life.The work of the school community was guided by the findings of a previous project, 'Learning without Limits' (Hart, Dixon, Drummond and McIntyre 2004), an empirical study of the classroom practice of individual teachers who had rejected the concept of fixed ability. 'Creating Learning without Limits' explores what becomes possible when the same ideas and principles are used creatively to guide and inspire whole school improvement. This book is not simply a celebration of the success of the school; it engages with the struggles and difficulties encountered by the staff as they set about learning to reshape pedagogy and curriculum by reference to their shared values of inclusion, social justice and human educability. It gives a detailed analysis of how the headteacher harnessed the power of collective action.The insights generated by this study have enduring relevance and applicability to people in other contexts - for staff groups craving for more equitable school improvement; for individual teachers wondering how best to foster children's learning capacity; for school leaders and teacher educators who find their values increasingly compromised."'Creating Learning without Limits' takes on one of the most important issues in education today... This is a must-read for educators, policy makers and parents alike."Jo Boaler, Professor of Mathematics Education, Stanford University, California. Formerly a teacher and researcher at the Universities of London and Sussex."This will undoubtedly turn out to be amongst the most important educational books of the decade...If you want to know why 'the standards agenda' must inevitably fail and what we might do instead, read this book."Professor Michael Fielding, Institute of Education, University of London, UK"This is an inspiring and reviving book."Anne Watson, Professor of Mathematics Education, University of Oxford, UK"This book provides a grounded demonstration of the importance of educational principles, the most important of which is the understanding that each child's potential for learning is limitless... I urge you to let it influence your thinking too!"Professor Andrew Pollard, Institute of Education, University of London, UK"The book deserves a really wide readership."Professor Clyde Chitty, Institute of Education, University of London, UK"This book is slim in size but hefty in significance."Barry Hymer, Professor of Psychology in Education, Education Faculty, University of Cumbria, UK"A classic for our time, it should be read by all who seek approaches to teaching and learning that are free from externally imposed views of ability and potential.”Professor Lani Florian, School of Education, University of Aberdeen, UK"This book could be the catalyst for the educational change that we are all praying for."Julie Lilly, Head Teacher, UK

"It is my sincere wish that the teachers of those thousands of children, who increasingly are also teacher educators, read and learn from Assessing Children’s Learning. The hope is that they will go on to make a reality of the ‘imaginary but not impossible classroom’ and make moral judgements and choices in the best interests of children." - Sue Swaffield, Senior Lecturer - Educational Leadership and School Improvement, University of Cambridge, UK "Not all education books are worth a tired teacher’s spare time. This one is." - Times Educational Supplement, from a review of the first editionNow featuring a brand new foreword by Sue Swaffield, this classic text, Assessing Children’s Learning, examines some of the vital questions that teachers and other educators ask themselves as they assess children’s learning across the curriculum. The author sets out to offer an alternative to objective, mechanical approaches to assessment; she defines assessment as a process in which teachers look at children’s learning, strive to understand it, and then put their understanding to good use in the classroom where children are given both trust and freedom to learn. Throughout the book, teachers are invited to consider the choices they make in the process of assessment, and to acknowledge their right, their responsibility and their power to act in the interests of children.Now part of the Routledge Education Classic Edition Series, this influential, inspiring and timely book will introduce the ideas of Mary Jane Drummond to a new generation of teachers, practitioners and other education professionals.

"It is my sincere wish that the teachers of those thousands of children, who increasingly are also teacher educators, read and learn from Assessing Children’s Learning. The hope is that they will go on to make a reality of the ‘imaginary but not impossible classroom’ and make moral judgements and choices in the best interests of children." - Sue Swaffield, Senior Lecturer - Educational Leadership and School Improvement, University of Cambridge, UK "Not all education books are worth a tired teacher’s spare time. This one is." - Times Educational Supplement, from a review of the first editionNow featuring a brand new foreword by Sue Swaffield, this classic text, Assessing Children’s Learning, examines some of the vital questions that teachers and other educators ask themselves as they assess children’s learning across the curriculum. The author sets out to offer an alternative to objective, mechanical approaches to assessment; she defines assessment as a process in which teachers look at children’s learning, strive to understand it, and then put their understanding to good use in the classroom where children are given both trust and freedom to learn. Throughout the book, teachers are invited to consider the choices they make in the process of assessment, and to acknowledge their right, their responsibility and their power to act in the interests of children.Now part of the Routledge Education Classic Edition Series, this influential, inspiring and timely book will introduce the ideas of Mary Jane Drummond to a new generation of teachers, practitioners and other education professionals.

Learning how to learn is an essential preparation for lifelong learning. Whilst this is widely acknowledged by teachers, they have lacked a rich professional knowledge base from which they can teach their pupils how to learn. This book makes a major contribution to the creation of such a professional knowledge base for teachers by building on previous work associated with ‘formative assessment’ or ‘assessment for learning’ which has a strong evidence base, and is now being promoted nationally and internationally. However, it adds an important new dimension by reporting the conditions within schools, and across networks of schools, that are conducive to the promotion, in classrooms, of learning how to learn as an extension of assessment for learning. There is a companion book, Learning How to Learn in Classrooms: Tools for schools (also available from Routledge), which provides practical resources for those teachers looking to put into practice the principles covered in this book.

Learning how to learn is an essential preparation for lifelong learning. Whilst this is widely acknowledged by teachers, they have lacked a rich professional knowledge base from which they can teach their pupils how to learn. This book makes a major contribution to the creation of such a professional knowledge base for teachers by building on previous work associated with ‘formative assessment’ or ‘assessment for learning’ which has a strong evidence base, and is now being promoted nationally and internationally. However, it adds an important new dimension by reporting the conditions within schools, and across networks of schools, that are conducive to the promotion, in classrooms, of learning how to learn as an extension of assessment for learning. There is a companion book, Learning How to Learn in Classrooms: Tools for schools (also available from Routledge), which provides practical resources for those teachers looking to put into practice the principles covered in this book.

"The style and language used by the authors make the book readable and therefore a book that practising teachers can actively use as a guide to improve their practice ...it is amply demonstrated that teaching can and should be an activity whose primary focus is to enhance students' learning capacity and not limit it." Journal of Inservice EducationWhy do some teachers insist on teaching without recourse to judgements about ability?What are the key principles on which they draw as they organize and provide for learning?What is the significance of their alternative approach for classrooms in the 21st century?This book explores ways of teaching that are free from determinist beliefs about ability. In a detailed critique of the practices of ability labelling and ability-focussed teaching, Learning without Limits examines the damage these practices can do to young people, teachers and the curriculum. Drawing on a research project at the University of Cambridge, the book features nine vivid case studies (from Year 1 to Year 11) that describe how teachers have developed alternative practices despite considerable pressure on them and on their schools and classrooms.The authors analyze these case studies and identify the key concept of transformability as a distinguishing feature of these teachers' approach. They construct a model of pedagogy based on transformability: the mind-set that children's futures as learners are not pre-determined, and that teachers can help to strengthen and ultimately transform young people's capacity to learn through the choices they make. The book shows how transformability-based teaching can play a central role in constructing an alternative improvement agenda.This book will inspire teachers, student teachers, lecturers and policy makers, as well as everyone who has a stake in how contemporary education and practice affect children's future lives and life chances.