Learning is learnable!

Educators can explicitly teach not just content, knowledge, and skills, but also the positive habits of the mind that will better prepare students to flourish both in school and later in life. 

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What is The Learning Power Approach? 

The LPA is a way of teaching which aims to develop all students as confident and capable learners - ready, willing, and able to choose, design, research, pursue, troubleshoot, and evaluate learning for themselves, alone and with others, in school and out. 

This approach also affords a clear view of the valued, sought-after outcomes of education - developing character strengths as well as striving for academic success - which underpin everything in the school: the curriculum content, the structure of the timetable, the forms of assessment, communication with parents, and the pedagogical style of every member of staff.  

The Learning Power Approach Series

Rich with practical examples of what teachers and school leaders can do to support our pupils to develop the right mindset for success, The Learning Power Approach is a must-read for all educators who care about ensuring our young people develop the character and resilience to enjoy learning, as well as be great at it. 

- Andy Buck, Founding Director, Leadership Matters

Full of exciting possibilities for those teachers and leaders looking to move beyond the recent focus on passing statutory tests and towards a way of teaching that gives children so much more.

- Aiden Severs, Deputy Head Teacher, Dixons Allerton Academy Primary, UK

In ’Powering Up Students’ Claxton and Powell articulate much-needed clarity about what really matters when educating high school students in the 21st century. Their argument contrasts valuably with a discourse on schooling which tends to be overly focused on shallow and reductive outcomes for young people. Instead, the authors recognise how teachers need an approach that enables and empowers learners to navigate the complexities of modern life.

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Published: April 2020

- Ian Potter, Executive Head Teacher, Bay House School and Sixth Form

An Introduction

Hi there, Guy here. Cognitive Scientist by training and writer of over 30 books on psychology and education. Welcome to my website.

I have a 'double first' in Natural Sciences from Cambridge and a DPhil in Experimental Psychology from Oxford. I am a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, the Academy of Social Sciences, and the Royal Society of Arts. I have also published lots of papers in both technical and popular journals, some of which you can find here.

My research to date reflects my fascination with learning and how people can get better at it.  Whether that be learning in a conventional classroom or seminar, on the sports field, in the therapists consulting room, or on a cushion in a mediation hall. I am interested in what goes on, and the potential for learning that is effective and long-lasting.

This website offers you an opportunity to browse the numerous books I've authored, co-authored or edited, read one of my academic papers from over the years, watch me in action on the ‘media’ page, listen to a podcast, read my blog and find out about my ‘upcoming’ appearances.

To stay up-to-date with my ongoing work around learning, follow me on Twitter, LinkedIN and for enquiries, see the contact options below. 

Enjoy!

My Story

I have a number of strands to my earning and learning life. My academic career has mostly been spent in University Departments of Education, teaching and researching the psychology of learning.  Beginning as a post-doctoral researcher in the University of Oxford Department of Experimental Psychology, I then took up a lectureship in the Psychology of Education in London at the (now UCL) Institute of Education.

Five years later, I moved to Chelsea College Centre for Science and Maths Education, and then to King's College London Department for Educational Studies. Afterward, I was Professor of the Learning Sciences at the University of Bristol Graduate School of Education, and I finished my university career as Research Director of the University of Winchester Centre for Real-World Learning.

Officially, I am now ‘retired’, though I still travel the world giving talks and running workshops, and work as a  Visiting Professor back at King’s College London. During my career, I also worked with the likes of James Lovelock and Fritjof Capra at the Schumacher College for Ecological and Spiritual Studies at Dartington Hall. I have also worked closely with the maverick Buddhist scholar and mediation teacher Stephen Batchelor at the Sharpham Centre for Buddhist Studies. 

You will get a flavour of this diversity from my books, and also from a selection of my engagements over the years:

•   Consultant on education to the Royal Albert Hall

•   Workshop leader for Premier League Youth Football Coaches

•   Lecturer at the Siobhan Davies Dance School and the London College of Fashion

•   Inaugural lecturer at Her Majesty's Treasury Learning Centre

•   Meditation teacher at Atsitsa holiday centre on the Greek island of Skyros (where I met my wife Judith)

•   Consultant to the Centre for Contemplative Education research project on mindfulness in European schools (under the auspices of HH The Dalai Lama)

•   Guest lecturer at the Harvard Learning Innovations Laboratory (LILA)

•   On-going consultant to the South Australian Department of Education and Child Development

•   Regular keynote speaker since 2000 at the biennial International Conferences on Thinking

For more about my work on learning to learn in schools, see the Books page.