Teach Middle East Magazine Jan - Mar 2020 Issue 2 Volume 7 | Page 19
Sharing Good Practice
it’s just as achievable in the long run.
Like driving, some will take longer
to master it and pass the test but
that does not indicate how good
their driving will be in the long-term.
So this means in high performance
classrooms, there is no easy work for
some or lowering the cognitive bar as
the first sign of failure; just a redoubling
of efforts and exposure to different
types of opportunities. It’s not “I can’t”,
it’s just “Not yet.” Building self-belief in
students is step one in building brains.
Fortunately, we know a lot from
research
about
how
successful
learners think and learn, and it is this
that we need to replicate if we are
to deliver high performance for the
many rather than the few. There are
a set of cognitive competencies that
really make a difference and through
their normal teaching, teachers
need to prioritise their development.
There are progress routes for 20
generic
characteristics,
students
need to develop if they are to be high
performers in cognitive domains (ACPs)
and 10 Values Attitudes and Attributes
(VAAs) that develop the wider learner
dispositions, needed for cognitive and
lifetime success. How students acquire
mastery of these concepts is through
frequent and regular practice in using
them. Students need to practise these
as a part of their day to day lessons,
building ever greater proficiency. The
approach must be deliberate and
systematic, if it is to be effective. Like a
training regime.
Wellington International School (WIS),
Dubai, is one of a growing number
of schools in the Middle East that
have adopted the high performance
learning approach and has become
an accredited HPL World Class school.
Charlotte Grieves from WIS says, “The
philosophy of High Performance
Learning really has enabled our school
to ensure that high performance is
there for all students. The framework is
embedded across the school to ensure
that children systematically develop
their cognitive skills, values, attitudes
and attributes needed for lifetime
success. For the past 2 years we have
made this the focus of our Learning
and Teaching pedagogy, and it is very
evident when you are in the school that
this is truly part of our learning culture;
from the children articulating their
learning in the classroom, to children
working collaboratively and engaging
in creative and critical thinking tasks
across all areas of learning. We continue
to embed High Performance Learning
through carefully planned lessons
which incorporate the 5 Advanced
Cognitive Performance Characteristics
(ACPs) or as our children understand
them as ‘The 5 learning brains’: Meta-
cognition Brain, Linking Brain, Realising
Brain, Creating Brain and Analysing
Brain whilst interlocking this with the
learning behaviours to increase the
children’s understanding of how they
learn and think.
Doha College, is also a HPL World
Class School, which has adopted the
HPL philosophy of expecting nothing
but the best from their students.
They have found being an HPL school
really helps new students coming
in, to push themselves and to want
to strive for excellence. Uzma Zaffar
from Doha says that HPL’s philosophy
of, with children and not to them, gives
them a voice in their learning, they
are taught to question when they are
unsure and taught the importance of
failure. Taking time to demonstrate the
learning opportunities from failure, has
had the biggest impact on all students,
especially the new students. From
failure comes resilience, they have to
learn to pick themselves up and try
again. New students have said that this
is what they love the most, it's OK not
to know! It’s OK to get things wrong.
What is not OK is to give up.
visit www.highperformancelearning.co.uk
[email protected]
to learn more.
Professor Deborah Eyre is a global educational leader, academic researcher,
writer and influencer focused on helping good schools become world-class.
She founded and runs the High-Performance Learning organisation. A widely
published author in the area of advanced cognition, her most recent books, High-
Performance Learning: How to Become a World-Class School and Great Minds
and How to Grow Them were published in 2016 and 2017.
Class Time
Term 2 Jan - Mar 2020
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