The Lifelong Learner -Learning is an action and making mistakes is ok.

I have been very fortunate to visit, during a whirl wind tour of Auckland New Zealand, a number of high performing schools. Each school has been on an 8 to 10-year journey developing the contextual fit that was allowing their students to achieve at or around their potential. The interesting thing was that the staff of these schools did not talk about students, they identified the young people in their care as learners. In exploring this idea further, there were two key points that I will look at in this article. The students had a clear understanding of what it meant to be a learner and they were encouraged to make mistakes rather than be shielded from them.

What does it mean to be a learner? In talking to students, it became clear that their understanding was that learning is a verb that you took individual control of for yourself. It was not a noun, some terribly difficult thing that was done to you by teachers. Selwyn College catered for students aged 12 to 18 and they believed, “it is of central importance to us that we build each student’s capacity to be an effective learner who achieves their personal best academically.” This control of one’s learning gives ownership to the students.

We are not talking about ability here, we are talking about behaviour and choices being made by individuals. A powerful behaviour model which is used often is the idea of “get out of bed and on the oars.” Move away from the behaviours of “blame, excuse and denial,” and move towards behaviours of “ownership, accountability and responsibility.” Our young people can take ownership, be accountable and be responsible if we give them the supportive environment needed to grow and learn. That supportive environment can not be developed if we don’t allow them to make mistakes and learn from them.

Adam Osborne was a writer who died in 2003.He supported the idea that “the most valuable thing you can make is a mistake. You can’t learn anything from being perfect.” It is interesting that Osborne died before the digital age hit full gear, yet he invented “the Osborne 1, the first commercially successful portable computer.” The learner is the one who challenges themselves and looks for the difficult problem. The New Zealanders want their students in “the learning pit,” that challenging place where they are uncomfortable and struggling, making mistakes and finding solutions for themselves.

This is not to say that we leave our children floundering without help. However, jumping in and solving the problem for them, correcting their mistakes and shielding them from the challenge is not teaching them to succeed it is really teaching them to give up. “Creating something new involves making a lot of mistakes. One example is the bestselling Dyson vacuum cleaner. The inventor made 5,127 prototypes of the vacuum before getting it right. “There were 5,126 failures. But I learned from each one. That's how I came up with a solution. So I don't mind failure”. Parents can help children to learn that when you make a mistake, all it means is that you haven’t learned how to get it right yet.” 5 126 is a lot of times to pick yourself up and refocus on your goal.

Let’s create a growth mindset within our learning environment, a collaboration of learners, staff and families that encourages our students to throw themselves into “the learning pit” and claw their way out the other side by using the knowledge and skills they possess. It is through constant challenge and success that we build well being. When we have worked hard and achieved, we have learned.

Steve Gillespie

(acting) Assistant Principal Middle Years