Cuttings

Mind Games

John Crace finds a primary school thriving on unconventional methods of teaching

Guardian Tuesday March 14, 2000

You could be forgiven for confusing the low-slung, pale brick exterior of West Grove primary in Southgate, north London with a leisure centre. Come to think of it, you could be forgiven for confusing the interior with a leisure centre, too.

The classrooms are bright and airy, and the children are busy organising themselves into different activities. In the reception class, one little girl has some earphones clamped to her head, a boy and a girl play race the snail, a clump of kids play with finger puppets, another group create Elmer the Elephant storybooks and a few just chill out and natter. Amid the ordered disorder, everyone is having a good time.

West Grove's headteacher, Elaine Wilmot, believes that not all children learn in the same way. "Some respond best to conventional aural and visual teaching methods, but others learn best through physical exploration," she says, "and the key to maximising a child's potential is to tailor their education to their learning styles".

This approach is everything that Chris Woodhead, the chief inspector for Ofsted, detests. In his annual lecture at the end of last month, Woodhead put the boot into all new approaches to learning in a bid to reclaim the class room values of the 1950s.

To underline the point, he launched a personal attack on Bill Lucas, chief executive of the Campaign for Learning, an organisation that endorses West Grove's teaching methods. "There's nothing really new," said Woodhead, dismissively. "It does not justify the hype. It certainly does not justify Bill Lucas's confident assertion that learning to learn will be the skill for the next century."

Lucas himself would almost certainly agree with Woodhead's assertion that there was nothing new in what he was saying. The Campaign is not hanging on to the latest, tenuous research; it is working from well-established scientific research by, amongst others, Howard Gardner and Susan Greenfield, into theories of multiple intelligences and how the brain works, which, when reduced to simple language, shows that people learn in different ways, that they respond best to high-challenge, low-threat environments, that we really only concentrate for 20 minutes at a time and most of us are almost permanently dehydrated.

The implications are potentially seismic. Far from Woodhead's claim that modern practice already takes note of this research, a new MORI survey commissioned by the Campaign into young people's attitudes to learning suggests that the opposite is the case.

Classroom activities are dominated by copying from the board or a book and listening to the teacher talk. What the pupils actually wanted was more balance, including group discussion and problem-solving, more computer time, and a more brain-friendly environment with background music and the freedom to wander round and get a glass of water.

Many parents may be tempted to raise an eyebrow at the idea that children are the best judge of how they learn; my own would probably say they did best with unlimited sweets and no maths tests on Friday. But any scepticism is kicked to one side when you see the principles in action.

In most schools, the sight of kiddies wandering around the classroom mid-lesson would be enough to send a teacher apoplectic and to get the children labelled disruptive. At West Grove it is positively encouraged. "We want the children to explore for themselves how they learn best," says Wilmot. "We start with what they can do; we observe them in action and then try to reframe ideas into methods and activities that make sense to them."

Jack Newton, one of the reception teachers, explains how it works in practice. "One four-year old boy is very into enclosures at the moment," he says. "He's been playing with building blocks and his language is amazing. At one point he said, 'I'm putting this block here to increase the strength'. Another girl loves ordering things and has spent some time rearranging the books. I talk to them about what they're doing and try to get them to think about how it relates to numbers and language. I then try to suggest similar activities that will develop these skills in other ways."

It's hardly the normal way of teaching the three Rs, but Wilmot is adamant that, amongst the creativity, the basics of phonics and numeracy are still hammered home - just more gently. Amongst the creativity, the basics of phonics and numeracy are still hammered home--just more gently

West Grove is an average multicultural primary school; its pupils include those from emotionally and socially deprived backgrounds, children with special needs, and a smattering of children from well-off homes. But the achievement levels are anything but average. Tiffany, aged four, writes out the word elephant from memory, spelling it correctly; Joshua, also four, happily jots down a rudimentary sentence. Now you might expect one or two gifted children in any class, but many other members of the class are also working at this level.

You find a similar story in year 1. By request of the parents, all children learn French and most can count to 30, identify the colours and can hold a basic conversation along the lines of "Who are you? What's your name?" etc. Wilmot reckons that most of the class already meet the key stage 1 assessment test a year ahead of schedule. West Grove was only established in 1998 and there are no classes above year 1, but the school has no intention of altering its approach as the demands of the curriculum increase with age.

West Grove is hardly out on a limb:

business has long endorsed the theories of multiple intelligence,

the DfEE's standards and effectiveness committee has accepted the ideas

over 500 schools applied to be in the Learning to Learn pilot scheme

This may sound a bit gung-ho, but West Grove is hardly out on a limb. Business has long endorsed the theories of multiple intelligence, the Department for Education's Standards and Effectiveness committee has accepted the Campaign's ideas, and over 500 schools, including whole local education authorities, applied to be one of the 24 schools on the Campaign's Learning to Learn pilot scheme that starts this September.

If Woodhead is not yet ready for the Campaign for Learning, West Grove is more than ready for Woodhead. The school has not yet received its first Ofsted inspection, but Wilmot insists that when it comes, the school will not change its practices one bit. And somehow you believe her.