Further research and thoughts on education & inclusion

 Following on from reading the ways of learning, I wanted to expand my knowledge and gain some more ideas/thoughts and given that the entire concept of this project is surrounding inclusion and 'levelling the playing field', the title 'Learning Styles and Inclusion' seemed liked a good place to gain some insights.

Whilst there were a few useful insights, a large majority of the (much thicker) book had either already been covered in the previous book, was purely noting studies that didn't seem all that relevant now, without much in the way of analysis or was just too broad for this project. Of course it's good to gain as much info as I can but as I'm not a teacher and will have no control over the environment which any learning materials I may/could produce would be used within, reading in depth into how to create an effective learning environment or similar isn't helpful.

My notes and photos are as follows:

Mainly just quotes that stuck out to me.

The first sentence or two kind of summarises my thoughts process here as whilst my success has still come from within education (uni) it is still in a much freer sense than primary or secondary school. Being able to learn in a way that makes to me and explore/develop subjects of interest and passion has shown me to be much more 'intelligent' than my family previously thought I was.

Throughout my research this notion of poor attitude or self-esteem being connected to a base level education, suited to one learning style has continuously been prevalent. It makes sense. The few memories I personally have of school (the little I was there) or at least of primary school are those of play and creativity - the moment of realisation that I actually really enjoyed being creative and drawing. The notion of exploitation really needs to be stronger and valued within the school setting!

Moving onto the final book specifically relating to education and learning styles that I got from the library - 'How children learn'

I didn't make notes from this book because it's simply a book full of different learning theories and initially I was just going to read a few, for historical context and write a summary of my findings. However, after reading the first theory, it became very apparent that the idea of play as a way of learning was present before anything else;

1592... many, many life times ago, play was seen as an integral element of education!

"Individual and inner dignity of everyone" - a powerful recognition of the fact that there is no 'one fits all' method of learning.

"play is a child's work" - 1782

Somewhat along the lines of my concept with mine perhaps being a bit more modern.

"children who have suffered from pressure to succeed intellectually at too early an age often lack the motivation to learn for themselves" - 1861

A tad outdated in term of the activities but the concept still stands.

Flexible education that works for the individual, not necessarily for the teacher!

wellbeing, belonging, contribution, communication and exploration... what an inclusive, positive environment this sound like! Both sounds like a welcoming environment where everyone feels equal regardless of how they learn as well as an environment the individual rather than the grade said individual comes out with in the end.

ENTIRELY on children's interest! The assumption being that as children are allowed to learn what they have an interest in, their interest will grow and expand as they learn. Inspiring method.

Not overly relevant, just a really individual approach which I found intriguing.

PLAY!

Play is creative and fun because it's individual.

Play is a way to explore and understand without the fear of judgement and being 'wrong' - it's freeing and open to a world of possibilities.

Whilst I didn't document every theory in the book, a high number involved an element of 'play' or freedom/flexibility. Of course I don't know if this book has documented every learning theory and it is unlikely that it has and the author may have a bias towards this style of learning but it certainly is interesting that throughout history, theorists have seen play as integral to learning. Even more so that fast forward to today and many still see it as important, or at least flexibility in learning and teaching styles but yet all too often this just isn't the case and individuals are still being excluded because they don't fit the easiest to teach method...

To put this into context, whilst the idea of play and focusing on the natural instincts of a child to ensure a positive/enthusiastic, equal learning experience was being theorised all the way back in the 1500's, the education system is still today being questioned! As more and more people are being diagnosed with learning difficulties such as ADHD or dyslexia, the flaws in the education system are being seen more and more. During one of Dr. Alex George's Stompcasts, he is discussing the early learning experiences of Toddla T and how the education system isn't built for the individual and rather the select few;

Whilst the time period being discussed here was the 80's-90's, I think it's certainly still relevant to today and certainly much closer within the timeline than the 1500's. 

It would certainly seem that there is space and need for a more creative teaching method, even if not as the constant.