🔬 The Science of Learning: What Prof Guy Claxton Teaches Us About Growing Learners (Not Just Scores)
Future-Ready Brains Don’t Fit in Boxes
In his Dean’s Lecture on the Science of Learning, Professor Guy Claxton doesn’t mince words: modern schooling, as it’s commonly practiced, is outdated. It emphasises content over character, rote over resilience, and results over reflection. At Global Village Learning, we’re already walking the path he’s calling the world to consider.
Claxton urges us to think beyond “knowing more” to “becoming more”. That’s music to our ears.
🧠 Learning to Learn: Building Dispositions, Not Just Delivering Content
Claxton speaks of learning dispositions—curiosity, resilience, collaboration, reflection—as being more vital than memorising facts. These dispositions, which he refers to as part of a learner’s learning power, align precisely with GVL’s Connected Capabilities:
✨ Curiosity, Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, Community Connection, Confidence, and Citizenship.
We don’t just acknowledge these as “soft skills”. We build entire learning experiences around them.
🔄 Habits of Mind and the EDventurous Learning Cycle
Claxton highlights that learning is iterative, social, and context-dependent. That’s why GVL uses a project-based, action-oriented model that includes:
- Identifying and defining real-world problems
- Researching and brainstorming solutions
- Prototyping and implementing ideas
- Reflecting, sharing, and improving
This is our EDventurous Project Cycle, not just a curriculum plan—but a way of thinking.
🔓 Freedom to Flourish
Claxton critiques schooling that focuses on control, competition, and compliance. At GVL, we operate from freedom within limits. Learners choose pathways that matter to them, engage in Learning Huddles to set personal goals, and build evidence of growth in portfolios, not standardised tests.
We see every learner as capable of greatness—not someday, but now.
🌱 Learning Environments That Reflect Learning Science
Claxton champions environments that nurture thinking. We’ve built just that—Learning Hubs that feel more like community studios than classrooms. Flexible, collaborative, and infused with natural rhythms and regenerative practices, these spaces reflect the neuroscience of safety, agency, and belonging.
🧭 A Final Word from Claxton (and Us)
Claxton says: “The job of education is to expand the kinds of minds we value.”
At GVL, we say: “Young people have far greater capacity than we give them credit for.”
In every way, we’re designing learning for the whole human. Not a test-taker. Not a statistic.
But a thinker, doer, and community builder.
Join Us on This Journey
GVL is more than just a place of learning; it is a thriving community where young people aren’t merely preparing for the future—they are shaping it. As we continue this journey, we invite learners, families, and community partners to join us in creating a vibrant, impactful learning environment where every young person can make a difference.
