Book Review - "The Hidden Lives of Learners" by Graham Nuthall

I bought this book after hearing a number of very positive comments about it at NTEN ResearchED York.

Graham Nuthall's book "The Hidden Lives of Learners" is a study of learning from a student's point of view. It focuses on the highly influential world of peers, and the student's own private world and experiences. Nuthall has used a comprehensive array of research tools and collected data over forty years, bring this all together in this one book. What becomes clear is that just because a teaching, does not mean students are learning.

"Learning requires motivation, but motivation does not necessarily lead to learning."

Nuthall's book provides a simple check list to effective teaching. The book discusses memory in detail. He slams learning styles (e.g. VAK) and states to build memory, students need to make connections with new knowledge and known concepts. For knowledge to be retained students need "several different interactions with relevant content for that content to be processed int their working memory and integrated into their long-term memory in such a way that it becomes part of their knowledge and beliefs."

Assessment is a tricky topic. He sees the best strategy for assessment is for it to be "conducted individual by individual, and embedded in a programme that fully considers individual preferences." This has obvious difficulties from a time management point of view, but one that we as educators need to consider and think carefully about.

The one area I was not completely convinced by was his idea of "becoming involved in peer culture" and in fairness, Nuthall too was reserved about this idea. I understand the advantages of knowing your students, but I also consider it to be healthy for their to be a little professional distance in the teacher/student relationship (especially in the age category I teach 11-18).

For me personally, I like to strive for the optimum seating arrangements in my class to develop co-operative learning. I think about peer groups but the driving force is finding which individual students work well with who.  I try to create pods of 3 or 4 students (preferably of varying ability and other factors). Most importantly, I look at my assessment results and if I believe a pod is not working effectively, I look to change it.

I prefer the "alternative culture" within the classroom by creating a "learning community". A complex idea but, in my opinion, this should be at the heart of any school and run through it like a river.

I was particularly interested in the strong evidence shown for the effects of students managing their own learning. This ideas seem to run alongside ideas of a Growth Mindset, grit and determination, and developing independent learning. I try hard in my teaching of mathematics to open this door, by using Mymaths,  Hegarty Maths, or BBC Bitesize. I also like to stretch their knowledge and understanding by looking at advanced material e.g. Numberphile or Vi Hart.

For more information, visit The Graham Nuthall Classroom Research Trust website.