The theorists
Sir Rhodes Boyson
- Conservative MP and former head teacher
- one of the authors of the widely read Black Papers, published in the 1970s, which castigated all forms of so-called 'progressive education' and comprehensive schooling
- Boyson and colleagues called for a return to selection, corporal punishment, compulsory testing in basic skills, traditional teaching methods and parental choice
- a number of the Black Paper ideas have since formed part of current educational practice, beginning under Margaret Thatcher and continuing through all the Labour terms.
'There is no moral justification for compulsory education without the state guaranteeing and enforcing minimum standards' –
Rhodes Boyson, 1977
Find out more about the educational debates of the 1970s.
Lady Plowden
- chair of the Central Advisory Council on Education, which produced the Plowden Report of 1967 that looked at primary education
- the Report was welcomed at the time as the official endorsement of child-centred education
- Plowden and colleagues emphasised the importance of involving parents in schools
- nursery education was valued as a social leveller
- traditionalists in the 1970s and 1980s later denounced the Plowden Report as a symbol of 1960s permissiveness
- the reality was that the Report gave a voice to what we still see as mainstream thinking in primary education
- it argued in favour of giving extra resources and staff to schools in deprived areas – something now long accepted as part of government policy.
'At the heart of the educational
process lies the child'
– Plowden Report, 1967
Find out more about Lady Plowden and the Plowden Report.
Howard Gardner
- American thinker, born 1943 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, whose studies in psychology, philosophy and social science led to him to develop his theories of learning
- author of more than a dozen books on 'multiple intelligences'
- he initially identified seven intelligences – linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal and intrapersonal – and has since added moral intelligence to this list
- the intelligences work together, but we each have a unique blend
- the most effective and most rewarding teaching and learning covers all the intelligences.
'We must figure out how intelligence and morality can work together, to create a world in which a great variety of people will want to live' –
Howard Gardner, 1999
Find out more about multiple intelligences.
Alistair Smith
- dubbed 'Mr Motivator' by the Times Educational Supplement
- former teacher, now author, consultant and speaker on 'accelerated learning' and 'brain-based teaching'
- his methods have been used in many settings, including sports coaching and the army, as well as UK schools
- advocates practical, simple but evidence-based changes to teaching
- famous for his lively, entertaining and engaging speaking style – and he is booked up months ahead!
'What I hope I am able to do is get people excited about learning generally, whether they are heads or learning support assistants' –
Alistair Smith, 2005
Find out more about Alistair Smith.
Anita Straker
- maths education expert, former head of the government's national numeracy strategy, now a consultant
- called in to take charge in the mid-1990s, when international surveys showed that English 10-year-olds were below the international average in maths
- famous for 'banning' calculators in primary schools
- developed a brand-new framework for primary school maths and started up the daily maths lesson for all children, which led to big improvements.
'We still need to help primary teachers to develop a deeper understanding of the maths they teach so they can raise their expectations of children' –
Anita Straker, 2004
Find out more about the numeracy strategy.
Professor Stephen Heppell
- former director of Ultralab – e-learning research centre at Anglia Polytechnic University – and now runs learning technology research team Learn3K in Dublin
- he's a 'digital do-gooder, helping to bring ordinary people into the Internet age .... looking about as threatening as Santa Claus with his twinkling blue eyes and bushy beard,' according to the Wall Street Journal
- he's also involved in Notschool.net, an online research project looking at ways of re-engaging youngsters who've been turned off school.
'Children have picked up the ball of technology and are running fast with it. We need to rush along in front and demolish the barriers that stand in their way' –
Stephen Heppell, 2005
