Learning Without Limits
Welcome to the Learning Without Limits project
The Learning Without Limits project is dedicated to developing approaches to teaching and learning that do not rely on determinist beliefs about ability.
The project is inspired by decades of research that have drawn attention to the many complex ways in which ideas of fixed ability, and the practices based on them, can limit learning.
STOP PRESS!
Our new book, Creating Learning without Limits, has just been published by Open University Press. Co-authored by Mandy Swann, Alison Peacock, Susan Hart and Mary Jane Drummond, it tells the story of how one primary school community worked to build a learning environment that is inclusive, humane and enabling for everybody, a place free from the damaging effects of fixed ability thinking and practices.
This work builds on the findings of the first Learning without Limits study.
Original research and book
Our first study (1999-2002) set out to analyse the practices of individual teachers who had rejected ability-based approaches. We found that, in place of the notion of ability, a sense of 'transformability' permeated every aspect of their work: the conviction that things can change and be changed for the better, sometimes even dramatically, as a result of what happens and the choices people make in the present. Further information can be found on The First LWL Project pages.
Key concepts and principles of transformability-based pedagogy are elaborated in detail in our award-winning book, 'Learning Without Limits', published by Open University Press in 2004, described by Professor Tim Brighouse as a 'book that could change the world'.
An alternative approach to school development
Creating Learning without Limits explores what becomes possible when the same key ideas and principles elaborated through the first study are used to guide and inspire whole school development. Drawing on compelling accounts of everyday life in the school, it describes how, in just a few years, the school (once in special measures) grew into a thriving community, with distinctive views of learning, curriculum and pedagogy, monitoring and accountability, that found expression in every aspect of school life.
The book is not simply a celebration of the success of the school; it engages with the struggles and difficulties encountered by the staff as they set about learning to reshape pedagogy and curriculum by reference to their shared values of inclusion, social justice and human educability. It gives a detailed analysis of how the head teacher harnessed the power of collective action.
We are confident that the insights generated by this study have enduring relevance and applicability to people in other contexts - for staff groups craving for more equitable school improvement; for individual teachers wondering how best to foster children's learning capacity; for school leaders and teacher educators who find their values increasingly compromised.
"This will undoubtedly turn out to be among the most important books of the decade. If you want to know why the standards agenda must inevitably fail and what we might do instead, read this book." Professor Michael Fielding, Institute of Education, University of London.
Further information about the project aims and methods can be found on the Creating Learning without Limits project pages. More details about the key ideas and findings of this new study will be available shortly.
Additional research
Since the first study was published in 2004, we have also been exploring and developing the ideas first explored in Learning without Limits through two further projects:
- Transforming Learning Capacity: working with others
- ESRC seminar series