Teach Secondary - Issue 14.6

tasks. The teacher gets frustrated when students who should be pushing themselves more instead opt for ‘easy’ successes. At the same time, there will be other students who want to show off by choosing the hardest task, hoping to get credit for doing so, even though they’d benefit more from consolidating prior learning by attempting the easier tasks. Gauging the right level of challenge is a subtle and difficult task – and one for which the teacher will possess a far greater level of expertise than a student could be expected to have. Choice in assessments is especially problematic. Exam questions in years gone by, whichmight have said “ Answer any two of the following five questions ”, risked being highly inequitable. The student had to read all five questions, try to imagine what challenges each would provide, and then decide on which two would best play to their strengths. This process was, in all likelihood, much harder than simply being tasked with answering two questions. The students most capable of ‘gaming’ this form of questioning were those most likely to do well anyway, thus increasing the attainment gap yet further. If all the course content matters, then the teacher will want all students to learn everything, rather than specialise in certain areas to the detriment of others. Themyth of choice The myth of ‘learning styles’ is still very much with us. Teachers rightly feel that every student is different, but wrongly assume that every student is an expert on what they need. We now know that students who say they prefer to learn ‘visually’ don’t necessarily benefit from being given more ‘visual’ material. In fact, everyone benefits from a variety of styles and modes of learning. The teacher’s aim should be to help all students become more balanced and skilled across the whole range. To give people too much choice over their learning is to risk imprisoning them in a silo of what they can already do. There are many opportunities across the daily routines and procedures of school life for giving students more agency and a greater degree of choice with respect to all sorts of things – fromwho they become friends with, to which extra-curricular activities they want to participate in. As they get older, they’ll start to settle on their GCSE subject options too – but when it comes to classroom learning, giving students more choice will likely make it harder for them to succeed. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Colin Foster (@colinfoster77) is a Professor of Mathematics Education in the Department of Mathematics Education at Loughborough University, and has written many books and articles for teachers; find out more at foster77.co.uk 81 teachwire.net/secondary P E D A G O G Y