Zest for Learning E-Book

Bill Lucas

• Herausgeber: Crown House Publishing
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

In Zest for Learning: Developing curious learners who relish real-world challenges, Bill Lucas and Ellen Spencer explore the ways in which teachers can help their pupils to find their passions, develop independence and challenge themselves to become more expansive learners. Young people need more than subject knowledge in order to thrive they need capabilities. The Pedagogy for a Changing World series details which capabilities matter and how schools can develop them. A key capability is zest: the curiosity and desire to experience new things. Zest for Learning offers a powerful new synthesis of thinking about what it takes for young people to flourish both in education and in the wider world, especially at a time when preparing them for life beyond school often calls for brave leadership. This could be encouraged through, for example, greater engagement with sports and the arts, by collaborating with external bodies such as the Scouts and Guides or the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme or by working with libraries, museums, faith groups and environmental associations. In this book Bill and Ellen offer a framework for zest: a practical guide for teachers, underpinned by theory. They draw on a number of areas of knowledge and practice that each have something to contribute to the concept of zest for learning, bringing together ideas in concrete and actionable ways. Zest for Learning connects the co-curriculum with the formal curriculum, building both theoretical and practical confidence in the kinds of pedagogies which work well. Bill and Ellen have infused the book with a wide range of ideas for getting pupils to love learning so much that they will be able to learn whatever they want to throughout their lives. The authors also go further by presenting case studies that illustrate the successful integration of the co-curriculum with the formal curriculum at various educational institutions, and by providing an A to Z of practical ideas and activities for developing zest in young learners. Suitable for all teachers and leaders, in both primary and secondary settings.

Leseprobe

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Praise for Zest for Learning

The framework for zest for learning created by Lucas and Spencer is inspiring. It is the integration of a wealth of ideas on creativity, curiosity and resilience into a meaningful, holistic approach to curriculum design that will galvanise our work on museum learning and enrich the lives of the children and young people in our trust.

Rhodri Bryant, Executive Principal, The Arbib Education Trust

The Royal Yachting Association works hard to instil a healthy zest for learning in its young sailors and associated support staff – and the impact of this approach has been profound, helping Britain to win fifty-eight medals at Olympic level, many of them gold. This book is an essential read for anyone who wants to succeed in any walk of life.

Alistair Dickson, Director of Sport Development, Royal Yachting Association

Zest for Learning is a powerful call to action for a kinder, more joyful school experience: one in which the emphasis is rightly on helping all young people flourish and thrive. I strongly commend it.

Revd Nigel Genders, Chief Education Officer, the Church of England

This book is an excellent invitation to revisit the whole purpose of learning in our schools and to discover what the key to zest is in all our students.

Trinidad Aguilar Izquierdo, Director, Colegio Kopernikus

Zest for Learning reminds us of the true purpose of education – to nurture curious, passionate young people, putting the co-curriculum at the centre of their lives. Holyport is delighted to be at the forefront of the kind of expansive education advocated by Lucas and Spencer.

Ben McCarey, Head Master, Holyport College

Bill Lucas and Ellen Spencer brilliantly synthesise the latest thinking on how to produce balanced, curious, purposeful young people to help us imagine a richer, kinder, more sane pedagogy.

Al McConville, Director of Learning and Innovation, Bedales School, and co-author of Learning How to Learn: A Guide for Kids and Teens

BLucas and Spencer effortlessly bring to life the literature insights and exemplary practices for the idea of zest for learning so that we know how to practically support students in building this capability for a purposeful and fulfilling life.

Matt Pfahlert, co-founder and CEO, Australian Centre for Rural Entrepreneurship

Zest for Learning is a practical resource for policy-makers, educators and parents wanting to co-create a space for children and young people to connect to the world in deep and profound ways; the research has been invaluable in inspiring FORM’s Creative Learning programme in Western Australia.

Lamis Sabra, Creative Learning Manager, FORM

Focusing on zest is the single most powerful thing we’ve done as a leadership team; this book shows how all schools can make similar changes to their ethos.

Andrew Wood, Deputy Head Teacher, Steyning Grammar School

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Pedagogy for a Changing World

Zest for Learning

Developing curious learners who relish real-world challenges

Bill Lucas and Ellen Spencer

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Acknowledgements

Our huge thanks to:

All the pioneering school and organisation leaders who have contributed case studies, including:

The Arbib Education Trust – Jenny Blay, head of museum learning; Grace Shaw, deputy head teacher, the Langley Academy Primary; Lawrence Hyatt, deputy head teacher, the Langley Heritage Primary.

Australian Centre for Rural Entrepreneurship – Matt Pfahlert, co-founder and CEO; Michelle Anderson, director, Interface2Learn.

Bedales School – Alistair McConville, director of learning and innovation.

Colegio Kopernikus – Trinidad Aguilar Izquierdo, director.

Explorer Scouts – Matt Hyde, chief executive; Chris James, brand and ambassador manager of the Scouts.

FORM – Lynda Dorrington, chief executive; Lamis Sabra, creative learning manager; Vanessa Bradley, creative learning coordinator; Viet Nguyen, creative technology; Mags Webster, writer and researcher; Paul Collard, chief executive, Creativity, Culture and Education; Paul Gorman, creative director, Hidden Giants; Mathilda Joubert, academic and creative learning consultant and Creative Schools programme evaluator.

Forest School Association – Sarah Lawfull, director.

Holyport College – Ben McCarey, headmaster.

Planet Poetry – Daniel Phelps, author of Xientifica: SOS.

Portsmouth Museums – Christine Taylor, curator of natural history.ii

Royal Yachting Association – Alistair Dickson, director of sport development; David Mellor, coaching and development manager.

Shireland Collegiate Academy – Mark Grundy, CEO, Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust; George Faux, principal, West Bromwich Collegiate Academy (previously senior vice principal, Shireland Collegiate Academy).

Steyning Grammar School – Andrew Wood, assistant head teacher.

West Rise Junior School – Mike Fairclough, head teacher.

All the thought leaders on whose shoulders we stand, including:

Ron Berger, Guy Claxton, Paul Collard, Art Costa, Anna Craft, Angela Duckworth, Carol Dweck, Anders Ericsson, Chris Fadel, Michael Fullan, Howard Gardner, Leslie Gutman, Andy Hargreaves, John Hattie, James Heckman, Lois Hetland, Bena Kallick, Tim Kautz, Geoff Masters, David Perkins, Lauren Resnick, Ron Ritchhart, Ken Robinson, Pasi Sahlberg, Andreas Schleicher, Ingrid Schoon, Tom Schuller, Martin Seligman, Tom Sherrington, Robert Sternberg, Louise Stoll, Matthew Taylor, Paul Tough, Bernie Trilling, Chris Watkins, Dylan Wiliam and David Yeager.

The Comino Foundation for generously supporting our work to develop young people’s personal capabilities at the Centre for Real-World Learning, University of Winchester.

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Contents

Title PageAcknowledgementsSeries Introduction: Developing Capable Young PeopleChanging roles for schoolsThe purposes of educationWhich capabilities matter most?Lifelong learningThe idea of signature learning experiencesAbout the seriesChapter 1: Zest for LearningBodies of knowledgeDeveloping a model of zest for learningPsychology for flourishingEducation for flourishingSummaryChapter 2: A Framework for Zest for LearningBalancedCuriousPurposefulChapter 3: Cultivating ZestSignature learning experiencesChapter 4: Promising PracticesArbib Education TrustAustralian Centre for Rural EntrepreneurshipBedalesivExplorer ScoutsForest School AssociationFORMHolyport CollegeKopernikusRoyal Yachting AssociationShireland Collegiate AcademySteyning Grammar SchoolWest Rise Junior SchoolChapter 5: Brave LeadershipPartnerships for learningCreating a supportive ecologyUnderstanding and communicating a vision for zestRethinking the curriculum – expanding the formal curriculum and valuing co-curricular and extra-curricular learningNew roles for staffTracking the development of zest in young peopleZest for learning – celebrating successChapter 6: An A–Z of Ideas for Developing ZestBalanced learners value relationshipsBalanced learners maintain perspectiveCurious learners explore the worldCurious learners embrace novel experiencesPurposeful learners find meaningPurposeful learners perform wellAppendix: Signature Learning ExperiencesReferencesCopyright

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Series Introduction

Developing capable young people

Ensuring that all people have a solid foundation of knowledge and skills must therefore be the central aim of the post-2015 education agenda. This is not primarily about providing more people with more years of schooling; in fact, that’s only the first step. It is most critically about making sure that individuals acquire a solid foundation of knowledge in key disciplines, that they develop creative, critical thinking and collaborative skills, and that they build character attributes, such as mindfulness, curiosity, courage and resilience.

Andreas Schleicher and Qian Tang, Education Post-2015: Knowledge and Skills Transform Lives and Societies (2015, p. 9)

Changing roles for schools

Across the world there is a great shift taking place. Where once it was enough to know and do things, our uncertain world calls for some additional learning. We call them capabilities. Others call them ‘dispositions’, ‘habits of mind’, ‘attributes’ or ‘competencies’, words we find very helpful. Some refer to them as ‘non-cognitive skills’, ‘soft skills’ or ‘traits’, none of which we like given, respectively, their negative connotations, tendency to belittle what is involved and association with genetic inheritance.

Our choice of capabilities is pragmatic. A country in the northern hemisphere like Scotland is actively using the term, as is Australia at the opposite end of the earth. If we had to choose a phrase to sum up our philosophy it would be ‘dispositional teaching’ – that is to say, the attempt specifically to cultivate in learners certain dispositions which evidence suggests are going to be valuable to them both at school and in later life.2

We know that the shift is underway for four reasons:

One of the ‘guardians’ of global comparative standards, PISA, is moving this way. In 2012, as well as tests for 15-year-olds in English, maths and science, they introduced an ‘innovative domain’ called ‘creative problem-solving’. This became ‘collaborative problem-solving’ in 2015, ‘global competence’ in 2018 and will become ‘creative thinking’ in 2021.Researchers the world over are beginning to agree on the kinds of capabilities which do, and will, serve children well at school and in the real world. We’ll explore this increasingly consensual list later on, but for now we want to share just some of the key thinkers to reassure you that you are in good company: Ron Berger, Guy Claxton, Art Costa, Anna Craft, Angela Duckworth, Carol Dweck, K. Anders Ericsson, Charles Fadel, Michael Fullan, Howard Gardner, Leslie Gutman, Andy Hargreaves, John Hattie, James Heckman, Lois Hetland, Bena Kallick, Tim Kautz, Geoff Masters, David Perkins, Lauren Resnick, Ron Ritchhart, Sir Ken Robinson, Andreas Schleicher, Ingrid Schoon, Martin Seligman, Robert Sternberg, Louise Stoll, Matthew Taylor, Paul Tough, Bernie Trilling, Chris Watkins, Dylan Wiliam and David Yeager. We would include our own work in this field too.Organisations and well-evidenced frameworks are beginning to find common cause with the idea of capabilities. The Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills Project, Building Learning Power, Expeditionary Learning Network, the Global Cities Education Network, Habits of Mind, New Pedagogies for Deeper Learning, Partnership for 21st Century Learning and the Skills4Success Framework are just a few examples. We would include our own Expansive Education Network here too.Inspirational leaders across the world are very gradually showing us that you can powerfully embed capabilities into the formal, informal and hidden curriculum of schools, if you have a mind to do so. Here are seven examples: Col·legi Montserrat in Spain, Hellerup School in Denmark, High Tech High in the United States, School 21 and Thomas Tallis School in England, and Rooty Hill High School and Carey Grammar in Australia. You’ll doubtless have your own favourites to add in. We love these schools and their courageous teachers. Throughout the series we hope that their 3stories and our grounded practical advice will serve to ensure that hundreds of thousands of schools across the world see the value of systematically cultivating capabilities as well as deep disciplinary knowledge and useful academic and practical skills.

Increasingly ‘character’ is the word used to describe the cluster of capabilities which are useful in life, with a further clarification of the term, ‘performance character’, suggesting those attributes which are associated with excellence in situations where performance is called upon – an academic test, examination, sports match or any extra-curricular activity in which concentrated demonstration of skill is required.

Indeed, character education has seen a popular resurgence among politicians in the UK in recent years, with former Secretary of State for Education Damian Hinds (2019) arguing that character education is as important as examination success, and promising the development of ‘a new framework to help teachers and school leaders identify the types of opportunities that will help support their pupils to build character. The framework will also provide a self-assessment tool for schools to check how well they are doing.’

The UK’s Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues argues that teacher education must encompass preparation to teach character education (Arthur, 2014). England’s Department for Education’s Strategy 2015–2020: World-Class Education and Care (2016a) holds as one of its twelve strategic priorities ‘build character and resilience’. Character education is seen as a means to:

support the development of character traits associated with: improved attainment at school; improved employability skills; making a valuable contribution to British society as a good citizen. Embedding character education within the school system will create opportunities for all pupils to develop the skills they need to succeed in education and in adult life. (Department for Education, 2016b, p. 10)

In the second of Art Costa and Bena Kallick’s book series on the habits of mind, Curtis Schnorr (2000, p. 76) argues that character education should have thinking at its centre because ‘Successful character education is grounded in thoughtful processes.’ Thinking processes and the capabilities of good thinkers – like persisting or managing impulsivity – are foundational to character education.4

All this means that as well as ensuring that, as Andreas Schleicher and Qian Tang put it, all young people develop a solid foundation of knowledge and skills while at school, they also need to acquire a set of important capabilities.

The purposes of education

Parents, educators and policy-makers alike have many hopes for the education of children and young people. But with so many ideas about what schooling might achieve, it is hard to reach any kind of consensus. Nevertheless, in late 2015/early 2016, the UK parliament initiated an inquiry into the ‘purpose of education’. On the one hand, it’s a telling admission if a government has to ask such a fundamental question. On the other, it could be construed as a sign of strength, as a recognition that times are changing.

At the Centre for Real-World Learning, we worked with a number of national bodies to see if common agreement could be reached. The following list is what we came up with and is indicative of the sorts of things we might all wish for our children’s education to achieve (Lucas and Spencer, 2016). The first half a dozen are particularly relevant to this series of books, but the remainder also give a sense of our values. We want educational goals which:

Work for all young people.Prepare students for a lifetime of learning at the same time as seeing childhood and school as valuable in their own right.See capabilities and character as equally important as success in individual subjects.Make vocational and academic routes equally valued.Cultivate happier children.Engage effectively with parents.Engage well with business.5Use the best possible teaching and learning methods.Understand how testing is best used to improve outcomes.Empower and value teachers’ creativity and professionalism.Proactively encourage both rigorous school self-improvement and appropriate external accountability.

Which capabilities matter most?

Let’s look in more detail at the third item on our wish list: seeing capabilities and character as equally important as success in individual subjects. In the last decade, we have begun to understand with greater clarity those capabilities which are particularly useful. Here are two lists, the first from an economic perspective (Heckman and Kautz, 2013) and the second through the eyes of educational researchers (Gutman and Schoon, 2013). Both sets of researchers are trying to describe those capabilities – or, in some cases, transferable skills – which will improve outcomes for individual learners and so for wider society.

Heckman and Kautz:

Perseverance

Self-control

Trust

Attentiveness

Self-esteem and self-efficacy

Resilience to adversity

Openness to experience

Empathy

Humility

Tolerance of diverse opinions

Engaging productively in society

Gutman and Schoon:

Self-perception

Motivation

Perseverance

Self-control

Metacognitive strategies

Social competencies

Resilience and coping

Creativity

6The striking thing about these lists, to us, is how similar they are. With regard to this book’s focus on zest, we will see how important some of these transferable skills or dispositions are, including perseverance, openness to experience, empathy, tolerance of diverse opinions, self-control, engaging productively in society, motivation, social competencies and creativity, and how they contribute to our thinking.

While we may want to interrogate these terms more closely, the general direction is clear. The demand side, from employers, is similar in its emphasis. In 2012, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) launched a campaign suggesting the kinds of capabilities it wanted young people to acquire at school. Their list included grit, resilience, curiosity, enthusiasm and zest, gratitude, confidence and ambition, creativity, humility, respect and good manners, and sensitivity to global concerns. This book takes the CBI’s idea of zest and provides a theoretical and practical underpinning to the concept.

Lifelong learning

As well as preparing pupils for their next immediate steps on leaving, we argue that schools also have a role in preparing young people to be learners throughout their lives. That this is an important aspect of school life has become clearer over the last two decades (Lucas and Greany, 2000; Schuller and Watson, 2009). Specifically, it is appreciated that much of the preparation for lifelong learning is informal, experienced based and often coordinated by organisations outside school. In Zest for Learning, we focus on the role of these often charitable organisations in enriching the lives of young people and instilling a love of learning beyond school. In particular, we are keen to understand how schools can best interact with outside bodies.7

The progression from classroom to life outside school via interest-led activities is shown in the figure below.

Learning beyond the school

The idea of signature learning experiences

If we are reaching consensus as to the kinds of capabilities increasingly being seen as valuable, what about the kinds of teaching and learning methods that might cultivate them? In the first two books of the series we asked you to consider these two questions:

If I wanted to teach a student how to become more creative and better able to solve problems, what methods would I choose?If I wanted my students to become more resilient, what methods would I choose?

To help you think about them we introduced the idea of signature pedagogies, as suggested by Lee Shulman, in the context of preparing learners for different vocational routes. These are ‘the types of teaching that organize the fundamental ways in which future practitioners are educated for their new professions’ (Shulman, 2005, p. 52). He talks of the three dimensions of a signature pedagogy:

Its surface structure: ‘concrete, operational acts of teaching and learning, of showing and demonstrating, of questioning and answering, of interacting and withholding, of approaching and withdrawing’ (pp. 54–55).Its deep structure: ‘a set of assumptions about how best to impart a certain body of knowledge and know-how’ (p. 55).8Its implicit structure: ‘a moral dimension that comprises a set of beliefs about professional attitudes, values, and dispositions’ (p. 55).

It’s not much of a leap to think not about the fundamentals of a particular profession but instead of a particular capability. Suppose it were perseverance: how would you model and demonstrate it? What know-how does someone who is a good ‘perseverer’ show, and how can you impart the clues of persevering to students? What are the underpinning self-belief and can-do dispositions that reinforce perseverance?

Signature pedagogies are the teaching and learning methods which are most likely to lead to the desired capability, and in books 1 and 2 we explored these in some depth. But with zest, as we have begun to indicate, it is slightly different. Pedagogy is not quite the right way of describing the more informal ways of learning encountered in the more informal learning associated with extra-curricular and out-of-school activities. So instead we suggest the phrase ‘signature learning experiences’ to characterise them. The question we invite you to consider is:

If I wanted my students to be full of zest for learning, what learning experiences would I want them to have?

In this book you will encounter a variety of answers to this question with some common themes. The experiences are often outward-looking and involve making things, giving time voluntarily, being outdoors, meeting new people and going on journeys. Or they might be more inward-focused, such as reading, practising, reflecting or even meditating.

Within and beyond school there are core techniques that need to be mastered, just as students will need to become comfortable with their times tables, irregular verbs or acids and bases. These include:

Giving and receiving feedback.Practising deliberately.Drafting and prototyping.Using design processes.9Goal-setting.Mentally rehearsing.Verbalising the processes of learning.Reflecting on processes and progress.Self-testing.Working in groups.Teaching others.

In each of the books in this series, we explore the many ways in which such techniques can be cultivated in many different contexts.

About the series

The Pedagogy for a Changing World series is action oriented and research led. The books are guides for teachers, school leaders and all those working with schools who want to develop capable young people. Each book offers practical suggestions as to how key capabilities can best be developed in learners, building both theoretical and practical confidence in the kinds of pedagogies and methods which work well. The books are aimed at both primary and secondary levels.

The first two in the series are:

Teaching Creative Thinking: Developing learners who generate ideas and can think criticallyDeveloping Tenacity: Teaching learners how to persevere in the face of difficulty

This is the third book and will explore the idea of zest for learning and how this can be developed in young people in and beyond school.10

It is structured in the following way:

A clear definition of zest and why it matters.A framework for zest for learning, with some practical examples for getting started.An overview of the signature learning experiences which cultivate zestful learners.Promising practices – case studies of schools which are adopting these approaches.A focus on the brave leadership needed by schools consciously looking outside their gates.An A–Z of ideas for developing zest.

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Chapter 1

Zest for Learning

What it is and why it matters

zest, n. figurative. Enthusiasm for and enjoyment of something, esp. as displayed in speech or action; gusto, relish. Frequently with for.

Oxford English Dictionary

We wrote this book for teachers because it seems to us that there is an absence of zest and an abundance of both blandness and examined predictability in too many schools at the moment. For many young people, their learning stops just when it is getting really challenging and engaging. The bell goes and out they file. Where their learning interests might ideally take them is beyond the scope of a particular subject or syllabus. And in these form-filling, litigious times it is ever more tricky to organise educational forays out into the real world.

We like the word ‘zest’ because it suggests the kind of engaged curiosity we see as being at the heart of all good learning. We have looked hard at the evidence to understand more about zest. Research suggests that it is a valuable capability, central to human flourishing and eminently learnable.

This book draws together a far-reaching literature exploring zest and zest-like attributes, offering schools and organisations working with schools a model of how it could be at the heart of children’s educational experiences. We hope it will give encouragement to head teachers, teachers, proactive parents and all those in the many voluntary, charitable and business organisations who work with young people to be expansive in their thinking. Zest for Learning is a call to action for us to broaden our horizons of what school can be and to take heart from the ideas which others are already using.

We believe there are two essential outcomes of education: flourishing and real-world challenge-readiness. By flourishing we mean thriving and growing with an underlying sense of direction and purpose. By being ready for the world’s tests we 12mean prepared both morally and practically for the challenges of living in complex times. We need to understand where we’ve come from, how we’ve arrived at this place in time, and where we want to be as a society. It is not just about being able to come up with a creative solution to an engineering or biomedical problem. Beyond problem-solving is problem-setting: asking which problems are worth looking at, and seeking knowledge, understanding and wisdom that allows ethical decisions to be made based on more than just blind progress. Both flourishing and meeting real-world challenges are about embracing learning with both hands.

So what do we mean when we say a person has ‘zest for learning’? Using the definition of zest on page 11, such a person might take a certain enthusiastic enjoyment in their learning; they are hungry to learn and find it a stimulating end in its own right. They enjoy the way learning opens up a richer understanding of other aspects of their life, seeing the interconnectedness of things. They are deeply satisfied when something that was formerly fuzzy and grey becomes clear to them, like the pieces of a jigsaw fitting together. They are keen to develop themselves, to experience new things, to try some and to master others. They try not to be discouraged by setbacks. To some degree, they are discontented with the status quo, with their own understanding of things, if not with the world at large. Zestful learners use hand, head and heart in much of their lives.

We know that human beings are born with an instinct to learn, boosted by the feedback they receive from every encounter with the objects and people around them. It’s more than a proclivity; small babies are learners. In this book we will be wondering how best we can help young people to maintain a child-like fascination with the world as they grow older, wiser and more experienced in the ways of the world. The amount of zest for learning we each possess will, of course, be down to both nature and nurture. Positive learning experiences will impact people in different ways. There is much in the psychology literature to unpick here.

You could be forgiven for wondering whether this book’s focus represents more fanciful territory than either creative thinking or tenacity, which we dealt with in our two earlier books. Are we really going to argue that all children, whatever their background, can benefit from zest? Or that schools can cultivate it? The answer is yes! In Zest for Learning we argue that zest is a public good, that learners with zest are more likely to be keen learners in and beyond the classroom, and that teachers deep down want to help foster zest in any way they can.13

Bodies of knowledge

Perhaps because zest is used as shorthand for something everyone is assumed to understand, definitions of zest are conspicuous by their absence in the bodies of literature that use the word. In this book we offer a framework for zest: a practical guide for teachers, underpinned by theory. We draw on a number of areas of knowledge and practice that each have something to contribute to the concept of zest for learning, clarifying the concept of zest and bringing together ideas in concrete and actionable ways. As we do this we will constantly be asking: what might this tell us about developing zest for learning in and from schools?

More than fifty years ago, John Holt (1967, p. 175) came close to putting into words the essence of zest for learning:

Since we cannot know what knowledge will be most needed in the future, it is senseless trying to teach it in advance. Instead we should try to turn out people who love learning so much and learn so well that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned.

The concept of zest for learning sits broadly within two large fields of knowledge: psychology and education. We are interested in the specific contribution each makes to our understanding of zest for learning, represented by the area where the two intersect:

Our understanding of zest for learning comes from two broad areas of knowledge and research

14These two fields are, of course, broad, encompassing many different and unrelated areas of research and knowledge. Because there is very little that speaks explicitly to a concept like zest for learning, this book carves out new territory, uncovering what the two fields have to say about human flourishing. The figure below shows some of the relevant topics within each body of knowledge. There will, of course, be cross-fertilisation of ideas as some topics have links to more than one knowledge area.

Two bodies of knowledge and their most relevant topics

Two bodies of knowledge and their most relevant topics

In this chapter we unpack each of the areas of literature in terms of their relation to zest for learning. We look first to the field of psychology and its multidisciplinary and loosely collected studies called the ‘learning sciences’. This is where we find ideas like habits of mind, grit, optimism and their cultivation.

We explore the psychological study of traits. If, as we have suggested, it is possible to cultivate zest, we need to understand what aspect of it – if any – is related to the relatively fixed notion of personality traits.Theories of intelligence is a broad area in which we look at embodied cognition and the study of learning to learn.15Positive psychology offers us the concept of ‘flow’, which is also relevant to learning to learn. Character strengths are also explored in this field.We explore the psychology of motivation where the concept of flow is, again, important. Mastery goals and a sense of purpose are also important ideas from this area.

The field of education also has a number of contributions to make, particularly in terms of ideas regarding the ultimate purpose of education as they concern meaning, situating oneself within the world and the development of virtues and values.

We explore ideas relating to finding purpose, including lifelong learning and character.In terms of pedagogy, the learning sciences have important concepts for zest, including metacognition, real-world learning and habits for learning.

Developing a model of zest for learning

In this book we have created a model that describes the habits for learning, or dispositions, that together make up a person with – specifically – zest for learning. This moves beyond what it is to be a good or powerful learner into understanding what makes a skilful, effective, motivated, ethical, life-wide and lifelong learner. We try to look beyond the confines of whatever curriculum is currently in play, and ask a bigger question about what might be important to learn. In trying to narrow down what these dispositions or habits might be, we have scanned much of the literature, especially focusing on psychology and education.

You will notice that within the discussion of each area are a number of concepts which bring something significant to bear on the idea of zest for learning. These can be distilled down into six themes that relate to habits for learning:

Valuing relationships.Maintaining perspective.16Exploring the world.Embracing novel experiences.Finding meaning.Deepening understanding.

We signpost these themes along the way. Chapter 2 explores the framework and Chapter 3 asks how we might cultivate these valued habits in school. Having a framework through which to consider these habits is important for teachers because what they do in the classroom really matters. Talking of curiosity, a close cousin of zest for learning, Susan Engel (2015, p. 127) makes it clear how what teachers do makes all the difference:

from an early age, some children are more curious than others. But there is also great fluctuation from one setting to another. A child who is usually timid about opening things or asking questions can be beckoned into inquiry. Children who are ordinarily inquisitive can be hushed into a kind of intellectual listlessness. The characteristics that fuel curiosity are not mysterious. Adults who use words and facial expressions to encourage children to explore; access to unexpected, opaque, and complex materials and topics; a chance to inquire with others; and plenty of suspense … these turn out to be the potent ingredients.

Psychology for flourishing

In linking together areas of literature that speak to the broad concept of zest for learning, there is much that falls under the label of psychology. Within this broad field we might look at psychological traits, theories of intelligence, positive psychology and the psychology of motivation. Each of these has something to contribute. There are relationships between these fields which mean that sometimes we talk about a particular concept where it sits best.17

Psychological traits

Psychological approaches to zest (in a broad sense, not constrained to zest for learning) examine it from a personality trait perspective. Traits are relatively enduring characteristics. The ‘most widely used taxonomy of personality traits in psychology’ (DeYoung et al., 2014, p. 46) is the Five-Factor Model, or Big Five, which can be remembered by the mnemonic OCEAN: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.

Embracing novel experiences: openness to experience

In terms of the Big Five psychological traits, the openness to experience trait has provoked extensive debate in terms of its labelling and naming. DeYoung et al. (2014, p. 46) tell us that it ‘has been described variously as Culture, Intellect, Openness to Experience, and Imagination’ but that ‘the compound label Openness/Intellect is increasingly in use’.

When psychologists talk about intellect here, they are describing a tendency to think in a certain kind of way:

The psychological function that appears to be common to all of the traits encompassed by the Openness/Intellect factor is cognitive exploration … Individuals high in Openness/Intellect display the ability and tendency to seek, detect, comprehend, and utilize more information than those low in Openness/Intellect. (DeYoung et al., p. 46)

This notion of cognitive exploration processes that drive learning about the world is closely related to the idea of zest for learning.

Outside of the field of psychology, the personality trait of extraversion is frequently used as a proxy for ‘sociable’. There is a known link between extraversion and positive emotions, and so people might expect an extravert to have more zest in general. Psychologist Carl Jung first coined the phrase extravert – and its opposite, introvert – in the 1920s, and the trait has been the subject of a great many studies since. In fact, extraversion is more than just being confidently sociable. It suggests 18that an individual draws their energy from what happens outside them as opposed from looking within.

It is important to recognise that individuals sit on an introversion–extraversion spectrum, and nobody is 100% one or the other. It is also important to stress that the two types are different and neither is superior – for example, a mixture of both approaches to thinking and speaking is often most effective in a work situation (Cain, 2012).

In explaining zest, Peterson et al. (2009, p. 161) mention various other terms that have been used to describe the psychological ‘dispositional influence on work satisfaction’ that they call zest. It has also been referred to as energy, liveliness, vitality, exuberance, joie de vivre, vigour and engagement (in work). Zest in adults and young people, as defined by Peterson, can be measured using a self-report scale that uses ten statements such as ‘I have lots of energy’.

Peterson’s study found that measuring highly for zest predicted that an individual would also view their work as a calling, and claim satisfaction in their work and in their life more generally. The reason for this is because work satisfaction is more than a function of the job itself. While there are all sorts of factors inherent to the job that may influence work satisfaction, the literature is clear that:

what a person brings to his or her work is also important. Those who are generally happy – due to their biological, psychological, or social makeup – are more likely to be satisfied at work … Those who are extraverted and socially engaged are also more likely to be satisfied … especially if they find close friends in the workplace … Zest as a construct captures many of these characteristics. (Peterson et al., 2009, p. 162)

The authors called for scholars to pay more attention to the study of zest in order to develop its presence in the workplace, something we are pleased to be doing in the wider context of education.

Peterson and Seligman (2004) struggled to conceptualise the character strength they finally labelled ‘open-mindedness’. Collected under this theme from an array of categorisations of character, both ancient and modern, were labels like judgement, critical thinking and rationality. Whatever label is used, the authors were clear that open-mindedness should not be taken to a foolish extreme and should represent a careful mix of appropriate judgement: ‘He or she is not indecisive, wishy-washy, nihilistic, or permissive. Neither does the open-minded thinker bring this style to 19bear on all matters. Red traffic lights mean stop, and viewing this signal from all possible angles is simply stupid’ (p. 101).

It seems reasonable to suggest that zest for learning in particular can be developed in both introverts and extraverts, albeit with a recognition that extraverts tend to be more open to new experiences than introverts. It is important, therefore, that individuals recognise their own strengths and propensities, and not be limited by the responses to situations that their psychological make-up would tend to lead them to favour.

Zestful learners embrace novel experiences. They keep their minds open to the cognitive exploration of ideas using judgement, critical thinking and rationality. They recognise their own tendencies and push themselves to take on new challenges wherever possible.

Embracing novel experiences: restlessness, sensation-seeking and risk-taking

A term we came across that resonates with the concept of zest is ‘restlessness’. Along with curiosity, openness and excellence, restlessness is identified as being a core value – for example, at Warwick Business School (WBS).

The idea of restlessness brings to mind imagery of dogged curiosity and a keenness to understand how things can be made better. The language WBS uses demonstrates this idea: ‘We want to develop world-class business leaders that are constantly curious, open-minded and restless to make a positive impact on society’1 and ‘Restlessness: always challenging convention to find a better way.’2

More broadly as a concept restlessness has pathological connotations. Academic papers on the subject are predominantly published in journals like Addiction, Psychopharmacology, Depression and Anxiety and Journal of Learning Disabilities and cover such topics as physiological and neurological disorders. In the classroom 20it is generally a negative term too, indicating behaviour disorders, agitation, hyperactivity or poor lesson regulation (Westling et al., 2017).

Sârbescu and Boncu’s (2018) paper looking at an alternative classification of personality types to the widely used Five-Factor Model uses the label ‘restless’ to describe someone with the trait of sensation-seeking. This is ‘a personality trait defined as the tendency to seek varied, novel, complex, and intense sensations and experiences and the willingness to take risks for the sake of such experience’ (Zuckerman 1979, p. 10). A ‘normal’ trait, it is nonetheless overrepresented in some kinds of personality disorder.

Given these potentially negative associations and its absence from more education-related journals, we suggest caution in using the term restlessness.

An obviously school-relevant aspect of sensation-seeking is risk-taking. Canadian academic, author and psychiatrist Jordan Peterson tells us that humans tend towards a preference for living life ‘on the edge’. In this space we are able to benefit from confidence in our experience as well as ‘confronting the chaos’ from which we grow. An inbuilt enjoyment of risk, to varying degrees, means that we feel ‘invigorated … when we work to optimize our future performance, while playing in the present’ (Peterson, 2018, p. 329).

Risk-taking is related to the psychological trait of openness to experience and the virtue of courage, both of which are aspects of zest for learning. Of course, when talking about teenagers it always going to be important to remember that the lack of development of the prefrontal cortex means that, despite adult teaching and coaching, young people are more likely to take risks at this period of their lives whatever their personality type (Kann et al., 2014).

In summary, by understanding the ideas behind psychological traits we can immediately see connections with the concept of openness to experience, which we build into our framework for the habits of zest for learning.21

Zestful learners embrace novel experiences. They demonstrate a willingness to take risks in order to seek varied, novel, complex and intense learning experiences. They are doggedly curious, with a keenness to understand how things can be made better.