A Message From The Headmaster: ‘How do humans learn and what does that mean for educational policy?'

In her recent video to parents, Headmaster, Ms Elizabeth Stone spoke about what we know, and what we don’t, about human learning based on the findings of cognitive psychologists. One of the fundamental principles is that the more knowledge you start with, the more easily you will learn. Commenting on this point, Ms Stone said, “If the quality of learning is a function of how much you already know, there are significant implications for education and education policy. Intelligent judgements have to be made, not just about whether particular knowledge is valuable (all knowledge is valuable), but about what can intentionally be used as building blocks. "There are endless calls for schools to deliver life skills, but the public debate never addresses the obvious question of what should be displaced to make room. Good educational policy is going to have to confront this challenge, rather than pretending that there is no opportunity cost.” www.winchestercollege.org