Rob Bown on PLTS

The introduction of Personal Learning and Thinking Skills at Cheney is hoped to be a key feature of our development this year. But what’s it all about? We visited PLTS–tsar Rob Bown to find out…

What actually are PLTS?

Personal Learning and Thinking skills is the QCA’s account of the skills which underpin learning in the classroom… what is it that makes a good team-worker, creative thinker, independent enquirer, self-manager etc. These are skills which should help students to learn in any context, whether it’s in school or out of school.

How have used it in your own teaching, or how have you seen it used at other schools?

Well, in my own teaching, I’ve tried to follow a method that Guy Claxton in Building Learning Power has come up with. The idea is to have students engage with the skill at the beginning of the lesson before you even address any subject context. You get them enthused about the skill, understanding and seeing the relevance of the skill, inside the classroom, in other classrooms and outside of school. Then, when you’ve got them on-

board, and they are interested in the skill, have them use that skill in the classroom to take control of their own learning. Once they’ve understood the skill, they hopefully apply it and understand its relevance to their future lives.

And at other schools?

Yes, at Matthew Arnold they have introduced a year 7 programmein which each department is committed to delivering a series of lessons connected to a particular skill every half term.

What about here at Cheney? How do you think it might help us to improve our provision?

Well from 2010, there will be a weekly skills activity in tutor time. There’s a team that has put these activities together, and it’s hoped that through these activities, students will start to think about the skills and see the relevance of them across the curriculum and outside of school. That will be a key thing in 2010. We might also be looking at an Enrichment Day focsed on PLTS, and I’m hopeful that it will lead to students and staff gaining a better understanding of the skills that underpin learning.

Are PLTS expected to be explicit in classroom teaching? Is it a model of PLTS that skills objectives will be provided alongside subject objectives?

This is a key issue. I think that almost all staff would agree that these skills are important. Some staff would argue that the skills should be implicit to what happens in the classroom. My reasons for trying to make it explicit are that students in my opinion need to understand what the skills involve in order for the to then progress. If they can’t explain what a good explanation is, then how are they going to improve their ability to explain?

So, if there are colleagues who would like to find out more, what can they do in the meantime to find out?

There is a PLTS folder on the shared area with lots of links to documents such as the Guy Claxton books and useful websites. The group that has put together the tutor programme for 2010 is still meeting, so if you’d like to be involved in that and come to the meetings – lots of biscuits supplied – please do come to that, and otherwise, talking to any member of the team would be a good way forward.