Why is challenge so challenging?
After our recent “Fireside chat” with James Nottingham, I’ve been reflecting on why it’s so challenging to embed challenge in our schools and classrooms.
To unravel and unpick this, it’s first important to explore:
James Nottingham wrote a brilliant, succinct blogpost for Learning Pioneers outlining key “whys” behind embedding challenging learning. I’ve always admired James for his ability to pull together important research and translate it into digestible chunks and practical strategy. Here are a few key points he shared:
… And no matter where our students are, within which curriculum they are learning, what their background is, what their hopes and dreams are, I think we can all agree, we want them to make progress.
A subject close to my heart. We’re all, as humans, here to grow and expand. There is no limit to what we are capable of. Through embedding classrooms with challenging learning opportunities and, as James mentioned in our chat, guiding students in and then out of the Learning Pit, we are repeatedly getting them used to the flex of challenging themselves and growing as a result of this challenge. The more students (and we) practise this, the less “scared” of challenge we will be in our lives beyond school, the more likely we are to become limitless in the impact we can have and the happiness and success we can experience.
I’m not sure learning is really learning unless we are intrinsically motivated … It’s not High ROE*/ROI learning anyway - Intrinsic motivation drives us in school and will drive us later in life - It’s the basis of self-efficacy and leads to being in flow state. The more we are cultivating intrinsic motivation, the more students experience the feeling of being motivated, the more they will be able to seek it out in their lives and in the future. Parents often comment that they want their children to be happy - challenging, compelling learning is the road map to happiness - not “fluffy” happiness (although there’s nothing wrong with that either!); living your purpose, engaged with life happiness.
Which brings me to the next point:
And follow up question to that: How do we know when we have challenge embedded into our classroom ethos?
That, my friends, is a tricky and nuanced question. And I certainly don’t have all the answers. I can have a good stab at defining what I mean by “challenging learning” and be open to the ideas of others around this - I would love to hear your definitions of “challenging learning” in the chat or on social media.
For me true challenging learning is only happening in the classroom when students drive their own challenge - i.e. they seek out challenging learning because they know it is important for their growth, they know that being on the edge of their comfort zone is an exciting place to be and they are absolutely able to hold themselves through the “not knowing” and mistake-making that inevitably comes with creating challenging learning opportunities.
So, for me, what isn’t challenging learning? For me, I wouldn’t say I had challenging learning embedded into my classroom if the challenge was only guided and set by me. There’s nothing “wrong” with setting challenges and stretching students, but I can only know children will truly value and understand the value of challenge if, most of the time, they are ones creating and driving that challenge.
There’s a subtle and important difference there … Is the challenge led by adults (as would have been encouraged in many of my teaching posts in England), or led by the children (as, having been inspired by the Learning Power Approach (LPA), is what I always aimed for, no matter what others told me was right)?
And, here’s the kicker - This is exactly why it’s important to define what we mean by challenge with our teams. Because each of the beliefs above will significantly change and drive how we plan learning experiences.
If our belief is that we create challenging learning largely by us, as adults, “giving” students challenges, we might plan learning opportunities like:
This is better than no challenge at all, Yet, it might, if we’re not careful, result in:
Again, there’s nothing “wrong” with setting challenges - The problems might arise if that’s all we do and if we forget to hand the ownership of challenge over to students.
If our belief, instead, is that we want to enable students to create their own challenge and stretch themselves, we might:
In my experience, living this belief and the actions above result in:
Again, this is why it’s SO important to define what we mean by “challenge” with our teams - If half of our staff understand challenge to be largely adult-led and half understand challenge to be something that want to instil in students as a student-led value, you’re going to get very different practice across your school, all professing to aim towards the same “thing” - Challenging learning. In short, your direction towards challenge, will look like the first visual, with people pulling in different directions, rather than the second, where everyone on your team is aligned:
And, I don’t know about you, but I want to work and learn in schools with the second alignment. In those schools, I will feel purposeful, connected with my colleagues, clear on mine and my school’s vision and purpose and absolutely energised to do and be more.
I wonder what comes to mind when you think of “challenging learning”?
What does challenging learning mean to you?
How do you embed challenging learning in your schools and classrooms?
What blindspots or pitfalls do you see in embedding challenge?
What “pushback” do you have on the ideas above? What might I have missed?
In honour of not writing epicly long blogposts (!), I’m going to hold it there and write a part 2 - Part 2 will dive into how to break down our practice to ensure we are aligned with developing student-led challenging learning. I have a cool model I’d like to share with you which came to mind when I was aiming to gain conscious competence in how I embed student-led challenge … Watch this space!
If you’re committed to gaining clarity around challenging learning and embedding challenge into the heart of your schools and classrooms, join us for our 5-part Masterclass series with James Nottingham and myself on “Building a Culture of Self-Motivation and Persistence”. Find out more and sign up here.
And, cool news, we’re gifting the first 20 signs ups access to our asynchronous content - If you love learning from the world’s lead educators in a safe, inspiring space, you and your team will be like a kid in a sweet shop diving into this content! We already have a couple of schools signed up so don’t delay if you would like to receive this free gift for your teams.
*ROE = Return on energy - A great measure for engaging in learning/activities for yourself- Is it high ROE? Yes - do it; No, do less of it.
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Becky is the co-creator and thought-leader of Learning Pioneers. She loves the magic of children's imagination and thinking and has taught in classrooms across the world from Argentina, to Thailand to the UK, where she is originally from. She has co-authored a book with Professor Guy Claxton and travels the world inquiring into the most meaningful, purposeful, joyous educational settings across the globe.
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