Student Independent Learning
Kath Murdoch and Jeni Wilson look at how teachers can help lead students towards greater independence in their learning.
Ask most teachers today what they believe to be a key goal of their work and they will often reply that it is to help students become effective, independent learners. Indeed, several new ‘Essential’ frameworks in Australia identify skills associated with independent learning as an important part of curriculum mapping and assessment (for example, the ‘Personal Learning’ domain in The Victorian Essential Learning Standards). In contrast to traditional classroom practices where students were highly dependent on the teacher to make decisions about their learning—classrooms are increasingly viewed as places in which students ‘learn to learn’. As we grow in our understanding of effective pedagogy, we are also recognising the need for more small group and one-to-one teaching opportunities. For this to happen effectively, we must develop students’ capacity to work independently and manage themselves as learners.
What is an independent learner?
Through conversations with teachers and our reading of associated literature, we have gleaned several characteristics repeatedly associated with more independent learners. Taking into account developmental differences, these students are often described as more able to motivate, manage and assess themselves as outlined in the table following.
We believe that students can only develop such skills and behaviours for effective, independent learning if they are given opportunities to be independent. It is as simple—and complex—as that. In schools throughout Australia, teachers are developing innovative approaches to nurturing independence. These approaches vary, but share the following six principles:
1. Reframing the role of the teacher (and learner)
Many teachers describe the greatest challenge in nurturing independence in students as their own struggle to ‘let go’. Letting go should not be seen as abandonment—or even retreating to the ubiquitous role of ‘guide on the side’. Rather, it is about letting go of the way we traditionally see our role as teachers and the extent to which we tend to do so much of the thinking for our students. It is also about seeing our students differently—as capable of assuming some responsibility, making decisions and managing choice and time. Inevitably, when we re-position our roles in this way, we are often surprised by what students can, in fact, do independently.
2.Offering choice
One of the keys to developing independence is to learn to make wise choices. In the innovative classrooms we see, students are regularly expected to make choices about what, how and with whom they will learn. In many pre-school and early years environments, children are frequently expected to make decisions about tasks they will undertake, with whom they will ‘work’, how long they will stay at a task or how they might present their thinking and learning to others. While there are clear expectations and structures that allow these learning communities to function fairly, children make a significant number of decisions about how they will use their time. If very young children can manage such responsibility, then it follows that, with increasing maturity and opportunities to make choices, this independence should flourish! Of course, simply providing choice does not, in itself, foster independence. Just as responsibility and rights go hand in hand, so do choice and support. This support comes in the form of clear (and often co-constructed) guidelines that combine non-negotiable and negotiable tasks as well as direct instruction at the point of need and modelling of skills and behaviours.
3. Differentiation
One of the keys to enhancing independence in the classroom is to recognise the differences between individuals and to develop ways to cater for these differences. The teacher’s role in determining learning objectives and monitoring individual progress is important for facilitating learning. When teachers combine the provision of choice with an acute understanding of the individual needs, strengths, interests and learning styles of students in their care, they can better guide students in managing their own learning pathways.
4. An inquiry-oriented approach to teaching
An inquiry approach is a powerful vehicle for fostering independence. When used well, inquiry-based learning assists students to ask questions and pursue investigations of relevance to both needs and interests. The emphasis on reflection and action also encourages students to think about how to best use their learning. Involving students in some shared inquiries (eg, where the class or a group pursues a common question for a period of time) can provide vital modelling of the skills and processes used for effective investigation and communication. Importantly, this shared experience should be balanced with opportunities for students to pursue more individual interests, questions or objectives.
5. Open-ended structures and routines
Catering for the individual needs within a full class of students (and generally only one teacher) can certainly put a strain on the quest for more independent learners. We observe many teachers managing this challenge by designing tasks, structures and routines that encourage students to self-manage and work more independently—allowing the teacher and students more opportunities for one-to-one and small group interaction.
The use of structures (such as learning contracts where students select from tiered tasks, physical learning centres or work stations around the room, task boards and activity menus, cooperative learning groups and cross-age groupings) promote self-management and provide opportunities for individualised instruction. In addition, students and teachers become more accustomed to the experience of individuals and small groups doing different tasks at the same time. To work, these structures need to be used consistently, expectations must be clear and, importantly, the task themselves cannot be simply ‘busy work’—they must be relevant to learning objectives.
6. Making connections
One simple—but powerful—way to nurture independence, is to ensure that students know why they are doing what they are doing. When students dutifully carry out a task or investigate a topic simply because a teacher has asked them to, the learning purpose remains shrouded in mystery. When teachers are ‘up front’ about their purposes and bring their students into the picture, they better equip students with the knowledge they need to make decisions for themselves. Once this kind of discourse is established, teachers find they are able to involve students much more in decisions about anything from, say, the time-tabling of a day through to the form of assessment most appropriate for a unit of work. Integrating the curriculum can be a very effective way to help students understand the purposes behind their learning. When a curriculum is fragmented and when there is little that connects one learning episode to the next, we leave our students in a highly dependent state. When the learning landscape is more integrative in nature, it simply makes more sense. When we are in an environment that ‘makes sense’ to us, we can exert more control and participate more confidently and knowingly in it. Building students’ metacognitive capacity by encouraging regular reflection and self-assessment also fosters the ability to self-manage the ‘thinking’ demands of learning tasks.
It’s the little things that make a difference...
While the above principles offer some important guidance, it is perhaps the minutiae of classroom life that can most strongly influence the development of independent skills. Consider, for example, the teacher who prepares a note to parents about an upcoming excursion and gives it to students at the end of the day compared with the teacher who asks students to draft and present the note to the class for consideration before publishing to parents. The active role taken by students in the second scenario is a small way of encouraging responsibility. Equally ‘small’ things such as students’ access to materials and resources, decisions about who sits where, the degree of freedom to move around the room, etc—all add up to a bigger message to students about our view of them as learners.
While most educators share a goal of student independence, there are many pathways towards it. Taking time to consider some of the principles that underpin these pathways can result in challenging—yet ultimately rewarding—classroom innovations.