Until recently there was a prevailing view that chasing the grades and building mental capacities were approaches that were somehow at odds with each other. Without really thinking about it, some educators thought they had to choose: am I going to go for the grades, in which case I have to adopt a rather didactic, teacher-directed style, or am I going to try to build those elusive ‘21st century skills’, in which case the results might suffer? This either/or thinking is an example of what can be called limiting assumptions – beliefs that we may not even recognise as beliefs, but which limit our horizons and aspirations: our sense of what is possible. And what is possible, according to the research, is to teach in a way that hits both targets: higher grades and positive, empowering attitudes towards learning itself. The Learning Power Approach is about turning this possibility into a day-to-day reality – in every school in the world.

The aim of the Learning Power Approach (LPA) is to develop all students as confident and capable learners: ready, willing and able to choose, design, research, pursue, trouble-shoot and evaluate learning for themselves, alone and with others, in school and out.

This foundational book sets out the rationale, the evidence and the principles that underpin the whole Learning Power Approach. It spells out clearly what is distinctive about the LPA, and provides plenty of illustrations of what it looks like in practice. To make a success of the LPA it is very important to understand clearly what it is and what it is not. The book is the first in a series of four. To follow, there will be a book for primary teachers; another specifically for secondary teachers; and a final one for head teachers who want to embed the LPA across the whole school. Each of these will be full of practical advice and examples.