Creating the Space for Real Learning

Teaching is only partly about content, and the teacher's mastery of the content - the poem or novel, the essay technique. Prior to and more crucial than any of this is the learning space — the tone, the trust, the sense that it’s safe to think aloud, to get things wrong. Only once this learning space has been established will real learning, characterised by joy, interest, creativity, take place. It is a space of safety, a space of listening, a space where attunement is more important than "supervision".

The tutor’s role isn’t just to explain, but to invite curiosity and to listen. The tutor does not simply impose his or her own thought, but elaborates the potential already contained in the thoughts of the child. We are not simply in the business of digesting facts but of responding creatively to language.

For more of my own writing, see here: Mark Bowles | Substack