‘Successful Learners’: Concept, Children’s Views, and Classroom Practice

Abstract

‘Successful learners’ is one of the four capacities, or purposes, of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE). This paper reports on a project which aimed to clarify its meaning, explore children’s understanding of the term, and consider possible implications of both for classroom practice. The project was thus conducted in two parts: a conceptual consideration of the term, followed by an empirical study where the views of upper primary children (n=31) were elicited, using a Philosophy with Children approach. The study found that the term is infinitely ambiguous and can be used to support a whole number of different classroom approaches, some of which run quite counter to the ethos of CfE. The study suggests that fuller constructive collaboration between CfE advocates, teachers, and learners is required for the concept to become useable, supportive and enabling rather than restrictive, divisive, or elitist.