Psycho‐pedagogy and personalised learning

Abstract

Over the past decade international discussions of pedagogy have increasingly clustered around a few ubiquitous and popular ideas drawn ostensibly from psychological research. The internet has been a powerful force in disseminating and globalising pedagogically relevant research into such matters as metacognition, multiple forms of intelligence, learning styles, learning preferences, thinking skills, brain functioning, emotional intelligence and neuro‐linguistic programming. This article explores the extent to which moulding pedagogy from a superficial reading of psychological ideas is educationally viable and suggests that pedagogical research is becoming increasingly self‐referential. The widespread acceptance of such ideas and their apparent validation within government documentation are examined. England will provide the case study for this examination since its government actively sponsors particular pedagogical approaches, packaging them currently under the now familiar label ‘personalised learning’, a term elaborated by government think‐tank adviser Charles Leadbeater.