Out of Style

Any learning fad claiming to be a magical fix-all to student progression should be approached with caution, says Julie Price Grimshaw...

‘Haven’t we got enough to think about?’ That was my reaction when I first encountered three letters with which I would become increasingly familiar: VAK. I suspect many of you will identify with this, but for the uninitiated, this relates to Fleming’s ‘visual, auditory and kinaesthetic’ model. It’s based on the notion that most of us have a dominant learning style that fits into one of these three categories.

As more and more lesson plans came emblazoned with those three little letters, I thought: We’re expected to cater for all ability levels, pupils with special needs, gifted and talented pupils, those with particular emotional needs – and now we’ve got to design activities to match certain learning styles? Lots of my colleagues agreed with me, but nevertheless VAK gained popularity in many, many schools.

I have to say, I rarely saw anything that convinced me this approach was as magical as some claimed. The VAK boxes on the aforementioned lesson plans tended to say things like ‘Visual learners to work with the maps. Auditory learners to read the task sheet to their peers. Kinaesthetic learners to make the model.’ Sometimes this led to much complaining on the part of the visual and auditory groups who felt the kinaesthetics were having more fun.

I remember one particular headteacher proudly telling me that the staff had fully embraced learning styles, and that this was absolutely, 100 per cent, the answer to fixing the poor achievement of recent years. Entering the Year 5 classroom there was a cacophonous squealing from one corner where a group of pupils appeared to be playing in a huge container of mud. Another group sat at tables colouring in diagrams, while a third were struggling to read aloud from a workbook - what with all the noise from kinaesthetic learners in the mud. The teacher was pleased to explain that she had categorised each child, told him or her what sort of learner he or she was, and designed activities accordingly. I couldn’t see much learning going on at all. One of the auditory learners told me about her work, saying “It’s boring. It’s just reading. I want to be a kinnis learner.” Soon after, an impressive quantity of mud was thrown in the direction of the visual learners. At least they could see it coming.

If you’ve used ‘learning styles’ and found they worked well, that’s absolutely fine, but there’s no doubt that some have misinterpreted and misused this approach. When a Year 3 child in another school had a temper tantrum, kicking and biting the teaching assistant, the teacher said to me: “He’s just a typical kinaesthetic learner.” No, he is a child, who, for whatever reason, is not behaving in an acceptable manner.

It does seem, though, that kinaesthetic learners are having more fun. Speaking with many, many pupils over the years, they almost always tell me that they love practical activities because these help them to learn best. One quote that has stuck with me was from the child who said, “Sometimes we do work, but sometimes we do practical.” Perhaps we’re all kinaesthetic learners at heart.

My own experience suggests that some schools are constantly on the lookout for the latest scheme, approach or piece of magic that will guarantee success. We need to view any such claims with caution. You don’t need me to tell you that there isn’t a single, simple approach that will work for every child, and every teacher, in every school. There’s no substitute for high-quality teaching that inspires, enthuses and motivates pupils so that they love learning and make rapid progress as a result. You can get many pieces of feedback every minute just by looking at and listening to your pupils; if it’s working, great, if it’s not, change something.

Julie’s book, Self-propelled learning and effective teaching, is available on Amazon. It examines dozens of teaching strategies to discover what works and what doesn’t.

About the Author

Julie Price Grimshaw is a teacher, teacher trainer, and education consultant. She has taught primary and secondary and has been involved in school inspections since 2001.