Seven Principles
for
Professional Growth
#5: Stretch All Learners
The learning environment devises programs that demand hard work and challenge from all, but without excessive overload.
- Being sensitive to individual differences and needs also means being challenging enough to reach above their existing level and capacity; at the same time, no-one should be allowed to coast for any significant amount of time.
- Higher-achieving students can help lower-achieving students, which helps stretch all learners.
- This underscores the need to avoid overload and de-motivating regimes based on grind, fear and excessive pressure - not just for humanistic reasons but because these are not consistent with the cognitive and motivational evidence on effective learning.