Marton and Säljö (1976) put
forward the notion of there being two different approaches to learning: Surface
Learning and Deep Learning. Surface Learning is where
ideas are accepted passively, with students concentrating only on what is
required for assessment. Deep Learning, on the other hand, is
where students relate
ideas to their previous knowledge and experience; discover principles; relate
evidence to conclusions and examine the logic of arguments.i
It is perhaps obvious that teachers want
Deep
Learning to take place rather than Surface Learning as few professionals
would like to see themselves as a short-term, quick fix simply tasked with
getting students to passively accept enough information to get them through an
assessment rather than providing them with a thought-provoking, engaging
education. When reflecting on this as group, some colleagues adopted a cynical
point of view, stating the current education system rewards Surface
Learning as student success is judged by examination assessment; therefore
teachers are encouraged to make all of their lessons Surface Learning about
the examination.
Personally however, I’d argue that both Surface and Deep
learning are needed; Surface learning of knowledge with Deep
learning of skills. From a subject specific stance, this is particularly evident
with the new English Language GCSE’s. The content of the text is always unseen
and varies greatly, however, the skills required for each question are
consistent. Therefore, I have carefully designed lessons to focus on the skills
required for each question when designing schemes and have so far found this to
be an effective approach (based on feedback from internal assessments and mock
examinations).
From a professional point of view, it
is also important to keep this in mind in my role as mentor; new teachers must
be encouraged to take a Deep Learning approach to key skills
when lesson planning so that students are effectively prepared for whatever
content they are presented with in life as well as in examinations.
i N.J. Entwistle and
A.C. Entwistle Developing, Revising, and Examining Conceptual
Understanding: The Student Experience and its Implications (University
of Edinburgh: Centre for Research on Learning and Instruction, 1991)
