High Performance Learning: How to become a world class school

Schools that want to be world class are now paying attention to the findings from neuroscience and psychology that tell us we can build better brains. They are changing their mindset, expecting success for far more students and no longer being constrained by ideas of genetic potential.

High Performance Learning provides readers with a ground-breaking and approachable model for achieving high levels of academic performance for all students and schools. It takes what is known about how people reach advanced cognitive performance and translates it into a practical and user-friendly framework, which can be used with all students to systematically build the cognitive thinking skills and learner behaviours that will deliver success in school, in the workplace and in later life. Flexible and adaptable, High Performance Learning can be used in any context, with any curriculum and at any age. It does not require separate lessons but rather becomes the underpinning pedagogy of the school.

Drawing on the author’s 40 years of research into how the most able students think and learn, this book provides a framework that has been extensively trialled in schools in eleven countries. . Themes include:

• Creating world class schools
• The High Performance Learning environment
• The High Performance Learning framework
• Advanced Cognitive Performance characteristics (ACPs)
• Values, Attitudes and Attributes (VAAs)
• Creating and leading a High Performance Learning school
• The role of parents, universities and employers.

This invaluable resource will help schools make the move from good to world class and will be essential reading for school leaders, teachers and those with an interest in outstanding academic performance.

Deborah Eyre is a leading educational writer and influencer in the area of high performance for schools and individuals. She is also an academic, former Education Director at Nord Anglia Education and Director at the UK National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY).