Product reviews for Powering Up Children

In Powering Up Children Claxton and Carlzon have produced that most unusual of publications: a book that will appeal to anyone interested in children's learning at all levels of expertise and experience. It is especially remarkable in that it simultaneously provides page upon page of practical, easy-to-implement advice for teachers while also reflecting a deep understanding of the nature of education and the forces that are shaping the future of the profession.

Its underlying ideas and fundamental strategies are so clearly explained that, through borrowing them, educators will be able to build their own approaches that are even more appropriate for their own classrooms. The authors also reveal the principles of powerful learning that will enable a truly strategic approach to children's learning and, based on evidence from research and from the classroom experiences of fellow educators, together they help teachers see the line between the intentional design of teachers' actions and the development of effective, powerful learners. More experienced and innovative educators will also find ideas in this book that will inspire them to fly higher, and support their colleagues to do the same.

Best of all, Powering Up Children goes even further than shifting from teaching to learning, or from tactics to strategies: it speaks to the ways in which education changes the very nature of children, how teachers can influence children's identities as learners, and how classroom actions build the culture of classrooms, schools, and education systems. And so powerful learners are shaped.



All teachers, as well as school leaders and educational innovators, will find enormous value in this book. Its provocations will spark new ideas, challenge some existing thinking, and provide clarity about new ways forward.