Natural Born Learners

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What to expect

Learning is the soul of our species. From our first steps to our last words, we are what we learn. Our education predicts how much we'll earn, how content we will be, even how long we'll live. But for all its obvious importance, learning has lost touch with human progress. We live in an information age, work in a knowledge economy, yet our schools are relics of an industrial era.

In Natural Born Learners, education insider Alex Beard takes us on a dazzling tour of the future of learning to show how we can - and why we must - do better. Weaving together expert insight, entertaining anecdote and intelligent research, Beard leads us from the crowded corridors of a London comprehensive to the high-tech halls of Silicon Valley, through the exam factories of South Korea to the inclusive classrooms of Finland to reveal that today we stand on the cusp of a learning revolution.

Tackling everything from artificial intelligence to our growing understanding of the infant brain, from the roots of creativity to the way classrooms can be unwitting engines of extremism, this book is a user's guide to transforming learning in the twenty-first century and roadmap to accessing our better future selves.
Read by Mike Grady and Introduced by Alex Beard
(p) Orion Publishing Group 2018

Critics Review

Readers should accompany Beard on his travels - not only because the subject of his inquiry is so important, but because after myriad engaging anecdotes and encounters, he arrives at some conclusions with universal relevance
FINANCIAL TIMES
Invigorating...one of the most optimistic, thought-provoking and ambitious educational books of recent years. Natural Born Learners is audacious, sassy, unafraid of big questions about what our children deserve and what our culture needs from education...bold and exuberant
TES
In this vital and vitalising exploration of the future of education, Alex Beard has written a compelling work of non-fiction. A meditation, a rallying cry and an inspirational call to cut a new educational path, this is an incredibly important book. As Beard powerfully illustrates, if we get education right for everyone then we'll be well on the way to solving so many of our other problems
METRO
A timely and passionate book on the need for a global educational renaissance
MAIL ON SUNDAY
Lively and provocative ... Beard is inspirational on the capabilities of the brain. Fizzing through the neuroscience he encourages readers to admire the potential for learning in even a lowly slug, and makes a powerful case against the old ideas of fixed or hereditary intelligence
DAILY TELEGRAPH
Fascinating
GUARDIAN
A grand tour, looking for what works in an era in which traditional educational models bump up against acute societal change
TLS
A dazzlingly fast-paced journey through the classrooms and laboratories of the globe in an attempt to tackle the Big Questions of our age . . . This is a book that sets out to explore our deepest dreams and most profound possibilities
NEW STATESMAN
Wide-ranging, often humorous and consistently fascinating, this is a book for all those interested in learning - a process that, as the author stresses, should be lifelong
THE LADY
By learning from educators on the vanguard all over the world, Alex Beard helps us understand what we need to do to ensure that today's children can shape a better future for themselves and all of us. We must prioritise and approach education in a totally different way to achieve this end, and Natural Born Learners helps us see the path forward
WENDY KOPP, CEO & Co-founder Teach For All

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