The government has saidthat an email it wrote forteacher hopefulspromoting debunked learning styles was sent “in error”.
Last week it emerged that the Department for Education had produced aGet Into Teaching newsletter, in which it said there were “three types of learners”-visual, auditoryand kinaesthetic.
It also invited readers to take part in a quiz to determine their own “learning style”.
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A screenshot of thenewsletter was shared on social media by primary education lecturerSarah Brownsword, and criticised by the DfE’s own behaviour tsar, Tom Bennett, who joked that he could not dispense with the theory.
DfE promoted debunked learning styles
Now the department has revealedthat the email was sent “in error”.
It clarified that the DfE does “not advocate the learning styles that were referenced”.
The visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learning styles “neuromyth”has beenwidely debunked.
In fact, as one education lecturer pointed out, the DfE’scites a paper entitled “The Myth of Learning Styles”by Daniel Willingham.
The framework itself states: “There is a common misconception that pupils have distinct and identifiable learning styles.
“This is not supported by evidence and attempting to tailor lessons to learning styles is unlikely to be beneficial.”
A DfE spokesperson said: “An email from Get into Teaching was sent in error to a small proportion of students who had expressed interest in teaching. The message included a link to an interactive quiz on learning styles and has since been taken down.
“We do not advocate the learning styles that were referenced, and our initial teacher training core content framework is clear that attempting to tailor lessons to learning styles is unlikely to be beneficial.”
