Learning Development Research Articles

Agents for curriculum change: the role of Learning Development

Learning Development (LD) can rightly see a role as positive institutional change agents. However, this perception can often be frustrated by external interpretations about the value of study skills (Richards and Pilcher, 2023), which could go some way to perpetuating something of an identity disconnect, where others may often continue to perceive LD as remedial (Bishop et al., 2009). This session aimed to inspire a sense of where opportunities may lie for challenging perceptions with LD as change agents, using our institutional experience of having made some significant headway in influencing wholesale curriculum change. The workshop was an opportunity for exploratory discussions, with participants sharing their experiences of participation in curriculum change initiatives or challenges faced in trying to engineer this role. It considered ways to seize and make the most of other opportunities, such as student guidance on Artificial Intelligence, to be similarly influential. Based on our experience of a new curriculum framework, discussions explored challenges the LD team faced in seeking, in the first instance, to have a significant role in the process, achieving this and the inherent frustrations nevertheless. With participants, we discovered how LD can seize opportunities through recognising the role LD can play, such as defining pedagogical concepts of resourcefulness and resilience, which was inherent in the curriculum design. Group activities explored the challenges in trying to influence curriculum change, shared successes and considered whether this is an effective use of LD time. Group investigations also looked at the importance of collaborating with academic developers, and how this can help address and evolve perceptions of LD as change agents, given that staff educational development can be assumed to be the more natural agent for progressing institutional curriculum change and why an LD presence can bring a unique perspective.

Talking ourselves up: reframing learning development to reflect our expertise

The way universities frame Learning Development (LD) has profound implications for the field’s pedagogy, status, autonomy and evolution. These variables affect the value that LD releases to staff and students. Framing involves ‘foregrounding certain perspectives and ruling out others’ to characterise a phenomenon (Jones, 2010, p.242). Learning developers’ ‘palpable reluctance’ to advocate for their expertise (Webster, 2022, p.181) contributes to the field often being framed externally. This session guided attendees on how to constructively challenge and redefine the framings at university level, using my doctoral data (Johnson, 2023). It included analysis of framing discourse about LD on UK universities’ websites, of the value of LD to students and staff in one university, and of how the two related. LD can be framed as a combination of skills development, human development and subject-embedded instruction (Hallett, 2010). The university website discourse lacked quantity and detail about the embedded framing, while strongly representing the skills framing. The skills framing correlated with stakeholders perceiving LD as delivering functional (financial) value, while the humanistic framing added social and emotional value. Only the embedded framing encouraged perceptions of LD as adding knowledge – a.k.a. epistemic value (terminology from Sheth et al., 1991, adapted for higher education [HE] by LeBlanc and Nguyen, 1999). I therefore argued LD teams should advocate for a reframing of their work which better calibrates and explains all three discourses. As the stakeholder data illustrated, this enhanced perception increases students’ and staff’s inclination to engage with LD (conditional value), leading to greater value release.

Who are we? An autoethnographic investigation into professional role identity of the Learning Developer

This presentation was based on a proposed small-scale research project which aimed to investigate how a small team of Learning Developers (six) feel about their professional identity, and whether the job title of Academic Skills Advisor (ASA) at Edge Hill University has accurately reflected their combined experience and professional standing. This research project was designed to be undertaken within the Student Engagement Team Community of Practice (SETCoP) and had been identified as a useful chance to explore the Learning Development (LD) skills base through the practice of collaborative autoethnography (Chang, 2022). Eyre and Slawson (2018) recognise that self-descriptions enable Learning Developers to maintain control over defining the value of LD practice. This research project employs a qualitative research approach to investigate whether participants’ self-identify matches with the given job title. Ethical approval was sought internally within Edge Hill University. Thus, this presentation also highlighted the readiness of the professional role identity of the Learning Developer team and how they managed to build inclusive LD space within their Community of Practice in order to connect socially, emotionally, and physically. They also discussed how they planned for data gathering and evaluating the collective feelings of the ASAs to reflect the impacts of the evolution of the job title as an LD role which enabled them to show their identity, practices, values, and status.

The rise of study skills at Strathclyde (and our part in its downfall): a bildungsroman

In 2012, three members of staff were recruited by the University of Strathclyde to sit in a room and talk to students. That was the whole of the plan. That is not how this story ends. The talking was supposed to ‘help’ students to do things ‘right’. That is not what we spoke about. That year, the student-facing part of the Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Enhancement (CAPLE) established in 1987, which at its height consisted of six permanent academics with varied research interests within the, then emergent, field of Learning Development (LD), was replaced by a generic Study Skills Service, staffed by LD practitioners with a considerable collective experience and who shared a vision that was more critical and looked to a more authentically (learning) developmental approach (Asher, 2024). In so doing, the university had created a service model which we would spend the next nine years dismantling (or, to be more accurate, redeveloping). What follows is our story. The story of how the Learner Development Service (LDS) came into being, and how the spaces and places we have inhabited (both hostile and hospitable) have shaped our practices (Gravett et al., 2023) and how, in June 2022, we took up residency in a dedicated LDS Centre designed by us for us. To date, we have occupied three physical locations and been positioned under three different university services. These spaces and places have defined what we could do but they have also informed the design of our current physical, virtual and conceptual environment, as this paper details. This session highlighted the need for Learning Development practitioner resilience and perseverance in difficult circumstances. It foregrounds the usefulness of initiating, developing, and nurturing productive and mutually rewarding professional relationships with academic departments, course leaders and individual academics in order to advance the growth of Learning Development provision in institutions.

Plagiaruedo*: teaching of academic integrity through a ‘whodunnit’ game (*any likeness to other games is intentional!)

An academic crime has been committed – someone has been caught plagiarising! Did Prof. Crastinator forget quotation marks due to poor time management, or did Larry Lastminute deliberately cheat by submitting text generated by artificial intelligence (AI)? This workshop invited delegates to play ‘Plagiaruedo’, a board game designed and used to raise students’ awareness of academic integrity. In the game, participants visited departments of the University of Portsmouth, tasked with figuring out who plagiarised, how they did it and why they did it, before submitting their answer to ‘Turnitin’ … but beware – an incorrect answer meant failing the assignment! Academic integrity is often regarded as a serious topic, making it potentially challenging to teach without resorting to dry or even punitive materials. Through Plagiaruedo, presenters hoped to challenge traditional teaching methods and play with a subject matter that is not traditionally played with (Sicart, 2014), creating an open learning environment that encourages students to try something new (Whitton and Moseley, 2019). Presenters reflected on experimenting with their Learning Development (LD) practice and finding that play has purpose within higher education (James, 2019). Following the game, delegates were asked for feedback on using Plagiaruedo as a catalyst for subsequent academic integrity activities, before the presenters shared their own in-class examples. Feedback from this ‘playtest’ will help improve future iterations of Plagiaruedo. Playfully-minded colleagues had the opportunity to join presenters for a potential research project about perceptions of the game, to enhance the evidence base for playful learning in higher education.

Deficit to development: rethinking centralised workshops

Centralised academic skills provision has been criticised for being ‘generic’, ‘remedial’, or ‘bolt on’ (Wingate, 2006). Critics argue it takes a deficit approach towards student learning, simplifying academic processes and failing to meet students’ discipline-specific needs. Embedded provision is often seen as the solution. However, embedded does not necessarily mean non-deficit. Indeed, Schneider (2023) highlights that academic tutors can perceive students in relation to skills they are lacking. Subsequently, Learning Developers can be brought in to ‘fix’ students, and as such, embedded sessions may still be disconnected from the curriculum and designed to offer pre-prescribed solutions, reflecting deficit approaches. As Webster (2023) asserts, the Learning Developer’s role is not ‘to give students academic skills’ but rather to help them make sense of the skills and literacies that are hidden in the curriculum. In this workshop, we discussed how we redesigned our entire skills programme using a non-deficit pedagogic approach that aims to help students ‘uncover their curriculum’. Inspired by the University of Manchester’s constructive and collective approach (Blake and Illingworth, 2015), we see our co-curricular offer as providing a unique opportunity to create empowering and developmental learning spaces which sit alongside embedded provision. To meet these aims, our redesign was informed by four principles: Reflection: centring students’ prior knowledge and experience. Collaboration: harnessing knowledge from a community of learners, rather than a ‘sage on the stage’. Choice: students customise their own learning experience, tailoring sessions to meet their own needs. Application: students relate session content to their own discipline and apply learning to their own work. Workshop participants considered debates around deficit thinking in relation to centralised training, working together to redesign learning activities and reflect on the opportunities and challenges of such an approach.

TEACHING PERSONNEL OF WESTERN KAZAKHSTAN DURING THE EDUCATIONAL REFORMS OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY

The main purpose of the article is to analyze the development of the Soviet system of education in the second half of the 20th century in Kazakhstan and in the West Kazakhstan region in particular. The value of the research lies in the fact that this historical period is a landmark for the educational sphere. It was during these years that important regulatory documents were adopted, the foundations for developmental and problem-based learning were laid, and new teaching methods were created. As a result of the application of comparative historical, statistical and logical methods, the main aspects of the research topic are revealed. Special attention is paid to the characteristics of the teaching activity and the contribution of individual representatives of the educational sphere. Thanks to their work, the implementation of state educational programs was underway, and above all, the transition to universal compulsory secondary education, an important indicator of which was the development of new programs and the improvement of students’ academic performance. Due to the tasks set, the article gives a qualitative analysis of students’ academic performance in schools in Uralsk, the West Kazakhstan region. After all, the general state of the educational sphere of Kazakhstan depended on the activities of the regions. The author presents the personal data of teachers of the West Kazakhstan region, with good results of mastering new programs, highlights the issues of staff retraining and generalization of the experience of innovative teachers. The result of the conducted research is to identify the main trends in the development of the education system in the Soviet period, consider the reform in education as a system, as well as identify its positive and negative aspects and highlight the educational reforms of the West Kazakhstan region as an integral part of the all-Union and republican reforms, identify its advances and controversies. The tasks and problems in the education system, in a changed form according to modern requirements, remain relevant today. Based on this, it is concluded that the field of application of the results of historical research is the modern education system. Historical analysis makes it possible to draw a parallel between the Soviet education system of the second half of the twentieth century and the objectives of the education system of independent Kazakhstan, since the main goal of all historical periods of development is a high level of development of the education system.

A review of Dr Wrangham’s book, ‘the Goodness Paradox . . . ‘, and insights into the evolution of human language, aesthetics, and free will

Dr Richard Wrangham’s book and YouTubes are helping to explain our evolved psychology as primarily occurring in African hunter-gatherer bands before the end of the last ice age. This perspective is supported by the exquisite cave paintings and tool artifacts from this ancient time. The most important evidence about our origins, however, comes from recent anthropological studies of current bands that represent the earlier age. Results showed that 5-psychosocial-behaviors produced both the environment and the natural selection for our psychology. These are: 1) language, coalitional activities and egalitarianism organization, 2) problems of bullies for egalitarianism, 3) management of the problems by gossip, ostracism and executions, 4) those targeted by the management had shorter lives and fewer children demonstrating strong natural selection, 5) reduced targeting occurred for those showing high-quality activities or high status, which increased the complexity of the selection to include all of our psychological abilities. The evolved psychological abilities include those highlighted by Dr Wrangham: emotions, intelligence, conscience and personality, as well as those with only supporting evidence: developmental and social learning, theory of mind, language, aesthetics, and free will. Further support for the importance of the 5-psychosocial-behaviors is provided by evidence from the domestication syndrome, natural selection pressure, and a positive feedback model. In addition, these perspectives can explain issues such as why 50% of our thoughts and behaviors comes from our environment and development as demonstrated in identical twin studies, and why we experience life with agency and free will. Dr Wrangham’s work is producing a new explanation of our nature that can help us all to understand why we are the way we are.

Exploring the engagement of students who identify as Black, Indigenous (and/or) People of Colour (BIPoC) with Learning Development practitioners: reviewing the value, impact, and recommendations for future practice

The need for universities to effectively support students identifying as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Colour (BIPoC) remains a pressing element of strategies to close awarding gaps. Within overall support packages, the contribution of Learning Developers merits investigation, since these staff are often responsible for nurturing growth in students’ academic abilities. Through this small-scale, exploratory, qualitative study, we sought to better understand how Learning Developers can contribute to narrowing awarding gaps by exploring the benefits of and barriers to students engaging with Learning Development (LD). These benefits and barriers were elicited in interviews with twelve BIPoC students within one school in the Humanities and Social Sciences faculty in a UK university. The study explored their experiences of the value of LD interactions and how it might be enhanced. Aspects deemed valuable emerged broadly as anticipated, centring around how Learning Developers assisted students to learn academic practices such as: decoding assessment instructions and marking rubrics, referencing, breaking down tasks, and feedback uptake. More specifically relevant to BIPoC students, however, was the desirability of a flexible approach to the number and length of LD tutorials, enabling them to build relationships, understand guidance, and ask questions. Secondly, they mentioned the need to see ethnic diversity represented in the LD staff base and amongst student champions for LD. These factors were noted as good practice when evident, but open to further improvement. We conclude that whilst effective foundations were in place, the task of supporting BIPoC students remains one for ongoing reflection and action.

Internet of things enabled E-learning system for academic achievement among university students

The rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) represents a burgeoning frontier in educational innovation, particularly in the realm of e-learning. Despite its expanding capabilities, the integration of IoT technologies into e-learning within higher educational institutions (HEIs) faces numerous challenges and constraints. Limited research has delved into the implementation of IoT in e-learning, especially in developing nations. Consequently, this study seeks to explore the determinants influencing the adoption of IoT for e-learning in HEIs. The aim of the innovative ICT classroom is to assist students in acquiring new skills, adapting to new situations, and utilizing technology in a manner that leads to enhanced learning outcomes and extensive knowledge. Our suggested e-learning system, integrated with IoT technology, gauges student engagement and attentiveness throughout online lectures. The proposed technology integrates electroencephalography (EEG) with IoT. The IoT is a collection of technologies that allow embedded real-world objects to connect to the Internet and is widely used by humans to support a variety of activities. IoT should be taught using developmental learning approaches and included in higher education teaching projects. EEG devices are used to track the psychological movements of students taking online courses. Our findings demonstrate how the proposed method can be used to detect the user’s level of concentration and the required level of educational strategy. A collection of informational indexes for student attention. By using a BiLSTM network to predict undergraduate recall and temporary memory, we can accurately predict undergraduate preferred learning styles. The findings of the research demonstrate that IoT systems and devices play a pivotal role in enhancing access to education. They facilitate easier teaching and learning processes while democratizing education. When employed as educational tools, IoT devices contribute significantly to creating highly engaging learning experiences for students.

Child development lags and learning trajectories in primary school in Uruguay: compensation or divergence? / Rezagos en el desarrollo infantil y trayectorias de aprendizaje en la enseñanza primaria de Uruguay: ¿compensación o divergencia?

We evaluate two rival hypotheses of: (a) divergent trajectories — or cumulative learning gaps — between children with severe and moderate developmental lags and developmentally on-track children; and (b) convergent trajectories — which predict the inverse pattern. We estimate growth curves using panel data from a cohort of students first assessed by the Early Years Evaluation (Uruguay) at the end of kindergarten (age five), assessed up to three times in language and mathematics on an annual basis during years three to five since their transition to first grade. By the third year in school, substantial differences are found in reading and maths skills between children that did and did not show early developmental lags (effects range between .31 and .46 sd). We find a prevalent pattern of divergence in learning gains between years three to five in school (gaps increase by .10 sd per year). Our results suggest that tackling academic gaps will require timely interventions based on early identification of children who are academically at risk. Uruguay has developed early developmental assessment tools and learning monitoring systems, both of which should serve as the basis of an effective early warning system to deal with learning disparities from early ages.

On the Many Terms for Developmental Language and Learning Impairments

The terms Language Disorder, Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), Language-based learning disabilities, Specific Learning Disorder, and Specific Learning Disability are commonly used to describe children struggling to learn at school. In this position paper, the definitions and distinctions between these terms are discussed, and key overlaps and differences described. Although often used interchangeably, Specific Learning Disorder and Specific Learning Disability are not synonymous. Based on current definitions, DLD and Specific Learning Disorder are related to Specific Learning Disability in the same way. In educational settings, children with DLD may additionally be identified using terms such as Language Impairment, Speech, Language, Communication Needs (SLCN), and others. Despite the problematic overlap in the names Specific Learning Disorder and Specific Learning Disability, one advantage of the latter term is the acknowledgment that many skills underlying academic learning are language-based, thereby capturing the disability experienced by children with language or academic learning disorders.

Lead Poisoning in a Mother and Her Four Children Using a Traditional Eye Cosmetic - New York City, 2012-2023.

Even low levels of lead in children's blood are associated with developmental delays, difficulty learning, and behavioral issues. Adults are also vulnerable to the detrimental health effects of lead exposure. The New York City (NYC) Department of Health and Mental Hygiene receives blood lead test results for NYC residents and conducts investigations of lead poisoning cases. Blood lead testing of a child aged 4 years in 2012 led to the discovery of blood lead levels above the CDC blood lead reference value of 3.5 μg/dL in the child as well as four other family members over a period of 11 years, including the child's mother and three younger siblings born during 2012-2016. The only potential source of lead exposure identified for all cases was the use of surma, a traditional eye cosmetic, which was found to contain 390,000 ppm lead. The cases in this report highlight the challenges of risk communication when deeply ingrained cultural practices, such as the use of surma, persist despite health warnings. Moreover, they highlight the intergenerational nature of such practices and the need for comprehensive family follow-up once a member is identified as being at risk. These products continue to be available globally, even in places such as the United States where sales are prohibited. Multistakeholder efforts involving local and global engagement could promote reformulation of these products at the countries of origin to eliminate lead as an ingredient.

Collective predictive coding hypothesis: symbol emergence as decentralized Bayesian inference.

Understanding the emergence of symbol systems, especially language, requires the construction of a computational model that reproduces both the developmental learning process in everyday life and the evolutionary dynamics of symbol emergence throughout history. This study introduces the collective predictive coding (CPC) hypothesis, which emphasizes and models the interdependence between forming internal representations through physical interactions with the environment and sharing and utilizing meanings through social semiotic interactions within a symbol emergence system. The total system dynamics is theorized from the perspective of predictive coding. The hypothesis draws inspiration from computational studies grounded in probabilistic generative models and language games, including the Metropolis-Hastings naming game. Thus, playing such games among agents in a distributed manner can be interpreted as a decentralized Bayesian inference of representations shared by a multi-agent system. Moreover, this study explores the potential link between the CPC hypothesis and the free-energy principle, positing that symbol emergence adheres to the society-wide free-energy principle. Furthermore, this paper provides a new explanation for why large language models appear to possess knowledge about the world based on experience, even though they have neither sensory organs nor bodies. This paper reviews past approaches to symbol emergence systems, offers a comprehensive survey of related prior studies, and presents a discussion on CPC-based generalizations. Future challenges and potential cross-disciplinary research avenues are highlighted.

The migrasome as a developmental learning paradigm in cell biology.

Migrasome is a newly discovered organelle composed of small vesicular structures enclosed in membrane structures. Since its discovery in 2014, migrasome has attracted increasing attention in cell biology due to its critical role in multiple disease processes. Its pivotal role in various disease processes, including cell migration, intercellular communication, removal of damaged mitochondria, embryogenesis localization, immune cell chemotaxis, and virus transmission, underscores its significance in biological systems. With research on migrasome steadily increasing, it becomes a unique resource for undergraduate cell biology education. For deeper understanding of migrasome, we applied a bibliometric approach. Here we conducted a comprehensive analysis of migrasome research by retrieving relevant literature from databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed using the keywords "migrasome" or "migrasomes."Employing CiteSpace software and Prism, we analyzed annual publication trends, identified core authors and institutions, assessed national contributions, examined keywords, and scrutinized highly cited literature related to migrasome research. This study presents a comprehensive overview of migrasome research, elucidating its literature characteristics, key contributors, research hotspots, and emerging trends. By shedding light on the current status and future trajectories of migrasome research, we aim to provide valuable insights for teachers in cell biology education. We propose for the integration of migrasome research into undergraduate curricula to enhance the understanding of cell biology among premedical, medical, and biomedical students, thereby fostering a deeper appreciation for the intricate mechanisms governing cellular behavior and disease processes.

РОЗВИВАЛЬНЕ ОСВІТНЄ СЕРЕДОВИЩЕ НА УРОКАХ БІОЛОГІЇ: КЛЮЧОВІ ПРИНЦИПИ ТА ПРАКТИЧНІ ПІДХОДИ

The article deals with the issue of organising developmental educational environment at biology lessons.The study emphasises that modern education requires the introduction of new approaches that will help to form competences, develop critical thinking, abilities, creativity and independence of students. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the components, key principles and practical approaches to the organisation of developmental educational environment at biology lessons. Based on the analysis of modern researches, the article describes modern approaches to the definition of the concepts of «educational environment», «learning environment», «developmental educational environment». The authors have found that the educational environment is a multimodal space that should be in line with modern technologies, methods, and forms of learning.The components of the developmental educational environment are substantiated: target, value, technological, psychological, informational, subject-spatial and socio-cultural. The article presents practical approaches (developmental, competence and activity-based) and key principles for creating developmental educational environment at biology lessons (activity in learning, humanisation, problematic, relevant and timely knowledge, conscious participation of students in the educational process, freedom of choice of learning conditions). The authors note that developmental educational environment is a set of pedagogical conditions that contribute not only to the acquisition of knowledge but also to the development of skills and competencies, and create opportunities for students’ self-realisation. The authors of the article conclude that for the successful organization of the educational environment it is necessary to take into account its multifacedness, systematicity, complexity, as well as the need to improve technologies, methods and approaches for the purpose of the development of each individual. Key words: educational environment, developmental learning, developmental educational environment, didactic principles, practical approaches, biology lesson, education.

Reducing prejudice against learners with disabilities in inclusive settings through the Afrocentric model of inclusion

Attitudinal barriers and discriminatory practices continue to prevent the full participation of learners with disabilities in developmental learning contexts. Although disability has been on the psychological agenda for some time, there is limited empirical evidence on adopting African models to buffer prejudices. This paper addresses this critical gap by examining the experiences of disabled children subjected to prejudices in inclusive settings and the adaptation of the Afrocentric model to buffer those behaviors. The paper was guided by Allport's Social Reflection Theory, which explains why some groups may be targets of prejudice. The exploratory qualitative case study was undertaken in 4 inclusive schools in Gauteng province. Participants were 20 educators and 40 disabled learners in inclusive schools. Purposive sampling was used to choose participants in the study. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with educators, and the researcher observed the engagement of the educators and 40 disabled learners. Data collected were analyzed through qualitative thematic data analysis. From the themes that emerged in the findings, the following themes were discussed: advancing the truth in our praxis, fairness, harmony, and humanness. The paper, therefore, recommends that educators apply the practice of including the emerged themes in their learning content for improved grades and low dropout rates. Keywords: Prejudices, Disabled learners, Inclusive settings, Afrocentric inclusion model

Newborn Screening in Developing Countries: The Need of the Hour.

Screening newborns is recognized as an important health policy. It is cost-effective and is implemented as a national health program in most developed countries. Though births in developing countries contribute to more than half of the total births globally, newborn screening (NBS) is not yet implemented in most developing countries. If not diagnosed and treated timely, some of these infants will contribute to neonatal mortality. In contrast, others will have long-term sequelae like developmental delay, learning disabilities, behavioral abnormalities, and backward academic performance in the future. In addition, the diagnosis, management, and treatment of these conditions also carry a significant financial as well as emotional burden on the family. An NBS program can be the most rational and effective way to prevent such morbidities and mortalities. NBSin developing countries competes with other health issues such as the control of infectious diseases, vaccinations, and poor nutrition. Also, lack of government support, poor economy, inadequate public health education, lack of awareness among health care workers, early discharge from hospital, and many births out of hospital are the significant obstacles in the countries that lack total coverage. It ishigh time now to change our attitude; our focus should be not only on the reduction of mortality and infectious morbidity but also on reducing disabilities with the introduction of screening for newborns. Integrating NBS with the national healthcare system is crucial for successful implementation in developing countries. Integration should also include a payment scheme to reduce the economic burden on families. In recent years, many developing countries have started implementing pilot projects as a step toward the national program of screening newborns.

Школа Д.Б.Эльконина—В.В.Давыдова: от истории к перспективам

<p>The article is an introdution to the project “A Model of a Modern School Based on the System of Developmental Education of D.B.Elkonin<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: RU; mso-fareast-language: RU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-no-proof: yes;">—–</span>V.V.Davydov”. It was presented to the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Education in 2013. Based on more than half a century experience in the development and implementation of a developmental learning system in the practice of experimental Moscow school 91, the authors prove the relevance of the project in solving the basic problems of modern education. The orientation of the developmental learning system on the principles of activity theory provides an opportunity to achieve high meta-subject results. A retrospective analysis of the stages of the formation of the developmental learning system allows not only to confirm the importance of its fundamental theoretical provisions, but also to identify points of growth,to determine the prospects for further development. The article presents a list of problems, which must be solved in order to achieve an effective implementation of developmental learning in modern educational practice. There is a detailed list of practical content (textbooks, manuals, methodological recommendations, workbooks) created by the authors of educational programs for students of different ages and for teachers.</p>

Positive reframing/rethinking: the simple, effective strategy for tutorials

This opinion piece discusses the importance of positive reframing as a tool for Learning Development (LD) tutors to use in one-to-one tutorials. The piece emphasises the impact of positive reframing on students’ confidence with their academic skills. The piece will explore the theoretical background of positive reframing, deriving from cognitive restructuring. Connecting positive reframing to the PERMA model highlights its potential in enhancing academic focus. It will then introduce two approaches for using positive reframing in tutorials, emphasising the importance of authenticity in communication. The opinion piece concludes by encouraging LD tutors to consider incorporating positive reframing into their session to benefit both students and LD tutors.