Learning how to learn is an essential preparation for lifelong learning. Whilst this is widely acknowledged by teachers, they have lacked a rich professional knowledge base from which they can teach their pupils how to learn.

This book makes a major contribution to the creation of such a professional knowledge base for teachers by building on previous work associated with 'formative assessment' or 'assessment for learning' which has a strong evidence base, and is now being promoted nationally and internationally. However, it adds an important new dimension by reporting the conditions within schools, and across networks of schools, that are conducive to the promotion, in classrooms, of learning how to learn as an extension of assessment for learning.

There is a companion book, Learning How to Learn in Classrooms: Tools for schools (also available from Routledge), which provides practical resources for those teachers looking to put into practice the principles covered in this book.

Mary James, Robert McCormick, Paul Black, Patrick Carmichael, Mary-Jane Drummond, Alsion Fox, John MacBeath, Bethan Marshall, David Pedder, Richard proctor, Sue Swaffield, Joanna Swan, Dylan Wiliam

Part 1: What is the Issue? 1. Learning How to Learn through Assessment for Learning: Investigating Conditions of Effective Practice Part 2: What Does the Research Tell Us? 2. Patterns of Practice, Values and Outcomes across Schools and over Time: An Agenda for Inquiry 3. What Teachers Can Do to Help Pupils to Learn How to Learn 4. Characteristics of Schools in which Teachers Promote Learning How to Learn 5. Learning through Networks 6. Learning How to Learn across Classrooms, Schools and Networks 7. Developing Understanding of Learning, Learning How to Learn and Innovation across Levels Part 3: What are the Overall Implications? 8. Summary and Implications for Policy and Practice