ABSTRACT
Learning contracts must be judged not only by what they deliver in the best circumstances, but what is possible in the typical context. This can limit their use in practice. Just as multiple-choice tests can in principle be used to test a wide range of achievements, but in practice too often succeed in rewarding rote learning, so learning contracts can help students work with others and encourage substantial initiatives in promoting learner autonomy, but often lapse into an accountability procedure for the recording of student projects. Learning contracts can do much more, but to achieve this, attention must be given both to the guidelines and strategies represented in this book and to the context in which teachers and learners operate.
