ABSTRACT
Learning is that reflective activity which enables the learner to draw upon previous experience to understand and evaluate the present, so as to shape future action and formulate new knowledge. It was a truism in the Second World War that the speed of the convoy was the speed of the slowest ship. One method of instruction — probably the oldest known to humans — is that of apprenticeship ('learning the ropes'). There are four components: modelling, scaffolding, discussion and fading. The key difference between apprenticeship and modern teaching lay in the fact that the young apprentice was always aware of the overall task in which the master craftsperson was also involved. The crisis in education is not so much the failure of teachers in the classroom, but the failure of the community at large to capture the imagination, involvement and active enthusiasm of young people.
