My 2015 review of Martin Robinson's "Trivium 21C" book on education, inquiry and getting to the heart of what matters in learning.

1. 66 Spring | | 2015
Autumn
Trivium 21c
Preparing young people
for the future with
lessons from the past
by Martin Robinson (2013)
Independent Thinking Press
Review by Stephen Taylor
In this erudite, engaging, and entertaining exploration of the
history of teaching and learning, author and educator Martin
Robinson sets out to describe the practical conceptualisation
of his ideals for his daughter’s education. Tired of the never-
ending battle between traditionalist and progressive views
on education and their effects on policy, practice and
student learning, Robinson looks to the ancient past and the
foreseeable future to chart a path that he hopes will inspire
his daughter to be a knowledgeable and critical learner. He
has succeeded in this volume to bridge the gap between the
high-altitude philosophies of educational evangelists such
as Sir Ken Robinson (no relation) and the chalkface realities
of the practising teacher. He recognises that we all aim to
develop students who are critical thinkers, but that this aim
needs to be built upon the knowledge-rich foundation of a
strong curriculum.
The result of Robinson’s explorations is a Trivium for the 21st
century: Grammar, Dialectic and Rhetoric. The Grammar aligns
most closely with a traditional, content-based curriculum.
This is a curriculum that is relevant to our culture, meaningful
to our students and expertly taught in our classrooms. The
Grammar is the knowledge upon which all inquiry is founded,
including literacy and numeracy as well as subject-area
knowledge and cultural literacy. The Dialectic represents the
application and evaluation of the learning of the Grammar.
Perhaps more in line with progressive views on education,
the Dialectic puts the students’ ‘higher-order’ skills to use in
their analysis of the roles of logos (logic), pathos (emotion)
and ethos (credibility) in their learning. As the Grammar and
Dialectic operate in a cycle of positive feedback, the student
develops a stronger foundation of knowledge and a more
sophisticated set of skills to put that knowledge to work.
The final element of the Trivium, the Rhetoric, represents
“the great discussion” between the student’s learning and
the wider world. Rhetorical skills are constantly developed as
the student communicates and evaluates his or her learning.
Through the Rhetoric, the student learns to communicate,
reflect, debate, write, present and participate with integrity
and care in the global community.
The product of Robinson’s Trivium 21c education is the
philosopher kid: a knowledgeable, reflective thinker who
communicates with fluency and confidence and whose
actions contribute to our wider society. International
Baccalaureate educators will immediately recognise the
philosopher kid as an embodiment of the IB Learner
Profile, and as I read further into the text I became more
convinced that Robinson was describing the foundations of
a well-implemented continuum of an IB education. Robinson
recognises this to some extent near the end of the text,
with reference to the strengths of the IB Diploma’s Theory
of Knowledge component, the Middle Years Programme’s
assessment frameworks, and the whole continuum’s focus
on service learning.
I enjoyed and was inspired by this book, though it was by
no means a quick read. Robinson writes with wit and clarity,
and you may find that you need to stop, think and even
dig deeper into some of the ideas of his cast of characters,
especially in the first half. As a critical-thinking drama teacher,
Robinson’s interests span the arts, the classics, the humanities
and the sciences – and this gives his book an authority that
might be missing from the views of a more single-minded
educator. I would recommend Trivium 21c to anyone with
an active interest in education reform and pedagogy: school
leaders and those responsible for curriculum development
would gain a lot from the messages here. It does help to
have an understanding of progressive vs traditionalist views
on learning, and though it may be a bit much for the newly-
training teacher, this book would be an excellent read for
those continuing their studies in education.
Robinson is an active blogger and Twitter user (@
SurrealAnarchy), frequently engaging in discussion of
issues of education and learning. My own diagrammatic
representation of his idea of the Trivium 21c can be accessed
via http://is.gd/taylortriviumreview
Stephen Taylor is an MYP Coordinator and MYP and
IB Diploma sciences teacher in Japan. His website
i-Biology.net supports IB students and teachers while
raising donations for charity, and he moderates
#MYPChat on Twitter. This review is adapted from one
of his blog posts at ibiologystephen.wordpress.com.
Email: stephen@i-biology.net
Book reviews