he was among the first to recognise that, in terms of learning, ideas are best
generated from the learner in terms of understanding and retention. Education
is not a cramming in, but a drawing out.

Learning
as a social activity pursued through dialogue

Questions
lie at the heart of learning to draw out what they already know, rather
than imposing pre-determined views

it is only in the last few decades, through the use of
technology-based tools that allow search, questioning and now, adaptive learning,
that Socratic learning can be truly realised on scale.

In practice, Socrates was a brutal bully, described by one pupil as a ‘predator which numbs its victims with an electric charge before darting in for the kill’.

He is best known for his problem-solving approach to learning

He was keen on ‘occupational’ learning and practical
skills that produced independent, self-directing, autonomous adults.

He was refreshingly honest about their limitations and
saw schools as only one means of learning, ‘and
compared with other agencies, a relatively superficial means’.

Perhaps his most important contribution
to education is his constant attempts to break down the traditional dualities
in education between theory and practice, academic and vocational, public and
private, individual and group. This mode of thinking, he thought, led education
astray. The educational establishment, in his view, seemed determined to keep
themselves, and their institutions, apart from the real world by holding on to
abstract and often ill-defined definitions about the purpose of education.