Understanding your learning preferences can help to make education stick

Have you ever had that moment where you are being taught something and it just isn’t going in? Or you find that one tutor is able to teach you efficiently whilst you struggle with another’s teaching style.

Rarely is this a case of good and bad teachers but, one teacher might communicate to your preferred learning style more than another. Understanding our preferences for learning can help us to take on board and retain information more efficiently.

Background

In 1982, Peter Honey and Alan Mumford, two British Organisational Psychologists, published their Learning Styles Questionnaire, which sought to examine how individuals have differing preferences for learning. Later developments of the work were heavily based on David Kolb’s Learning Cycle.

There are four elements to Kolb’s Learning Cycle:

• Concrete Experience
• Reflective Observation
• Abstract Conceptualization
• Active Experimentation

Simply put, Kolb posits that learning is a cyclical process that goes through the four stages but we individually prefer to ‘get on the cycle’ at different points: we might start by experiencing – practically doing something; we might be more comfortable reviewing – thinking about what we have seen; maybe we prefer to know all of the facts before we begin – we draw conclusions before making a move; or we might form a strategy in order to proceed – we are a planner.

Four styles

Honey and Mumford took these four stages and looked at the implications and preferences for individual learners. They determined that there were four distinct learning styles and that individuals would often have a preference for one style over another (although remember that we all have all four to a greater or lesser degree).

• Activist (Experiencing)
• Reflector (Reviewing)
• Theorist (Concluding)
• Pragmatist (Planning)

Honey and Mumford designed a questionnaire where learners self-assess their responses to questions that determine their learning preferences. Learning Styles Questionnaires based on the Honey and Mumford model are freely available online.

Activist

Activists learn by physically doing things – they jump straight in. They learn well by experiencing a subject: that might be through groupwork activities such as presentations, quizzes, pressing buttons on systems and using equipment.

Often this may lead to initial mistakes which are valuable learning exercises rather than errors for an Activist. Trial and error is a valuable part of the process and Activists benefit from having a ‘safe’ environment to experiment and get things wrong. This might include role-play scenarios or hypothetical dilemmas to discuss.

Often, activists will quickly become bored if having to read complex information or research subjects alone. The lecture format is one of the least appealing learning experiences for an activist, as it can very quickly become monotonous and they will struggle to maintain attention.

If delivering a lecture to an Activist, be prepared to have a lot of visual aids such as slides, change them frequently and change subject every 5 – 10 minutes.

Reflector

Reflectors like to observe and process what they have seen and learned before they will take action.

To engage a reflector, a teacher may wish to demonstrate something twice – usually with a commentary. With practical demonstrations Reflectors may wish to watch the first time and then make notes the second so that the notetaking isn’t drawing attention from the demonstration. Reflectors also value handouts from teaching sessions.

It’s not unusual for reflectors to cogitate over what they have learned and may initially not have questions. The questions may arise later or the following day as the learner takes time to reflect and understand what they have learned and how to apply this. If they have taken notes, they will often refer to them frequently.

Reflectors value time to review the learning and explore the outcomes. Exercises where they can revisit what they have learned help Reflectors to embed the knowledge. Reflectors may particularly benefit from coaching and mentoring. They may struggle with rushed deadlines or quizzes where questions may put them on the spot.

Theorist

Theorists like to understand the detail and nuance of a topic before acting; they value an understanding of the background of a subject and why something happens or the rationale behind a particular approach.

Theorists tend to be very detail-orientated: a theorist may persistently question content and need to be appraised of all facts around an idea. If they perceive a gap in a theory, they will tend to robustly interrogate this. The approach is often rigorously intellectual.

A theorist values a structured lecture where they will have an opportunity to ask questions or challenge the content at the end.

Theorists will often take a more analytical, detached approach to a subject and will sometimes disregard an emotional angle. Therefore, groupwork helps supports theorists in seeing the perspectives and reactions of other learners.

Detail and nuance are very important to a theorist and robust learning is often underpinned by an understanding of the background and consequences of a subject. However, unlike Activists, Theorists can find it more challenging to move from the theoretical and intellectual perspective to the practical application of a subject.

Pragmatist

Pragmatists will take a practical approach to learning and often need to see the reasons why they are being given a particular piece of information and, more importantly, how they will use it.

Pragmatists will often judge the learning by the results and how they are able to apply it. Pragmatists are rarely interested in conceptual ideas but instead in practical application.

They will want to try things but need to see the benefit of what they are doing. Where a Theorist will explore the minutiae of the detail, a pragmatist will want to know what they need to know and how to apply that detail in a real-life environment. They are often dismissive of anything that might appear irrelevant or without a useful application.

Role-plays and practical exercises which replicate work are good for pragmatists as they replicate real-life rather than exercises such as games and quizzes which are not as obviously directly relevant.

Am I purely one style?

It’s important to recognise that nobody has one entirely consistent learning style, but we each have varying preferences for a particular style based on what we are trying to achieve. Often, we will have one or two dominant styles which dictate our approach.

Based on the styles listed, you may instinctively know which learning styles are your preferences.

It’s important to recognise that how we learn may also be determined by the task – we broadly learn two things: knowledge and skill but we might approach those things differently: for example, we might have a Theorist orientation to knowledge but a Pragmatist orientation to skill.

Does my learning style change?

It is worth periodically re-evaluating your learning style as we tend to change throughout life and our ongoing experiences inform our preferences. When someone is taught in a particular way they may have acclimatised to that teaching style but as they age or take up new opportunities, the way they may approach new tasks may change.

The key is in understanding what works best for you and occasionally revisiting your style. This is where the questionnaire comes in handy. The way a learner has always done something may not necessarily be the best way to tackle the next piece of learning.

How can this help me as a learner?

By understanding the four-styles you can become a more versatile learner: if you find that you are struggling to process new information or a new skill via one method, you can consider using another learning activity to help embed it.

For example:

• traditional Lectures
• quizzes and Games
• trainee Led Presentations of previously acquired training material.
• role-play
• practical Demonstrations of Skills-Based subjects
• scenario-based groupwork.

And as a teacher?

If you are tasked with teaching others, understanding the different styles will help you to prepare a blended learning experience and engage all learners by considering different preferences. It might involve theoretical input (for Theorists), practical application through role-play (great for Pragmatists), revisiting and applying earlier learned content through delegate-led presentations (supports Reflectors) and quizzes and games (engaging Activists).

Further reading:

NHS, Health Education England, Learning Styles - Microsoft Word - learning styleho2012.doc

Open University, Learning Styles - learningstyles_new.prn

This page was correct at publication on 10/02/2026. Any guidance is intended as general guidance for members only. If you are a member and need specific advice relating to your own circumstances, please contact one of our advisers.