If you mention “learning styles” in a teacher training session or staff room, you’re likely to get a few supportive nods or maybe even enthusiastic agreement. The idea of learning styles feel right: tailor your teaching to match a student’s preferred way of learning, and suddenly learning becomes easier.
But in reality, research has long debunked the belief that students learn best when instruction matches their supposed learning style. So, if the science doesn’t support it, why does the learning styles myth still hold so much power?
In this blog, we’ll explore:
- What learning styles really are
- 6 reasons why they’re still popular today
- Classroom practices that actually work, unlike learning styles
What are learning styles?
Learning styles are based on the idea that people have preferred ways of taking in and processing information – typically framed as visual, auditory, read/write or kinaesthetic, often abbreviated as VARK. The theory suggests that identifying and teaching to a student’s style will enhance their learning.
But a recent meta-analysis shows that matching teaching to learning styles has almost no impact on student achievement. Still, people love the idea of learning styles. Why? The study identified six possible reasons.
6 reasons why people love learning styles
Here are 6 reasons why people still love the learning styles myth:
1. They speak to our love of individualisation
In education, where we often talk about “meeting students where they are”, it is natural to want to see each student as having their own unique pathway to success. But while this belief resonates emotionally, the research suggests that it doesn’t lead to better outcomes. Still, the appeal is strong, because who wouldn’t want to believe that we all learn best in our own way?
2. They simplify a complex process
Learning is complicated. It involves juggling multiple cognitive processes: memory, attention, metacognition, prior knowledge, emotional regulation, and much more. Learning styles offer a simple framework for this complexity, one that seems manageable in a busy classroom. Sorting students into categories may feel like a shortcut but it’s a shortcut that leads nowhere.
3. They seem to align with personal experience
Most of us can recall moments when we learned something more easily through a specific method, for instance a diagram that helped learning “click” or when we had to “do it” to truly understand a concept. These reinforce the idea that we have a fixed “style” of learning. But in these experiences, we’re not recalling our learning style, we’re recalling a successful strategy used in a particular context. Just because one approach worked once doesn’t mean it will always work or that it’s the best one.
4. They’re embedded in education culture
Learning styles are everywhere: in textbook chapters, staff PD slides, Pinterest infographics, and so on. Because they’ve been repeated so often, they’ve become ideas we accept as common sense. One review found that over 80% of introductory education texts still endorse learning styles without questioning their validity. When something becomes this normalised, it’s difficult to challenge, even when the evidence says otherwise.
5. They offer the illusion of control
For teachers managing diverse student needs, learning styles can feel like a tool to bring order to the chaos. You may feel like if you can just teach to their style, you can help them succeed. But this time and energy spent trying to “match” styles could be far better spent teaching students how to learn flexibly and effectively.
6. They’re reinforced by confirmation bias
Once you embrace the idea of learning styles, you start noticing the evidence that supports your belief – but ignore the rest. For example, you may notice when “visual learners” respond well to diagrams, but overlook when they struggle with reading comprehension. This is confirmation bias at work, where we filter reality to protect our existing beliefs about something.
Final thoughts
The idea of learning styles is seductive because it’s intuitive and fits neatly into our desire to personalise learning, but the evidence just doesn’t support it. In a world where every minute in the classroom counts, we can’t afford to cling to what feels good over what actually works.
That’s why it’s so important to turn to the research and embrace study approaches that are genuinely effective. By focusing on what actually improves learning, we can still honour students individuality, but from a firm foundation of effective learning strategies.
