The LSDA identified that theory and practice of learning styles has generated great interest and controversy over the past 20 years and more. As a consequence the Learning and Skills Research commissioned Frank Coffield and colleagues to produce two complementary reports. These are provided by LSDA as a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners in the learning and skills sector. The reports serve two key purposes: first, they contribute to what we know about models of learning styles and to our knowledge of what these offer to teachers and learners. Second, the reports identify an agenda for further research: to evaluate rigorously key models in a variety of learning environments in order to better understand their merits and deficiencies.

LSDA publish these reports in the spirit of stimulating debate and enabling knowledge of learning styles to be developed for the benefit of practice and policy.

The first report Learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning provides a systematic and critical review of learning styles models. The report critically reviews the literature on learning styles and examines in detail 13 of the most influential models. These are:

• Gregorc’s Mind Styles Model and Style Delineator
• The Dunn and Dunn model and instruments of learning styles
• Riding’s model of cognitive style and his Cognitive Styles Analysis (CSA)
• The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
• Apter’s reversal theory of motivational styles,the Motivational Style Profile (MSP) and related
  assessment tools
• Jackson’s Learning Styles Profiler (LSP)
• Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (LSI)
• Honey and Mumford’s Learning Styles Questionnaire (LSQ)
• The Herrmann ‘whole brain’ model and the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI)
• Allinson and Hayes’ Cognitive Style Index (CSI)
• Entwistle’s Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST)
• Vermunt’s framework for classifying learning styles and his Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS)
• Sternberg’s theory of thinking styles and his Thinking Styles Inventory (TSI)

The second report Should we be using learning styles? explores what research on these 13 models has to say to practice.

The final sections are common to both reports: these draw out the implications for pedagogy and offer recommendations and conclusions for practitioners, policy-makers and the research community. Interestingly, Coffield and colleagues not only offer advice for practitioners, but they also explore the appeal of learning styles and the objections to learning styles in their comprehensive coverage of this topic.