Multiple intelligence theory is not about IQ tests - it's about new ways of looking at ourselves, Howard Gardner tells Louise Holden.

National tests for primary school children, the proposed reform of the Leaving Cert, new funding structures at third level; the Irish education system is growing out of its skin. What will become of our schools and colleges is anybody's guess, but the father of multiple intelligence theory Howard Gardner is likely to have a few suggestions when he speaks at next week's conference in the National College of Ireland.

More than 20 years ago, Harvard psychologist Dr Howard Gardner posited the theory that our traditional notion of intelligence was incomplete. For thousands of years we had been testing, documenting and schooling only a third, at best, of our intelligence quotient. Students who were strong in the "right" kinds of intelligence scored high on IQ tests and excelled in the traditional school system, said Gardner. The rest were written off as losers without ever getting that chance to compete in their own field.

The fields in question made up Gardner's original seven intelligences (now eight, soon to be nine), outlined in the 1983 book Frames of Mind. Gardner's Multiple Intelligence (MI) theory has had a profound impact on education since, with dedicated MI schools now operating across Northern America and Asia. MI theory has found its way into curricula in schools in every country in the world. Here in Ireland the Transition Year programme, now taken by almost half of all students, is anchored in Howard Gardner's theories.

Gardner wrote that people display intelligence in a variety of ways beyond the traditional 3Rs. He described the intelligence of skilled athleticism and artistic creativity. He saw the ability to relate well to others as a mental acuity as keen as mathematical reasoning. He suggested that self-awareness and connectedness to the natural environment were as much a function of learning as an ear for language or the ability to think in abstraction. Gardner insisted that real learning could not take place until all the intelligences were engaged in the process.

Dr Gardner has had his fair share of detractors; from the traditionalists who stand by the pre-eminence of logical and linguistic intelligence to the politicians whose toes curl at the cost implications of universal MI schooling. Then there are those who simply believe that Gardner's theory cannot be substantiated scientifically and therefore can provide little practical guidance in the shaping of educational policy. A new book, Gardner Under Fire, gives 15 unbelievers the chance to put their doubts to the champion of MI theory.

"They release their artillery against me and I try to answer because I believe in discourse," says Gardner, who has nonetheless resisted challenges to create an alternative IQ test to measure all the intelligences that he has described. "I do not wish to spend my remaining years devising tests for each of the multiple intelligences," says Gardner firmly. "If others want to take on the challenge, so be it. For me, MI theory is not about testing students and jacking up scores - it's a way of thinking about human beings."

Gardner sees the obsession with rating as a function of an education system which is on the way out. "Until 50 years ago education existed for the elite. Now it is for everybody, and this change is colouring everything. If we persist with the notion that there is only one way to test and one way to teach, we are committing educational malpractice."

His supporters are legion, especially in Asia. Dr Gardner has mixed feelings about the interpretation of his work in some parts of the world. "MI theory had had a dramatic impact in China: over 100 books on the subject have been written there. MI conferences are routinely held and thousands attend. I spoke to a Chinese journalist about the application of MI theory in Chinese schools and she told me that the theory was popular not because it focuses on the particularity of each child, but because it gives schools eight ways to push students, rather than just two or three."

MI theory has been used in a variety of ways and settings since it first gained currency in the 1980s, and Gardner himself has moved at least some distance from his original proposals in Frames of Mind. He has added a new intelligence (naturalist) and is exploring the potential of another (existential).

Gardner has also applied his theories to contexts beyond the classroom. In his latest book, Changing Minds, he explores the processes at work when people change their minds about fundamental or long-held positions. Gardner identifies seven levers that aid, or thwart, the process of mind change, including reason, research, real-world events and resistances. He looks at the way in which effective leaders can align these levers by appealing to the multiple intelligences of those they wish to convince.

"Traditional thinking about mind change as a sudden 'epiphany' is entirely wrong," Gardner explains. "Change in perception is a very gradual process. In order to convince someone of something, you need to keep giving them the message in different ways, appealing to all their intelligences one by one."

The notion of feeling something is right in your heart but wrong in your head touches, in a very simplistic way, on the process that Gardner describes.

In the 20 years since Frames of Mind was published, neurological science has come a long way. Does brain mapping have implications for MI theory? "Recent discoveries about the geography of the brain have supported MI theory," he contends. "We now have a much better sense of the differences between brains. If I was to rewrite Frames of Mind in the light of current research, I would consider framing up to 50 sub-intelligences that further clarify those I have already described. However, having kept up with 'brain stuff' I believe the basic cuts I made were correct."

Gardner's theory (see panel) has far-reaching implications for educators. The idea of sitting at a desk, learning subjects in isolation and testing each with a written exam is not a suitable education for the lives that today's students can be expected to lead, says Gardner. The idea of separating geography from language from art from science gives students a disjointed experience of learning that doesn't foster the "Aha!" factor at all.

Multidisciplinary learning is central to MI theory, as is the notion that students should be taught how to learn, rather than told what to learn.

"What is it that we want people to be able to do and why?" Gardner asks. "Coming from that angle, better approaches to education start to present themselves. What kinds of minds do we need in the future? I argue that we need minds that can synthesise massive amounts of information and decide what to use and what to discard. There's no training in synthesis in our schools. We need minds that relate to and respect others - it didn't used to matter how you felt about the people around you because they weren't that different from you. Multiculturalism is a big issue now and getting bigger. We need minds that can accommodate that."

But how, when curricula are creaking under the weight of subjects as it is, are schools expected to keep adding more and more to the schedule? "I'm not suggesting we add more subjects," says Dr Gardner. "I would like to see traditional subjects pared away. Why do we need to teach kids so much information when they can access all they need to know on Irish Taoisaigh and world populations on a palm pilot in a matter of seconds? I have finally discovered the ultimate purpose of education. It's designed to improve our place in international comparisons. Trying to climb up OECD tables is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."

Dr Howard Gardner will speak on multiple intelligence theory and his new book, Changing Minds, at the National College of Ireland on Tues and Wed. Bookings: 01-4498651 or events@ncirl.ie Changing Minds is published by Harvard Business School Press