When I saw this article pop up in my reader I groaned inwardly and thought, " Not another politician telling a whole profession what it doesn't need to know".
However this article is really rather wonderful (except for the promotion of Teach First, which I am not yet convinced about because I don't know how many of the trainees stay in teaching) and I am sure most people reading this who are interested in their profession would agree.
"the highest quality teaching and learning comes when we have the greatest autonomy for the teacher and the learner".
This is when a teacher is most at ease with what they have to deliver are are able to be creative and allow their students to be creative
So, for Professor Broadfoot, the key ingredients of good teaching included: creating an atmosphere of mutual respect and fairness in the classroom, providing opportunities for "active learning" and humour to encourage pupil engagement, making learning interesting, and explaining things clearly.
Without wanting to boast this is what I attempt to do in
I love this bit of the article.
Professor Debra Myhill, from Exeter University, took a similar line. She argued that while good subject knowledge and intellectual ability were both important, they were not "sufficient" to be a good teacher. The crucial ingredient, she argued, was a teacher's ability to reflect on his or her own performance and then to change it. She too argued for a healthy scepticism towards national policy initiatives.
Since I decided to become a teacher 12 years ago I have seen many trainees in my classroom. Most of them have been far more academically qualified than me. And in languages this can mean someone who has studied the complete gamut of French Lit but who has spent perhaps a year in France as an assistant. I don't have a degree in languages I only had 5 years of living and working in France prior to teaching. For this I had to do an extra year of PGCE to prove that I had what it takes academically...easy but I still consider myself a gifted amateur. It is this however which enables me to connect with and help kids with their learning because I know where they are coming from.
Since taking up this blog I reflect on almost a daily basis.
I definitely have a healthy scepticism towards national initiatives, particularly when they change year on year; and this is why I find it hard to work with pen pushing, box tickers whose goal is to complete the next set of paper targets and move on...usually to the offices of education authorities.
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..teachers liked to be given practical guidance on how to improve their teaching, yet what they really needed to develop was their own judgment of what works and what does not work in their own teaching.
And guess what we need for this....time. Time from form filling and admin. Rather than becoming lunchbox police give us time to think and reflect on what works and what doesn't.
Finally I like this advice from Professor Debra Myhill from Exeter University:
...she advocated that a good teacher should go in for "creative subversion".
I think I shall adopt this as my motto. Adam Sutcliffe, creatively subversive.
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@lisibo it is a good phrase isn't it, and I like Creative dissent too (@dave t)
Posted by: Adam Sutcliffe | Saturday, 02 February 2008 at 12:24
After you tweeted, I blogged on this very subject! http://lisibo.blogspot.com/2008/01/what-makes-good-teacher-creative.html Thanks for the heads up! I too like the phrase 'creative subversion' and will be undertaking to apply it as often as possible!
Posted by: Lisa Stevens | Friday, 01 February 2008 at 21:28
I like Sally Brown's phrase - 'constructive dissent' which can apply to the kids as well. I don't mind them arguing a case but they MUST get something out of it.
Posted by: dave t | Saturday, 26 January 2008 at 12:30