Amid debates about teacher quality and training, and with the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group soon to report on teacher education, we asked a panel of experts just what makes a good teacher.
David Zyngier, Monash University
From my research on student engagement, a good teacher practises CORE pedagogy where the teaching Connects with the children’s background, students have Ownership of what is being taught, Responds to the students’ needs and Empowers students to see that education can make a difference to their lives. When this is combined with Pedagogical Reciprocity - that is teachers and students learning with and from each other - teaching and learning is at its best for all children, but especially those from disadvantaged and minority communities.
-Good teachers have a thorough and up-to-date knowledge of their subjects and a deep understanding of how students learn particular subjects. Effective teaching demands that the teacher be knowledgeable in the subject area. The teachers must have a detailed understanding of what is being taught.
-The best teachers work to improve their ability to teach. They read and explore the techniques used by others in a never-ending effort to better themselves and their skill.
-They have an appreciation of how learning typically proceeds in a subject and of the kinds of misunderstandings learners commonly develop. Teachers know their students well: their individual interests, backgrounds, motivations and learning styles. Schools should insist on the mastery of foundational skills, such as reading and numeracy, and also work to encourage high levels of critical thinking, creativity, problem solving and teamwork.
-They encourage students to accept responsibility for their own learning and teach them how to continue learning throughout life. Students’ abilities and needs are different. To effectively teach all students, the teacher must understand this. The teaching and interactions with students must reflect the needs of each, with the understanding of each as an individual.
John Loughran, Monash University
Teach instead of tell
The stereotype of teaching is of someone standing up in front of a class talking. Unfortunately, because of that image, teaching is too often misinterpreted as being about the simple delivery of information. So when politicians feel the urge to fix education, they typically focus on the information delivered to students.
A typical refrain is that our education rankings would be better if we fixed the curriculum and delivered the right information.
One way of teaching does not sit comfortably with theories of learning such as multiple intelligences and all that we know about the range of learning styles in every classroom. It is clear that educational practices must go beyond simplistic views of telling as teaching and listening as learning if we are to genuinely pursue quality in schooling.
So how can a teacher manage the competing demands of 25 or so different student learners in a classroom? When doctors work to diagnose a patient’s illness, they begin to develop an overview of the major symptoms, sort through information and ideas to analyse the situation and begin to consider multiple possibilities and likely responses to the situation simultaneously. Why would we imagine that teachers are any different? Maybe it is because, when watching teaching, we do not see the thinking that teachers are engaged in as they diagnose and respond to their learners’ needs.
If telling as teaching dominates, then there is only one response. Sadly, those learners who find it hard to grasp what they are told and to retain it will struggle to succeed. However, thoughtful, well-informed, flexible and adaptive professional teachers develop multiple approaches to supporting their students’ learning.
When teachers are confronted by students’ learning issues, they are offered opportunities to broaden their knowledge base for diagnosis. Importantly, they also begin to consider alternative ways to address the situation; that is, they find an appropriate approach for the given situation.
If quality teaching is understood as continually building knowledge, skills and ability in the complex work of diagnosing and appropriately responding to diverse learning needs, then expert teachers are those that are able to put that learning into practice in different subjects, with multiple learners, in the same space and at the same time.