Moving Towards Excellence (Teacher)

Progression to excellence is not only to be supported in the learners but also the staff. As in many areas a teacher after a while may well be promoted to a role with fewer teaching hours. So the most experienced do little actual teaching. Teaching to create learning is a craft that requires practice and dedication. Within the institutions many other aims take up the time of the staff. Discipline and crowd control are a big part of getting the learners to the point of learning (that has a high failure rate). Changes of curriculum and the day to day running of the organisation may mean changes to plans due to facilities, illness, other priorities and failures. There are many distractions and priorities that overwhelm teacher development in education. Teachers do not get to do 10,000 hours teaching. Class time may reach 700 hours a year but a lot of time is spent on class administration and discipline not actual teaching tasks. Close to 15 years is required to get 10,000 hours if they stay in the classroom.

A basic model is blooms taxonomy of skill. A teacher needs to go through development of many skills to get to at least the apply level. But to improve performance and raise standards they will need higher skill levels. This can only come through practice. They do practice general teaching, but as an example a science teacher may teach a topic like forces to year 7. They might do it twice in a year, perhaps for a 40 year career (at most). So that is 80 times, but this is unlikely. At the same time as teaching forces they will be teaching other topics at various levels and coping with many other aspects of work (and home) life. Compare that to myself I have taught the First Aid at Work course (now 3 days) alone over 100 times. I have also taught the refresher course a similar number of times, and one day courses and other courses as well. So I have taught CPR maybe 500 times in a lot less time. So the number of practices is much greater and the number of distractions is much fewer. This leads to higher standards, as long as the teacher works towards improvement. A school teacher cannot hope to develop themselves in their teaching of specific areas. Of course if they aim to get a promotion they will not teach any topic up to 50 times.

Another basic model is the Plan, Do, Check and Act (PDCA) which is rotated through. Obviously in first aid I have to teach and get them enough practice so on the last day the candidates can follow the action in emergency plan (DRABC etc.) to the required standard in usually three practical assessments and then to answer enough questions about the rest of the syllabus. The required standard is not advanced as it is a course for lay people. The more advanced courses in medicine have more content and higher standards. This allows for incremental practice for new learners and drill practice for more experienced first aiders. So I teach and the learner learns with the PDCA cycle of continuous improvement. Teachers can also follow the pattern of repeated cycling through checking progress and effectiveness foer themselves.

The degree courses for teaching do include school time with practice, but how can they develop teaching (the task, not the whole job) excellence. Practice, practice, practice. I would suggest a more apprentice like training. Here they would work in schools gradually increasing the tasks they perform. The essentials can be done many times rather than sat in a classroom and doing assignments. The repeated practice with a PDCA approach with mentoring and then self analysis allows improvement in the most common skills. The class sizes would have to be from smaller numbers to start and then building class sizes where learning allows (not where bureaucracy dictates). This method does not require a degree and opens up to other able people not just those that passed exams easily. Some subjects that are not academic would not need degree educated teachers but experience in sports and arts teaching and practice for instance. This incremental improvement in performance of all the basic skills and tasks of teaching would be at a good level (and recognised) before they have to deal with admin and non teaching elements. The skills and tasks can be incrementally added at appropriate times. Some trainee teachers would progress through quickly, others would have sticking points and others would find they are in the wrong job. They may still be productive for the education organisation in the mean time.

At present there is one way into school teaching through University courses all similar to each other. Some teachers are better prepared than others. But the system is saying this way is the only way and that the system will produce the best teachers. I have been in schools and seen (and been put in) the situations teachers are put in. Some leave (at all stages), some learn to survive and pass the targets, some learn to get promoted out the way! Few are in a position to perfect their art.

This approach would be backed up by day release or block theory education probably combined with learning assistants allowing progression (or not) up a scale of skills and responsibilities from learning assistants to teaching or management. Obviously not every one would want to keep adding skills to become teachers or managers. It would also allow those who want to be teachers or managers to progress with solid understanding rather than being a teacher thrown in at the deep end and then taking on extra responsibilities as expected and then management. Learning assistants share a lot of the basic skills with teachers, but teaching and managing are sufficiently different to require different training and people. To force teachers to manage or limit managers to only teachers does not work to peoples strengths and weaknesses.

An important point for teachers who do not move towards excellence in their teaching is they will be replaceable by evidence based technology sooner. Technology will not have to be better than teachers but cheaper or get results politically better for the decision makers.