Just as a curriculum is only as good as the vision of its creators, so the quality of teaching is largely determined by the quality and vision of the training syllabus – what it values and how it equips teachers to promote effective learning.
This is why this latest piece of reductionist legislation bodes little good for the future of the teaching profession in England…
Total recall? The ITE content framework, research and teachers’ understandings of learning | BERA
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If we fixate on how we do something, like write music, paint or learn then there is a tendency to disect the activity, to see it as a series of behaviours or actions, a prcocess, and not truely understand it in a holestic way. The concern is that our understanding drives how we teach others. So if we see things as a process then we are apt to teach it in a way that is process based. If we look at human activity like writing music, creating art or learning as a problem solving activity then we allow oursleves to use a much broader instrument to understand the process. Music that tries to express love, art that conveys excitement or learning that takes place within environmental constraints. If we think in this way then we begin to recognise the skills, attributes, attitudes and behaviours that form part of the toolkit that allow us to solve such problems. Whilst we are still learning about learning I would recomend we do not adopt a process based approach and instead put learning into the context of problem solving.
Wise words Kevin. I remember on my teacher training, we were all placed under the spot light in the University Television Studio and subjected to giving a ten minute lesson. It stripped away all the spontaneity of shared learning and made it a self-conscious exercise in working to a script. I’ve never forgotten that horror show! So your comments really resonate with me.