A new report from the Sutton Trust has reviewed the evidence around successful teaching practices. Here are the key points you need to know
The question of what makes a great teacher has been around for a long time. It’s an enquiry that poses many problems because there’s simply no set recipe for success, and different approaches work for different professionals and students.
The Sutton Trust has published a report that reviews the research into effective teaching, finding that popular practices, such as lavishing praise on students or allowing them to discover key things for themselves, actually have no grounding in research.
The author of the report, professor Robert Coe from Durham University, says this is a “starter kit” for thinking about what makes good teaching. So, what does the report recommend? Here are 10 salient points to take away:
1. Know your subject
The report, which looked at more than 200 pieces of research, found that there were six main elements to great teaching and one of the most important ones was subject knowledge. It may seem obvious, but the report found that the best teachers have a deep knowledge of their subject, and if that falls below a certain point it has a “significant impact” on students’ learning. Targeted help for teachers, giving them an understanding of particular areas where their knowledge is weak, could be effective.
2. Praise can do more harm than good
The wrong kind of praise can be harmful for students, the report found. A number of studies conducted by education experts, including Carol Dweck professor of psychology at Stanford University and Auckland University professors John Hattie and Helen Timperley, have observed this.
Deborah Stipek, the dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Education, said that praise is meant to be encouraging but it can actually “convey a teacher’s low expectations”. Stipek said that if a pupil’s failure was met with sympathy rather than anger then they were more likely to think they had done badly due to a lack of ability.
The report adds the caveat that the findings are open to interpretation, however, as teachers can do things well or badly, and some methods are not appropriate in all circumstances.
Read the full story in the Guardian.
Deborah Stipek is the I. James Quillen Dean and Judy Koch Professor of Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education.
© Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305.
