What makes a great teacher? The Twilight Show with Graham Stanley
Jul 20, 2024
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Exploring what makes a great teacher, the podcast discusses research insights on teaching excellence and the impact of teachers. It touches on educational news updates, Labour's Education Secretary's decisions, attributes of great teachers, and challenges in teacher evaluation. The guest, Kate, shares her homeschooling journey and challenges faced in teaching children with special needs, highlighting the importance of personalized education and community schooling post-pandemic.
Great teaching includes content knowledge, classroom management, and belief in students' abilities.
Homeschooling offers individualized learning and diverse social environments.
Deep dives
What Makes a Great Teacher
It is essential for teachers to believe in the ability of all students to learn, regardless of background. A study revealed a significant percentage of teachers hold beliefs detrimental to student learning, such as not being able to help students from challenging backgrounds or below grade level. Teacher expectations play a crucial role in empowering student learning.
Components of Great Teaching
The Sutton Trust report of 2014 identifies key components of great teaching. These include content knowledge, quality of instruction, classroom climate, classroom management, teacher beliefs, and professional behaviors. Effective teaching involves deep content knowledge, high-quality instruction, creating a positive classroom environment, managing the class efficiently, fostering professional development, and believing in students' abilities.
Global School Leaders Research on Teacher Expectations
Survey results among teachers in countries such as India, Kenya, Malaysia, and Indonesia revealed that only 48% of teachers believe in the learning potential of all students, regardless of their backgrounds. This lack of belief in students' abilities can hinder their learning progress. Teachers underestimating their students' capabilities due to social attitudes and prejudices can impact student outcomes negatively.
Home Education Choice
Home educator Kate chose to educate her two boys, aged 13 and 11, at home due to her eldest son's autism and the belief that homeschooling would better suit his needs. She was drawn to Montessori and cooperative learning approaches, focusing on individualized learning experiences and seeing the child as the expert in their own learning journey.
Challenges in the Traditional School System
The speaker discusses challenges within the traditional school system, emphasizing issues such as teachers struggling to teach effectively due to red tape constraints and lack of flexibility to cater to individual student needs. The increasing numbers of children being home-educated due to dissatisfaction with traditional schooling methods are highlighted, pointing out the concerns around teacher limitations and constraints within the current education framework.
Benefits and Community in Homeschooling
The conversation shifts to the benefits and community aspects of homeschooling, focusing on socialization concerns often associated with home education. The speaker explains how homeschooling offers a diverse and enriching social environment through community groups, allowing children to interact with varying age groups and form deep relationships. Additionally, the speaker touches on the concept of 'flexi schooling' post-pandemic, highlighting the importance of alternative educational approaches and the need for collaboration between home and school environments for optimal student development.
What does the research say about good teaching and being a great teacher? I look at the evidence and what has been said about this topic, and then towards the end of the show, Kate joins me to talk about homeschooling her sons and what teaching means for her.
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