On the importance of research for teaching in schools

Professor Brian Hudson

Head of the School of Education and Social Work

31st January 2014

PGCE and School Direct programme

Structure of this lecture

Some reflections on my background experience and journey as a

teacher, teacher-researcher and academic

Some reflections on why I think research is important for teaching in

schools

Robert’s reflections and one output around the start of my writing journey

“I found the disk (computer disk) easy to work with, enjoyable and interesting. It tells you things you thought you would never know.”

(Robert, 13-14 years old)

Hudson, B. (1988) Subject Based Approaches to Global Education, p 248-252. in Pike, G. and Selby, D. (Eds) Global Teacher, Global Learner, London, Hodder and Stoughton.

Some reflections on why I think research is important for teaching in schools The nature of teaching as a social practice is highly contested,

especially in England at this particular moment in time – is teaching a professional practice or merely a craft?

The existing body of knowledge arising from research and scholarship on teaching and learning is largely being ignored at all levels of the system

Current Westminster Government policy: looking back to the future?

“teachers are “master workmen …

not architects … There is no

genius wanted. Good intelligent,

discreet teachers are needed.”

Who said that?

Henry Clay Speer, Chief Superintendant of Schools, Wisconsin Frontier (1878) cited in Kliebard (1999)

132 years later …

Teaching as a “craft” which is

“best learned as an apprentice”

Michael Gove, quoted in TES

Connect (2010)

6

Déjà vu - we have been here before …

“The teacher is not only master (my italics) of procedure but also of

content and rationale, and capable of explaining why something has to

be done. The teacher is capable of reflection leading to self

knowledge, the metacognitive awareness that distinguishes draftsman

(my italics) from architect, bookkeeper from auditor”

(Lee S. Shulman, 1986)

Three principles of research-based teacher education

Firstly, teachers need deep knowledge of the most recent advances of research in relation to both the subjects they teach but also in relation to research on the associated teaching and learning of those subjects.

Secondly, is the formation of a “research-orientated attitude” on the part of teachers, meaning the development of an analytical and open-minded approach to their practice and drawing conclusions for the development of education both on the basis of professional knowledge and experience and also on the basis of evidence arising from recent research.

Thirdly, teacher education itself should be an object of study and research.

Hannele Niemi, cited in Sahlberg, P. (2011) Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland? Teachers College, Columbia University, p 84.

7

What do we know already?

Being a good mathematician does not necessarily make you a good mathematics teacher

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is not the same as Content Knowledge but rather is the particular kind of teacher knowledge that intertwines content and pedagogy

Decompression is the ability to deconstruct one’s own mathematical knowledge into a less polished and final form, in which elemental components are accessible and visible

Compression, in contrast, is central to the discipline of maths

Ball, D. L. & Bass, H. (2000) Interweaving content and pedagogy in teaching and learning to teach: Knowing and using mathematics. In J. Boaler (Ed.) Multiple perspectives on the teaching and learning of mathematics (pp 83-104). Westport, CT: Ablex.

9

Teaching as craft or as an inquiry-

oriented profession? In teaching there always is:

somebody that

sometimes, and

somewhere, and

for some reason

in some way facilitates

somebody else’s

efforts to reach

some kinds of competence

in some fields of knowledge

for certain purposes

that have been agreed upon

so that an individual could better realise his/her interests.

Teaching as craft or as an inquiry-oriented profession? This time the quote in full:

In teaching there always is: somebody that (who?) sometimes (when?), and somewhere (where?), and for some reason (why?) in some way (how?) facilitates somebody else’s (whose?) efforts (by means of what?) to reach some kinds of competence (what kind?) in some fields of knowledge (what?) for certain purposes (what/why?) that have been agreed upon (by whom?)

so that an individual could better realise his/her interests. Michael Uljens (1997) School Didactics and Learning. Hove

Thank you for your attention

It is teachers who, in the end, will change the world of the school by understanding it.Lawrence Stenhouse

Follow-up reading, further references and link to slide show

Hudson, B. (2011) Reclaiming scholarship as an integrating dimension of academic work for the impact of research on teaching and learning in Higher Education, Scottish Educational Review, Vol. 43, No. 1, 24-40. [WWW document] URL http://www.scotedreview.org.uk/pdf/319.pdf (Accessed on 30th January 2014)

http://www.slideshare.net/brianghudson