Big Ideas in Education

What Every Teacher Should Know

Dr Russell Grigg

• Publisher: Crown House Publishing
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781785830464
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Big Ideas in Education: What Every Teacher Should Know by Dr Russell Grigg provides an accessible and easily understood introductory guide to the big ideas that really matter in education. The teaching profession is saturated with ideas. Unfortunately, some of these are half-baked or fundamentally flawed. Dr Russell Grigg moves beyond the unhelpful supposed dichotomies that pervade current educational thinking child-centred versus teacher-centred, traditional versus progressive. Throughout the book, readers are invited to question assumptions and popular rhetoric and reflect on their own experiences. Big Ideas in Education aims to equip teachers with a good understanding of current thinking in a diverse, fluid and dynamic field. Each of the big ideas is discussed within the framework of four questions: what is the big idea, who is behind it, why is it important and what can you do? Big ideas are important, distinctive, empowering, adaptable and simple to understand. Dr Russell Grigg provides readers with a concise and reliable introduction to twelve such ideas, which are at the core of educational practice. The ideas chosen are general rather than subject-specific in nature. In turn, they invite the reader to look at teaching in wider society, address elements of learning which teachers actively promote, raise questions about why, how and what to teach and, finally, look at ways of improving the quality of education. The twelve big ideas under discussion are: (1.) Education education goes beyond the school gates and is a lifelong experience. (2.) Childhood children need time and space to explore, enjoy learning and develop as children rather than miniature adults. (3.) Knowledge knowledge is the foundation for learning. (4.) Skills learners need to develop a broad range of skills in real-life, relevant contexts. (5.) Dispositions effective learning depends upon cultivating positive dispositions. (6.) Ethics teachers' conduct should be guided by a moral purpose. (7.) Instruction direct instruction is a tried-and-tested means of effective teaching. (8.) Curriculum the curriculum is all the learning and assessment activities in school, both planned and unintentional, that contribute to agreed educational goals. (9.) Feedback providing personalised, accurate, specific and timely feedback is one of the keys to improving learning. (10.) Reflective practice good teachers critically analyse their practice with a view to improving what they do. (11.) Research research has a central role to play in the professional development of teachers. (12.) Professional leadership effective school leadership operates at all levels and is about shared vision, support and securing improvement. An ideal book for busy teachers who need to be kept up to speed with the latest thinking in education, this comprehensive guide provides the essential knowledge to keep you fully informed, whether leading staff discussions, submitting assignments or preparing for interviews. Suitable for teachers in any setting, from trainees and NQTs to more experienced practitioners looking to reflect on their practice, the book will also appeal to school leaders and teacher training providers.

Chapter 1

Education

Education goes beyond the school gates and is a lifelong experience

What is the big idea?

Think about something that you are very good at doing or passionate about. Perhaps it’s playing golf or some other sport, gardening, singing or playing a musical instrument, showing compassion to others, running a business, supporting a charitable cause or organising things. While a teacher at school may have provided the initial inspiration, more than likely you developed these skills and passions outside school. This could have been due to the influence of family and friends, members of clubs and societies or perhaps something that caught your eye on a television programme or on the Internet triggered your interests. The point is that learning – the acquisition of new knowledge and skills – is a continual process from the moment of birth. Scientists tell us that prenatal babies can recognise specific rhythms and patterns of stories they hear. In one study, doctors gave day-old infants dummies that were connected to tape recorders. Depending on the babies’ sucking patterns, the dummies either turned on a tape of their mother’s voice or that of an unfamiliar woman’s voice. Within ten to twenty minutes, babies were able to adjust their sucking rate to turn on their own mother’s voice (Flynn McCarthy, 2014).

If learning begins in the womb, when does it end? According to a report by an insurance company, life in Britain really begins at 60. The researchers revisited the premise of an American psychologist, Walter B. Pitkin, who suggested in 1932 that ‘Life begins at 40’. Pitkin thought that with the advent of the machine age, workers would be set free from back-breaking labour and enjoy more prosperous times when their thirties were over. The new research, based on the views of 2,000 adults, points out that the concept of what it means to be old changes as we age. For those under the age of 35, the word ‘old’ applies to those aged 61 and over. For those over 70, being ‘old’ doesn’t begin until they reach the age of 77 – only four years short of Britain’s average life expectancy (Doughty, 2015). Between 2006 and 2013, Internet use by the over-65s more than tripled, while 25 per cent of over-55s own a smartphone (Tame, 2015). Although something of a cliché, a generation of ‘silver surfers’ presents a growing market for business and learning, illustrated by the Barclays Digital Eagles scheme, which provides advice on technology for the older generation. In higher education, there are a growing number of mature students over 50 studying for degrees to improve their qualifications or pursue their love of a particular subject. In 2012, Bertie Gladwin became Britain’s oldest recorded graduate at the age of 90, having left school at 14 to work as a greengrocer’s delivery boy. A former MI6 agent, he gained a master’s degree in intelligence history from Buckingham University (Garner, 2012).

Education, training, schools and learning

Most dictionaries and commentaries describe education as a process of learning aimed at equipping people with knowledge and skills to enable them to become well-adjusted members of society. There is less agreement over what exactly such knowledge and skills should be and what education is for (see Chapter 3). Do schools exist to equip children with literacy, numeracy and other basic skills needed to become an active citizen? What about other aspects of learning, such as spiritual and moral values, social and emotional skills, artistic appreciation or a sense of heritage? Are schools about building open-mindedness, risk taking, creative and critical thinking skills? Most commentators conclude that schools exist to pass on cultural heritage and to prepare young people for life. When asked what is the point of education, former Education Secretary Michael Gove replied:

To introduce people to the best that’s been thought and written. Our children may never enjoy the prodigious wealth of Roman Abramavich’s children, but they’re just as capable of enjoying Dostoyevsky or Wagner or appreciating the Gherkin or the Shard – but only if the education they’ve had has given them an understanding of everything from metaphor to scientific principles. (cited by Horowitz, 2014)

Gove highlights a particular classical view of what it means to be well educated. The ancient Greeks believed that it involved cultivating the intellect through a study of great literature. Later, medieval universities added the arts and sciences to what became known as a liberal education – liberal in the sense of liberating the learner from preconceptions, dogma and parochial attitudes. By the nineteenth century, the value of education in its own right – the joy of reading poetry, exploring nature, looking at paintings or debating the meaning of life – was increasingly undermined by a more instrumental view of education as a means to an end, namely preparation for work. Training in specific skills rather than a broader education assumed importance.

The notion of training rather than educating remains prevalent today – for example, in the emphasis on teacher training rather than teacher education – reflecting a focus on development of technical skills in an instrumental, competence-led model rather than broadening the mind of young teachers through teacher enquiry, reflective practice and personal development (see Chapter 10). Sir Ken Robinson (2015: xii), using his customary wit, recalls debating as a student the difference between education and training: ‘The differences were clear enough when we talked about sex education. Most parents would be happy to know their teenagers had sex education; they’d probably be less happy if they’d had sex training.’

The longstanding link between education and schools is understandable – one would hope that in every case the latter promotes the former. Yet around a quarter of secondary schools require improvement compared to one in seven primary schools (Ofsted, 2014a). But this is not the full story. Thomas (2013: 106) reckons that around 40 per cent of children leave school disengaged, uninspired and bored. Another estimate suggests that a third of 14- to 16-year-olds are not taking part fully in lessons, have given up or resist (Stamou et al., 2014). While the main business of schools is to educate pupils, not everything that happens in school is educational – schools perform other functions such as childcare, certification, selecting for further training and preparing youngsters for occupational roles.

It is common for the terms education and schooling to be used interchangeably as if they are the same thing – they are not. There have been many quips about this. The American writer Mark Twain pointed out that he never let his schooling interfere with his education, while Albert Einstein, perhaps the greatest intellectual of all time, suggested that ‘Education is what remains when we have forgotten everything that has been learned at school’ (cited by Thomas, 2013: 2).

Education is more than the act of teaching or learning. Education is the process whereby one generation initiates the next into the ways of the world, acquiring the knowledge they need to make sense of it (Furedi, 2009). Formal education implies a sense of order and direction, where learners are supported to know and achieve things that they might not gain on their own. Much education takes place informally through spontaneous conversations with family, friends and neighbours, self-taught projects and the myriad of folk teachers who offer their expertise through online videos on channels such as YouTube.

Advances in cognitive and social psychology, educational practice and neuroscience are helping us to better understand the process of learning. We know that there are certain conditions which facilitate effective learning. These include frequent opportunities for learners to collaborate and talk purposefully about their learning, practise particular skills and receive constructive, timely and specific advice on how to improve (see Chapter 9). Motivation is also important. Learners are more likely to begin and keep at a task they actually want to do. Motivation increases the amount of time learners spend on a task (Larson, 2000). When learners are extrinsically motivated by the prospect of good grades, public recognition or other rewards, they tend to perform tasks as a means to an end. On the other hand, learners who are intrinsically motivated engage in tasks because they get pleasure from doing so, recognise the importance of the learning or perhaps believe it is the morally right thing to do. Sometimes learners are motivated by both intrinsic and external factors but, on balance, those who are intrinsically motivated achieve deeper levels of learning. Sotto (1994) boldly claims that for many children around the world, the experience of going to school inhibits their motivation to learn: they are bored, made to look foolish, asked to study things that are unreal and reach a point when they know that they are not going to do well no matter how hard they try. More recent commentators acknowledge that school learning is often dull and uninspiring (e.g. Paton, 2009), but most children enjoy the overall school experience. According to the Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Report (2015), on average students gave their schools seven out of ten. This was based on a sample of 8,000 children aged between 10 and 17.

Discussing definitions may seem all rather abstract and academic. But understanding these terms strikes at the heart of what teachers do and how they see themselves. Teachers who feel that their primary role is to nurture children’s natural inclinations are likely to teach in a very different way to those who value a body of knowledge that they think must be passed on to the next generation. This reflects a difference in the very etymology of the word education, which can be traced back to three Latin terms:

1. Ducere – to lead.

2. Educere – to bring out.

3. Educare – to mould or nourish.

The first and second terms were associated with leading troops into battle, with drill having a strong military resonance, whereas educare carried the notion of nurturing and tending, as in gardening.

Issues and challenges

These different meanings hint at a longstanding debate about what education should aim to do and the role of teachers therein. Should teachers lead through formal instruction or develop pupils’ latent abilities by guiding, coaching and facilitating? What is their role in the Google Age, where learners can instantly verify what they are told? There is no universally agreed answer to these kinds of questions. In some cultures, particularly in Asian countries where Confucian beliefs emphasise obedience and listening, teachers are held in high esteem and valued for imparting knowledge. A successful education is often equated with hard work, self-discipline, remembering lots of things and passing tests. Despite the success of Asian schools, their systems are frequently criticised for relying on rote learning: one study found that for each of their twice-a-semester exams, South Korean students have to remember between 60 to 100 pages of facts in order to do well (Jones, 2013). Generally, in Western countries, there is more scope for independent thinking, dialogue between teachers and pupils, self-assessment and informal teaching methods and classroom organisation.

One of the goals of education is surely to promote independent or self-directed learning. This is based very much on learners taking personal responsibility for setting their own learning goals and reflects models that value lifelong learning. Most studies suggest that children learn best when they are given opportunities to use their full range of senses, ask questions, talk, work alongside knowledgeable others and apply their knowledge in practical real-life contexts (Watkins, 2003; Husbands and Pearce, 2012).

One of the aims of this book is to support trainee and experienced teachers in reaching an informed view in a world where the profession is too readily vilified in the press. When there are problems in society, the tendency is to blame schools – they seem to be responsible in some way for everything from teenage pregnancy (Merrick, 2014) to the ‘mental health epidemic’ among young people (Tait, 2015). Schools and teachers are not miracle workers. In the 1970s, the sociologist Basil Bernstein controversially declared that ‘education cannot compensate for society’ (Bernstein, 1970). He wrote this at a time when neo-Marxists on the far left and eugenicists on the far right both claimed that schooling could do nothing to ‘transform’ society or address its inequalities and divisions. This fatalism did little to help the comprehensive school ideal or, more generally, lift aspirations in the teaching profession and working-class communities. Michael Apple (2013), an American professor, discusses the question of whether education can truly change society. Born in a very poor family, he attended schools in tough areas to qualify as a teacher and then progressed to graduate work at Columbia University. Education opened up possibilities for Apple but without challenging the structures that create poverty in the first place. Sir Michael Wilshaw, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, put it as follows: ‘It is sometimes said that “schools cannot do it alone”, but this is not quite true: exceptional schools can make up for grave disadvantages faced by young people. In the process, they often become surrogate parents’ (Ofsted, 2013a: 5).

There is no doubt that excellent schools and teachers can make a huge difference in children and young people’s lives. We know, for example, that the significant improvements in many London schools since 2000 have paid off in terms of educational outcomes for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. The success is largely attributed to effective leadership at all levels. This is manifested in many ways, from the recruitment and retention of quality teachers to high levels of data literacy among leaders (Baars et al., 2014). But there is a danger that the work of schools has become so demanding that growing numbers of teachers are suffering from low morale, excessive stress and burnout (Precey, 2015). The relentless focus on measurable outcomes and the rhetoric around targets, results and league tables can detract from the joy of educating children and young people.

Perhaps the greatest challenge for policy-makers and leaders is ensuring that more children have access to high quality teaching. We know that those fortunate e...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1: Education
• 2: Childhood
• 3: Knowledge
• 4: Skills
• 5: Dispositions
• 6: Ethics
• 7: Instruction
• 8: Curriculum
• 9: Feedback
• 10: Reflective practice
• 11: Research
• 12: Professional leadership
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index
• Copyright