Teaching is often described as a vocation, and indeed, many teachers are driven by their passion for education. However, it is also true that teaching is a profession where career development has an important part to play.
As teaching is constantly evolving, it makes sense for teachers to take ownership of their own growth.
Sometimes it seems as though there is no greater issue of contention in education than marking! Whether in Primary or Secondary education, there seems to always be an ongoing conversation about the value, necessity and regularity of marking with differing opinions from teachers, pupils, parents and SLT.
Teachers themselves don’t always agree about the benefits of marking, with some seeing it as an essential tool for feedback and progression while others see it as a waste of their precious time with no real benefit to pupils.
What exactly is it that causes marking to be so open to debate with no agreed solutions?
New Year resolutions are banded about in January with many good intentions and then often forgotten by February. Teachers might do better if they think about making some changes that will have a real impact in 2022.
Here are 4 ideas for changes that teachers can consider:
There is an ongoing crisis caused by staffing shortages in schools because of the pandemic. Due to the Omicron variant spreading so widely and quickly, many teachers across the country are having to self-isolate. There is immense pressure on the government, particularly from parents, to ensure that schools remain open for face-to-face teaching so that another school year is not lost.
On 20th December 2021, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi put out a call for retired teachers and those who have left the profession to return temporarily to fill the gap.
On 12th January, the government reported that it was estimated that 585 teachers had already signed up to return to teaching.
Time spent on marking students’ work and writing individual feedback has long been seen as adding to teacher workload. Moving away from written feedback is an obvious option to reduce teacher workload but schools are often reluctant to let go of the evidence that written feedback provides.
In an environment where school leaders are looking to reduce teacher workloads, it is important to be able to prove to Ofsted and parents that verbal feedback is an effective alternative to providing written feedback.
Looking at some current research into verbal feedback methods may help school leaders and teachers ensure they are following best practices. It should certainly open a debate into how changes could be trialled.
Teacher stress in England is a topic that has been raised over several years with many teachers opting to leave the profession, retire early or look for alternatives within education. Professor Wettstein carried out a study in 2020 that concluded that many factors lead to teaching being a highly stressful career across the globe.
Many teachers in England each year look towards the private sector for a less stressful teaching option but is this a viable alternative that will reduce teacher stress?
All teachers know that their learning about teaching doesn’t stop at the end of their degree or PGCE. As well as developing their own classroom experience, most teachers are genuinely interested in continuing to explore ideas and research.
It can be hard to decide which books to prioritise, so why not look at some recommended titles here:
This is an interesting take on teaching written by Prof Guy Claxton, a cognitive scientist who has some divisive opinions. His critical approach has caused some controversy on social media and the headlines created have certainly brought his book to the attention of many within the profession.
Claxton uses his knowledge to question the use of cognitive science in policymaking that dictates a particular teaching style. With the new Early Years Curriculum coming into play this year it is a very topical subject within the profession.
Paul Kirschner and Carl Hendrick have rigorously compiled what they consider to be the most important research publications in the psychology of education and gone on to provide a summary of the conclusions for each with some practical suggestions for teachers to use in the classroom.
This is an excellent book with distinct chapters that contain links to further reading, making this a very practical and accessible work for teachers to learn from.
Written and published by Andy Buck, a former headteacher, this is a guide for teachers and school leaders in the art of coaching.
It provides an excellent background in coaching with strategies for promoting coaching within schools. Designed with lots of interactive questions and self-evaluation it enables the reader to develop their techniques in coaching.
With 15 years of experience in conducting brain research, the author Jared Cooney Horvath is well qualified to advise on how people learn.
This book is a great read for those who are interested in finding out how to make their teaching more successful and get a deeper understanding of their students.
Despite a culture shift in the value of classroom observations for making judgements, observation is still very much a regular practice in most schools. This book, written by Prof Matt O’Leary, is an essential read for anyone who has responsibility for observing others.
Based on good research, it shows how effective observations can be when based on reliable evaluation methods. An excellent book for improving observation techniques and adding more value to the results.
Retrieval practice is a very topical idea in education. This book, by Kate Jones, a current teacher, is an excellent example of sharing peer knowledge and research findings to enhance practice.
It provides excellent evidence based ideas to help teachers in the classroom at primary and secondary to develop strategies for improving teaching, learning and long term memory.
This book, written in 2019 is by cognitive scientist Dr Pooja Agarwal and experienced teacher Dr Patrice Bain. Their collaboration led to a practical book that is full of research based ideas to bring easily implemented ideas to be applied in the classroom.
This very accessible book by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli presents 50 ideas divided into bite sized chunks with illustrations to inform teachers and provide a range of resources to use in class.
Easy to dip into but backed up by educational research it is a great one for teachers to have in their toolkit.
Tricia Taylor wrote this book in 2019 to explore the connection between relationships, memory and mindsets in relation to learning.
Based on excellent research in the field it contains useful guides for leaders to enable them to develop CPD training for staff as well as making it a great read for those teachers interested in cognitive science.
With each passing year and greater breakthroughs in technology, schools and colleges explore different ways to make life easier for teachers and students. While some educators have already moved on to using artificial intelligence, not all are up for it. Of the several reasons, two stand out as most common—shortage of technical infrastructure and lack of proper understanding.
In this article, we will discuss how technology can better the lives of teachers and students.
The changes and uncertainty of the past 12 months have put an incredible strain on everyone, not least teachers. From delivering lessons remotely to supporting pupils with both their studies and their mental health, it’s been an enduring challenge that continues to this day.
In order to help teachers cope with constantly moving goalposts alongside their usual workload, a number of solutions have been designed and implemented with varying degrees of effectiveness.
Ask any teacher what the foundation of schooling is and chances are they’ll say the curriculum. It underpins nearly everything a teacher does – structuring lessons, delivering content and assessing how well students are performing.
So when schools and the wider education world emerges from the pandemic, will the curriculum save the day in terms of the attainment gap and accountability?