A new research paper has revealed that the type of recall task a teacher chooses can substantially influence the effects of learning by retrieval practice.
It matters how to recall – task differences in retrieval practice (Endres et al, November 2020) explores how 54 university students studied two expository texts, followed by retrieval practice tasks.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting health advice, lack of staff and social distancing measures, schools have had to adjust their class sizes accordingly. But does this mean that smaller class sizes are here to stay? And what’s better for the overall development of children?
Questioning and teacher scripts have immeasurable benefits as an assessment tool. They can help with retention, behaviour and self-regulation, not to mention the long-term impact on teacher workload both in and out of the classroom.
What’s more, dialogue in class can help students activate hard thinking, enabling them to elaborate on themes and topics:
“One way for students to shoulder the responsibility for learning is for them to be the readers, writers, speakers, listeners, and thinkers in the classroom through active engagement in social interaction with others,” (Alvermann & Phelps, 2005; Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz, 2011).
Weighing and measuring instead of growing and feeding is all well and good. But in several schools up and down the country, we are still seeing monitoring and evaluation schedules alongside quality assurance timetables.
The problem with this is that it focuses on judgement when we should be giving precedence to improving the quality of teaching and learning in school. Thankfully, there are ways in which you can switch your mindset and deliver truly great teaching.
During the middle of this year’s coronavirus pandemic, a report published by the National Foundation for Education Research (NFER) looked at how the school system was progressing with the country’s ongoing teacher supply challenge.
Key findings of the Teacher Labour Market in England Annual Report 2020 included:
For teachers up and down the country, 2020 has been an interesting year to say the least. The coronavirus pandemic and its subsequent lockdown threw our education system into disarray, with millions of parents forced to tackle the challenge of home-schooling.
During this time, teachers themselves became key workers and had to provide pupils with schemes of work that could be delivered remotely. But now teachers must overcome a new obstacle – helping students catch up on work missed during the six-month stretch of school closures.
One thing that a huge number of teachers want and need the most isn’t actually available to them.
Unfortunately, time is a precious commodity that comes and goes all too quickly. Without sufficient time, many teachers struggle to fulfil all aspects of the role to the best of their ability.
In order to help schools, colleges and education leaders prepare for teaching in the coming months, the OECD and the Global Education Innovation Initiative at Harvard University have collaborated on a new paper.
Schooling disrupted, schooling rethought – How the COVID-19 pandemic is changing education has collected data and analysed information on the education conditions faced in 59 countries.
Knowing what makes a good teacher is a lot different to actually being one. So with this in mind, research organisation Evidence Based Education partnered with Cambridge International to produce the Great Teaching Toolkit: Evidence Review.
Contained within is a four-dimensional model that aims to help teachers identify the areas they can work on in their own professional development that will have the most impact on their learners’ outcomes.
In light of COVID-19, schools and teachers face a number of obstacles to overcome, from maintaining pupil morale to delivering content effectively.
But one of the biggest challenges is supporting students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in order to reduce the disadvantage gap in young people.
Each and every teacher is bound to have their own heartbreaking or heartwarming experience of working with vulnerable children. But how can education professionals ensure stories of success in the future?
