The quest for better teaching

Abstract

The quest to improve teaching on a wide scale is an enduring challenge globally. Yet demonstrable improvement in teaching quality is both elusive and slow. In this essay, I explore some of the complexities that contribute to the slow pace of change, including: the slippage between teachers and teaching as the object of improvement; the poorly defined concept of good teaching; the difficulty of demonstrating improvement in teaching; institutional constraints on improvement efforts; the growing web of marketing; and conflicting conceptions of professional development itself. Using my ongoing work on Quality Teaching and Quality Teaching Rounds, I illustrate how we have addressed these matters to produce measurable and sustainable effects. Finally, I elaborate the key principles of our approach, while acknowledging the challenges of wide-scale improvement, given the institutional and discursive character of the field.

Digital twins and the terminology of “personalization” or “personalized learning” in educational policy: A discussion paper

“…Acknowledging that there are various arguments supporting the quality of teachers as capable professionals, and numerous calls for smaller class sizes and better conditions (Barnes and Cross, 2020; Churchward and Willis, 2019), this paper considers how the inconsistent use of the key terms “personalization” with “personalized learning” confuses the narrative about quality teachers and masks the implications of this suggestion. Claims that teachers are in a deficit and need technological solutions are predicated on a chimeric understanding that education cannot engage people that personalize learning promptly with teaching (Gore, 2021).…”

“…Considered significant as the policy push for technology-led personalization perpetuates discourse that “getting ‘better people’ into teaching signals profound disrespect for and distrust of the current teaching workforce – effectively declaring incumbents not good enough” (Gore, 2021: 46). The policy that holds teachers to account for the quality of teaching is also encouraging or mandating forms of technology-mediated personalization enacted as a result of perceived deficiencies in incumbent teachers.…”

Schooling for equitable excellence: principles of systemic design

“…Example 4: In the Australian context, the Quality Teaching model, which has a lineage back through Productive Pedagogy (Ladwig, 2007) and before that Authentic Pedagogy (Newmann et al, 1996), is a culturally situated and empirically validated framework for assessing the quality of instruction (Gore, 2021). Drawing from a series of studies conducted over the past 20 years, but particularly 2014-2020, focused on observations of entire lessons (not extracts), there is little difference in the quality of instruction based on school location, the socio-economic status of students, or length of experience of the teacher (Gore et al, 2022).…”

Shifting the focus of research on effective professional development: Insights from a case study of implementation

“…The Quality Teaching Model that underpins QTR represents a holistic and comprehensive framework that is designed to honour the complexity of teaching (Gore, 2021;Gore et al, 2017). Yet Pat's description of the modifications adopted at Olsen Valley High turns the elements comprising the Model into a set of choices, as emphasised by Pat's repeated reference to picking the ones that will be discussed.…”