Five years ago I went part-freelance, to support teachers as a trainer, mentor and advisor. And we read that half of all physics and maths teachers are now leaving the profession within five years.
I’ve been reflecting on what has been going on in schools during those 5 years; amid all the challenges I think there’s some good news…
From deprived urban academies to thriving international schools, all have been busy coping with the rapid shifts in education and responding in diverse ways. The differences within schools seem to me to be greater than the differences between schools. But the recruitment and retention of good quality teachers, certainly in my subject area of science, is perhaps the biggest challenge for schools of all types.
You can have all the funky educational initiatives in the world, but there’s no substitute for a good teacher. The craft of teaching cannot be learned in as little as 5 years.
Poor pupil behaviour has often been cited as a reason why teachers leave the profession. Schools have been successful in fixing this, but the danger is that another problem is created: quiet classes of passive learners unwilling to engage actively in learning. Many schools are now looking for guidance in how to challenge their pupils to think.
Having spent many years as a head of department I have particular sympathy for middle leaders trying to implement the latest scheme from senior leaders whilst simultaneously nurturing members of their department. One talented but weary head of department asked me how she could embed “Mastery” into existing schemes of learning, adapting the wall-to-wall powerpoints that every teacher was expected to use. Yes, making learning visible to pupils is a good thing, but regimented lesson structures constrain teachers, preclude live modelling and risk making learning boring. No wonder teachers get disheartened.
Educational research is at last beginning to break through into educational practice with groups such as ResearchEd and CogSciSci contributing hugely to helping teachers understand what works and why. Many education fads are being de-bunked and there seems to be a return to solid good-sense ideas about how children learn. Technology should be helping but resource-stretched schools and time-poor teachers have not been able to take full advantage of it.
I’ve noticed in the last five years that schools now build in much more time for professional development. Great! But is this time well-used? Much of the training is in-house, school-wide and less relevant than the subject-specific support which many colleagues crave, or just non-contact time for lesson planning and trying out experiments or new technology. And leading “intervention” sessions for exam classes has taken teachers away from running the extra-curricular clubs which we know switch pupils onto our subject.
Teachers have a huge capacity to learn from each other, and some schools are fantastic at nurturing peer-observation or developing evidence-based teaching and learning communities. It takes time to create an atmosphere where colleagues feel they can observe and be observed without fear of judgement. And that can be harder in schools where there is a rapid turnover. Sam Sims’ paper for Gatsby cites 8 principles for improving science teacher supply and is simple, clear and evidenced – every headteacher should read it!
Who knows where our education system will take us in 5 years, but I sense a sharpened appetite for networking, sharing ideas about good quality teaching and learning – and maybe injecting a little joy back into teaching. What do you think?
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