What makes great teaching?
Blog - What makes great teaching?
Tuesday 11 November 2014
A fascinating report summarising the findings of over 200 other pieces of research into this question, was published recently. Here are the key findings. A must read for all teachers, as well as students and parents!
What makes great teaching?
Review of the underpinning research
Professor Robert Coe
http://www.suttontrust.com/researcharchive/great-teaching/
Key findings
The two factors with the strongest evidence of improving pupil attainment are:
- teachers’ content knowledge, including their ability to understand how students think about a subject and identify common misconceptions
- quality of instruction, which includes using strategies like effective questioning and the use of assessment
Specific practices which have good evidence of improving attainment include:
- challenging students to identify the reason why an activity is taking place in the lesson
- asking a large number of questions and checking the responses of all students
- spacing-out study or practice on a given topic, with gaps in between for forgetting
- making students take tests or generate answers, even before they have been taught the material
Common practices which are not supported by evidence include:
- using praise lavishly
- allowing learners to discover key ideas by themselves
- grouping students by ability
- presenting information to students based on their “preferred learning style”