*Deep breaths*. OK, so you’re telling me that catering my
lesson activities towards visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learners was a waste of time.
Oh my.
And the classic ‘you retain 90% of what you teach’ stat; also nonsense. Yikes.
And the classic ‘you retain 90% of what you teach’ stat; also nonsense. Yikes.
If you’re not a cognitive scientist, and you’ve been in teaching
long enough, then you’ve probably experienced this kind of horror moment.
Dealing with the Feeling
When you read about the debunking of an educational myth
that you’d (to some degree or another) gone along with, it doesn’t feel good.
It fact, it feels a little embarrassing. How could I, a degree-educated and (hopefully!)
reasonably intelligent person, have gobbled up this stuff with so little
critique? It’s somewhat humbling. Hindsight's a great thing though remember.
Denial might be your first response. This doesn't last long though as defending the roundly debunked quickly becomes untenable. Second response: distancing. I didn’t write a book
on any of this stuff, or lead any CPD on it, I'm not really implicated here. I didn’t promote these myths, so it’s fine. Then you realise that distancing yourself
probably doesn't quite cover it. You know full well there were times where these myths casually rolled off your tongue in class, or where they influenced your
planning. You momentarily consider the fact that most of the evidence is now consigned to your inaccessible stash of floppy discs. But eventually, it becomes evident that you need to swallow
your pride. You admit that you now need to take a more critical approach to 'evidence' and adopting new strategies. Lesson (uncomfortably) learned.
How Did We Get Here
Generally speaking this is probably more likely to have happened
to you if you were well-meaning and conscientious! You listened to those PGCE
tutors, CPD trainers or others who propelled these myths, promptly
took them on board and keenly implemented them in your work. Don’t beat yourself up
too much. Most of us have had little experience of or training in research
methods and everything you did was likely to have been done out of a genuine
motivation to do the best you could for your students. Don’t lose faith.
Yet do consider that the issue is systemic and we should all reflect on our part. As a profession we have not been careful enough in the past with our use of 'evidence' and those tutors, trainers and writers (entirely well-meaning themselves) are probably feeling just the same as you now. But whether we dished it out or ate it up, we are all on a journey now and transition in education is underway.
Yet do consider that the issue is systemic and we should all reflect on our part. As a profession we have not been careful enough in the past with our use of 'evidence' and those tutors, trainers and writers (entirely well-meaning themselves) are probably feeling just the same as you now. But whether we dished it out or ate it up, we are all on a journey now and transition in education is underway.
New for 2019
You probably have to have been living on Mars to have escaped
at least some reference to ‘learning science’, ‘cognitive psychology’,
‘research-informed practice’ or something similar by now. Terms like these feature in black and white in the research
overview document that sits behind the new Ofsted 2019 inspection framework. And even a brief scroll through anything education-related on Twitter will
quickly expose you to terms such as ‘retrieval practice’, ‘metacognition’ or
‘dual coding’.
So how do you respond now when it feels like another load of
potential myths are coming your way?
Fad Fear
I would suggest that these are some of the common teacher response types out
there:
- Ostriches – They’re not falling for this again. The pain and embarrassment of realising they’ve been taken in before are quite enough thank you very much and they’re not taking the chance again. They’re avoiding anything based on ‘evidence’ like the plague, thank you and goodbye. *Head in sand*.
- Deniers – It’s all rubbish to these folk. “Look at all these fads in the past, they’ve all come to nothing. I’m not wasting time on changing anything as it’ll be debunked in another few years”. They either don’t believe, they’re weary after many years of edu-fads or it’s just plain convenient not to believe as that means they don’t need to do anything about it!
- Groupies – They’re either new to this teaching game and haven’t felt the de-bunk pain or they’re experienced but still in denial and distancing themselves from any past fad fails they’ve been taken in by. Forward-looking and probably well-intentioned, they’re ready and keen to hastily jump on any bandwagon in town.
Can you recognise yourself? I’ll admit to some fad-weary
denier moments, especially after reading a raft of myth debunking info. This
was passed on to me in a well-meaning way, but did nothing to support my
motivation and self-esteem! I have groupie tendencies too. I want to be a great
teacher. I try really hard, sometimes too hard, and that can be an issue in
itself.
In fact none of these responses are probably helpful. Most experienced
teachers probably need a few moments of honest reflection and acceptance of any
past oversights. All teachers would benefit from reading around the latest
research findings in a positive and professional, but
informed and cautious manner. There is a balance to strike. Avoid over keenness
and naively jumping on the next neuromyth/fad bandwagon. Also avoid outright
negativity or fad fear that prevents adoption of genuine and credible
research-informed practice improvements that could really benefit learners.
My own approach has been to accept the past, pull myself
together and try to move forward with a pro-active approach. This involves
reading widely, thorough self-evaluation of my own practice and a cautiously
optimistic approach to adopting strategies that I understand the research basis for and that resonate with my own practice and experience.
A Word to the Wise
And finally, if you have been cautious, critical and
informed only by sound research findings in your practice all along, then well
done. Go easy on the rest of us though as we try to face our fad fear and catch
up!
Leaders should have confidence to go forth in enthusiastically
implementing new evidence-informed practice improvements where appropriate. But they would do
well to be mindful of the emotions, personality traits and personal experiences
of those they hope to take with them. Ostriches will need to be gently coaxed out of the sand. Deniers
will need a boost of motivation and plenty of robust, convincing evidence. Groupies
may need a focus and gently reigning in a little.
Build experts. Develop and value self-awareness and humility as traits which enable recognition and acceptance of past mistakes or
oversights. Coach and train everyone to build knowledge of sound
evidence-informed practice but also of the importance of careful treatment of findings
and measured implementation.
I’d be very interested in your own personal experiences and
comments on this issue. Do feel free to leave a comment below or get in touch
on Twitter @JonesLearnUK.
There is plenty of good advice out there for teachers and
leaders alike. I would encourage you to peruse the links below which I have
found particularly interesting and useful reading on this topic.
Useful reading for teachers:
Great article by Louise Lewis (with tips on what to ask of
research).
@MissLLewis
https://www.teachertoolkit.co.uk/2017/12/26/20-research-myths/
John Dabell covers 12 educational research myths in this useful piece on the Teacher Toolkit website. Brace yourself!
@TeacherToolkit @John_Dabell
https://www.teachertoolkit.co.uk/2017/12/26/20-research-myths/
John Dabell covers 12 educational research myths in this useful piece on the Teacher Toolkit website. Brace yourself!
@TeacherToolkit @John_Dabell
Useful reading for leaders:
Interesting blog from Andy Tharby with reference to the EEF
implementation guide and advice on pitfalls.
@atharby
Implementation tips from Greenshaw Research School.
@GreenshawR
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