NZ expert says schools need good teachers not better infrastructure
16 July 2010
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/nationalinterest/stories/2010/2956088.htm
Hattie's book Visible Learning http://tiny.cc/fbykw is one of the most inspirational books about education that I've read. It's a synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses on the influences on achievement in school students. Hattie lists and explains 138 effects on achievement, covering the influences of the student, home background, school, teacher, curricula, and teaching strategies. He demonstrates the difference that a good teacher can make to student learning outcomes, and looks in to what it is that good teachers do that makes that difference. His point is that pretty much everything that teachers do has a positive effect on student learning - so we need to identify the really influential things that some teachers do, the top-level techniques and strategies that do the most to raise student achievement levels. In this podcast, he tells Peter,
"some teachers doing some things, make a dramatic difference, and understanding what those some teachers doing some things is, is really, really the key issue. And for me, it comes back to the mindset that a teacher has about their work. If they think their job is a change agent, they're more likely to be successful. If they think they are a facilitator or a developer or a constructivist, it's kind of hopeless. If they think that their job is to constantly evaluate the impact they're having on kids, that's what makes the difference"In his book, Hattie focuses on feedback - not only to the student, to let them know how their learning is going, but also to teacher, to let them know how their teaching is going.
