It is so easy to get any amount of information from various sources and for someone to teach themselves most skills these days. Why then do teachers play a purposeful part in learning? Do we need them? We believe the answer is yes. Certainly teachers will helpfully have a good and reflective understanding (if not a 'love') of their subject discipline(s) and be able to communicate ideas and information clearly. As people with a good grasp of subject matter they are able to focus attention on important aspects of topics. More than communicating information, teachers seek to involve students in constructing and developing ideas - nurturing them rather than providing them, so that there is student engagement and thinking taking place. If a student has thought through an idea they are more likely to remember it, feel some sense of accomplishment and be able to build their skills. Teachers will have some appreciation of how ideas can build and develop, helping create confidence yet moving considerations on. It can be motivating to work with a teacher who challenges, nudges students to remain on task, provides overviews, recognises common misconceptions and encourages (and appropriately demands) suitable practice.

Surveys of teachers indicate that they see their profession as important because they wish to serve students by teaching well and because they believe education productively can help to ensure a more aware and better society. This role has a basic aim of increasing individual, national and global capacity for growth by enabling students to develop their understanding, technical proficiency, imagination, analytical skills and character. Frank McCourt, in describing his experience of teaching in New York, says that 'schools should work like hell to help young people with their "potential" - whatever that is. It should be liberating rather than a narrowing place, where curiosity is encouraged and fostered.' Teachers and their schools nurture talent.

Many research projects have highlighted the vital part that human interaction plays in teaching and learning, with questioning being an important skill. Teaching is usually characterised by an approach that is open-minded, responsive and wholehearted; there's a commitment to professional dialogue with colleagues in school and beyond. Teachers monitor student progress and learning within the classroom through ongoing oral work as well as looking through student books and assessments. In seeking a deeper understanding of their practice, or in seeking to plan for change, teachers use a variety of evaluation and action research techniques to collect and interpret their experiences. It is most helpful if students are able to ask questions about particular aspects that they have not fully understood.

Teachers develop, inevitably, and hold some patterns of behaviour that are unchanging over time. They develop their own 'styles'. Some routines are necessary and helpful and others could usefully be adapted, or a greater repertoire deliberately sought and adopted over time.

It is helpful for teachers to work together, informed by pedagogical research, to consider appropriate teaching behaviours and to develop an awareness of features of effective teaching. Real gains can happen when alertness in the moment informs a classroom decision and when teachers work together, either in joint planning sessions or in shared observations (co-coaching).

It is something of a cliché to say that teachers touch and prepare for the future. But like most clichés, this has some truth. Teachers are seriously involved with weaving and improving the fabric of society. It is right that students question educational values and teachers will normally welcome this challenge and debate.

William Brookes School: Teaching Values.

For lessons at William Brookes School there is widespread agreement that teaching intends to encourage learning by:
. Structuring lessons carefully to not only cover and review necessary (national curriculum and exam board syllabus) requirements but also to develop wider learning skills: nurturing interest, stimulating creativity and establishing good study and work practice habits.
. Supporting students so that they have a sense of achievement and mastery - overcoming any fear of failure. We believe that everybody has the capacity to achieve and improve. Success for us lies in seeing students grasp and apply an idea or skill and through adding value to students' predicted accomplishments.
. Working productively and inclusively with all students so that they make good progress, irrespective of their ability, background, gender or race. For all students, especially those with learning or skill difficulties and a pattern of high attainment, we are concerned that they are effectively challenged in nearly all lessons.
. Developing students' reasoning powers and thinking skills: observation, analysis, synthesis, deductive thought and evaluations. All students have an ability to learn through thinking as well as through provided information and by reflecting on their experience and current skill level.
. Promoting the habit of clear oral expression. All students, even the shyest, are encouraged to participate in lessons: to ask questions and share their thoughts and suggestions. Teachers are keen to hear what students have to say and value talk about work.
. Teaching students how to understand, analyse and communicate effectively using words, numbers and graphs on paper and in electronic forms - addressing the panoply of literature that students read and write. Written work should be developed methodically, acknowledging sources, ensuring that redrafts add clarity and that there is a pride in work.
. Conveying information clearly and developing ideas with students rather than for them. We know that students learn best when they are actively involved in the development of ideas.
. Using a skilful blend of question types to move students to more sophisticated ways of interacting with knowledge. Based on the work of Bloom (1950s), lessons are often stepped to: 'describe' then 'explain' then 'compare' then 'predict and develop' followed, on occasion, by 'evaluate' or come to a judgement.
. Providing students with feedback and involving them in assessing their own work and setting their own goals and targets. We hope that all students will develop a clear view of the next steps they should take to improve their work.
. Dealing effectively with inappropriate student behaviour so that there is no ridicule, two people do not speak publicly at the same time and the spirit of the school motto: "Courtesy, Enterprise and Endeavour" is firmly adhered to.

What the teacher attempts to do: Exposition and Behaviour Management.

Explaining is one of the most important things that a teacher does. As the word suggests, this involves making an idea plain or at least fairly intelligible. Exposition normally strives to interpret or unlock understanding in students - either of a fact, a skill or appreciating a structure. It is a mutual attempt at sense making, usually with a whole class. Caleb Gattegno claimed that only awareness is educable. To promote enquiry and engagement the teacher aims to relate the subject matter to the learner's awareness - thought processes and language - being wary of conveying a notion that matters are always settled or clear. Throughout a teacher's explanation, they will attempt to draw students in to the considerations and not allow students to divert attention. The teacher will try to ensure that students follow what is being explained and involve students in the development of the lesson.

Concise.
The teacher will try to convey information in a clear and concise way, trying not to overburden memory and seeking to simply establish the addressed issue. Without over-dwelling on a notion and avoiding vagueness, the teacher will deal with one well-specified point at a time but work on links between ideas and seek to help understanding wherever possible. The teacher will work with students to ensure that most students understand the key features, conventions or ideas, clarifying definitions of words and sometimes repeating important points. Having explained something, the teacher is very likely to check understanding and ask students to make notes or record their ideas. Wherever feasible, the teacher will try to make more sense of ideas using diagrams, pictures, models, 'maps' or some physical gestures. It is most helpful if the student can ask specific questions about matters that are unclear to them.

Attention striving
Teachers use dramatic devices to add emphasis to points. They may vary their location in the room and they will speak to individuals, engaging in eye contact and looking to see if students have understood or not (or a little bit). They may vary their voices by altering the tone, pausing sometimes for effect. At times they may articulate their consonants and at others stress syllables. Rather than broadcasting they will probably speak in a normal, pleasant and conversational tone. Trying to make points clear, they may rephrase and paraphrase comments, sometimes asking students to say what they have just heard. They will expect students to look at the board or at the teacher and not fidget with pens etc. To place an emphasis on specific words they will say some words more loudly or leave gaps for students to complete. Helpful diagrams will be used wherever possible and the teacher will not talk for too long, knowing that attention spans for everyone are short. The teacher will expect students to be involved and insist on this where necessary. They will leave aspects that students can clarify for themselves up to the student - maximising the thinking work in the classroom. The teachers will be pleasant, respectful and smile (but not so often in end of the day lessons).

Examples
These form the bulk of what a teacher offers and talks through. Carefully chosen examples will hopefully illustrate a general procedure or routine - as a model for students to follow and adapt. Sets of linked remarks encourage students to make their own sense of methods and techniques; possibly struggling for a while (otherwise the work would be too easy). With careful stressing, the teacher sometimes uses negative examples to highlight common misconceptions or mistakes. It is most important that ideas are linked an connected, sometimes to 'real life' aspects.

Feedback
It is important for learning that students are involved in the development of ideas. Apart from the boredom factor, it is important that understanding is checked, by asking an individual a question or asking students to say what they might look at/do next. There should be opportunities to ask questions (not by a student saying they cannot do something) and students may be asked if there are any aspects they are unclear about. The teacher will see how well ideas are understood before they move on. It is most helpful if students can respond with facial gestures - nodding, frowning, thumbs up etc. Feedback helps to purposefully shape the lesson. There is no harm in asking for further explanation, from the teacher again or another student.

TDA Professional standards.

Professional standards have been identified for teachers in England from September 2007 and covers characteristics of teachers for each career stage.

Statements about aspects of teaching are arranged in three interrelated sections on:

Professional attributes
. Relationships with children and young people
. Frameworks
. Communicating with others
. Personal professional development

Professional knowledge and understanding
. Teaching and Learning
. Assessment and monitoring
. Subjects and curriculum
. Literacy, numeracy and ICT
. Achievement and diversity
. Health and well-being

Professional skills
. Planning
. Teaching
. Assessing, monitoring and giving feedback
. Reviewing teaching and learning
. Learning environment
. Team working and collaboration

These (TDA) professional standards are available in pdf form at

General
http://www.tda.gov.uk/teachers/professionalstandards.aspx

Core teacher
http://www.tda.gov.uk/upload/resources/pdf/s/standards_core.pdf

Unusual Views of aspects of teaching

These excerpts, from three Professors, convey views that may challenge 'conventional wisdom'.

Stuart Sutherland says that research evidence questions the value of motivating students by means of external rewards. Such 'prizes', he claims, demonstrably devalue the attractiveness of pleasurable activities. He read Psychology, Philosophy and Physiology at Oxford. He completed a DPhil and held a lecturing post at Oxford before moving (in 1964) to the newly opened University of Sussex. He was the founding Professor where he rapidly built an international reputation for the department. Interested in human perception and cognition, in 1992 he published accounts of thinking biases and common failures of human judgments in Irrationality: The enemy within

Carol Dweck cautions against using certain types of praise, suggesting that it can become a negative force, reinforcing a poor self-view and making students passively dependent on teachers; doubtful about their own talents. She is widely regarded as one of the world's leading researchers in the fields of personality, social psychology, and developmental psychology. She was the Professor of Psychology at Columbia University and is now Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her scholarly book Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development was named Book of the Year by the World Education Fellowship.

Guy Claxton has written extensively about creativity, learning to learn and 'deep' learning. He views creativity as neither the preserve of a special few students or a faculty that can be trained, taught or cultivated on its own. He is Visiting Professor of Learning Science and Director of Development of the research initiative on Culture and Learning in Organisations (CLIO) at the Graduate School of Education in Bristol. Professor Claxton is also an internationally renowned writer, consultant and academic specialising in creativity, education and the mind. He has a double first in Natural Science from Cambridge, a doctorate in Cognitive Psychology from Oxford and is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society.

Stuart Sutherland (adapted):
Teachers might think that rewards are helpful in promoting a more positive response to a task. At least in the case of many tasks that students might find intrinsically pleasurable, research shows clearly that those who are rewarded engage less well in the task when the reward is withdrawn than those who have not been rewarded at all. There is a greater commitment to actions freely chosen than those which are rewarded or otherwise coerced.

External rewards, such as honours marks, stickers, a good grade or prizes can reduce the attractiveness of pleasurable tasks and appear to have little or no effect on less pleasurable ones once the 'carrots' have been withdrawn. In some cases there is evidence that those who nearly but do not attain a prize can become less motivated. Prize giving can be unjust and divisive. There is also evidence that those who strive to gain a 'prize' do less creative work than those of comparable talent.

Such findings also call into question the allocation of grades for pieces of work. Students should be encouraged to view set tasks as worthwhile activities in their own right or, at least, that they are a means to a student's super-ordinate end ("You want a good qualification/job don't you?" - deferred gratification, e.g. in revision work).

Curiosity about the world and a drive to manipulate objects and ideas is inherent in all mammals. The satisfaction obtained from completing a task quite well, of getting something right or discovering something is in itself a positive reward and motivating influence, an accomplishment. The reward can inhere within the task.

Praise and encouragement differs from material rewards in that they can be internalised (a student can praise themselves) and can continue to occur (unlike material rewards which are likely to be withdrawn after a while). Praise appears, generally, to have positive and beneficial effects. Evidence shows that receiving praise for performing well does not devalue the task.

There are skills, like interpreting a graph where a student needs to be told whether they are right or wrong by an authority. When this sort of information is given it can help the student to improve their understanding and performance but will also be interpreted as praise for correctness and blame for errors. It is often difficult to teach without allocating praise or blame. Students will value the teacher's comments where they are clearly intended to improve their skills rather than appraising them. The more specific the teacher's comments the more helpful they are likely to be.

Carol Dweck (adapted):
Concerted efforts in the late 1990s to lift attainment by boosting student's self esteem floundered but needed a clearer focus in order to be successful. Praise is a powerful tool to assist motivation and develop positive attitudes towards learning but it can be misused. For example, praising a student for their success in easy (for them) tasks indicates that the teacher thinks they are dumb. Praising students needs to be carefully done.

Students have different implicit theories about the nature of intelligence. They can view it as a fixed commodity, provided at birth. In this case they might view themselves as highly intelligent performers, in which case they will seek challenges and have a high persistence. If they view themselves as generally dumb they will duck challenges whenever the learning gradient becomes too steep. Those students who regularly fail (in their eyes) at tasks or who worry that they have to work hard at a task in order to succeed develop a 'learned helplessness'.

Those students who have an alternative view of intelligence, as being incremental, are more likely to positively seek a growth in their own competence; know that this is directly related to their effort; accept failure as a positive aspect of development and be more adaptive. However high or low their self-efficacy they will not be diverted from the task of learning by a concern about how smart they might or might not look.

Praising students for their intelligence or competence supports a 'fixed' view and leads certain students to become hooked on external evaluations. This carries a view that they need to look smart and so should not risk making mistakes. On the other hand, when students are praised for the effort and hard work that leads to achievement they are more likely to keep engaging in a learning process, unconcerned about how others view them.

Instead of trying to convince students that they are all smart or enthusiastically promoting high standards in the hope that this will create high motivation and success, teachers need to: encourage students to focus on the potential to learn that they all have; promote a view that valuing challenge and taking learning steps is much better than wanting to look smart and encourage them to concentrate on effort and applying learning processes in the face of obstacles.

Work must not always be pitched so that it is easy and most can succeed, nor must it be too demanding so that many cannot do it, forcing curriculum casualties. Neither should we set inappropriately large volumes of work. Assessments need to be frank and evaluative, indicating student's current skill level but we also need to make it clear to them that this is an evaluation of their current performance and skill, not their intelligence or innate ability. Outlining next steps is important.

We must help students acquire the skills they need for learning. When students are clear that they have a potential to learn and we give them the repeated message that effort is required for learning, they can take responsibility for their achievement as they tackle challenges and work to master new material. Unlike some of their peers they are not afraid to work hard, they know that meaningful tasks involve setbacks and they know that persistence is an admirable quality. Praising such aspects will serve them well in life as well as in school.

Guy Claxton (adapted from an article in NAHT papers, 2003)

Being creative involves mastering the arts of imagination, intuition and intellect, but more than that, of learning how and when to use them together.

There's an awful lot of nonsense talked about creativity, so we have to untangle it and get the 'nots' out of it so that we can understand and start encouraging it.

Creativity is not grand: it is not just for budding Mozarts and Einsteins. It is what you need when a student says it's so not fair. It is what you need when a colleague needs to adapt their teaching style and is disinclined to do so.

Creativity is not particularly artistic, and you do not have to be weird to do it. It is as vital for accountants and receptionists as it is for architects and space engineers.

Creativity is not necessarily a 'good thing'. A lot of very poor ideas have come from very 'creative' people. 'Thinking outside the box' can be a complete waste of time.

Creativity is not necessarily easy. It is not a matter of a few hints and tips and off we go. It is often slow, requires immersion in ideas and can sometimes take an agonisingly long time.

Creativity does not have a location in the brain: it is not camped out in the right hemisphere, and is not placed in opposition to logic and analysis. Dancers and poets think hard, just as much as scientists and engineers need to let their imagination fly.

Creativity is not wild: it draws upon and is constrained by a good deal of knowledge and experience. Anything does not go. Creativity seeks a practical solution to something that matters.

Creativity is not solitary. Typically periods of quiet thinking, not necessarily at a desk, are interspersed with intense engagement with the social and cultural world, e.g. in a blog, a family discussion or a classroom debate.

Creativity is not simply released, like a helium balloon when the anchoring weights of convention or criticism are untied. Yes, the mental and emotional brakes sometimes have to be off, but there is a great deal of learned skill and sensitivity to creativity, just as there is to flying a balloon.

Creativity is not easy to appraise: the products can demand new criteria for an evaluation and provoke fiercely contested views, e.g. about quality and elegance.

Creativity is not innate. Genius may have a small generic element to it, but everyday creativity is an acquired art which everyone can attain.

Creativity is not just the preserve of the gifted and talented. We need to find ways to help all young people become more creative.

See Guy Claxton's website for the rest of this article and other reading material.

We recognise that education for gifted and talented (as well as other students) needs to:
. Provide opportunities and for teachers to take an alert interest in brighter and gifted pupils.
. Ensure that those with unusual intelligence or ability are recognised and nurtured in lessons.
. Set tasks with high attainment ceilings.
. Provide all students with 'floor space' where there is little fear of ridicule.
. Encourage higher order thinking skills, creativity and an overt development of talent.
. Notice and praise resolve, high quality work and risk taking.
. Recognise that our lessons should wiggle, in their cognitive pitch.
. Involve high attaining students in dialogue with other talented and less talented students so that their insights are shaped and shared.

We prefer to concern ourselves with curricular and enrichment provision rather than a close identification and fixed labelling of gifted and talented pupils.

As a specialist Performing Arts College we are keen to develop areas of specific talents in the arts, seeking to promote a wider involvement of boys. As a specialist Maths and Computing school we have a particular interest in analytical skills and the many uses of ICT to enhance understanding and develop creativity.

Practice and plans
. We ask questions and set tasks that promote high attainment - seeking generality, requiring analysis, synthesis, evaluation and creativity (true to Bloom).
. As best we can, we have or are developing extension tasks with a high cognitive or physical demand and we encourage pupils to jump to extension tasks if they are able to.
. We differentiate lessons, taking account of national guidance and objectives for high attainers.
. We look to extend work by depth, mainly, but also by breadth.
. We hope to set up links with other schools to provide joint enrichment sessions.
. We identify and monitor the progress of particularly high attaining students in subject areas (HoD) and across the school (gifted and talented coordinator and deputy head), addressing underperformance through individual discussions with students.
. Students with exceptional ability are given, where possible, extra provision and mentoring.
. All students are encouraged to be independent and creative learners.
. Students are encouraged to go on to further academic study and there is a broad range of advanced level courses on offer.
. Out-of-class activities are particularly important to the school for all students, but gifted and talented students are well catered for with, e.g.: after school clubs in many curriculum areas (sports/dance/drama clubs); more demanding exams, e.g. early entry 'AS' groups in Maths, Drama and Music. Also:
. Maths Challenge, 'BBC hardspell' (and looking for other) national competitions.
. Clubs (circus, chess, games).
. Trips and ventures e.g. foreign exchanges, ski, DOE.
. Performing Arts public productions, e.g. music concerts, shows and many plays.
. Extra subjects (fastrack GNVQ in ICT, GCSE Stats).

Individual subject areas are asked to regularly review their provision and adopt specific developmental tasks designed to improve opportunities for high attainment.

Definitions and requirements

We are, understandably, required to account for our provision for gifted and talented pupils by external agencies who use the following definitions:
. 'Gifted' learners are those who have abilities in one or more subjects in the statutory curriculum other than art and design, music and PE.
. 'Talented learners are those who have abilities in art and design, music, PE or performing arts.

The term 'gifted and talented' is understood to involve students with
L5.5+ on the KS2 SATs or teacher assessment;
L7+ for KS3 SATs or teacher assessment;
Grades A or A* at GCSE and grade A at GCE (A and AS levels).
In national descriptors it is also used relatively for each school and refers to the top 5 to 10% of students, whatever the attainment profile of the school.

A gifted and talented school cohort is identified by name in the annual PLASC return from the school in the suggested 2 : 1 ratio for gifted : talented.

Individuals are identified (and subsequently confirmed) by heads of curriculum areas and nominations communicated to the co-ordinator of gifted and talented pupils.

Such students are likely to be:
. Quick to learn, easily and readily assimilating concepts
. Very able but poor at expressing themselves clearly
. Seriously curious
. Creative and (sometimes wildly) imaginative
. Pressurised by peers to hide their aptitudes

The main suggested high attainment skill zones are likely to involve one or more of the following areas:
. Intellectual (Linguistic, Logico-Mathematical).
. Creative (Scientific, Technical).
. Visual/Artistic (Art, Music, Dance, Drama).
. Practical (Technological).
. Physical (Sports, Dance and Drama).
. Social (Leadership, Personal and Interpersonal Skills).

Students are identified by a variety of means and an analysis of their performance will take account of qualitative as well as quantitative data.

Coordinating and Monitoring

All teachers are responsible for differentiating their lessons and encouraging high attainment, acknowledging that this involves preparation time.

Middle leaders seek to ensure that the curriculum meets the needs of very high attainers, heeding national advice. High attaining students will be identified for departmental staff and their progress monitored. Middle leaders provide (at least annual) updates of names of gifted and talented students and concerns about underachievement to the co-ordinator. Some departments have nominated staff with a specific interest in curricular provision for high attaining students.

The gifted and talented student co-ordinator will:
. Be a champion for high attaining students.
. Attempt to liaise with departments to encourage a range of materials pitched at high attaining students in each year. Mentor and monitor (using school systems) high attaining students' progress.
. Seek to set up a several enrichment sessions, possibly with other local schools, outside events and invited speakers.
. Keep abreast of national developments and initiatives, particularly through national high
. Be involved in the monitoring and evaluation of department's work through external exam analysis as well as lesson observations.

DfES - Unit 2 Teaching Models
DfES - Unit 6 Modelling
DfES - Unit 8 Explaining