My first Eduthoughts post is pondering on why the thousands of hours and millions of dollars spent in Training and Professional Development of teachers has resulted in such little change in effective pedagogy and student achievement. Even the most current technologies are often than not wrapped in a dated pedagogy which does not redefine and transform learning but rather substitutes paper for digital.
I hear Peter Taylor use the phrase “apprenticeship by observation” when explaining why so many teachers teach the way they were taught and I have been pondering it ever since. It worried me deeply because the implications are significant.
As babies and then as children we make sense of our world through observation and make meaning through association. We learn language because we are absorbed in it – observation, listening and mimicking are our teachers. We learn our morals, ethics, eating habits in the same way and these are often very well developed before we enter school. Then at school we observe teachers daily for 12 or more years and make sense of what school is all about: we learn school. We learn that to be successful we must conform because that is what most teachers want us to do. We hear the importance of risk taking, of being creative, of being individuals but are never given authentic opportunities to do so because we are told what and how to learn. Our patterns of “doing school” are set through this 12 year apprenticeship.
A habit or pattern of behaviour reinforced for 12 years is extremely difficult to change as it becomes default behaviour.
The old put down, “Those who can do and those who can’t teach.” may not be the case but is there any truth in a “teaching natural selection”? That after the 12 year apprenticeship those who are attracted to teaching are those who learnt to “do school” successfully, those who conformed and those who were successful at what the teachers expected and valued? “The apple does not fall far from the tree.”
It is a minority of teachers who “think different”, who do not conform , who continually question and strive to transform their new learning into a new default. Evolution teaches that significant change takes eons. The kids of today cannot wait.
How do we disrupt the apprenticeship to make the minority the majority?
I think for things to change, teachers and leaders need to feel more supported by our department policy makers. We need to feel that we can try new ideas and ‘jump in’ with both feet, without our head being on the chopping block. Decision makers want to see change, but this change is often slowed or stopped by fear from above and outdated policy.
Thanks for your moment, Jarrod. I share your feelings. Many policy makers are a product of their own “apprenticeship by observation” and so act in a conservative, risk averse manner.
Each of us can only do what we can do to make the system as a whole better from within.
My latest post begins to address what I can do.
As a new teacher, I know I am very wary of rocking the boat because whilst I *do* have new ideas and would like try a different approach the reality is that the ‘establishment’ isn’t particularly keen on change. So… I tread gently because I can’t affect any change if I don’t have a job.
Thank you Markeeta for your comment. I have quoted you in my follow up blog.
Be true to yourself! Keep innovating!