Why teachers matter

ALISON PEACOCKCHIEF EXECUTIVE, CHARTERED COLLEGE OF TEACHING

Welcome to the teaching profession. You have taken the decision to begin your journey as

a teacher and, as such, to start a career working with children and young people that you will soon come to realise is truly the most fulfilling, demanding and exciting

job you could have chosen.I became a teacher when I was 21 and,

apart from taking a career break to look after our two daughters when they were small, I have been a teacher ever since. Looking back over this long career, I can honestly tell you that my life has been enriched. I have worked in secondary and primary schools as well as becoming an adviser and then leading a failing school to sustained success. I engaged in research with several universities and have published books. The stories from my career that mean the most to me, however, are those that include children, families and colleagues.

As a teacher, you will have a great deal of influence. You become a role model as soon as you assume the title of teacher. Students in your class may go home and proudly quote you at the end of the day. Parents will ask your advice, colleagues will be

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specialism• Critical understanding of subject-

specific or specialism pedagogy• Deep knowledge of most effective

pedagogical approaches• Design implementation and

evaluation of assessment • Knowledge of education trends,

debates and policy.

Professional practice• Productive classroom

environment with a culture oflearning

• Plans and delivers excellent lessons and sequences of lessons

• Ensures that every child learns and makes progress

• Develops a collegial approach.

Professional behaviours• Critically evaluates and reflects on

their own practice• Commits to relevant career-long

keen to work alongside you and ask for your input, and your first assembly with hundreds of eyes upon you as you speak for the first time or present something with your class will feel like a West End stage experience. Your first parents’ evening will be something that you are not yet ‘grown-up’ enough to lead and yet you will. Parents, colleagues and students will thank you for the difference you are making and you will begin to understand the reason why teaching is like no other profession.

This publication is intended to open your eyes to the rich depth of knowledge and experience that you will build over time and to inspire you to make the most of your membership of your professional body, the Chartered College of Teaching. This is an organisation that focuses on the core skills of pedagogy, curriculum, assessment and leadership. We are raising the status of teaching throughout society and will be with you every step of the way as you seek to plan and develop your career.

As a new teacher, one of the most important areas of your development will be to build and deepen your professional knowledge, practice and behaviours. The Chartered College will support you in extending your subject- or phase-specific expertise. You will want to know about research findings nationally and internationally that may impact on your effectiveness as a teacher and, most crucially (because we know you will be busy), we will offer you case studies

and inspirational examples of research-informed practice. We shall keep you up-to-date online, providing access to our groundbreaking termly journal Impact. Our website will signpost you to learned societies, subject associations and specialist network groups that will offer additional professional learning opportunities beyond your school or college setting. The day-to-day reality of working in classrooms can come as a surprise. You will have become adept at being a student, but changing role to that of teacher makes the familiar become strange. The range of skills that you will need to develop as a teacher can be challenging, but we are here to help you. In preparation for Chartered Teacher status, which you will be eligible to consider three years post-qualification, we have developed the

following set of professional standards:

Professional knowledge• Deep knowledge of subject area/

We are raising the status of teaching and will be with you every step of the way

OneRespect yourself

Two Trust others so that they can trust you

Three Work hard and model the behaviours

you wish to see in others

FourStay outwardly calm

FiveListen intently and never

break confidences

SixBe fair and consistent

Seven Show humility – ask for advice and

admit your mistakes

Eight Use humour but always with kindness

Nine Empathise with others

TenEnsure that you are well prepared

and organised

Here are my top ten recommended actions to achieve respect:

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professional learning• Exhibits collegiality by supporting and

learning from others• Demonstrates high standards of

professionalism• Engages critically with research and

evidence.

The role of teacher is incredibly diverse and complex. You can see from the standards above that expectations of you will be high and that the skills you will develop will continue to deepen throughout your career. As a teacher new to our profession, you will have a great deal to learn. Some skills may develop more quickly than others, but the reality is that part of the joy of being a teacher is that you will never ever be bored and there will always be so many new things to achieve. Some of the children and young people you meet will challenge you to the core but others will adore you. Some of your colleagues may make the job look incredibly easy or may be impressively able to command attention from their pupils with a click of their fingers. Others will cause youngsters to glow with pride simply because they receive a look of approval. The reality of building your presence within the classroom and wider school may seem daunting but, once you start to understand that the respect you command needs to be earned and there are key aspects of your behaviour that will help this, everything gets easier.

As a new entrant to the profession, you have so much to offer through your insights as a student and as someone able to view the work of the school objectively.

Explore the full range of member benefits on the Chartered College’s website: chartered.college

Hopefully you are also full of energy and are keen to innovate. You will soon begin to see that, whatever motivated you to become a teacher, the consequences of this decision mean that you begin to gain the opportunity to build hope and inspiration in others. You may have decided to teach because you have a powerful sense of wishing to help others succeed or because social justice is at the heart of your values. If your principle motivation is because you enjoy learning and wish to spend more time in your particular field of expertise, there will be a multitude of opportunities for you to engage in this.

The reality is that society needs great teachers and, as a professional body, the Chartered College of Teaching is here to support you in becoming an expert, inspirational colleague. You have the opportunity to become the person that others look back on later in life and inwardly thank for making the difference. We will work with you every step of the way throughout your career as you seek to be the best teacher you can be. There can be no doubt that teachers transform lives. Thank you for making the decision to become a teacher – you are part of the future for our children and young people.

Professor Dame Alison Peacock is Chief Executive of the Chartered College of

Teaching. Prior to joining the Chartered College, Dame Alison was Executive Head teacher of The Wroxham School in Hertfordshire. Her career to date has spanned primary, secondary and advisory roles. She is a member of the Royal Society’s Education Committee, a trustee of Teach First and a Visiting Professor of both the University of Hertfordshire and Glyndwr University.

Want to know more?Carol Dweck: Mindset - Updated Edition: Changing The Way You think To Fulfil Your Potential (2017) Robinson

Barak Rosenshine Principles of Instruction: Research-Based Strategies That All Teachers Should Know. American Educator Vol. 36, No. 1, Spring 2012, AFT, Strategy 7 Obtain high success rate.

David Yeager, Gregory Walton, and Geoffrey L. Cohen Addressing achievement gaps with psychological interventions Kappan February 2013.

Join us at chartered.college

Tom Sherrington and Sara Stafford

What’s the idea?The optimal success rate for

learning is high – possibly 80% –

but not 100%.

What does it mean?Successful learning stems from

early success and applying effort to

effective strategies. This requires

a degree of motivation, which is

supported by having a growth

mindset, as opposed to a fixed

mindset. This helps students to

experiment, take risks and regard

setbacks as learning opportunities.

Growth mindsets build around

eventually finding success through

effort, not constant failure or a false

confidence through under-challenge.

If success is too easy, students

tend to set lower goals or apply

less effort; if success is too hard to

achieve, they tend to give up.

The trick is to support students to

find the right balance. Rosenshine

suggests that an 80% success rate

in some contexts is about optimal.

The precise rate is not important –

the main idea is that consolidation

and success are essential elements

in effective learning.

What are the implications for teachers?If your aim is to secure an 80%

success rate, you need to adjust

your teaching to build confidence if

a student’s success rate is too low,

or increase the challenge if they are

getting everything right. If a student

is struggling, go back to getting

them to practise things they can

already do and then try to move on

by building their confidence – avoid

battering away with things they can’t

do. If a student is getting everything

right, it’s time to push them to

harder material before they get too

comfortable.

It’s important to remember that

simply urging students to work

hard, not give up or believe that

‘every mistake is progress’ doesn’t

help unless, at the same time,

you direct them towards more

effective strategies that will lead to

success. In the absence of effective

strategies, growth mindset mantras

are pointless. Worse, they can set

students back because, unless

success arrives, students may feel

even more strongly that trying is

futile.

T O P T I P / Analyse students’ performance to identify strategies they can work hard at to improve, rather than focusing on motivational phrases and growth mindset terminology. It’s about practice, not intentions.

Mindsets and Success

Evidence-Informed Pedagogy

DAISY CHRISTODOULOU DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION,

NO MORE MARKING, UK

Assessment: Why it matters

and what you need to know

A ssessment can sometimes feel like a tedious chore. Teaching should be about inspiring young minds, not driving them

through a series of stultifying tests. And when assessment is done badly, it can get in the way of good teaching, and even distort it. But done well, assessment can give pupils better information about their performance and teachers better information about whether their methods are working. Assessment is just a type of measurement, and we know from other walks of life that accurate measurement can be transformative: improvements in measurement brought about by microscopes and stethoscopes in the 19th century led to improvements in healthcare itself, while improvements in how we measure time led to improvements in navigation and ultimately helped to support the development of satellite navigation systems. Two vital concepts for understanding assessment are validity and reliability, and the rest of this article will give a brief introduction to both.

Perhaps the most important concept in assessment is validity. Daniel Koretz, professor of assessment at Harvard University, says that ‘validity is the single most important criterion for evaluating achievement testing’ (2008, p. 31). Dylan Wiliam agrees, saying that it is ‘the central concept in assessment’, and defines it as follows:

‘The really important idea here is that we are hardly ever interested in how well a student did on a particular assessment. What we are interested in is what we can

A second vital assessment concept is reliability, which is about the consistency of assessment G

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say, from that evidence, about what the student can do in other situations, at other times, in other contexts. Some conclusions are warranted on the basis of the results of the assessment, and others are not. The process of establishing which kinds of conclusions are warranted and which are not is called validation.’ (2014, p. 22)

The startling implication of this is that the actual result of an assessment doesn’t matter. What matters are the inferences that we can make from that result. Ultimately, sixth form heads and university admissions officers don’t really care that a pupil sat in a hall on a day in June and answered a particular set of questions correctly or incorrectly. What they are really interested in is what this performance on the day in June can tell them about what that pupil will be able to do later. If the pupil gets a certain mark or grade in the exam, does that mean that they can start studying an A-level in that subject three months later? Does it mean that they can start a university course in a related subject? Does it mean that they can start the course without any help, or will they need some kind of extra support? It is important to note here that validity refers not to a test or assessment itself, but to these inferences.

‘Tests themselves are not valid or invalid. Rather, it is an inference based on test scores that is valid or not. A given test might provide good support for one inference, but weak support for another. For example, a well-designed end of course exam in statistics might provide good support for inferences about students’ mastery of basic statistics, but

pupils can apply weights and measures in a real-world context, then we should embed the problem in a real-world context. But if we want to find out whether they have understood weights and measures, we might design a narrower question. In the classroom, the advantage of narrower questions is that they make it easier for us to make inferences about what we and the pupils should do next. Obviously, the advantage of broader questions is that they allow us to make inferences about what a pupil can do in real-world contexts. As we’ve seen, it isn’t that one individual question or assessment is more or less valid. Validity isn’t a property of a test, it’s a property of the inference. So both the narrow and the broad question can be used to make valid inferences, but they can also be used to make invalid ones. The problem often isn’t with the question or the assessment, but with the way in which we interpret and use the results.

A second vital assessment concept is reliability, which is about the consistency of assessment. For an analogy, think of a set of kitchen scales. If you weigh a kilogram bag of sugar on the scales 10 times, then you would expect that each time you would get a reading of one kilogram, or very close to one kilogram. For an educational assessment to be reliable, something similar needs to happen. If a pupil were to take different versions of the same test, they should get approximately the same mark. If they were to take the test at different times of day, they should get approximately the same mark. And if a pupil’s answer paper were submitted to 10 different markers, it should return

very weak support for conclusions about mastery of mathematics more broadly.’ (Koretz, 2008, p. 31)

Validity matters for classroom assessment too. When a pupil gets a question wrong in class, or is unable to provide a response, what inferences are you justified in making? Often, we infer from a wrong answer or no answer that a pupil hasn’t understood the concept being tested. But sometimes, that inference is not justified. Imagine that you’ve taught pupils a unit on weights and measures, and at the end of the unit you give them a word problem, asking them to use their knowledge of weights and measures in context. It is possible that they will struggle, not because they don’t understand weights and measures, but because they are weak readers, or because the story the problem is embedded in contains unfamiliar concepts.

In practice, this happens quite a lot with word problems in maths. So, it is really vital for us to ask ourselves all the time why we are assessing. What is the purpose of the questions we are asking? What are we trying to find out? What do we want to know? If we want to know how well our

Validity

When you design questions or look at the results of assessments, ask yourself: What do I want to find out about these pupils? What inferences do I want to be able to make? Is this question or assessment going to allow me to make this inference, or do I need something else?

Reliability

When marking assessments, ask yourself: Would other markers agree with my judgements? How can I be sure?

When looking at pupil progress, ask yourself: Has this pupil really progressed or regressed, or is the difference in their scores within the margin of error for this kind of assessment?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

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Check out Issue 1 of Impact, dedicated to assessment: impact.chartered.college/issue/issue-1-assessment

Koretz DM (2008) Measuring Up. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

Wiliam D (2014) Principled Assessment Design. London: SSAT.

REFERENCES

each time with approximately the same mark. In practice, neither kitchen scales nor exams are perfectly reliable. There is always an element of error. What matters is how big that error is and how it affects the inferences we want to make.

One factor that can have a big impact on reliability is agreement between markers. Closed questions are often very easy to mark because it’s clear what the right and wrong answers are. This is why maths teachers can often whizz through an exam paper ticking and crossing lots of questions, and still be sure that other markers would agree with them. English teachers, by contrast, often take much longer to pore over essays and mark schemes, and even then they can’t be certain that another marker would agree with them. There are ways around this: comparative judgement, for example, is a new method of assessment that provides better reliability for open tasks like essays.

Reliability is particularly important to consider when it comes to measuring progress. When we measure progress, we are often looking at the difference in performance between one test and the next. So we have two sets of measurement error to deal with: the error on the first test and the error on the second. A pupil who looks like they’ve made a big improvement from one test to the next might just have had a particularly bad day and a harsh marker on the first test, and a good day and a generous marker on the second. Understanding reliability helps us

to understand whether pupils really have made progress or not.

Daisy Christodoulou is the Director of Education at No More Marking, a provider

of online comparative judgement. Before that, she was Head of Assessment at Ark Schools, a network of 35 academy schools. She has taught English in two London comprehensives and has been part of government commissions on the future of teacher training and assessment. Daisy is the author of Seven Myths about Education and Making Good Progress? The Future of Assessment for Learning, as well as the influential blog: thewingtoheaven.wordpress.com. You can also find her on Twitter @daisychristo.

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Skilful questioning: The beating heart of good pedagogyJONATHAN DOHERTY SENIOR LECTURER, PRIMARY EDUCATION, LEEDS TRINITY UNIVERSITY, UK

Q uestions are an integral part of classroom life and essential to every teacher’s pedagogical repertoire. Questioning serves many purposes: it

engages students in the learning process and provides opportunities for students to ask questions themselves. It challenges levels of thinking and informs whether students are ready to progress with their learning. Questions that probe for deeper meaning foster critical thinking skills, as well as higher-order capabilities such as problem-solving. Paramore (2017) identifies an imbalance of questions often found in teaching, saying there is a dominance of teacher talk and an over-reliance on closed questions, providing only limited assessment for learning (AfL) information for a teacher. The issue then is how classroom questioning strategies can become more effective.

What the research saysThe value of classroom questioning is well documented. Research tends to focus on the relationship between teachers’

questions and student achievement. Here are some of the important messages:

Types of questions usedToo often, questions from teachers are organisational, such as ‘What do we always put at the top of our page to begin with?’ or instructional in nature, such as ‘Who can tell me what an adjective is?’. Wragg’s early study (1993) found teachers commonly use three types of question:1. Management-related, e.g. ‘Has everyone finished this piece of work now?’2. Information recall-related, e.g. ‘How many sides does a quadrilateral have?’3. Higher-order questions, e.g. ‘What evidence do you have for saying that?’

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questions were management-related, 37 per cent required information recall and only eight per cent challenged higher-order thinking.

Closed or convergent questions have low cognitive involvement and result in limited answers such as ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Open or divergent questions encourage greater expansion in answers and promote better classroom dialogue (Tofade et al., 2013). Closed questions are still important, however, and help assist in knowledge retrieval; but proceed with caution here, as the inevitable one-word student answers limit classroom dialogue. In order to maximise AfL in lessons, use different types of questions but limit the procedural and emphasise questions that centre on learning.

TimingStudent wait time (giving a brief period of time for students to think or reflect before answering) has a positive effect on learning. Brooks and Brooks (2001) found

thinking, argue researchers Degener and Berne (2016). But is it really that simple? Samson et al. (1987) found that higher-cognitive questioning strategies have a positive effect on learning, but this was not as large as has been previously suggested. Low-level questioning aimed at recall and fundamental-level comprehension is vital, but can plateau classroom learning. Higher-level questions can produce deeper learning and thinking, but a balance needs to be struck. Both have a place and a mixture of questions is recommended.

Effective approachesOver the years, classification taxonomies have been developed to guide teacher questioning. Perhaps the most well-known questioning framework is Bloom’s cognitive taxonomy (1956), later revised by Anderson and Krathwohl (2001). This framework covers six different types of question, which will all have uses in the classroom at different points and for different purposes:

LEVE L TRIGG E R WOR DS

Knowledge what, who, when, name, list, define, show, identify

Comprehension compare, distinguish, illustrate, tell, predict, explain

Application apply, select, solve, choose, consider, connect, plan

Analysis analyse, classify, relate, support, compare/contrast

Synthesis propose, formulate, draw together, invent

Evaluation judge, measure, defend, evaluate, decide, assess

TABLE 1 : TRIGGER WORDS LINKED TO BLOOM’S TAXONOMY

Knowledge‘Can you remember…?’Comprehension‘Tell me how this works…’Application‘Where else have you seen this pattern?’Analysis‘Explain to me what is happening here.’Synthesis‘What conclusions can you draw from this?’Evaluation‘Can you measure how effective this is?’

Trigger words are an effective way to formulate questions, as shown in Table 1.

Ideas to try in the classroom There are many questioning tactics to choose from to promote learning:1. No hands up. Anyone can answer, which avoids the same few students answering questions.2. In the hot seat. Students take it in turns to sit in the ‘hot seat’ and answer questions.3. Ask the expert. The teacher puts questions to a student on a given topic, extending this to encourage other students to ask questions.4. Ask the classroom. The teacher displays a number of written questions to stimulatethinking about pictures or objects in the classroom.5. Think-pair-share. This allows time to share ideas with a partner and respond to a posed question.6. Phone a friend. This is a useful strategy in which a student nominates another to answer the teacher’s question. The first student also provides an answer.

that a rapid-fire questioning approach fails to provide teachers with accurate information about student understanding. Typically, the time between asking a question and a student’s response is about one second. Cohen et al. (2004) recommend wait times of three to five seconds for closed questions and up to 15 seconds for open-ended questions.

Cognitive levelsComplex questions promote complex

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7. Eavesdropping. When groups areworking, the teacher circulates around the classroom and poses questions to groups based on what is heard in their discussions.8. Question box. An actual box has a series of questions in it devised by the teacher. Time is set aside at the end of a week to choose some to discuss as a class.9. Here is the answer, what is the question? This is deliberately back to front to encourage out-of-the-box thinking.10. More than me. The teacher asks a student a question and deliberately cuts short the answer to involve another student to build on this answer.

Shirley Clarke’s website (www.shirleyclarke-education.org) has a wide range of practical resources on proven questioning strategies.

Things to take into accountUsing a variety of question types can transform your classroom into a ‘questioning classroom’. A classroom ethos and organisation with enquiry at its heart is an effective one, where purposeful talk dominates and teachers ask fewer questions. Dialogic teaching (Alexander, 2017) uses skilled questions to extend thinking, where answers to teachers’ questions are built on rather than merely received.

Jonathan Doherty works at Leeds Trinity University where he was until recently Head of

Primary Education. He teaches on PGCE programmes specialising in professional studies. Jonathan is a Founding Fellow of the Chartered College.

Alexander RJ (2017) Towards Dialogic Teaching: Rethinking Classroom Talk. 5th ed. Cambridge: Dialogos.

Anderson LW, Krathwohl DR, Airasian PW, Cruikshank KA, et al. (2001) A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman.

Bloom BS (ed.) (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals, Handbook I: Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Company, Inc.

Brooks JG and Brooks MG (2001) Becoming a Constructive Teachers. In Costa AL (ed) Developing Minds: A Resource Book for Teaching Thinking. Alexandria, VA: Ass

Cohen L, Manion L, and Morrison K (2004) A Guide to Teaching Practice. London: Routledge.

Degener S and Berne J (2016) Complex questions promote complex thinking. The Reading Teacher 70 (5): 595–599. International Literacy Association.

Paramore J (2017) Questioning to stimulate dialogue. In: Paige R, Lambert S and Geeson R (eds) Building Skills for Effective Primary Teaching. London: Learning Matters.

Samson GK, Strykowski B, Weinstein T and Walberg HJ (1987) The effects of teacher questioning levels on student achievement. The Journal of Educational Research 80(5): 290–295.

Tofade TS, Elsner JL and Haines ST (2013) Best practice strategies for effective use of questions as a teaching tool. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 77(7) Article 155.

Wragg EC (1993) Questioning in the Primary Classroom. London: Routledge.

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Is my classroom a ‘questioning classroom’?

What types of questions and how many questions do I typically ask in my teaching?

Do some questions I ask target higher-order thinking and raise the cognitive stakes? Is this true of my teaching across all subjects?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Stephen Lockyer’s book Hands Up: Questions to Ignite Thinking in the Classroom is full of practical tips

DOMINIC SHIBLI SENIOR LECTURER IN SECONDARY SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE, UK

RACHEL WESTHEAD OF PSYCHOLOGY, THE NOBEL SCHOOL, HERTFORDSHIRE, UK

C ognitive Load Theory (CLT) has recently become ‘The Next Big Thing’ in teaching. Dylan Wiliam tweeted on 26 January 2017 that he had

‘come to the conclusion Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory is the single most important thing for teachers to know’. This is an emphatic statement and it is important to consider the implications. As teachers, there are huge demands on our time, so when considering a new strategy it is essential to evaluate the evidence.

CLT, first researched by Sweller in the late 1980s, is based around the idea that our working memory – the part of our mind that processes what we are currently doing – can only deal with a limited amount of information at one time. Reif’s (2010, p. 361) description of cognitive load is extremely useful: ‘The cognitive load involved in a task is the cognitive effort (or amount of information processing)

Germane cognitive load: the elements that aid information processing and contribute to the development of ‘schemas’.

CLT suggests that if the cognitive load exceeds our processing capacity, we will struggle to complete the activity successfully. In summarising CLT, De Jong (2010, p. 105) states that ‘Cognitive Load Theory asserts that learning is hampered when working memory capacity is exceeded in a learning task.’

Working memory should be seen as short-term and finite, whereas long-term memory can be seen as infinite. The aim should be to move knowledge to long-term memory because when a student is exposed to new material, they can draw on this previous knowledge and the cognitive load is reduced. However, if subject knowledge is incomplete, the student is unable to fall back on the long-term memory and the working memory becomes overloaded, leading to working memory failures. According to Gathercole and Alloway (2007), indications of working memory failures include:

incomplete recall failing to follow instructions place-keeping errors task abandonment.

Of course, there are many other reasons for these that are not related to CLT; however, if teachers understand how this theory applies to their classroom, they can plan their lessons in a way that takes into account cognitive load.

Reducing cognitive loadIntrinsic cognitive load can be reduced by breaking down the subject content, sequencing the delivery so that sub-tasks are taught individually before being explained together as a whole. The idea is to not overwhelm a student too early on in the introduction of new work. Extraneous cognitive load can be reduced by the way in which instructions are presented. We make sense of new material by referencing schemas, or mental models, of pre-existing knowledge. Lack of clarity in instruction puts too high a load on the working memory, and so too much time is spent problem-solving the instructions as opposed to new schema formation. For example, lessons that use PowerPoint, with excessive writing and the teacher talking at the same time, can inadvertently generate excessive cognitive load and lead to working memory failures. Chandler and Sweller (1991) write that ‘Cognitive Load Theory suggests that effective instructional material facilitates learning by directing cognitive resources towards activities that are relevant to learning.’

Introducing ideas within a topicVan Merriënboer et al. (2003) recommend using simple-to-complex sequencing to try to reduce cognitive load. They advise starting with worked-out examples (where a full solution is shown, which students then have to apply to a new question), then moving into completion assignments (where a partial solution is given and they

Cognitive Load Theory and its application in the classroom

required by a person to perform this task.’ There are a number of excellent resources freely available online that explain CLT (see Paas et al. (2003) for a useful overview), so we will only touch on the foundations of the theory here that will be useful for the rest of the article.

The theory identifies three different forms of cognitive load:

Intrinsic cognitive load: the inherent difficulty of the material itself, which can be influenced by prior knowledge of the topic.

Extraneous cognitive load: the load generated by the way the material is presented, and which does not aid learning.

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have to complete it themselves), and then moving to conventional tasks, where they are simply given the question. This acts as a form of scaffolding, which helps students to learn independently, without necessarily needing the help of their teacher for each stage.

Renkl and Atkinson (2003) further investigated this fading form of scaffolding. They suggested that moving through activities sequentially could reduce intrinsic load, as learners will have already mastered some of the knowledge they need to work out a solution in an earlier skill stage. Therefore, their research recommends beginning with a model (a complete example), gradually removing completed steps, which the learner will have to complete independently, and finally leaving just the to-be-solved problem.

These principles can be readily applied in the classroom by beginning with a model answer, then providing a writing frame/structure with a lot of information, followed by a writing frame/structure with less information, then finally a question that learners must complete independently without a writing frame. It is worth, though, being aware of the ‘expertise reversal effect’ suggested by Kalyuga et al. (2003), whereby if you continue to provide worked-out examples for experts, their usefulness is significantly reduced. Cognitive load theorists suggest this is because worked-out examples contain information that an expert could work out for themselves, making it redundant and therefore extraneous cognitive load rather than useful germane cognitive load.

Presenting information to minimise cognitive loadChandler and Sweller (1992) found evidence of the split-attention effect. This occurs when different sources of information discussing the same topic are separated by time or space, such as a diagram with a key that corresponds to separate text next to it. When information is presented in this way, it is left to the learner to attempt to amalgamate it, which generates extraneous cognitive load. Therefore, it is recommended that if one of the sources adds nothing new, it should be eliminated. However, if it is essential to include both sources, they should ideally be physically integrated (e.g. texts and diagrams combined). This way, extraneous cognitive load is reduced and working memory capacity can be used for intrinsic and germane cognitive load instead.

A word of cautionThere are, of course, issues with CLT. Reif (2010, p. 361) writes that if cognitive load is reduced too much, ‘the entire learning process would consist of too many small steps – and would thus become unduly fragmented and long’. There are also issues to do with the hypothesis being unfalsifiable. Doug Holton (2009) points out that it is difficult to measure cognitive load, and therefore difficult to generate evidence to prove the theory.

An important question, though, is whether it is useful in the classroom. Ashman (2017) has explained that an understanding of CLT changed his maths teaching, and offers the following four examples:

1. I don’t read out my slides – avoid simultaneous oral and text presentation. 2. Break it down further – pause for practice between individual problem types (this leads directly into

number 3).3. Example-problem pairs – give a worked example alongside an almost identical question.4. Stop after five minutes – advise students never to spend more

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REFERENCES

Ashman G (2017) Four ways cognitive load theory has changed my teaching. Available at: https://gregashman.wordpress.com/2017/05/13/four-ways-cognitive-load-theory-has-changed-my-teaching%EF%BB%BF/ (accessed 25 July 2017).

Chandler P and Sweller J (1991) Cognitive load theory and the format of instruction. Cognition and Instruction 8(4): 293–332.

Chandler P and Sweller J (1992) The split-attention effect as a factor in the design of instruction. British Journal of Educational Psychology 62: 233–246.

De Jong T (2010) Cognitive load theory, educational research, and instructional design: Some food for thought. Instructional Science 38(2): 105–134.

Gathercole S and Alloway T (2007) Understanding working memory. A classroom guide. Harcourt Assessment. Available at: https://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/WM-classroom-guide.pdf (accessed 11 July 2017).

Holton D (2009) Cognitive load theory: Failure? Available at: https://edtechdev.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/cognitive-load-theory-failure/ (accessed 25 July 2017).

Kalyuga S, Ayres P, Chandler P et al. (2003) The expertise reversal effect. Educational Psychologist 38(1): 23–31.

Paas F, Renkl A and Sweller J (2003) Cognitive load theory and instructional design: Recent developments. Educational Psychologist 38(1): 1–4.

Reif F (2010) Applying Cognitive Science to Education. Thinking and Learning in Scientific and Other Complex Domains. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Renkl A and Atkinson RK (2003) Structuring the transition from example study to problem solving in cognitive skill acquisition: A cognitive load perspective. Educational Psychologist 38(1): 15–22.

Sweller J (1988) Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science 12: 257–285.

Van Merriënboer JJG, Kirschner PA and Kester L (2003) Taking the load off a learner’s mind: Instructional design for complex learning. Educational Psychologist 38(1): 5–13.

Issue 2 of Impact explores the science of learning: impact.chartered.college/issue/issue-2-science-of-learning

Break down subject content when introducing new topics and pause regularly to check understanding.

Present instructions clearly without using too many sources of information at the same time.

Be wary of reducing cognitive load too much – the learning process should be manageable, but not overly fragmented.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

than five minutes trying to solve a problem or question. Go on to the next question then go back to it or ask for help.

So is CLT the single most important thing for a teacher to know? Perhaps not – it is a bold claim. But, if used correctly, it can improve teacher instruction, which is an important variable in the complex classroom environment.

Dominic Shibli is Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of

Hertfordshire. Prior to that he was Head of Science and SLE for the North Herts Teaching Alliance.

Rachel West has a BSc in psychology and has been teaching psychology for three years. She is interested in raising awareness of the ways in which psychological theory can be applied to teaching practice.

Want to know more?Ollielovell.com Interview with John Sweller

Barak Rosenshine Principles of Instruction: Research-Based Strategies That All Teachers Should Know. American Educator Vol. 36, No. 1, Spring 2012, AFT Strategy 2 Small Steps; 4 Provide models; 8 Provide scaffolds then remove them.

Peps McCrae, Memorable Teaching: Leveraging memory to build deep and durable learning in the classroom (2017) Createspace

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Tom Sherrington and Sara Stafford

What’s the idea?Learning is most effective when cognitive load is optimised.

What does it mean?The limit creates a form of bottleneck that restricts the flow of knowledge into our long-term memory. We need to break down new learning into small chunks that can be processed and linked to schemas piece by piece, and avoid extraneous material getting in the way.

When we try to solve problems, we can be impeded if part of our working memory is taken up trying to recall information. The more fluent and automatic our recall is, the more working memory space we have to use that information to solve problems. Fluency develops through retrieval practice.

What are the implications for teachers?Plan learning sequences carefully so that concepts flow well, and build steadily and cumulatively. Allow students to secure confidence through modelling and practising each step, rather than having to handle a whole sequence at once, for example, with multi-stage problems in maths. Worked examples are a powerful tool, well supported by cognitive load theory.

Also notice when students begin to develop some fluency so that you do not then

overload them with extraneous support; let them use the expertise they’ve developed. Try to guide practice, but not too much.

Strip out unnecessary layers of distraction – visual noise, actual noise, filler material – and avoid overload when you are presenting new learning, for example, by asking students to listen and read simultaneously. You can, however, increase their intake of information by using images and diagrams to support what you say. This is ‘dual coding’, which works well.

T O P T I P / Use lots of worked examples for any task or problem so students learn the method as well as how to apply it. Also use plenty of drills that support students’ automaticity when recalling information.

Optimising Cognitive Load

Evidence-Informed Pedagogy

MARGARET MULHOLLAND DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH,

SWISS COTTAGE SCHOOL, UK

SEND and the art of detection:

An evidence-based approach to

supporting learners

‘Good teachers use good techniques and routines, but techniques and routines alone do not produce good teaching. The real art of teaching lies in teachers’ professional judgement because in teaching there is seldom one right answer.’ David Tripp (1993, p. 1)

In teaching, as in every profession, evidence is key to exercising good judgement. It takes time to develop confidence in your own judgement but the more evidence you collect,

the better informed you are, and this is particularly important when supporting pupils with complex learning needs. These children learn differently.

– their pupils – we use the analogy of being a detective in the classroom.

Imagine a detective television show, but instead of an unsolved crime, the mystery is how young people learn. The show’s heroine is a classroom teacher, and each episode revolves around a child with hidden learning difficulties. Everyone expects the learner to learn like the majority of pupils in the class, but the child is experiencing difficulties.

As the story unfolds, the teacher collects evidence and analyses clues to unravel the mystery. She asks experts to help

Demystifying SEND and recognising that there are more than 57 varieties is a start

Some have diagnosed SEND or visible needs, but in so many instances their needs are not immediately apparent. According to the Nasen ‘Flying under the radar’ report (2016), many learners with SEND are adept at disguising their learning difficulties. This can be daunting for new teachers, but the great news is that you can do something about it. From your very first day in the classroom, you begin to get to know your learners better, and the key to becoming an exceptional teacher of children with SEND lies in gaining a real understanding of your students’ likes and dislikes, their family experience, their levels of confidence and their strengths.

At Swiss Cottage, we work with trainee teachers and NQTs to help them learn more about SEND. Working with the UCL Institute of Education, we carried out a two-year research study to build an evidence base for what we had observed, that a key barrier to supporting learners with SEND was the teacher’s mindset (Mintz et al., 2015). Demystifying SEND and recognising that there are more than 57 varieties is a start, and the confidence to say ‘I can teach everyone’ is a critical factor in success.

To help new teachers to stop worrying about what they might not know and to work with what they have in front of them

DO DON’T

Prioritise learning and access to the curriculum in

everything you do.

Interpret inclusion as merely keeping learners in

the classroom.

Recognise that mindset is important; start by believing

you can teach anyone.

See pupils with an education, health and care plan as

being cognitively ‘less able’; think of them as having to

navigate higher barriers to learning instead.

Identify strengths over weaknesses and prioritise

building on those strengths.

Rely on diagnosis alone; it is an important piece of the

jigsaw, but only one piece.

Ask for help from parents.

Watch blogger Nancy Gedge explain the graduated approach: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOFvWkbnOf0

REFERENCES

Mintz J, Mulholland M and Peacey N (2015) Towards a New Reality for Teacher Education for SEND – DfE SEND in ITT Project Report and Roadmap for SEND. London: UCL Institute of Education. Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/departments-centres/centres/centre-for-inclusive-education/send-in-initial-teacher-training-project/pdfs/send-in-itt-roadmap

Nasen (2016) Girls and Autism: Flying Under the Radar: A Quick Guide to Supporting Girls with Autism Spectrum Conditions. Staffordshire: Nasen. Available at: file:///C:/Users/Lee/Downloads/girls_and_autism_-_flying_under_the_radar.pdf (accessed 27 April 2018).

Timperley H, Kaser L and Halbert J (2014) A Framework for Transforming Learning in Schools: Innovation and the Spiral of Inquiry. Centre for Strategic Innovation.

Tripp D (1993) Critical Incidents in Teaching: Developing Professional Judgement. Abingdon: Routledge.

organisation. His parents have said that he can’t follow instructions very well and lacks confidence. How does Imogen set him up to succeed?

This evidence informs Imogen’s planning. She keeps her narrative short at the start of the lesson, punctuates it with visuals and puts key words on a ‘word wall’. She also gives out an information sheet with prompts (that everyone can use), so George can then work with his partner on sorting, sifting and analysing the information, rather than trying to recall and ‘hold on’ to it.

Imogen has tightened the cycle of assess, plan, do and review around George to help him access the curriculum. She has not overloaded him, or created additional ‘dumbed down’ resources; instead, she has provided him with everything he

needs to participate fully in the lesson alongside his peers, rather than just ‘try to keep up’.

The National Association for Special Educational Needs (nasen) has a really helpful, quick guide on the graduated approach on its website: www.nasen.org.uk/resources/resources.sen-support-and-the-graduated-approach-inclusive-practice.html.

‘Noticing’ is a top tool for a detective and informs good teaching

TimeWe encourage new teachers to take time to ‘watch’ the learners, not the teachers. Just 15 minutes watching a learner in class or during break or lunch can increase your understanding of them, such as what or who they choose to spend time with, what they avoid, how they excel when left to their own devices and so on.

ToolsSometimes, it can be hard to know what to look for when watching. That’s when it is useful to draw on tools or scaffolds that support inquiry around the learner, such as the engagement profile. For more resources including a helpful diagram on engagement profiles visit: thesendhub.co.uk/engagement-profile-definitions/.

Any tool that supports you to look

her understand more about the central character, her learner. She talks to the family. Through detective work, she realises that she is developing the expertise to solve the mystery of how this child learns.

I like this analogy because we know it works. Where the teacher strives to understand the learning profiles of pupils with SEND, progress follows.

Using the graduated approach All pupils learn differently. Knowing the recognised diagnosis is an important step in understanding the challenges for learners with SEND. Yet it is only one clue amongst many, and a useful tool to gather further evidence is the graduated approach.

Let’s look at an example. Imogen is a new teacher. George in her class has poor working memory, and she is curious about how to help him learn. The SENCo has described his poor executive function, which affects his planning and

Knowing the recognised diagnosis is an important step, yet it is only one clue amongst many

harder will inform your planning and improve your teaching. Being informed can help you on your journey to becoming more expert in SEND. Learning barriers, like the cases of TV detectives, are often complex. Use your expertise about each child; trust your professional judgement and moral purpose. Behaving like a detective – looking for clues and recognising that there are few quick fixes – is what makes you a SEND expert foryour learners.

Margaret Mulholland is Director of Development and Research at Swiss

Cottage School, London. Swiss Cottage is both a Special School and a Teaching School. Margaret is the SEND Representative on the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) Council and also sits on the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET) Executive Committee supporting Initial Teacher Training.

Tom Sherrington and Sara Stafford

What’s the idea?A simple questioning technique designed to maximise the impact of questioning.

What does it mean? Dylan Wiliam, a leading expert in formative assessment, criticises the typical questioning model, Initiation-Response-Evaluation, where a teacher repeatedly asks a question, gets an answer and then responds themselves.

Pose-Pause-Pounce-Bounce is a questioning sequence which is much more suited to elicit deep thinking. The teacher poses a question; pauses to allow suitable thinking time; pounces on one student for an initial answer; and finally bounces the answer to another student who builds on the response. If I-R-E is the ‘table tennis’ of questioning,think of P-P-P-B as ‘basketballquestioning’. This improve participation,engagement and understanding.

What are the implications for teachers?This strategy is simple but there are a few important elements to be aware of:

• Ensure that you pausefor long enough to allowsufficient thinking time.This will help studentst toimprove their answers andincrease their confidence

• Use bounce to formativelyassess progress. You canalso use it to encouragestudents to build on eachother’s points

• Try preparing both thepounce and the bouncestages of questioning.Anticipate the responseyou’ll get and think abouthow you could use this tochallenge another student.

Use this strategy regularly as part of your classroom routine so students expect it and are prepared to answer. Consider combining this with Think-Pair-Share and other questioning strategies.

Want to know more? Wiliam, D. (2009) Content then Process. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=029fSeOaGio&feature=youtu.be Quigley, A. (2012) Questioning – Top Ten Strategies. Available at: https://www.theconfidentteacher.com/2012/11/questioning-top-ten-strategies/ Morrison McGill, R. (2011) Pose, Pause, Pounce, Bounce. Available at: https://www.teachertoolkit.co.uk/2011/11/04/pose-pause-bounce-pounce/

T O P T I P / When deploying Pose-Pause-Pounce-Bounce, Wiliam suggests enforcing a ‘no-hands-up’ rule (except to ask questions).

Pause-Pose-Pounce-Bounce

Questioning techniques

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PAUL DIX EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PIVOTAL EDUCATION, UK

Behaviour management in

the classroom

This is it. Your class, without anyone sitting at the back. Your class, without having to justify every move. Your class. Utterly brilliant and

utterly terrifying at the same time. There is, however, a fundamental problem with taking on a new class and being able to immediately manage their behaviour. You don’t know them and, perhaps more importantly, they don’t know you.

This situation is not unique to the recently qualified teacher. I vividly recall moving schools six years in and being run ragged, again. The connection you make with children that builds to positive relationships takes time. In a school with a great culture and climate for behaviour, this could be three months to turn the

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corner. In a school in chaos, it might take you a year to build the respect that some assume teachers are automatically given. Fortunately, you will be surrounded by some true experts who you can learn from.

Mrs Pearce walks into a class of marauding children and gently, almost imperceptibly, raises one eyebrow and instantly returns them to diligent, disciplined scholars. You hear a small gasp from the back of your group of observing teachers. This is behaviour management gold. Desperate to learn from the master, you demand that Mrs Pearce teaches you the simple eyebrow raise. ‘How high does

it have to go, how long should I leave it raised, what about the lowering of it?’ Yet behind that simple facial cue is years of grinding out routines, holding fast to tight boundaries and cajoling with the most unruly children. Behind the raised brow is the certainty of tough love blended with daily kindness. In the subtlety of a well-established cue, there is hard work. There is no magic eyebrow.

The daily drip feed of your kindness and

positive recognition is essential in building relationships but it is not enough. You will need to establish and maintain relentless routines. You will need to create, shift and monitor boundaries constantly. The real work is done here and cannot be delayed. What may surprise you is that the children are unlikely to be that tricky straight away. You may experience a honeymoon period, where the newness of the new class, new teacher and perhaps new school makes it seem that your sleepless anticipation was unwarranted. Teaching behaviour routines may appear to be too restrictive, unnecessary even. You may even catch yourself thinking, ‘This is easy’. Be warned. The honeymoon period will never last and if you haven’t taught the routines you need – for learning, for packing away, for silence, for listening to the teacher, for leaving the room, for being ready to learn – then chaos will come creeping in. Don’t let the only drill you teach in the first week be the fire drill. Teach clear routines from the outset. Work hard on this. Even experienced teachers have to. Simplify routines into three steps. Teach them, model them, recognise every child who follows them. Behaviour management has a significant impact on learning outcomes (Marzano, 2003).

Start creating emotional currency with pupils today, even though you won’t be able to spend it for a while. Meet and greet at the door with eye contact, high expectations, maybe even a handshake. Make your feedback on work personal, thoughtful and kind. Have your lunch in the dining hall, walk the playground when you are not on duty and sign up for

that trip that everyone advises you not to. Build emotional currency by making your children feel valued, important and like they belong. Use a single positive note each week to recognise children who have gone over and above for five days in a row. Resist the urge to put ‘naughty names on the board’ and instead use a recognition board to highlight children who are behaving ‘over and above’ your minimum standards. Be interested in them, be generous with your time and show them how much you love your work.

There will be times when your authority is challenged, where children behave badly towards others and, depending on where you are working, times when you will be shocked by seemingly senseless disruption. There will be children who don’t want to simply hand over their trust to you, children who need more time to adjust their boundaries, children who make you question your very existence. There may be children who are carrying the invisible shrapnel of trauma or the seemingly self-destructive effects of neglect. Everyone will tell you that it isn’t personal, but it will feel personal. How you respond is utterly pivotal — and this starts with the behaviour of adults — teachers, classroom assistants and school leaders (Dix, 2017).

The challenge is to be able to respond to even the worst behaviour without showing anger, frustration or revealing the full range of your vocal power. Your ability to control your own emotion sits at the heart of excellent practice. Make a pledge not to shout, to resist the pointy finger or looming presence. Resist the screw face, the rolling eyes or permanent frown. Remove yourself

Highlight children who are behaving ‘over and above’ your minimum standards

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Dix P (2017) When the Adults Change, Everything Changes: Seismic shifts in school behaviour. Bancyfelin, Carmarthen, Wales: Independent Thinking Press.

Marzano R, Marzano J and Pickering D (2003) Classroom Management That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Every Teacher. Alexandria: ASCD.

REFERENCES

and your emotions from the line of fire. The response to poor behaviour must be a rational one and not one that is emotional. Emotional responses end up with empty threats and escalating power plays: ‘Do it!’, ‘I ain’t doing it, bruf’, ‘DO IT!’, ‘Nah!’, ‘DO IT OR I WILL… (*invent ridiculously large punishment and insert here)’. Rational responses that do not rely on the emotional state of the adult protect everyone. Strip out every scintilla of negative emotion in your response to children from day one. Use a script, a mantra, a catchphrase to make sure that your response to the angriest situations is utterly safe and predictable.

Start every behaviour intervention with ‘I’ve noticed’, practise it and make it your default: ‘I’ve noticed that you are late/have crawled under the table/swigged a can of Monster’. There is no judgement in ‘I’ve noticed’ and children are unlikely to try to defend themselves. Start with an accusation and it is a short hop to an argument and a small step to a confrontation. Your planned response to poor behaviour makes all the difference.

As relationships grow and your skills develop, you will need consequences less and less. For now, when you need them, use the smallest sanction that you can. The consistency and certainty of ‘two minutes after class’ is more effective and more rational than ‘you are in detention

Learn names as fast as you can. Trying to manage behaviour starting with ‘Oi, red jumper!’ is never going to end well.

Search out the expertise in your school – the teachers and teaching assistants whom the children really listen to because they want to, not simply because they are forced to by hierarchy.

Simplify everything. Focus on just three rules, three ways to positively recognise, three catchphrases you always use.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The Pivotal Podcast on www.PivotalEducation.com offers free advice and interviews on behaviour

next Thursday’ or even ‘YOU WILL NEVER SEE ANOTHER OUTDOOR PLAYTIME, EVER’. It is not the weight of punishment that will produce the best behaviour but the certainty that there are consequences for crossing the boundaries. Certainty. Students with better relationships are more prosocial, less aggressive and less oppositional (Obsuth et al., 2017).

The more certainty you create, the faster you will be able to stop using sanctions. Eventually, you will not need any sanctions at all. You will imperceptibly raise one eyebrow and a passing student teacher will gasp in awe.

Paul Dix is a speaker, author and Executive Director of Pivotal Education. As a former

teacher, Paul has advised the Department for Education on Teacher Standards and done extensive work with the Ministry of Justice on

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Engaging with research and

debunking myths

CHRISTIAN BOKHOVE ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR,

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON, UK

E ngaging with educational research, alongside gaining practical experience in the classroom, is fundamental to developing the knowledge

and understanding you need to teach effectively. Critiquing research evidence

will continue to be important throughout your career, helping you to make informed judgements about ‘what works’ in education and to challenge the kinds of myths around teaching and learning that can take hold when research evidence is not considered. This article aims to give an overview of some aspects that come into play when talking about the creation of myths in education, with particular emphasis on neuromyths – common misconceptions about the brain. I will describe some of the mechanisms behind the formation of myths, briefly look at the role of social media and will finish by giving some pointers that might help prevent myths taking hold in education.

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The nature of mythsIn the last five years, numerous studies have looked at the prevalence of myths in education. For example, Howard-Jones (2014) looked at the level of agreement with several ‘neuromythical’ statements in different countries, and concluded that, even with very different cultures, there are similarly high levels of belief in neuromyths, such as that we mostly only use 10% of our brain, and that differences in left/right brain dominance can help explain individual differences amongst learners. The article also usefully reflects on possible ‘seeds of confusion’ that might spark myths. The most likely scenario seems to be that myths originate from ‘uninformed interpretations of genuine scientific facts’ (Howard-Jones, 2014, p. 817).

Howard-Jones (2014) goes on to attempt to explain the perpetuation of neuromyths. Firstly, he flags up cultural conditions – for example, differences in terminology and language creating a gap between neuroscience and education. A second reason is that counter-evidence might be difficult to access. Relevant evidence might appear in specialist journals and, together with the complexity of the topic, this might mask any critical signals. A third element might be that claims are simply untestable – for example, because they assume knowledge about cognitive processes, or even the brain, that are unknown to us (yet). Finally, an important factor that we can’t rule out is bias. When we evaluate and scrutinise evidence, a range of emotional, developmental and cultural biases interact with emerging myths.

What about social media?The double face of the digital revolution is demonstrated in the recent work by Robinson-Garcia et al. (2017) in which the authors sought, in the field of dentistry, to assess the extent to which tweeting about scientific papers signified engagement with, attention to or consumption of scientific literature.

They argue that ‘simplistic and naïve use of social media data risks damaging the scientific enterprise, misleading both authors and consumers of scientific literature’ (p. 16). I want to flag up some questions that years of using social media have sparked in me.

Let’s, for example, scrutinise the advent of economic papers with advanced statistical methods being cited in the education blogosphere. These papers often appear as pre-prints and deal with a range of important issues. However, like any piece of research, there are many features that – if not studied more deeply – can lead to myths. Issues that come to mind include whether the paper has already appeared in a peer-reviewed journal. If not, this means that no ‘peers’ have yet studied the article in detail; in general, peer-reviewed articles tend to be more rigorous and robust (although peer review is no guarantee!).

Another thing to look at might be whether it is clear how the authors operationalised complex variables in their statistical models. Sometimes these issues boil down to the way in which they are measured. When we talk about measurement, many people envisage some sort of ‘thermometer’ that can easily gauge the concept. This often is not the case for

The good news, though, is that there are signs that training can decrease beliefs in neuromyths. In a recent study, Macdonald et al. (2017) compared the prevalence of neuromyths in the USA between three groups of participants: educators, participants exposed to neuroscientific knowledge, and the general public. The general public endorsed the greatest number of myths, with educators endorsing fewer and the high neuroscience exposure group even fewer. Unfortunately, it was still around 50%. The article also suggested, however, that in order to not invoke new myths, care must be taken in how myths are dispelled. The learning styles neuromyth is described as a particular challenge to the field, as it ‘seems to be supporting effective instructional practice, but for the wrong reasons’ (MacDonald et al., 2017, p. 12). It is suggested that dispelling that particular myth might inadvertently discourage diversity in instructional approaches.

In some cases, simply saying that something is a myth is fine; in other cases, it is best to combine this with more information, to prevent new myths taking hold. A meta-analysis by Chan et al. (2017) investigated the factors underlying effective messages to counter attitudes and beliefs based on misinformation, concluding that it seems helpful to not spend too much time talking about the misconception, but instead focusing on presenting counterarguments or even asking the audience to generate counterarguments. Perhaps a simple question such as ‘what is the best argument for not believing the following statement or study?’ could be rather revealing.

The most likely scenario seems to be that myths originate from ‘uninformed interpretations of genuine scientific facts’ G

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Chan MS, Jones CR, Jamieson KH et al. (2017) Debunking: A meta-analysis of the psychological efficacy of messages countering misinformation. Psychological Science 28(11): 1531–1546.

Howard-Jones P (2014) Neuroscience and education: Myths and messages. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 15(12): 817–824.

Macdonald K, Germine L, Anderson A et al. (2017) Dispelling the myth: Training in education or neuroscience decreases but does not eliminate beliefs in neuromyths. Frontiers in Psychology. Epub ahead of print.

Robinson-Garcia N, Costas R, Isett K, Melkers J, Hicks D. (2017) The unbearable emptiness of tweeting – About journal articles. PLOS one 12(8).

REFERENCES

Watch Christian talk more about neuromyths: youtu.be/XjevH4Lc0HI

highly complex constructs; both Growth Mindset and Cognitive Load Theory primarily use self-report as a form of measurement. Of course, this need not be a problem; both concepts can still be very useful, but I would argue that a critically engaged teacher should be aware of these things.

A challenge can also lie in the summaries of underlying data. One can almost have a day job in unpicking research articles, the prior literature involved, the methodology, the data analysis and subsequent conclusions. We often have to rely on summaries and accounts from others and this can sometimes be subject to ‘Chinese Whispers’. When you dive in deeper, you see all sorts of surprising things, ranging from atypical definitions of concepts to selectively using data. Analyses of, for example, large-scale datasets like PISA and TIMSS certainly need to go further than the key tables reported in the media.

Keep in mind, too, that science is constantly revised and updated, and this means that one ideally looks at a whole body of literature. One article that contradicts previous literature does not nullify it, nor should it be disregarded. This, in my view, also means that we should not easily dismiss some older research, purportedly because ‘cognitive science’ has shown that they were ‘wrong’. I would assert that, for many ideas over the decades, ‘cognitive science’ has provided empirical backing for some ideas and no empirical backing for other ideas. Blanket dismissal would be inappropriate; approach the ideas as they are and evaluate them as such, and not through broad, sweeping generalisations.

Underneath all of this, it is useful to be aware of a very human tendency to appreciate novel and original findings in the research literature, sometimes leading to ‘publication bias’. Remember that what ends up in publication often is the remarkable, not the unremarkable.

ConclusionIn this article, I have tried to provide an overview of the complexities involved in studying myths and misconceptions. Of course, there is much more to say, but the key takeaways summarise the most

important recommendations.Perhaps the key message for all is that we

accept that no research finding will provide a ‘silver bullet’. Now go forth and fact-check my article!

Christian Bokhove was a secondary maths and computer science teacher in the

Netherlands for 14 years and now is Associate Professor at the University of Southampton. He specialises in research methods, mathematics education and international comparisons like PISA and TIMSS.

Try to follow up sources as much as possible. Of course, this is very time-consuming. Sometimes other people summarise research for you, but even then it is wise to remain critical. Perhaps refraining from too firm a position, until you feel you have reviewed a fair amount of material, from different sources, might be a good strategy. Sorry – this is just hard work, and I understand that practitioners do not always have this time.

Be mindful of over-simplifications. I completely understand that providing a multitude of pages to describe the complexities of an educational phenomenon is not helpful for practitioners. However, the fact that some over-complicate things does not mean that ‘simple is best’ either. Follow the facts and, if one simplifies, be aware of the limitations or what it leaves out.

Be cautious about developing policy based on new claims. Some people have suggested that we wait at least 15 years before an initial (scientific) idea should ever end up as policy, allowing us to fully study the pros and cons. Although I think this time period is too lengthy, at a minimum research findings should be accompanied by a clear scope and disclaimer with regard to claims.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

We often have to rely on summaries and accounts from others and this can sometimes be subject to ‘Chinese Whispers’

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Tom Sherrington and Sara Stafford

What’s the idea?Mini whiteboards are an instant formative assessment tool that allow teachers to engage with the thinking, understanding and progress of all students at once.

What does it mean? Coupled with erasable pens, mini whiteboards are simple and effective learning tools. They allow students to record and share their thinking, and teachers to instantly check pupils’ understanding.

They are most commonly given to all students. You ask them to record their responses to a shared question and on cue (‘1-2-3 show me!’), students hold up their whiteboard to show their answer to the teacher and the class.

Mini whiteboards allow for a range of response formats, ensure participation from all students and encourage students to forego neatness in favour of risk-taking. Teachers can also use the responses to determine what learning should come next.

What are the implications for teachers?Act immediately: you can use the information gathered to give instant feedback and ask follow-up questions. You can ask students to justify correct answers, for example asking, ‘How did you get there?’ and, ‘What was your thought process?’.

You can also challenge incorrect answers, for example by asking, ‘Can you explain where you went wrong?’ This is a great source of reciprocal feedback. Look out for common misconceptions and unexpected

answers which can prove useful when consolidating learning.

You could combine mini whiteboards with ‘Think-Pair-Share’ so that students work with partners to write an answer before sharing their joint response with the teacher or class. Allow students to use the whiteboard to admit that they don’t know or are stuck; this, too, is vital feedback.

To make this strategy effective, school leaders should make mini whiteboards easily accessible – ideally each teacher/classroom should have their own set so that they can be used spontaneously and embedded into everyday

Want to know more?Sherrington, T. (2012) The Number 1 Bit of Classroom Kit: Mini Whiteboards. Available at: https://teacherhead.com/2012/08/28/the-number-1-bit-of-classroom-kit-mini-whiteboards/

T O P T I P / Ensure that whiteboards and markers are part of the normal classroom routine and lesson equipment; students should see them as an essential tool, not a novelty or a bore.

Mini whiteboards

Questioning techniques

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Assessment for learning (AfL): Also known as formative assessment, the process of gathering evidence through assessment to inform and support next steps for a students’ teaching and learning

Attainment grouping: the practice of grouping students according to measures of attainment

Baseline assessment: a measurement of a child’s performance conducted within a few weeks of them starting school in Reception, with a focus on literacy and numeracy

Classroom climate: the social, emotional, intellectual and physical environment of a classroom

Cognitive Load Theory: the idea that working memory is limited and that overloading it can have a negative impact on learning, and that instruction should be designed to take this into account

Cognitive science: the study of the human mind, such as the processes of thought, memory, attention and perception

Comparative judgement: an approach to marking where teachers compare two students’ responses to a task and choose which is better, then repeat this process with other pieces of work

DfE: the Department for Education – a ministerial department responsible for children’s services and education in England

Dialogic teaching: the effective use of talk for teaching and learning, involving ongoing talk between teachers and students

Direct instruction: A method of instruction in which concepts or skills are taught using explicit teaching techniques, such as demonstrations or lectures, and are practised until fully understood by each student

Discovery learning: allowing learners to discover key ideas or concepts for themselves

Diversity: the recognition of individual differences in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, physical ability, religious beliefs and other differences

Growth mindset: the theory that students’ beliefs about their intelligence can affect motivation and achievement; those with a growth mindset believe that their intelligence can be developed

Inclusion: an approach where a school aims to ensure that all children are educated together, with support for those who require it to access the full curriculum and contribute to and participate in all aspects of school life

Interleaving: an approach to learning where, rather than focusing on one piece of content at a time (known as blocking) then moving on to the next, students alternate between related concepts

ITT: initial teacher training, the period of academic study and time in school leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)

Learning styles: theories relating to the idea that individuals learn best in different ways and teaching should be tailored to their learning styles – these have been widely debunked by research

Glossary of terms Left/right brain dominance: the theory that each side of the brain controls different types of thinking – an example of a neuromyth

Mark schemes: criteria used for assessing pieces of work in relation to particular grades

MAT: multi-academy trust – a group of schools working in collaboration, governed by a single set of members and directors

Meta-analysis: a quantitative study design used to systematically assess the results of multiple studies in order to draw conclusions about that body of research

Neuromyths: common misconceptions about the brain

Ofsted: The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills – a non-ministerial department responsible for inspecting and regulating services that care for children and young people, and services providing education and skills

Overlearning: engaging in repeated practice of concepts beyond the pointwhere a learner has already understood the key idea

Peer-reviewed journal: a journal in which research papers are evaluated by experts in the field

PISA: the Programme for International Student Assessment is a worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), intended to evaluate educational systems by measuring 15-year-old school students’ knowledge and skills

Point of mastery: the point at which a learner has a high level of understanding of a given concept or domain

Pupil Premium: additional funding for publicly funded schools in England to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils of all abilities

Reliability: the degree to which the outcome of a particular assessment would be consistent – for example, if it were marked by a different marker or taken again

Scaffolding: progressively introducing students to new concepts to support their learning

SENCO: a special educational needs coordinator – a teacher who is responsible for special educational needs at school

Spacing effect: the benefit to learning of including gaps

between study and revision sessions

TAs: teaching assistants – adults that assist teachers in the classroom

TeachMeet: an organised but informal event to bring teachers together and share practice

Threshold concepts: a key concept which, once understood, can transform the student’s perception of the area of study, and without which the student’s learning cannot progress

TIMSS: Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study – a series of international assessments of the mathematics and science knowledge of students around the world

Transfer: the processes of applying learning to new situations

Validity: the degree to which a particular assessment measures what it is intended to measure, and the extent to which proposed interpretations and uses are justified

VLEs: virtual learning environments – online systems that allow teachers to share resources with students via the internet