This has led to frustration among some teachers, who see the system as rigid to the point where many teachers are feeling disempowered.
Feedback based on informal primary research from some teachers includes:
“Teachers and students are reliant on PowerPoint instruction. The lessons are very scripted and there’s not much room for differentiation.”
“I see the boredom and loss of focus with students when teachers are teaching to a script with PowerPoint slides. This can go on for between 20 minutes to an hour at a time!! That’s a long time for kids to maintain focus, especially in kindergarten.”
“If students are always being told exactly what to do, step by step, without room for creativity, curiosity or independent thinking, they will become passive learners”
“Behaviour issues are on the rise with increasing hyperactivity, growing lack of focus and self-regulation.
“A student put up his had to contribute a story to what the teacher was presenting and was told there was no time to hear his feedback, as they have to get through the slides”
A second approach
Other education jurisdictions are implementing an increased focus on explicit teaching with guidance and sample lesson plans to support teachers rather than prescription.. Informal feedback from a group of these teachers is rather different:
“I am not focusing my energy on developing the resources, but rather I am spending more time understanding the curriculum and tailoring the pre-designed resources to meet the needs of the learners in my classroom”
“Teachers are now more focussed on using lesson objectives and success criteria. The direct, teacher- led instruction with clear explanations of concepts leads to guided practice and independent work.”
So, should we be using ‘explicit teaching’? in our classrooms?
What’s required from our schooling system?
Let’s return to some of the core skills required for graduates from a schooling system. Feedback from a wide range of employers in a recent report from the World Economic Forum identified 5 key core skills they are seeking from employees.
- Analytical thinking
- Resilience, flexibility and agility
- Leadership and social influence
- Creative thinking
- Motivation and self-awareness
Will an increased focus on teacher centred, scripted teaching, have a positive impact the development of these critical skills? It seems unlikely.
However, there is a good argument for having ‘explicit teaching’ as part of the teaching tool kit, if it is delivered in the right way, and uses the kind of advice found on the ACER website properly.