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Dear Teacher Educator,
Welcome to the second edition of Perspectives in Practice. In this edition, you'll
Play Never Have I Ever
Reflect on how biases and heuristics could shape our beliefs about teacher learners
Understand teacher learners through the lens of andragogy and the teaching practice
Never Have I Ever...... said or thought these in the course of my work.
Check out the following thoughts and statements. Have they ever occurred to you as a school leader / teacher educator?
If you have, its okay!
We all have biases, and sometimes we feel guilty about them. But 'biases' are just a feature of how the human brain works.
Our brain has to deal with oceans worth of information coming at it from the senses. If it had to logically reason through every piece of information all the time, we couldn't summon the energy to get out of bed in the morning.
So, how does our brain cope? It uses shortcuts called heuristics. Heuristics are like quick-thinking rules your brain makes to save time and energy.
Do you stop to analyze whether it’s venomous or harmless? Nope!
Your brain's rule is: "Snake = Danger!" This subconscious response just saved your life!
But Here’s the Problem...
Sometimes your brain’s heuristics aren’t accurate. Sometimes jumping to conclusions without all the facts doesn't help us.
Heuristics accumulate in our brain over time. And as reality changes, some of these heuristics become a misrepresentation of reality, a bias.
To keep getting to a more accurate picture of our current reality, we need to periodically test & challenge our heuristics, and weed out those that have turned into biases.
Truth is, we want to support teachers and we do not want to let these biases get in the way. Here are 2 lenses that we offer that could help us serve teacher learners better by understanding them and the nature of their work.
Teachers are adults.
Adults learn differently from children.
Andragogy refers to the method and practice of teaching adults, focusing on self-directed learning, experience-based approaches, and practical application. The concept was popularised by Malcolm Knowles and has largely shaped the way we approach adult-learning today. Here are some key principles of andragogy, interpreted within the domain of teacher learning.
Despite certain limitations, these principles are widely used in adult education and serve as a foundation for learning and development professionals around the world. In subsequent newsletters, we'll explore more of what these look like in action.
Teachers are self directed
Teachers are self directed
Adults prefer to take responsibility for their own learning rather than being told what to do. Teachers are more likely to be invested in their learning process when they're able to choose what, how and when they learn.
Teachers come with experience
Teachers come with experience
Teachers have a reservoir of lived experience that influence their learning. This experience needs to be respected as adults reference this while taking in new knowledge and skills.
Teachers care about relevance
Teachers care about relevance
"Why? What's in this for me? "
Teachers are selective about what they spend their energy on. Their readiness to learn depends on whether the learning will have an impact on their life, work or personal growth.
Teachers are problem oriented
Teachers are problem oriented
Adults prefer learning that helps solve real-life problems rather than just knowledge for its own sake. Teachers are likely to focus on learning a concept or skill that they're sure to need or apply right away.
Teacher motivation matters
Teacher motivation matters
Motivation drives learning and are unique to each learner. While extrinsic rewards may fuel motivation, adults are also influenced by internal goals (e.g., career advancement, personal fulfilment, self esteem etc).
The teaching profession places complex, continuous and competing demands on teachers' energy and cognitive resources.
Walter Doyle, an educational researcher described classrooms as complex; characterising them as
Multidimensional; catering to students with different needs and behaviours, often occurring simultaneously
Unpredictable; forcing teachers to adapt to unexpected situations, such as disruptions or changing lesson needs
Public; where instructional & management decisions are always on display and subject to scrutiny
Having history and momentum. Classrooms develop patterns and routines over time, shaping student behavior and learning expectations.
Teachers constantly face competing demands on their energy and cognitive resources. Their work requires them to respond immediately and intuitively. This leaves a teacher with little time for reflection, and even less time to think about new learning let alone apply it.
This is not to suggest that learning interventions are futile and wasted on teachers; or that teachers are to be blamed or excused. But it would help with teacher learning, if teacher educators were considerate, empathetic and practical with their support; at the very least, in terms of their language and thought. This earns trust.
What would a curious and grounded teacher educator look like? How might those thoughts and statements read then?
You have come to the end of this edition!
Thank you for engaging!
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