This week’s report from the Teacher Development Trust could and should have significance for all who support teacher and school leader development. Among its far-reaching conclusions, it proposes that teacher training is a distinct discipline that demands its own language.
Put simply, the report considers what it means to teach teachers. A cross-sector working group has deliberated over the course of this year on the question of whether there is something unique about teaching teachers which should impact on how training and development is designed and delivered.
Many of us working in the field instinctively recognise this uniqueness. Consciously or unconsciously, we weave our ideas about how to deliver effective teacher and leader training into our practice.
But the report makes a compelling case that we must systemically be more thoughtful and intentional about it. Being more explicit in this regard would not only change our individual approaches but, over time, build a stronger evidence base, iron out discrepancies in practice and inevitably improve outcomes.
Take NPQs, for example. This a suite of qualifications backed by clear evidence, every bit of which is signed off by the Education Endowment Foundation to ensure high fidelity to the best research. However, this has sometimes led to a focus on content at the expense of a coherent theory of change regarding how teachers learn.
While we should celebrate the increased focus on evidence in designing professional development over the past decade and more, that progress has not been matched by deeper consideration about how to convey that content most effectively to teachers and leaders.
We have an opportunity to elevate professional development practice
Teachers’ and leaders’ own experiences, identities and contexts shape their engagement with learning. That means we need to give as much (if not more) thought to the methods we use to teach the teachers undertaking NPQs as to the content of these programmes.
At its worst, focusing too much on content at the expense of the broader context of teacher learning can lead to unengaging approaches that are hard to apply in an impactful way.
CPD delivered this way can lack contextual relevance and does not empower teachers and leaders to improve the quality of their thinking and decision-making to solve their own complex problems of practice.
The report reflects the diverse nature of the working group, with members from academia, teacher training, sector organisations and those working on CPD in schools and trusts.
Between them, they propose three elements that are necessary to ensure effective professional development for teachers:
- Practices: the content of the offer, based on evidence and implementation.
- Conditions: the culture of the school or trust and the support on offer to turn theory into practice.
- Identity: ensuring the development responds to what teachers and leaders are motivated to understand.
More than that, the report proposes a new term to capture the craft of teaching teachers: didagogy.
Perhaps most importantly, the report is deliberate in avoiding a reductive view of what constitutes effective didagogy.
Just as we argue over the latest evidence on pedagogy, so too should we create space for new research and different ideas on didagogical approaches. In this way, we will be continuously learning and turning words/ideas into meaningful practice.
There is no claim here that we are creating something new other than a term that seeks to codify the existing-but-disparate work of so many people. We hope it’s a term around which all involved in the professional development of teachers can coalesce.
With it, we have an opportunity to elevate professional development practice and to ensure all who shape it – from practictioners to policymakers – recognise the importance of how teachers are trained as much as what they are taught.
Whether you are an academic involved in research or leading initial teacher training, a course designer for a CPD provider or a school or trust lead developing and planning a CPD programme, there is now a name for what we do: didagogy.
Take that word. Make it your own. And wear it as a badge of honour.
Read the full report, Didagogy: The discipline of teaching teachers here
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