Excellence in teaching is what most
educators pursue. In order to become a better teacher, training is needed so as
to deepen our knowledge and refine our skills, and to be considered professionals
of education. A professional can account for their decisions theoretically and
improve their practices after reflection. According to Timperley (2008), there
are four important issues regarding our role as teachers which need to be
accounted for:
a)
What
our students learn is directly related to what and how we teach,
b)
Teachers
decisions are crucial in this complex activity of teaching,
c)
Teachers
are responsible for setting the appropriate conditions for students to learn,
conditions in which we engage our students’ background knowledge to be
associated to the new knowledge in organized frameworks which can be retrieved
and used.
d)
Teachers
and students context shape reality, their understandings of it and their
experiences.
For me, the most relevant issue that teachers
need to consider is related to the integration of knowledge and skills, i.e.:
the link among particular teaching activities, students’ responses to those
activities and what they actually learn. Teachers need to have acquired
knowledge of the curriculum, how to teach it and how to assess it. Besides, the
ability to identify what exactly students know and can do is a prerequisite for
teaching that is responsive to students’ needs. When teachers are aware of how
the decisions they take in the lessons may affect their students’ performance
either positively or negatively, they can start improving those practices in
order to guarantee an effective learning environment. Teachers should take
greater responsibility for the learning of all students. Additionally, teachers
need a variety of ways to assess the students’ outcomes and progress, ways that
include but go beyond standardised testing such as interviews, analysis of
students’ written work, classroom observations, among others. Thus, a theoretical
understanding of teaching is the basis for making ongoing principled decisions about
practice.
However, the aforementioned issues can be
reached if certain conditions are assured. Teachers need to have the
possibility of belonging to professional learning communities with other
colleagues in order to acquire new knowledge and skills to become more
effective educators. External experts (within the school or from outside) may offer
new possibilities to challenge the assumptions and the social norms in which
the group operates. Yet, there is a need to promote sustainability in education
in order to develop skills, knowledge and
values that promote behaviour in support of professional
teaching. Schools need to have an organizational infrastructure which supports
professional self-regulatory inquiry skills and teacher learning. Furthermore, all learning activities require trust
and challenge. Change involves risk taking, and before teachers take risks they
need to trust that their efforts will be supported, not belittled.
Timperley H. (2008). Teacher professional learning and development. ImprImerie Nouvelle
Gonnet. France: Belley.
