Written by Andy Griffith 

Stephen Cox

Andy Griffith

The course Outstanding Teaching started with a telephone call from the Director of Osiris, Stephen Cox, “do you want to create this course with me?”.  The original title for the course was High Performance Teaching although the course has changed a lot since then.  Co-writing this course with Stephen gave me a real boost. 

Having left full-time teaching in 2001 I was ready to collaborate on a new project.  Both myself and Stephen share a passion for independent learning but sometimes independent learners as we both are, fall into the trap of working too much independently (if that makes any sense).  Our own collaboration involved us exploring the characteristics of what makes an outstanding teacher.  A few years later we were to also incorporate some of the work of James Nottingham, who himself was highly influenced by the extensive piece of international research on teacher expertise (and the difference that it makes to student learning) carried out by Professor John Hattie from the University of Auckland. 

When devising such as project we had to start to explore teacher characteristics that could be applied to teachers from different educational sectors, from different key stages and teachers working in different socio-environmental settings.  The course would address areas of Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes.  We decided that it all three of these are important, although I must declare an interest by saying that I am in the “Attitude” camp. 

Many teachers are sick and tired of ‘professional development’.  They feel that ‘training’ is superficial because even when training is useful, even inspiring, they are not given the necessary time and support to develop the skill that they want to. 

For a deeper model of professional development to emerge we will need to change our focus.  In the Outstanding Teaching projects we have moved away from outcomes to instead focus on process.  We recognise that the skills that a teacher possesses and demonstrates are many, varied and often unrecognised by the teachers themselves:  The skills of containing through planning and delivery; the skills of entertaining through communication and empathy; the skills of explaining through facilitation and questioning. 

Teachers have a remarkable arsenal of skills to meet the varying needs of students, colleagues (friends and foes) throughout a fast moving day. 

The training process, it is hoped, will become a key part of a teacher’s self-review process.  Each module can be used as a way of checking ‘where you are’ in that skill area and then by using some of the suggestions and tips the teacher can then practise at getting better at that skill. 

In the introduction of the course pack we wanted to get some consensus from course participants of what we mean by teaching expertise.  At the beginning of the course we talk about the ‘constants of teaching’ – i.e. things that are always true no matter who or what you are teaching.  With reference to being “outstanding” we maintain that the very best teachers show great expertise (often unconsciously so) in the five following areas on a daily basis:  

1. The best teachers are often labelled ‘Outstanding’ because they are superb at establishing rapport with different personality types.  Teachers can have well over one hundred interactions with children/young people in any given day.  Some of the personalities that we interact with are like aliens (they’re from another planet).  It is these pupils where you see outstanding people skills being demonstrated by the best teachers.  They are able to use these skills to CONTAIN, ENTERTAIN and ENLIGHTEN.  They seem to realise when some personalities need a firm hand whereas others require extra encouragement. These outstanding skills of getting rapport with learners can be learned (just as they have learned these skills already).  It is much more likely to be learned in my experience if the teacher demonstrates a flexible attitude to other people.  By this I mean that there is a realisation that rapport skills often come meeting other people half way, listening, noticing and not judging. 
2. The best teachers work beyond teaching their subject and impart skills and attitudes that help learners to be active and independent.  Many teachers malign Generation Y students as the mollycoddled generation, the generation that have it easy, the generation that want it all on a plate.  And then they proceed to continue spoon-feeding, coaching kids through exams, not realising that their behaviour is actually making things worse!  I don’t honestly know whether we are working with “the most dependent learners in history” as Emotional Intelligence author Daniel Goleman claims but what I do know is that when a teacher imparts a skill or attitude beyond the subject or the topic being covered they become a memorable teacher.  The teacher helps the learner to face future challenges ahead.
3. The best teachers grow mindsets.  Professor Carol Dweck’s work on mindsets is fascinating stuff.  She contrasts teachers who hold a fixed mindset (that their abilities and the abilities of those that they teach are relatively fixed) with those who don’t subscribe to the view that their own abilities or the abilities of those that they are teaching are carved in stone.  Instead they hold a belief that students can improve their knowledge, skills and attitudes (sometimes at a pace that can really surprise themselves and others who condemn them as no-hopers).  
4. The best teachers are creative or carnivore-omnivores (to borrow a description from the writer Anna Craft).  This means that they don’t just take – e.g. use the textbook, use the worksheet, use another teacher’s work.  Instead they adapt things and put some of their own passion and creativity into their lessons.
5. The best teachers tend to reflect and improve their craft.  The simple cycle of action, reflection and re-application needs to be applied in order to have a higher skill level.  Skills such as communicating effectively, noticing what is going on in the classroom and being successful at leading a variety of learning experiences all help to develop the craft or art of teaching. Consequently the Outstanding Teaching course is about developing these qualities even further and learning how the very best teachers can hone their skills in these areas still further as well as teaching other aspiring ‘outstanding teachers’ these key, learnable, skills and attitudes.