Another blog post which has been several months appearing from the drafts, and was prompted by a few conversations today.
There's been many a blog post written over the last few years on teacher well being, and the growing range of tasks which are supposed to be done by others, but which teachers take on, or are expected to complete.
I was interested to read a piece in the TES on the work done by Lawrence Stenhouse some years ago, and as with other people like Ted Wragg, people who are new to the profession often forget that a lot of what they perceive as new challenges have been going round for years. Stenhouse was clear that teachers shouldn't aim for perfection as it's very unlikely to happen.
"the idea of education is sufficiently ambitious to preclude the possibility of perfect performances. No teaching is good enough: therefore good teaching is teaching towards the improvement of teaching. The implication is that all teaching ought to be seen as experimental" (Stenhouse, 1977)
It's another reminder that as we move into the busy time of the academic year, teachers need to look after their well-being.
Stenhouse is also referenced by Alex Standish in this interesting piece.
Stenhouse was a Professor of Education at UEA, where I used to visit annually to speak to the PGCE cohort for many years, so there is a local connection too.
Stenhouse also had plenty to say on the nature of the curriculum, including the phrase that there can be 'no curriculum development without teacher development', which is an area I've certainly been involved with over the years.
How do we find time as teachers to keep up to date with curriculum thinking alongside the suggested changes we need to be making to our pedagogy...
There's been many a blog post written over the last few years on teacher well being, and the growing range of tasks which are supposed to be done by others, but which teachers take on, or are expected to complete.
I was interested to read a piece in the TES on the work done by Lawrence Stenhouse some years ago, and as with other people like Ted Wragg, people who are new to the profession often forget that a lot of what they perceive as new challenges have been going round for years. Stenhouse was clear that teachers shouldn't aim for perfection as it's very unlikely to happen.
"the idea of education is sufficiently ambitious to preclude the possibility of perfect performances. No teaching is good enough: therefore good teaching is teaching towards the improvement of teaching. The implication is that all teaching ought to be seen as experimental" (Stenhouse, 1977)
It's another reminder that as we move into the busy time of the academic year, teachers need to look after their well-being.
Stenhouse is also referenced by Alex Standish in this interesting piece.
Stenhouse was a Professor of Education at UEA, where I used to visit annually to speak to the PGCE cohort for many years, so there is a local connection too.
Stenhouse also had plenty to say on the nature of the curriculum, including the phrase that there can be 'no curriculum development without teacher development', which is an area I've certainly been involved with over the years.
How do we find time as teachers to keep up to date with curriculum thinking alongside the suggested changes we need to be making to our pedagogy...
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