A Knowledge Base for the Teaching Profession: What Would It Look Like and How Can We Get One?

TLDR

Archived research knowledge has had little effect on improving classroom practice despite ongoing research efforts. The study seeks to build a growing, improving knowledge base for teaching by starting with practitioners’ knowledge and to assess whether U.S. researchers and teachers can create a sustainable system. The authors outline key features of practitioners’ knowledge and identify the requirements for converting it into a professional teaching knowledge base.

Abstract

To improve classroom teaching in a steady, lasting way, the teaching profession needs a knowledge base that grows and improves. In spite of the continuing efforts of researchers, archived research knowledge has had little effect on the improvement of practice in the average classroom. We explore the possibility of building a useful knowledge base for teaching by beginning with practitioners’ knowledge. We outline key features of this knowledge and identify the requirements for this knowledge to be transformed into a professional knowledge base for teaching. By reviewing educational history, we offer an incomplete explanation for why the United States has no countrywide system that meets these requirements. We conclude by wondering if U.S. researchers and teachers can make different choices in the future to enable a system for building and sustaining a professional knowledge base for teaching.