State of the art – teacher effectiveness and professional learning

TLDR

Decades of educational effectiveness research show that classroom-level factors predict pupil outcomes, yet most studies focus on basic English and maths skills, underscoring the need to integrate evolving learning theories. This review synthesises evidence on effective teaching and teacher development, examines key findings from 35 years of research and new learning approaches, and argues that state‑of‑the‑art insights are rarely applied to design teachers’ learning environments. The authors structure the review into three sections: first summarising 35 years of effective teaching research, second exploring new learning and metacognitive instruction, and third developing an argument about the underuse of state‑of‑the‑art knowledge in teacher learning environments. The authors conclude that the main barrier to improving teacher effectiveness is the failure to apply state‑of‑the‑art insights on learning processes and conditions when designing teachers’ learning environments.

Abstract

AbstractOne of the key findings from decades of educational effectiveness research is the importance of the classroom level as a predictor of pupil outcomes. In this review, we therefore look at synthesising our best evidence from research on effective teaching, and its corollary, teacher development. In the 1st section, we will look at key findings from 35 years of research on effective teaching using a process-product research that has led to the identification of a range of behaviours which are positively related to student achievement. A key limitation of this research, however, is its focus on basic skills in English and maths. Therefore, in the 2nd section we review research on “new learning” and teaching for metacognitive and thinking skills. While in these 2 sections we have discussed key findings from research on teaching, including emerging knowledge on metacognition, it is important to continue to take into account ongoing developments in theories of learning. In the 3rd section of this paper, we develop the argument that a major contributing factor to this situation is that “state-of-the-art” understandings about processes and conditions that promote student learning are typically not used to construct appropriate learning environments for their teachers.Keywords: teachingteacher effectivenesslearningcognitive scienceteacher education