De-skilling Teaching
How data-driven, “teacher-proof” curriculums are driving teachers out of the profession
Here’s an excerpt from a new television show by Renegade Inc that’s airing on the RT network in the UK and US as well as online. You can see the whole programme via the link below or at the bottom of this page.
Transcript
What we’re seeing is a de-skilling of the existing profession, as opposed to an up skilling, and those who joined the profession for the right reasons — maybe they’ve done a PGCE, or they’ve done a teaching degree, we still have a few teachers that do that these days, where they learn about learning theories and so forth — they’re finding themselves in a situation where the actual practice, the actual craft, of personalisation, which only a human being can do … I know the word personalised learning has been hijacked by the computer industry, but there’s absolutely no way that a computer can do that. Because teaching is about contextualisation of knowledge and, again, knowing the person you’re working with. But the result of it is that teachers, like children, are also being measured to death. So we find teachers who are working in practice who are spending more time evidencing their practice than actually practicing . So the teachers become production line workers. This means, of course, that rather than retaining teachers, the good teachers get to the point where they can’t take it anymore, and then, unfortunately, leave the profession.
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