Teaching, progress and evidence-based knowledge
Teachers are, in general, I think, optimistic people. They believe in what they do and that it will have a positive impact on the life of young people. In the most general terms, they seek to enhance the knowledge, skills and understanding of their students, who in turn develop a framework for understanding their world, learning something about how to make their way through it, perhaps change it for the better and enjoy it.
As we teach, there is an underlying assumption for most of us that human experience can be improved, resulting in what we call ‘progress’. When we teach, we also depend on the discoveries and knowledge of the writers, artists, scholars, engineers and scientists who have gone before us – the people who have developed the insights and understandings that we work with every day of our professional lives. Like Newton himself, who was only too aware of what he owed to earlier generations, both ancient and modern, we all stand ‘on the shoulders of giants’.
For most of my teaching career, I have not questioned this idea of progress. The rock upon which it stands – the methodologies and processes of mathematics, art, science and the persuasive power of language well and accurately used – seemed unquestionable.
No longer. The substance of what most of us hold to be true is under attack. Unsupported and self-centred assertion, if expressed loudly and frequently enough and then amplified on social media, creates doubt and hesitation. All the more reason then, for us to think deeply about what we do and ensure that our students are equipped to deal with these threats and see them for what they are. This month in ITM, Susanna Ahonen makes a plea for us to pay attention to the development of media literacy as a skill second only to reading itself. She is absolutely right to do so. We should be following her lead in more ways than one, making certain that the young people for whom we are responsible understand the evidential nature of the knowledge and the skills upon which they will depend in the future. While this is a serious responsibility, it can also be great fun when exercised with a light touch, as the contributors to this month’s edition continue to demonstrate, whether they are writing about literary lunches for secondary school students in Delhi or the magic of teaching the early years in Hangzhou. And this now matters more than ever.
Andy Homden
Editor, International Teacher Magazine
ahomden@consiliumeducation.com
FEATURE IMAGE: by Unsplash+In collaboration with Getty Images