Forum at Uni of Chester: Do teachers 'know best' how to teach 'their' pupils?

This is the hub of the site and the place to post queries, start discussions and join in the conversation!
Post Reply
User avatar
Debbie_Hepplewhite
Posts: 2498
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 4:42 pm

Forum at Uni of Chester: Do teachers 'know best' how to teach 'their' pupils?

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

The original article posted via the forum for the University of Chester lays bear how teachers, and others, think that it is the teachers' right to teach what they want and how they want on the basis that they 'know' their children better than anyone else.

This seems to be a common attitude amongst teachers and it is deeply worrying. It reflects a total lack of knowledge and understanding about the research on reading instruction and the conclusions of the research and the importance of these conclusions, and the importance of national objective assessment.

When you consider how fundamentally important foundational literacy is to the life-chances of each and every learner, and that we have large-scale percentages of learners labelled as 'dyslexic' particularly in English-speaking countries, how can it be that such ideas about teacher-autonomy continue to take precedence over the body of research on reading instruction and the need for national snapshots of how children are faring in their schools?

Laura's original article was posted in December 2014, but there is still interest in this article and I have found it personally refreshing that a new poster, Jacqui MB, describes her experiences and understanding of the need for systematic synthetic phonics. Jacqui lays bear some of Michael Rosen's nonsense regarding reading!
Phonics is not the only way to teach children to read, argues LAURA VAUGHAN
According to Davis (2014: 5), the Government is ‘no longer telling teachers how to teach’ yet synthetic phonics is still being enforced in schools everywhere. Let teachers think for themselves. Who knows the children better than the teachers? Why should the government get to decide what is best for their education? Many parents have also left public comments on articles such as those on the BBC website expressing their concern. So here’s my question: If the teachers don’t agree with it, and the parents don’t agree with it, then isn’t it time for a change?
https://languagedebates.wordpress.com/2 ... mment-1030

By the way, one of my posts in response to Laura's view appears twice - please disregard the duplicate posting and carry on to read further readers' comments! ;)
Nancy Young
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2015 10:15 pm

Re: Forum at Uni of Chester: Do teachers 'know best' how to teach 'their' pupils?

Post by Nancy Young »

When I hear people talk about teacher autonomy as it relates to the teaching of reading, my response is, "In granting teachers autonomy, are we putting the future autonomy of our learners at risk?"

Given that research has shown 40% of learners will fail to read without explicit instruction (which includes the systematic teaching of sound to symbol correspondence - phonics), and that reading failure affects adult career success, social/emotional health and participation as a citizen, the issue of autonomy needs to be looked at from the perspective of learners too.
Post Reply