Journal article

Most of the findings of research into teaching and learning seem fairly self-evident. Good teachers know about them almost intuitively and may be disappointed that educational researchers have not discovered new and exciting strategies for them to use. However, at a time when the role of the teacher in the educational process is undergoing substantial change, it is useful to pause once again and ask: what makes good teaching?

Most teachers are probably just as curious about what goes on in other classrooms as they are about what goes on in their own. But generally we do not get much opportunity to observe our colleagues at work teaching lessons. Do other teachers have similar teaching approaches and problems and do they have ideas that might be picked up and learnt from? Take class discussions for example: discussions involving teacher and pupils form a very important part of the teaching- learning process.
 

Concern about disruptive behaviour has increased dramatically in the last decade. Three reasons are often put forward for this.
(i) Disruptive behaviour in schools is the inevitable manifestation of increased violence or at least of increased reporting of violence, in the world as a whole.
(ii) At a time when teachers feel that their achievements are being questioned and their autonomy threatened, it is understandable that they in turn should publicise the problems which prevent them attaining the high standards to which they, and society, aspire.

Youth unemployment is not a new problem but its extent, and the way it will not go away, are new. Economic downturns affect young people disproportionately: they are unemployed, or the last hired and the first laid off, and when working they are given the least rewarding jobs, financially and meaningfully. In addition, advanced technology, plus union preference for retraining older workers, has made the youngest workers the most expendable.

Teachers have always needed valid tests to assess students' proficiency so that the most appropriate classroom instruction can be used. This is particularly true in the current educational climate with its growing emphasis on accountability, since teachers need good testing techniques to show that their work is worthwhile.

One does not win brownie points anymore for saying that New Zealand is undergoing profound change. New technology could bring about a global village culture, or a return to rural living, or a new approach in schooling, or a centrally controlled society.