Tag Archives: Geary

The ‘artificiality’ of teaching

Posted on 03/01/2016 by evidenceintopractice

In my last post, I argued that the universality and the spontaneous development of teaching leads to the conclusion that teaching is a natural ability. The post generated some really interesting responses, but one from @informed_edu made a direct attempt … Continue reading →

Posted in Education policy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

What skills are worth teaching?

Posted on 09/06/2014 by evidenceintopractice

The argument regarding the relative importance of teaching generic or transferable skills and teaching the inflexible knowledge which underlies more flexible thinking, is one that divides many teachers and, in my opinion, typically generates more heat than light. Part of … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology for teachers | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Knowledge vs Understanding

Posted on 01/05/2014 by evidenceintopractice

Subject knowledge has enjoyed a recent rehabilitation within education. Whilst there are groups ideologically opposed to teaching content (either on the grounds that it ‘stifles creativity’ or amounts to ‘indoctrination’), the simple fact that children and schools are typically assessed … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy of education | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Beyond ideology: Can education move beyond the traditionalist vs progressive ‘debate’?

Posted on 23/04/2014 by evidenceintopractice

Education is now in crisis (and in one sense that’s a good thing) Thomas Kuhn proposed that science periodically evolved through dramatic paradigm shifts. All scientific theories are open to refinement / revolution but the process isn’t continuous. When anomalies … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy of education | Tagged , , | 3 Comments