This is the other ‘7 billion dollar question’ in the current times. Teaching does lead to learning if teaching is focused on ‘learning to know’:
- teachers ensure the narrowest range between the top and bottom performance in class, never mind the average of the class (though higher the average the ideal the teaching)
- teachers minimise top-down and bottom-up communication
- teachers maximise and monitor lateral communication among the students
- teachers ensure focus on concepts, i.e., organise the curriculum into micro-, specific and clearly measurable moldues of knowledge for all transactions – teaching, assessment, reporting, remedial etc.
- teachers are quite focused on quality of relationship with each student, love children, enjoy being with them
- teachers are focused on ‘who’ (students) rather than ‘what’ (content); teachers see themselves are far more than content transactors
- teachers make their entire planning and resources open to the students well before the scheduled transaction for pre-class preparation/pre-reading/pre-class assessment; make reading skills a class-wide expertise to be acquired
- teachers critically integrate the educational environment and involvement of parents
- teachers pay adequate attention to prior knowledge, immediate post-class feedback and remedial
- teachers pay specific attention to creating challenging context for talented students
IT must be added that the purpose the above listing is to throw light on the specific tasks teachers must perform to be effective in ensuring student learning! The list is not ordered and not the definitive list.
To sum, the purpose of schooling is to teach a student to learn. What the student picks up is techniques of learning and ways of demonstrating that learning. All the content at the school stage can be licked in a few years ‘at night school’ as an adult. It is the practice of ‘learning to learn’ which takes time and hence justifies the twelve years of investment. Which also means, the teacher has to be tested on how well she can teach ‘to learn’ and a student has to be tested on how well she / he can learn – perhaps a new topic / subject.
Thus, what must be taught by a teacher is – learning to learn!
