At a time of increasing pressure for teachers to become more professional and more technically competent, this book examines in a critical fashion whether teachers should be considered experts. Written in straightforward and accessible prose, Welker examines the concept of expertise through the ideas of notable educational thinkers in the twentieth century--beginning with E.P. Cubberley and George S. Counts and concluding with a chapter on critical theory and the ideas of Maxine Greene and Henry Giroux. Other chapters examine such thinkers as Willard Waller, Daniel Lortie, Alan Tom, Philip Jackson, and Ivan Illich. Each chapter establishes an historical and ideological context and evaluates how the social character of the expert matches the responsibilities. While the idea of the teacher assuming the role of educational expert is gaining increased credibility in the current reform movement, this book shows that the concept fails to describe the senses of moral and social competence required of the teacher. Also the notion of the expert teacher might stand in the way of teachers forming the type of public partnerships necessary for them to complete their tasks adequately.

Throughout the world, the challenges facing modern education are formidable. Although some of the challenges facing are unique to each educational jurisdiction, there are also some important commonalities that transcend jurisdictions. Irrespective of the nature of these challenges, there is an increasing focus on teacher quality – what it is and how to enhance it. To date, research tells us what expert teachers should be doing in their classrooms. This approach is based on the idea that teaching expertise is nothing more than the accumulation of specific skills and knowledge, and as teachers acquire these skills and knowledge most of our educational challenges can be overcome. This book questions this idea by asking 37 teachers who are already recognised as experts to share their classroom secrets. Importantly, the teachers come from diverse cultural contexts, including Australia, Finland, Hong Kong and the US, and they share: how they became expert teachers; their expectations for every student when they enter their classroom; how they view and encourage teacher–parent partnerships; and what skills and knowledge they consider important for expert teaching. To our knowledge, this is the first book that compares and contrasts the approaches taken by expert teachers from four very different cultural groups. The book helps to demystify the work of the modern teacher – what they do and the challenges they face. If you aspire to be an expert teacher, this book provides a clear model of how to approach the process. If you are an education researcher searching for ‘impact’, this book outlines what are some of the emerging hot topics in education research. If you are involved in teacher education then this book offers some new approaches to initial teacher education. If your focus is on educational policy, this book helps make sense of the links between the classrooms of expert teachers, education research and academic achievement. Finally, this book will help parents understand how best to partner with their child’s teacher in order to enhance their learning.

The superior performance of East Asian students in recent international studies of mathematics achievement has attracted the attention of educators and policy makers worldwide. Xinrong Yang focuses on exploring how an expert mathematics teacher is conceptualized by mathematics educators in China and the characteristics that expert mathematics teachers share. The author adopts a sociocultural theory and a prototypical view of conception in this study of teacher expertise and shows that some of the roles expected to be played by expert mathematics teachers in China, such as being at the same time a researcher, a mentor, an expert in examination, and an exemplary model, are quite different from the roles expected of an expert teacher in Western cultures. In addition, some characteristics of expert mathematics teachers the author identifies are different from those reported in previous studies. Examples include the expert mathematics teachers ́ contemporary-constructivist oriented beliefs about mathematics and its learning and teaching, and their ability to teach with flexibility, balance, and coherence.​

Expert Teachers is a compelling book that explores issues surrounding the concept of the expert teacher from a truly international perspective. Expert teaching, a global phenomenon that exerts significant influence on education policy and practice, has developed rapidly since the 1980s and significantly impacted many teachers’ careers. As a result, this book poses pertinent and important questions scrutinising the topic as well as considering possibilities for future models. The book reviews and expands upon issues such as: What does it mean to be an ‘expert’ teacher? What have been the most successful models of expert teaching? Is rewarding a minority of the ‘best’ teachers a sustainable method of raising standards? What is the role of expertise in furthering the aim to make teaching a ‘top tier’ career? What are the dominant and emerging models of expert teaching globally? What ways can we expect models of expert teaching to develop in the future? With case studies of specific systems, and analyses of the issues and context therein, this book offers an exceptional insight into the effects of expert teaching models – their effects on the teacher as an individual as well as standards and education policy internationally. The book argues that the current focus on pursuing misleading high-stakes test scores is underserving the teaching profession and that instead the focus for expert teaching should be grounded in issues of social justice and community wellbeing. This book will appeal greatly to current teachers, those currently undertaking teacher training and students or academics carrying out research in the field of teacher education, professional development and expertise.

This is an essential text for anyone interested in teaching primary school children, including teacher educators, classteachers and headteachers. What constitutes outstanding or good teaching of children in the primary years is rarely discussed other than in terms of measurable outcomes in literacy and numeracy. This book presents a different view of the distinctive learning needs of 5-11 year-olds and examines the knowledge, skills and attributes required to meet these, especially as a classteacher. Informed by research, but linking this with practical examples, it examines how teachers with a high level of expertise with young children actually think, act and interact. While highlighting the features of such expertise, the challenges of developing it are not overlooked, and the text provides practical pointers on how to do this in both initial teacher education and continuing professional development. This title is part of the successful Critical Guides for Teacher Educators series edited by Ian Menter.

The Expert Teacher of English is for all passionate teachers – both novice and expert - who aspire to become outstanding professionals. It considers what we mean by ‘expert’ and ‘expertise’, explores concepts that are vital to understanding what expertise in teaching is ‘for’, and discusses the characteristics of excellent teaching. As increasing attention is being paid to the concept of the professional who can model excellent teaching and mentor and develop others, it provides a critical analysis of The Advanced Skills Teacher and the Excellent Teacher, as well as the Chartered Teacher in Scotland and the ‘highly accomplished teacher’ in the US. Ideas and issues considered include: The nature of English as a school subject What it means to be part of a profession Curriculum design, lesson planning and assessment Opportunities for technologies in the English classroom Working collaboratively with colleagues, mentoring and observation Continuing professional development and research Drawing on the views, ideas and experiences of a group of skilful teachers, The Expert Teacher of English aims to stimulate personal and professional development, help you reflect on the concept of expertise, and support you as you develop as a highly accomplished teacher.

Developing the Expertise of Primary and Elementary Classroom Teachers challenges many current assumptions about primary education. Tony Eaude uses international research and the experiences of teachers at different career phases to indicate that primary classroom teachers with a high level of expertise adopt a wide repertoire of strategies and a flexible, reciprocal and intuitive approach to planning, assessment and teaching. He explores why a deep understanding of how young children learn, the ability to create an inclusive environment, relationships of care and trust and teachers who are attuned to children are essential. Eaude argues that to develop qualities such as confidence and resilience, to exercise informed intuition and to create a robust professional identity, many constraints on manifesting expertise, some of which are emotional, some more structural, must be overcome. Drawing on the research on professional learning, Eaude shows that these abilities and qualities are learned over time, through regular, sustained, contextualised opportunities, relating theory and practice, with the years soon after qualification particularly significant. He highlights that the professional knowledge and judgement required in complex, changing situations is acquired and refined mainly through guided practice and experience backed by reflection and engagement with research. The need for supportive professional learning communities and for policy which encourages primary classroom teachers' enthusiasm, creativity and willingness to innovate is emphasised and an enriched apprenticeship model – using a variety of processes, including observation of other teachers, practice, mentoring, case studies and discussion – is advocated.

About the Book Series The idea for the Book Series “Innovation and Change in Professional Education” (ICPE) was born in 1996. While working on another publication in this area, we noticed that professional educators faced similar problems without even knowing from each other. It was this observation that resulted in examining the possibilities for a new publication platform about professional education with input from different professions. We wanted to develop a publication source that would bring together educators and researchers to exchange ideas and knowledge about theory, research and professional practice. But we were not only striving for a book series informing readers about important themes in the professions. A second goal was to focus on processes of change and innovation. We were heavily involved in innovations going on in our institutions, and were convinced that a better understanding was needed in a wide range of issues critically important to the future of professional education. It was our belief that scholarly publications about innovation processes may support fundamental change in professional education. ICPE reflects our view that professional education deserves such a publication platform. It aims to approach critical questions of educational innovations, and to examine dynamics of educational change in various professional domains in the context of innovation processes. The books will include contributions from frontline practitioners, leading researchers, or distinguished scholars in professional education, delivering reports of empirical or theoretical research, reviews, interpretations of evaluation studies, or descriptions of innovative approaches.

In this book, some of the world's foremost 'experts on expertise' provide scientific knowledge on expertise and expert performance.

This book puts the structure and function of knowledge firmly in the driving seat of university curriculum development and teaching practice. Through the application of concept mapping, the structure of knowledge can be visualised to offer an explicit perspective on key issues such as curriculum design, student learning and assessment feedback. Structural visualisation allows a greater scrutiny of the qualitative characteristics of knowledge so that we can analyse students’ patterns of learning and match them to expert practice. Based on nearly two decades of research and direct observations of university teaching by the author, this book aims to offer a scholarly account of teacher development. It focusses on elements that will be of immediate utility to academics who want to develop their teaching to a level of adaptive experts, offering them greater autonomy in their role and a powerful understanding of teaching to escape the repressive routines of the traditional classroom. Rather than providing a comprehensive review of educational research, this book provides a route through selected theories that can be explored in practice by university teachers on their own or in groups. The book will help academics to identify the nature of powerful knowledge within their disciplines and consider ways that this may be used by students to become active and engaged learners through the manipulation and transformation of knowledge, and so become expert students.