Experts

 

An expert is conceptualised as someone with knowledge accrued in an accredited fashion, who then operates with a high degree of independence as a result of that knowledge and skill. 

There are many people who are experts in the realm of Education, as I re-discovered when I returned to university a couple of years ago – lifelong learning and all that.  In fact the amount of experts that I was able to learn from in this modern world of connected libraries was a bit overwhelming.

Because the sheer volume of experts in Education was so vast, it required the guidance of my tutor to steer me towards the ‘right’ ones for my research purposes.  The plethora of studies from all over the world, peer reviewed and articulate was incredible and a little bit daunting for this old man.  My tutor did it well. 

And here is where we enter a deeply problematic, well, problem for those of us who work in education.  Who are the ‘right’ experts to help us in our work? 

It goes without saying that there are so many more experts in the world than there used to be before Facebook and Reddit et al.  The number of experts on various social media platforms who profess to be experts on teaching because “I went to school” or “My daughter goes to school” is beyond any AI to compute. 

By the same logic, I am an expert in urinary tract disorders because I was once in hospital with one or I’m an expert in flying planes because I travelled abroad in one.  Or, better still, I’m an expert in meteorology because I got wet in the rain once. 

Anyway, I think we can dismiss those kinds of experts from giving us guidance on how to teach. 

But, whom to trust out of the remaining glut of experts?  Because all experts are human and all humans have a natural bias built into their DNA and all will have their own idea of how teachers should be teaching that matches their belief system. 

So, for example, some experts will argue, with evidence, that children learn best on a one-to-one basis whilst others will refute that and say that a class of 22 is optimum for a good learning environment, again with evidence.  These are two extremes because most teachers and other experts will agree it will depend upon the child and the environment and a whole host of other factors.

All teachers and headteachers know that there is not one single overarching method or strategy or approach to learning that reaches all of our students.  In fact it is rather insulting to think that there will ever be one considering the vast array of differences all of our students bring to our schools and colleges.

Now the problem is that politicians are aware that there are extremes of experts in education and so they call upon their preferred ones to give credence to their political projects such as the one that Michael Gove did in the UK when he decided to rewrite the National Curriculum during his tenure as Education Secretary.

The result is a curriculum that is uninspiring, boring, built around rote learning, traditionalist, grammar heavy in English, date heavy in History and one of the many reasons why so many students are put off going to school and why there is a teacher shortage in the UK – because it has so little to enthuse anyone including teachers.

And yes, it is the same Michael Gove who famously said that the UK was fed up with experts when he was speaking prior to the EU referendum.

This picking and choosing of experts is also rife within the media, especially in the UK.  When I was a mere innocent young lad on the way to his new career, we had a man called Chris Woodhead who was championed by the press as the expert of all experts because he championed a very traditionalist version of what education should be.  He was one of those Celebrity Experts who excel in television interviews. 

The view of the press in the UK at the time was that all teachers were lazy lefty commies out to pervert their students into being gay or, worse, liberals and Mr Woodhead endorsed this idea extensively.  Needless to say, he was despised by the teaching profession.  Partly due to his sheer hypocrisy (he was in a relationship with a former student  despite telling teachers they should never enter into personal relationships with students) but mainly because he was just being used as a political tool by the government which merely stroked his own huge ego.

We have another similar expert of all experts in the UK at the moment, a Miss Birbalsingh whose ideas are touted as the single most effective method of solving all of the problems faced by schools and someone who seemingly  spends more time doing the rounds of media interviews and newspaper columns and social media posts than actually doing her job as a headteacher. 

She is a graduate of the Discipline! School of thought whereby students are treated as prisoners and she is hailed as a hero to the very much right wing dominated media in the UK.  Her political views are also on the extreme of the right and so she is championed relentlessly in the press and by the Tory government. 

She is a deeply unpleasant person and I hope to never ever meet her, just as I did with Mr Woodhead.  They are or were in the latter case the type of expert that I do not need to help me or whatever establishment I am employed at.

I get that we live in an “insta” world now where many find the understanding of complex ideas a bit too much.  I get that these “insta” experts are sought after to offer a soothing solution to  multitude of issues.  And I get that these “insta” experts are driven by their egos rather than with any concern for students.

Which is why I don’t want them. 

I want the experts in their field of English, Science, Learning Technologies, SEND, classroom management to come and help me and inspire me to be better.  I’ve met these people and many more who have made a difference to my teaching.  They’re not extreme.  They’re not famous.  They’re not in it for the limelight or the TV interviews.  They’re not dismissive of teachers or the profession and whatever political views they hold, they keep to themselves.

I’ve been blessed to have been inspired by such really great experts  - one even taught me how to draw properly which was bordering on the miraculous quite frankly.  I’ve also been inspired by unassuming experts called my colleagues who will show me something that they do that makes you think.  These are the kinds of experts that we all need, not the preening ones.