Bruce Robertson > Quotes

“Knowledge and skills are different but linked – knowledge underpins the development of skills”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“the best school leaders are present in classrooms a lot, working constructively and supportively with teachers.”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“Soon after the lesson, I devote around 15 minutes to reading through my notes, which I use to help me complete a green/amber/red evaluation of the Lesson Evaluation Toolkit elements. I do this by writing ‘G’, ‘A’ or ‘R’ next to each element, or I use highlighter pens. I recognise that these simply reflect my impressions – they are not absolute measures of quality. But they do give me a simple and very useful visual summary of my evaluation of the quality of pedagogy.”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“As a guide, I would suggest that Specific Teaching typically makes up 80–90% of teaching and learning time; Non-specific Teaching should make up 10–20%.”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“Knowing which teachers’ practice is typically strong or less strong in relation to specific pedagogy is important if school leaders are to be able to target professional learning, guide and facilitate teachers to learn from each other, and support teachers to develop and improve their practice. Without this knowledge, schools will fail to achieve consistent, high-quality teaching and learning across the school. Teaching”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“actually believe that giving feedback to teachers about teaching practice is one of the most important things that school leaders can do with their time.”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“Schools that don’t make use of lesson observations, or in which lesson observations are used exclusively for the purposes of quality assurance, are not learning schools: they are static schools.”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“in order for students to develop skills of the type they are pushing for (such as creativity, problem-solving, teamwork and leadership), they must first have been taught knowledge.”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“Schools are, first and foremost, about supporting, challenging and inspiring young people to learn.”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“As a general rule, I don’t write down anything that I wouldn’t be happy for the teacher to read if they wanted. I think this is important, because it helps create a climate of trust. Generally, though, nobody ever asks”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“Bloom’s intention was to communicate the idea that knowledge is the foundation of skills development, not that it is more important to focus on teaching skills than knowledge”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“Higher-order thinking draws upon and pulls together smaller pieces of knowledge. The ability of a student to interpret, compare, contrast, differentiate, question, appraise, argue, justify, critique and design relies upon the breadth, depth and strength of the knowledge they are drawing upon and pulling together.”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“Some teachers will appreciate being invited to a school leader’s office to receive feedback, perhaps because they value time out of their classroom and they feel that doing so formalises the process, which they like; others will feel intimidated by this and would much prefer to receive feedback in the more familiar environment of their own classroom.”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“If you hadn’t been there, the teaching and learning would have been the same.”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“Teachers should take advantage of every opportunity to observe and learn from other teachers. Because the perfect teacher does not exist, every teacher has something to learn and improve in their teaching. An essential part of this learning is watching other teachers teach.”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“Through reading, I have learned that a knowledge-rich curriculum is about developing ‘powerful knowledge’7 in students, that is, knowledge which takes them beyond their day-to-day experiences; knowledge which they would be unlikely to have encountered had they not gone to school. The purpose of learning this powerful knowledge is to develop ‘cultural capital’8, supporting students to play a full and active role in society and to get the most out of life. Not only is such knowledge powerful in itself, it also underpins the development of important skills such as creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving.”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“Specific Teaching can be thought about as the cake; Non-specific Teaching is the icing.”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“Pre-existing knowledge is what allows students to think.”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“Assigning ratings to lessons is high-stakes; evaluating the quality of particular elements of pedagogy is low-stakes.”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“In every subject, the student experience should be summed up by ‘3Es’: exciting, engaging and enjoyable. The extent to which this holds true will be determined by the quality of teaching.”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“Knowledge people’ also believe that ‘higher-order’ skills are important. However, they recognise that the development of all of these – analysing, evaluating, creating – relies on having secure ‘lower-order’ knowledge and understanding. Without secure knowledge and understanding, higher-order thinking skills cannot be developed. They argue that it is therefore essential that teaching and learning has a strong focus on developing knowledge and understanding – not at the expense of skills, but in support of skills development.”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“Schools do need to measure, but they also need to move. Moving is more important than measuring. Accordingly”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough

“Teachers should take advantage of every opportunity to observe and learn from other teachers.”
― Bruce Robertson, The Teaching Delusion: Why teaching in our schools isn't good enough