Why and how to maximize the teaching effect in the post-pandemic

Convergence exists between thousands of studies carried out by researchers from all over the world. It demonstrates beyond any doubt that the teacher effect exists. As students have gone through great upheavals over the past year, this "effect" becomes all the more important.

When it comes to the teacher effect, many immediately think of New Zealand researcher John Hattie who, through his work, has highlighted the central role of teacher expertise as an essential condition for student success. He also put forward the notion of progress before success, as a determining factor of educational success. Its research results have been confirmed year after year since 2009. The École branchée has also recently attended one of his conferences.

Steve Bissonnette, professor in the Education Department at TÉLUQ, also studied the impact that teachers can have on their students. And just like John Hattie, the notion of progress is very present in his observations. The most effective teachers would have the capacity to further advance their students, and therefore to lead them towards educational success.

Through his work, he found in particular that "the progress of students assigned to highly effective teachers is twice as high as that of students assigned to inefficient teachers".

What is needed to maximize the teaching effect?

“Start by looking at your students with the belief that they all have the capacity to learn. You have to believe in their success and have high expectations of them, ”says Steve Bissonnette.

Then, collaboration between teachers from the same school is a factor of success. Teachers have every interest in connecting with their colleagues at the same level and even with those of other levels. “Common curriculum management is important to ensure consistency across the student continuum, both for learning and for assessments. Plan a learning sequence from one level to another. Construct evaluations in the same way, ”he says.

Principles of Effective Teaching

“Effective teaching constitutes a grouping of pedagogical strategies which have shown a real impact on academic success, recognized by research”. “Effective” teachers, in other words, teachers of the teacher effect, are those who use them with their students.

Some of the principles of effective teaching include:
1. Review daily: helps strengthen the connections between the different content discussed;
2. Introduce the new material in small steps: avoids overloading the memory and ensures understanding before going further;
3. Asking questions: allows you to follow the evolution of the students' level of understanding;
4. Provide role models: provides support for students to help them understand concepts (eg give examples by reasoning out loud);
5. Adopt guided practice: allows students to summarize, develop and synthesize new material;
6. Check students' understanding: allows individual validation of their progress.

Steve Bissonnette presented a conference on the subject as part of the event “At a distance but present in secondary education”. This was an initiative of the Quebec Interdisciplinary Pedagogical Council (CPIQ) carried out in close collaboration with associative members, the Carrefour national de l'Intertion Professionnelle en Education (CNIPE), the Center de recherche interuniversitaire sur la formation et la teaching profession (CRIFPE) and the Faculty of Education at UQÀM.

In addition :
ROUTHIER, A. (2020, December 3). Effective teaching, Education hub
BARRIAULT, L. (2016, February 3). Principles of effective teaching, Information Network for Educational Success (RIRE)