
By Gavin Grift
In his book Creating the Schools our Children Need, Dylan Wiliam says it’s not enough to say a policy or program is ‘evidence based,’ unless you’re sure it’s likely to work in a particular district or area.
“This might seem obvious, but many educational innovations work in small-scale settings but when rolled out on a wider scale are much less effective,” writes the international researcher and prominent educational thinker.
Or, as he also notes: “Everything works somewhere; nothing works everywhere.”
Our professional development program, Teachers as Architects of Learning, based on the book of the same name, is also built on the theory that no classroom, teacher or student is the same. Therefore, a one-size-fits-all approach to professional development is also unlikely to be effective.
But what’s a learning architect?
Many teachers, perhaps because of the demands of the profession, teach content and hope that it sticks. But we believe learning architects also continue to develop their expertise on what constitutes learning itself.
In Teachers as Architects of Learning, teachers are supported to manage their own growth, by using different approaches and training to suit their unique needs, and those of individual students.
Teachers will design and apply their own learning experiences, which gives them a sense of purpose – and ultimately helps their students