After four years of high level, mentored service as a registrar, as well as serious study, exams and orals, a doctor becomes a respected specialist. It’s not that simple to gain recognition as a specialist teacher. As school leaders we know our ‘master teachers’ and we do our best to support, recognise and retain them because they are often in demand at ‘other’ schools.
If you carefully analyse your NSC and systemic data, your master teachers stand out like true professionals. Whether in Gr 3 or Gr 12 the master teacher’s star quality is clearly spotlighted.
I just love teachers who are always at their best and demonstrate that wonderful combination of pure professionalism and classroom excellence. Excuse the incessant medical analogies, but I’m reminded of how I feel every time I’m treated for a long-term diabetic condition by my trusted ophthalmologist. I walk into his surgery with total confidence. He has four patients waiting but when I sit in that chair, with the lights and lenses poised, he makes me feel as though I’m his only patient that day. I’m in expert, experienced hands. A teacher with the same qualities changes lives. All children deserve teachers with real passion and care for the children they serve.
To be regarded as a master teacher, there must be clear evidence of taking an entire class to a new level of competence. At say, Gr 3, it is almost certainly an ability to use group teaching to offer more intensive support, to embed skills and to maximise active, participatory and personalised learning in every lesson.
The very best teachers – in terms of the superior performance of their learners – possess that ability to engage learners from the beginning of a lesson, a day, a year to the very end. It’s a standard that’s set over time. The children are taught to be prompt in getting into work mode. They know that the period won’t be about listening or going through the motions or passing the time. It will be discipline, concentration, hard work and dedication from the first minute – and they know that every minute counts.
Think about a top sports team’s practice session. The idea is to improve fitness, skills, strategies and performance. It’s full-on commitment – like any successful lesson. That’s great coaching and great teaching.
Allow me to share a few random thoughts about teachers who stand out:
I was at university for some time forty or fifty years ago (not just before the internet, but before the personal computer) and I clearly remember the huge difference between my history lecturers. One was an expert in his particular field and just arrived with his keys in his hand and spoke for an hour. Interesting, fascinating actually, but one dimensional. The other, who became my post-grad promoter, was obviously also an expert in his field, but he arrived with ten books on the subject, and each had clear markers for the pages necessary to make his point, to guide your reading and to encourage you to think critically about different perspectives and to teach you how to develop your own. He knew exactly what he wanted to achieve, and he invested much effort in preparing himself and his resources. That’s what sets teachers apart. Are you a ten-book teacher?
I love reading biographical information about people who make their mark in business, in the professions, in sport and on stage or screen. When asked about their schooldays, nearly all are quick to identify a teacher who either believed in their ability or made them feel good about themselves or a particular subject which they made come alive in a memorable way. Teachers shape lives, they really do.
Last weekend I missed the Stormers/Bulls game because I attended a relative’s 100th birthday lunch at The Vineyard. Ten of us around a table in one of the most beautiful settings to make a very old lady feel special. She’s a French teacher, a demanding one, and, guess what? She still has four adult students. ‘I’ll stop when I can’t’, she says. ‘I just love it.’
Think of the very best teachers you know; those you search for when a vacancy arises; those who earn universal respect from staff and learners. Personally, and without boasting, I would regard myself as an inspirational teacher whose trademark quality was getting the best out of every learner. That’s how I see teaching. I try to create a climate that one can feel in a classroom. I strive to be at my best and I expect your best. Not many rules necessary. Just the right attitude. It’s how I see principalship, too.
As a school leader, you were most probably first a really great teacher, too. Just as well, because you are the school’s instructional leader, and your job is to develop master teachers. Good luck.
Paul
Coach/Mentor
The Principals Academy Trust
No: 03/25
17 February 2025
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