Research School Network: The Power of Teacher Explanation

by Karen Roskilly, Research School Lead

Explanation is at the heart of what we as teachers do day in and day out, and my relationship with it has altered and shifted as my teaching career has progressed. I can still remember completing my PGCE almost 20 years ago where the focus on lesson planning was about group work, discovery and student-led discussion and I was its facilitator. I genuinely cannot remember any input about how to go about actually explaining stuff effectively to students (although I admit that this might be the length of time that has passed since I trained!). I measured my success as a teacher by how little I had spoken in a lesson and was somewhat surprised when not all students seemed to fully understand the sociological concepts and ideas they had spent lesson time discussing, in depth. Yet, it now seems strange to think that I underplayed the importance of teacher explanation.

In 2012, Kirschner, Sweller and Clark wrote an article outlining the case for fully guided instruction for American Educator – ​‘Putting Students on the Path to Learning: The Case for Fully Guided Instruction’– in which they explored the reasons why explicit teaching is usually a more effective approach than minimal guidance. This provides a very clear summary of the evidence in this area and is definitely worth a read.

I also recently read How to Explain Absolutely Anything to Absolutely Anyone (2018) by Andy Tharby, which provides seven key principles for explanation that apply to every subject and age group. Chapter one focuses on subject knowledge and this got me thinking….

For me, subject knowledge has played a key part in my development as a Sociology teacher. As my subject knowledge has increased and deepened, my confidence in my ability to explain, answer questions and link topics together has developed too. However, as the research clearly illustrates, subject knowledge alone is not sufficient; teachers also need a clear understanding of how best to teach the subject content. What Makes Great Teaching? from the Sutton Trust refers to this as pedagogical subject knowledge and states:

​‘The most effective teachers have deep knowledge of the subjects they teach, and when teachers’ knowledge falls below a certain level it is a significant impediment to students’ learning. As well as a strong understanding of the material being taught, teachers must also understand the ways students think about the content, be able to evaluate the thinking behind students’ own methods, and identify students’ common misconceptions.’

Interestingly, Tharby identifies the curse of knowledge; that as teachers we know something so well we forget the stages we had to go through to learn it in the first place. He suggests six tips to help alleviate the effect of this in your classroom:

1. Punctuate your explanation with examples, as this will help students with abstract ideas.
2. When using technical vocabulary, add a few words of explanation after using it.
3. Try to have an alternative example ready to use!
4. Teach through opposites – ​‘remember it was X not Y that caused….’
5. Find out what students really think and know. If we don’t we are only perpetuating the curse of knowledge!
6. Take the temperature of the room regularly to check understanding.

Don’t get me wrong. I still LOVE group work and discussion in my lessons. I see the benefits that it has for my students, both in terms of developing their understanding of sociological content but also in developing other fundamental skills, such as oracy. The EEF Toolkit clearly shows that well-designed collaborative learning approaches have positive impacts on learning, particularly when they promote talk and interaction between students. However, I also now appreciate the importance of my teacher explanation too and how central this is to building student understanding.