Outstanding Teachers

At the moment there's a lot of drama and debate going on over education policy, educational management, staffing, budgeting, curriculum and teacher quality. Everywhere I read about OUTSTANDING teachers... we need to recruit outstanding teachers, train outstanding teachers, become outstanding teachers, hire outstanding teachers.

Does anyone else see the irony in this? Yes, as a teacher I want my students to learn well and I want to work hard at what I do. But, what makes someone "outstanding"?

In the UK where I teach, OFSTED, the Queen's educational inspectors have a grading system that includes unsatisfactory, satisfactory, good, and outstanding. Frequently, though there is a rubric to determine what makes a lesson outstanding, observers will say "well, the lesson just didn't have that magic" --- MAGIC?!

In a recent press conference by the President of the US, Obama said we need to train and hire outstanding teachers...

In a NYTimes article, it mentioned recruiting outstanding young people to train to be teachers...

The term outstanding means you stand out because you've got sparkle, pizzazz, and a flair that isn't something that can be moderated or taught.

The best teachers are creative, know pedagogy, know and love their subject, and are respectful and authoritative.

Yes some of these things can be learned, but most of it needs to be developed over time.

Still, some of these teachers have not gotten an Outstanding based on OFSTED criteria... and should they care?

Not everyone can be outstanding... especially not recruits... since they are just beginning training.

We never here this irritating adjective thrust upon other professions: outstanding engineers or doctors or lawyers, outstanding artists or musicians or customer service representatives or waitresses or editors... no... it's an honor to be deemed outstanding, not the basic requirement of one's job!

People work for years to have the reputation of being outstanding and yet student teachers are ticking boxes and aiming for outstanding observations.

Is this a realistic or fair expectation for teachers, especially young teachers just developing their skills in the classroom?

Should teachers tick boxes in the classroom for a reputation at the sake of actual learning?

The idea that one size fits all for classroom learning and lesson planning needs to be debunked. Some US States have been analysing the use of student success data in rewarding and judging teacher job performance is weak and very limited. If nearly as much effort went into training and managing teachers with a positive outlook rather than a "you'll be sacked" outlook, you'd end up with more creative, happy and successful teachers, rather than a profession continuously being blamed for the downfall of the US students' college readiness and failure at tests and SATs.

Policy makers like to make changes and sign their names to things that change teachers' jobs and students' experience of the classroom and in a few months make more changes. Anyone who has been in a classroom understands the difference between the philosophy and the practice. I encourage those trying to make these changes to remember that these changes are still the only chance at an education these students are going to get, and their success or failure is as much your responsibility as it is the teacher's or their parents' or theirs.

So, are you doing outstanding work? Or are you just mandating it of everyone else?