EduFest2024

“She is a great teacher”. Such reputations are commonplace in schools and imply a universal consensus to a highly subjective concept. Drawing on a combination of academic research and extensive experience of school leadership, this session examines the importance of contextual factors such as cultural values and curriculum priorities in shaping judgements of teacher quality. It encourages audience members to consider why (and how) their beliefs about the qualities of a good teacher may contrast with those of others, and why a teacher may struggle in one context but flourish in another.