The Teaching Delusion
The Teaching Delusion by senior education consultant Bruce Robertson offers a bold, refreshing and sometimes provocative stance on teaching and leadership. Informed by the latest educational research and drawing on two decades of professional experience, Robertson examines how teaching in schools can be transformed from good to great.
The new title from John Catt Educational poses challenging yet important questions to its readers. Schools are filled with great teachers, but is great teaching taking place in every classroom? How can educators expect students to cultivate a lifelong passion for learning if they themselves are lacking this?
Robertson’s solution is twofold. To promote excellent teaching, there must be a shared understanding of what high-quality teaching really is what does it look like, and how can it be fostered? Secondly, there must be a school-wide desire to engage in professional learning. With his school having won the General Teaching Council for Scotland’s Excellence in Professional Learning Award in 2019, Robertson uses his personal track-record of success to explore how these barriers can be addressed to lead to a transformation in teaching practice.
Written by a teacher and school leader for teachers and school leaders, The Teaching Delusion aims to support teaching communities to develop and improve their practice, in order to ensure that all students receive the same level of excellent education. Aligning himself firmly on the side of teachers and keen to avoid teacher bashing, Robertson sensitively engages in an often controversial discussion about how to improve the quality of teaching, aiming to boost knowledge, awareness and ultimately self-esteem in both educators and learners.
The Teaching Delusion combines practicality with pedagogy in a thoughtful, unique approach making it a vital resource for teachers and leaders at all levels who are looking to better their practice.
Sample chapter: Chapter 5: Great Teaching - Part 1
Sample chapter: Chapter 7: Professional Learning Culture
Testimonial
Why read this book? There are four reasons.
Firstly, it is incredibly well informed. Bruce not only has substantial experience as a teacher and school leader, he is also very well read. His skill in navigating his way through different debates, showing the range of argument and opinion that exists, makes this plain. He adds his own thinking and reflection to a solid basis of current educational thinking. There’s a touch of Hattie here, a bit of Lemov there, and a fair sprinkling of Coe. In fact, as Bruce reminds us, Rob Coe argues that learning is happening when people have to think hard. This book will certainly do that.
Secondly, it is written with clarity and takes very little effort to get through. This is not to say it is reductive – far from it – because Bruce has the commendable skill of taking the complex and making it simple. It is also a book that doesn’t need to be read sequentially, as it depends on what your current focus is on. An important caveat is that the book will not necessarily be quick to get through. It takes time to read, because it makes you stop and think. It’s the sort of book that you settle down into an armchair to read, and at regular intervals a point is made that causes you to drift off into thought. Before you know it, 15 minutes have passed and you’re still on the same paragraph. So take your time and enjoy it; it deserves to be enjoyed.
Thirdly, it is provocative; this much is clear from the title. Yet Bruce hasn’t done this for effect, he is very clear about what ‘delusion’ means in the context of education. It is a strong adjective, but you will be hard pushed to argue that he is using it inaccurately. There are many things about education in the early twenty-first century that are Kafkaesque and Bruce is right to identify and dissect them. My suspicion is that classroom teachers will read this and feel liberated, whereas many school leaders will find good reason to pause and reflect soberly on what they have been doing for the last few years. This is undoubtedly a good thing. Just as David Didau challenged readers to consider that everything they knew about education might be wrong, Bruce is also asking professionals to ask serious questions of themselves. As with David’s book, you need to read it with an open mind – and be wary of the Semmelweis Reflex. Orthodoxy is put under the microscope, and, to give an example, on ‘student-led learning’ Bruce is brave enough to say what many of us are thinking, but few dare say out loud. I can only hope others will feel similarly emboldened by this book.
And finally, I think the Lesson Evaluation Toolkit alone makes this book worth purchasing. It is a great chapter and should open up discussions in schools everywhere about what the core ingredients of great teaching are. Bruce is careful to point out that this is not a check-list, but a framework that schools should produce themselves having distilled the best educational research out there. Imagine if every school did this? Far too many teachers have to wade through CPD that is irrelevant, time- consuming, and expensive. What Bruce maps out is a far better direction of travel. I can see this book being a brilliant addition to reading groups, CPD libraries, and on-line discussions.
Robin Macpherson Teacher and author, What Does This Look Like in the Classroom?
The Teaching Delusion 2: Teaching Strikes Back
Whisper it quietly: a lot of time is being wasted in a lot of schools. Actually, why are we whispering? What we should really be doing is calling this out – loudly! The job of schools is too important for us to be keeping quiet. Schools are in the ‘transforming lives’ business. There is no time to waste!
In The Teaching Delusion: Why Teaching In Our Schools Isn’t Good Enough (And How We Can Make It Better), Bruce Robertson explored ‘delusions’ that are holding our schools back. In this sequel, The Teaching Delusion 2: Teaching Strikes Back, he digs deeper into three areas: curriculum, pedagogy and leadership. In doing so, he tackles the issue of time-wasting head-on. By calling out specific delusions in each area, Robertson suggests strategies for dismantling these and offers a clear roadmap forward.
Backed by a depth of research and a breadth of experience, The Teaching Delusion 2: Teaching Strikes Back will give teachers and school leaders the supportive shake-up they need, helping them to abandon practices that aren’t making the difference they should be, and to focus on the things that will really make the biggest difference to students in our schools.
Sample chapter: Chapter 3: A Content-Rich Curriculum
Testimonials
This excellent book nails the myth of skills being something separate from pupils knowing things. The two are like conjoined twins: it is through exposure to, engagement with and deep reflection on the substance of subjects that skills are developed. They are mutually interdependent: pupils deserve a properly considered, coherent body of knowledge through which they will develop literacy, critical thinking, analysis and other important skills. This is not just a matter of common sense, it is also a matter of equity and social justice: gaps in achievement will widen between those who have been provided with rich, interesting knowledge and those who have not. Robertson offers a systematic way of considering what might be taught: from the macro, via the meso, to the micro. The ‘delusions’ are critiqued across a school’s various endeavours: from leadership to assessment to departmental meetings. It is thought provoking and challenging and will give many schools pause for thought. A very helpful book for any jurisdiction.
Mary Myatt, education writer and curator of Myatt & Co
We need more books like this, and they need to be more widely read – sensible, useful, practical and with the potential to transform your understanding of curriculum. This is one of those subjects you wish you’d known more about as a new teacher. Now, at last, you can. Robertson writes with the clarity and precision of an experienced teacher.
Tom Bennett, founder of researchED, and behaviour advisor to the Department of Education
The Teaching Delusion 3: Power Up Your Pedagogy
Hands up if you’ve ever been given lesson observation feedback that you didn’t understand, didn’t agree with, or just thought was plain rubbish. If your hand is in the air, you’re in good company! When it comes to teachers receiving high-quality feedback that helps them improve their teaching, we have a serious issue in our schools.
Teachers want to improve their teaching. They embrace any opportunity to learn. They want other professionals to watch them teach and to get into conversations about developing their practice. What they don’t want is to be criticised, patronised, sent down blind alleys, or left utterly confused. Those who’ve been giving feedback telling teachers to ‘differentiate more’, ‘talk less’, or ‘let students lead their own learning’ have a lot to answer for.
The Teaching Delusion 3: Power Up Your Pedagogy has been written to address the issue of teachers receiving poor feedback in our schools. As a self-improvement and coaching resource, it is essential reading for all teachers and school leaders. Through a detailed exploration of 12 key elements of pedagogy, author Bruce Robertson sets out a clear, researched-informed guide to improving pedagogy in every classroom, across every school. By highlighting key features of effective practice and a broad range of techniques teachers can focus on developing, this practical guidebook will be valued by professionals in all sectors, regardless of experience.
The Teaching Delusion 3: Power Up Your Pedagogy completes The Teaching Delusion trilogy with a bang!
Testimonials
When teachers gather together to reflect on their practice or when individual teachers are self-reflecting or working with a coach, it’s so important to have a shared understanding of the problems and solutions under discussion; there needs to be a common framework of some kind. In Power Up Your Pedagogy, Bruce Robertson has provided teachers with exactly the kind of framework they need. The 12 elements are a superb way of describing the teaching practices we all need to engage with, each supported by an excellent range of Trusted Techniques that are described with crisp clarity; some are reassuringly familiar while others are fresh and innovative. The Power-up Prompts add an excellent layer to the whole process, helping teachers to reflect on their practice as they seek to improve in each area. The range of ideas and references packed into this concise, punchy book is impressive and I can see it doing a superb job of supporting teachers at every career stage.
Tom Sherrington, author of The Learning Rainforest and Teaching WalkThrus
We now have a lot of evidence about how the brain learns but we are less secure about how to use that evidence in the classroom. To my mind, this book is one of the best practical guides a teacher or school leader can have in how to firstly understand and then apply evidence in the classroom.
Dr Carl Hendrick, co-author of How Learning Happens
I had the privilege of reading The Teaching Delusion 3: Power Up Your Pedagogy in the week before returning to school after the summer holidays. As I read, my dusty teacher brain was quickly and forcefully awakened. The joy, knowledge and passion that transmits from every page of this book is impossible not to share. Bruce breaks down a range of complex teaching ideas into simple and easily actionable steps that teachers at every stage of their career would benefit from reflecting on. It is all achieved with huge empathy and humour – Bruce even manages to get the lyrics from the New Radicals into his section on modelling standards (‘you get what you give’)! It is the most excited I have felt in returning to the classroom for years: armed with numerous ‘Power-up Prompts’ and ‘Trusted Techniques’, the young people in my classroom won’t know what has hit them. I urge teachers to give this brilliant celebration of our complex craft the time and attention it deserves.
Jamie Thom, English Teacher and author of Slow Teaching
Have you ever been given lesson observation feedback that left you more despondent and frustrated than motivated and energised?’ So begins Bruce Robertson’s book, The Teaching Delusion 3, and the nodding along begins. Yes, yes, we have, and we certainly don’t want more of the same. Robertson’s main premise here is, by understanding more about how effective teaching works, mentors, coaches, and leaders can support teachers to improve their practice by giving specific, focused feedback which can have a significant impact on the learning that takes place. Part 1 neatly explores some of the key principles of the science of learning, looking at cognitive load, retrieval practice and schema theory. This is condensed and clear and provides a framework for the next part, which examines how these ideas relate directly to the classroom, with specific examples around areas such as making use of learning intentions and questioning. Each chapter includes prompts to ‘power up’ your pedagogy and the book provides a breadth of topics covering everything a teacher would need to develop their practice. This book will be invaluable to those who are coaching, particularly building on the Early Careers Framework and Initial Teacher Training. However, I think it will also be found valuable by anyone wanting to reflect on their practice and begin to delve into research to support them to do so.
Zoe Enser, English Adviser for The Education People, specialist adviser for The Teacher Development Trust, and ex English Teacher, Head of Department and Senior Leader
Power Up Your Pedagogy: The Illustrated Handbook of Teaching
If you are a teacher or school leader looking for a one-stop professional development resource focused on teaching practice, Power Up Your Pedagogy: The Illustrated Handbook of Teaching is the perfect book for you.
Covering a broad range of themes, from professional learning and coaching to cognitive science and educational research, this book is comprehensive in its scope. Through a detailed exploration of pedagogy, which includes presenting, questioning, feedback, differentiation and behaviour management, there is something in here for everyone.
Key messages from within each chapter are summarised by superb sets of Sketchnotes, produced by Finola Wilson from Impact Wales. Throughout the book, Reflective Tasks are included to support critical thinking and discussion.
Whether you are just starting as a teacher or have been teaching for thirty years, Power Up Your Pedagogy: The Illustrated Handbook of Teaching should prove invaluable as a handbook to support you make your teaching even better than it is already. If you are a middle or senior leader, it should prove just as valuable in helping you to support others.
Get ready to Power Up Your Pedagogy!
Publisher's note: Power Up Your Pedagogy: The Illustrated Handbook of Teaching is effectively an expanded, visual version of The Teaching Delusion 3: Power Up Your Pedagogy.
Testimonials
Power Up Your Pedagogy is a truly superb book, managing to encompass all of these features with clarity and style. The 12 elements are brilliantly chosen – every teacher will recognise them as core aspects of their craft. And, to my mind, the Crash Course in Learning could stand alone as one of the punchiest, best-illustrated round-ups of our current understanding of learning that you’ll find anywhere. Congratulations to Bruce and Finola on creating this excellent book. I can see it being used widely, ending up as any great book on teaching should – scruffy, well-thumbed copies, scattered around the staffroom, littered with Post-its and margin notes as teachers put them to good use. Again and again.
Tom Sherrington, Education Consultant and Author of Teaching Walkthrus
The book is deeply impressive for its wisdom and knowledge about the science of learning and teaching, presented with remarkable clarity. It provides a compelling structure for the elements of ‘Powered-up Pedagogy’ that gives teachers a strong underpinning rationale for each approach, along with a range of illustrative and applicable examples that teachers can take and use straight away. The text is concise and supportive yet challenging. The illustrations mesh perfectly and enhance the message. To pick just one delightful example, the analogy and associated image of the ‘forgetting pit’ must surely break its own rule: it is a sticky image that, once seen, would surely not be forgotten. To all teachers I would say: study this book, learn from it and act on it. And good luck with the hardest and most important job in the world.
Professor Rob Coe, Director of Research and Development, Evidence Based Education
A compelling description of what we know about how learning happens and what to do about it in the classroom, ably supported by excellent illustrations. It’s clear, practical, easy to apply and highly likely to improve your teaching practice.
Doug Lemov, author of Teach Like a Champion
So much powered into one book and covering all the hot topics using the best evidence from classrooms and the research literature. Beautifully illustrated, great examples, and provocations aplenty.
Professor John Hattie, Laureate Emeritus at The University of Melbourne, and author of Visible Learning and Visible Learning for Teachers
In this book, Bruce sets out the fundamental principles and practices of a well-researched and grounded pedagogy to enable teachers to reflect on their teaching practice – collegially – to the goal of understanding and, knowingly, improving their day-to-day teaching. Bruce has the ability to skilfully clarify some quite powerful pedagogies in a way that makes the research accessible and – importantly – grounded in our deliberative teaching reality. No mean feat. Finola Wilson’s sketchnotes cogently support the text. These thoughtfully conceived visual cues enable memory prompts and content schema. A clear example, in itself, of effective teaching. This is certainly a book that provides a tried and tested basis for professional development and –crucially – a solid basis for supportive coaching in teacher skill development. I heartily commend this book to our colleagues who work hard, to do their best, day after day after day to be as effective as they can be in teaching and supporting their students. Bruce’s book reminds us of what effective teaching is and can be. As Bruce reminds us: ‘Teaching is the most important job in the world.’ This book celebrates our profession by providing the core principles, practices and skills that can enable that truth.
Dr Bill Rogers, Behaviour Specialist and Education Consultant
This book is a great guide for any teacher looking to enhance their pedagogical knowledge and practice. The text and the accompanying sketchnotes exemplify many of the principles of the book too, illustrating Dual Coding theory and the power of good graphics. It’s a powerful resource for any teacher looking to improve their practice and make a lasting impact on their students.
Daisy Christodoulou, Author of 7 Myths about Education, Making Good Progress, and Teachers vs Tech; Director of Education at No More Marking
A jam-packed, evidence-informed and visually impressive handbook that will be immensely useful for classroom teachers and leaders at all levels. The handbook can be used independently to support self-improvement and reflection but it also has the potential to be used alongside colleagues to promote and lead dialogue and discussion focusing on teaching and learning. Robertson and Wilson make a great team as they explore all the key fundamentals of effective classroom planning and delivery, supported by research and explained with clarity through the use of dual coding. I highly recommend this book; it should become a must-have addition to every teaching and learning CPD library.
Kate Jones, Senior Associate for Teaching & Learning with Evidence Based Education,@KateJones_Teach
In an age where there is an abundance of evidence on pedagogy but not enough on how to actually use that evidence, this book brings together the most powerful strategies we have to engender learning with specific ways to use them where it matters most, in the classroom.
Dr Carl Hendrick, author of How Learning Happens
A visually delectable introduction to a wide range of fundamental ideas around teaching and how they might be served in practice.
Peps Mccrea, Dean at Ambition Institute and Director at Steplab
Power Up Your Questioning: A Practical Handbook for Teachers
Questioning is arguably one of the most important aspects of pedagogy a teacher can focus on developing due to the impact it can have on students' learning. However, questioning is also one of the most challenging aspects of a teacher's job to master. It's one thing to ask questions; it's another to do this really well.
Following the success of Power Up Your Pedagogy comes the second instalment in Bruce Robertson's series: Power Up Your Questioning. In this book, teachers are guided through every aspect of questioning in the classroom: why it matters, what it entails and how to use it to improve your students' learning. As a formative assessment tool, questioning is king. This book will make any teacher a questioning expert.
Testimonials
Power Up Your Questioning is such a useful and important contribution. By getting into the fine detail of questioning practice, Bruce Robertson provides a framework that allows any teacher to reflect productively on their current practice, and to explore ways of making their teaching even more effective. Whether you are a veteran with decades of classroom experience, or someone just beginning a career as a teacher, you will find much to think about, and many practical, immediately applicable ways to ‘Power Up Your Questioning’.
Dylan Wiliam, UCL Institute of Education
This is another great book from Bruce Robertson, this time on the subject of questioning – something most teachers do most lessons, but which almost every teacher could learn to do even better. Bruce combines a deep understanding of the underlying research evidence, a close familiarity with everyday classroom practice, and the ability to distil what is actionable into concise, clear language. This combination is, to use his own words, genuinely powerful. I love the ‘common pitfalls’: truly widespread practices that misunderstand research-based advice or are less good than they could be. And the ‘trusted techniques’: simple (but robustly justified) practices that every teacher can learn. Every CPD library should include this book, and every teacher should read it!
Professor Rob Coe, director of research and development, Evidence Based Education
Robertson has done it again: Power Up Your Pedagogy, and now Power Up Your Questioning. Questioning is a cornerstone of impactful teaching, and this book offers insights and techniques about the art and science of effective questioning, leading to students thinking more critically, learning more collaboratively, and developing content and problem-solving thinking skills – as well as teachers responding more effectively to student questions and answers. An enticing format, a dynamism of flow throughout the book, and a worthwhile addition to the teacher toolkit.
John Hattie, laureate professor emeritus at The University of Melbourne, and author of Visible Learning and Visible Learning for Teachers
Power Up Your Questioning offers a masterclass in transforming classroom questioning into
a powerful tool for learning. Combining practical strategies with cutting-edge insights from cognitive science, this book equips teachers to engage students, initiate critical thinking, and check understanding with precision. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or new to the classroom, this invaluable guide will elevate your teaching practice and help you unlock the full potential of your students’ thinking.
Dr Carl Hendrick, Academica University of Applied Sciences
Bruce Robertson’s eloquent new book is strongly grounded in professional expertise and in the best research on how students learn. It can inspire the work of all teachers – in school, college or university. And it should be read by policymakers for advice on how to improve learning by students of all backgrounds, interests and abilities.
Lindsay Paterson, professor emeritus of education policy, Edinburgh University
Teachers ask questions every lesson, every day and multiple times within a lesson! Therefore questioning should be a central focus of pedagogy, planning and professional development, but it has not always received the attention it deserves. Power Up Your Questioning by Bruce Robertson is superb and guaranteed to help classroom teachers from those early in their career to more experienced teachers. It will also be very useful for leaders at all levels. As shown in this book, if we want better answers from the learners in front of us, we have to ask better questions. I wholeheartedly recommend this book; it will have a very positive impact on those that read it, reflect on it and act on it.
Kate Jones, senior associate for teaching and learning at Evidence Based Education and best-selling author
‘Questions create thinking conditions, which means they create learning conditions.’
This brilliant book by Bruce Robertson shows us just how this is done. He masterfully weaves the evidence-informed ideas of edu-greats into pedagogy that teachers can incorporate into daily practices and discusses ‘20 key messages that all teachers and school leaders really need to know’. Robertson translates these key messages into actionable steps that provide insight into common pitfalls, power-up prompts, deeper-thinking questions, and trusted techniques. Furthermore, he gives us 10 recommended steps to get the most out of the book; it is as if he hands us a lesson plan to ensure that the ‘quality of our questions promote desirable thinking’ through the use of self-reflection and coaching.
Robertson states, ‘Becoming a questioning expert takes years of deliberate practice and refinement.’ Power Up Your Questioning not only speeds up the process of becoming a questioning expert, but it also stands as a reminder for experienced teachers, a blueprint for coaches, observable techniques for leaders, and most importantly, an avenue of lasting learning for our students.
‘Great teaching ... is about eliciting rigorous evidence of where students are in their learning and responding accordingly.’ Bruce Robertson artfully elicits evidence of where we are as teachers and guides us accordingly to become powerful questioning experts.
Patrice Bain, Ed.S. K–12, university educator, speaker, and co-author of the US Department of Education’s guide Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Student Learning and Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning