Transforming Teaching

Lucy Cooker is the Director of Taught Courses in the School of Education at the University of Nottingham.Tony Cotton is a writer and educational consultant.Helen Toft is an assistant professor on the PGCEi course at the University of Nottingham.

"Transforming Teaching: Lessons Learned from Teaching Under Lockdown is both an important contribution to recent educational discussion, and a book which reaches deep into the future. The book draws on voices from around the world, to take a critical position with respect to the formation of future educational possibilities. I fully recommend that Transforming Teaching: Lessons Learned from Teaching Under Lockdown to all who are interested in the future potential of education."Ole Skovsmose, Aalborg University, Denmark and Universidade Estadual Paulista, Sao Paulo, Brazil"This book is a celebration of what makes teaching such a messy, complex, challenging and yet fulfilling profession. Lucy, Tony and Helen have sensitively curated the voices of educators at a time of global change. These voices hold a mirror to us as educators and ask us to reflect critically on our own practices and their impact on children. They offer ways forward to reimagine education if we choose. An essential read."Dr Pinky Jain, Principal Lecturer in Primary Education and School International Lead, Worcester University, UK"Through reflective conversations with educators across the world, this book maps a critical cartography of our time in Covid -19. It provides a hopeful space to re-imagine our values and ethics within these times and beyond. I would recommend any person in Education who wants to shape future emerging practice to engage with these global narratives."Lisa Stephenson, Course Leader MA Drama & Creative Writing in Education & Director/Founder of Story Makers Company"This book is an invitation for educators to immerse themselves into the authors’ personal stories, experiences and reflections and start a professional dialogue around the key question: "What really matters in education in a post pandemic world."As the educational world changed all around us the three main authors began to collect and share professional and personal insights not only of their experiences but also those of global educators. They offer us the opportunity to annotate as we read, guiding us to pause and reflect upon our own experiences in the hope that we take this opportunity to consider our own learning and how this can shape the future of a more global, compassionate education for all.The stories are a truly enjoyable read and give a sense of realism and optimism. For me, the reflective questions invited me to dig deep, stimulating new perspectives and possibilities in the International work I do for the Curriculum Foundation and as a school improvement director for a Multi-academy trust."Narinder Gill, Strategic Director for the Curriculum Foundation"The Covid 19 pandemic precipitated a significant paradigm shift for teachers, students and schools (and others too of course). So many steep learning curves, so many personal journeys, so many problems and solutions and shifts in our thinking. We’ll be talking about them for years. Tony, Helen and Lucy had the foresight to try and capture these stories as they were happening and facilitate that dialogue. Everyone has been so immersed in their own circumstances that it is easy to get lost in them. In this book, the authors have set out to offer us an important range of circumstances and perspectives that allow us to take a wider look at how this has played out for different people in different places. It allows us to put our own experiences into perspective and in doing so brings more weight to key questions about what educationalists can take and learn from this rare and seismic event that is a great opportunity to re-examine what education's priorities might be. We must not miss the opportunity to do this and we mustn't do it in isolation, imagining that our perspective alone is enough. The personal stories are so authentic and honest, which allows us to empathise with the teachers, their students and their communities and wrestle with their problems and solutions ourselves. The authors then help us put the pieces together and set about those key questions. I most appreciated the way the book very deliberately sets out to challenge us to reflect on our own views, experiences and priorities, following each of the stories and allowing us both the mental and physical space to do so. As such this brings a valuable personal experience to reading the book as well. This is a really important piece of work at a really important time and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Very grateful to the authors and the teachers for writing it for us."Jim Noble, The International School of Tououse, Teacher, Author and Consultant"This is a very timely book, appearing as it does when educators across the globe are coming to terms with the jolt that has been felt in their world of learning and teaching. The authors offer a worldwide perspective on the effect of the pandemic upon them personally and professionally and on the way those they help to learn will experience a different form of relationship with learning in the future.Each chapter provides a stimulus for consideration: of aims, curriculum, pedagogy, personal organisation or future anticipated changes in these. The prompts are followed with prompts for reflection by the reader with the invitation to do things differently in the future.The analysis of the response to the pandemic in nations around the world is intriguing and the book takes us from the concern about what may have been lost to the prospect of opportunity while recognising the traditional inertia of the education culture and community.This is an illuminating book, a fascinating read and food for thought for all who want to be part of a global transformation of the power and practice of teaching."Professor Mick Waters, Centre for Developmental and Applied Research with Wolverhampton University, UK

• PrefaceAcknowledgementsSection 1: Setting the scene1 Introduction2 Educational aims and values for in the 21st century3 The contributors and the settings in which they workSection 2: Responding to the pandemic4 How the setting changed 5 How relationships with colleagues changed6 How relationships with learners changed7 How relationships with parents and the wider community changed8 The best ‘home-learning’ lesson9 What have learned from teaching under the pandemic?Section 3: Looking to the future10 Innovations that will persist11 A global vision for the future12 Entitlements for all learners