What are the benefits and downsides to copycat Powerpoint templates in classrooms?
I used to line-manage a successful secondary school English department. All its teachers taught the exact PowerPoint for nine, year 11 classes, at the same time, every lesson …
Imagine that? Minion teachers working in sequence.
As with everything in education, context is key. There will be advantages and disadvantages to the above scenario.
All teaching ideas work somewhere …
In the above example, 75% of pupils were pupil premium, the school was incredibly challenging, and the school (as well as the large English department) faced high mobility; 10-20 per cent staff turnover each academic year. Put simply? It was a tough place to teach, and a hard place to find great teachers and keep them for a long period.
I always reflect on some of the ‘departing’ feedback from some of the teachers in this department. They were highly experienced, exceptional teachers. It forms a small part of the discourse I use in my teacher training sessions – that teaching is a team sport.
During exit interviews, when these brilliant teachers were moving on to new horizons, I kept hearing that they felt that they had ‘lost their autonomy’. As experienced teachers develop a high degree of phronesis, making professional decisions provides many with a justified reason to stay in teaching. Take this away, and our professional experiences and expertise can be stifled.
We should also acknowledge that some teachers may face severe consequences for refusing (or going off) – slides.
“That wouldn’t work in my school!”
Across education Twitter, you will see ‘moral outrage’ as the profession divides itself between ‘in favour’ or ‘strongly against’ being told what to teach, when and how. I know because I have also held the same feelings too. We undoubtedly associate many things we observe with our experiences and perspective.
It’s easy for us all to say, “That wouldn’t work in my school!” without understanding why something is implemented.
I thought it would be worth suggesting some good reasons why any school or department/year team leader should want to consider (at times) why their teaching staff teach the same materials at any given time.
This may be more acceptable now that teachers are exposed more to ideas online, but there will be others who are still surprised or unsure why teaching the same content as someone next door to them would be a good idea!
7 good reasons why
- Curriculum: Assuming detailed, coherent and differentiated plans are in place, highly organised middle leaders can ensure content can be updated and tweaked to match student cohorts. After all, if the curriculum (syllabus) is incorrectly planned, your teaching staff and student population will soon vote with their feet.
- Exam preparation: As a middle leader, I knew I wanted to ensure that all my teachers were fully equipped to meet exam specification standards, and that all the students across the year group were receiving key information. By providing other teachers, including new and inexperienced teachers with this information, my preparations would have supported them and their students.
- Moderation: Delivering the same content allows middle leaders to monitor the quality of work produced, whether high stakes or low stake completion of work. This is also ideal for informing how much material is taught, how it is completed, and its impact on progress. More importantly, it allows you to review your curriculum intentions and how it is implemented.
- Assessment: Couple with the points above, the assessment process – low-stakes quizzing, assessment windows – and progress monitoring ensures a team have a more secure picture of the students’ learning – and what needs to happen next.
- Behaviour: If we get all of the above right, and I’m not saying ‘Powerpoint templates for all’ is the reason to achieve all of the above – whether streaming, sets or mixed ability, the delivery of standardised content. Seeking consistency enables middle leaders to evaluate what support teachers and students need. Targeting delivery helps teams establish if the content is pitched correctly (see no. 1), and if it meets the learning and emotional needs of the class (see no. 3 and 4).
- Workload: This has to be one of the most important reasons for providing teachers with resources. Whether you agree or not if everybody should teach the same material at any one time is a separate point. Nobody could argue that being provided with resources for a teacher to use, is not reducing workload and making life better for others. There is equally an argument for wanting individual teachers to adapt the templated lessons provided.
- Teaching and learning: If we can get coherent plans and resources in place, and monitor how they are being delivered and received, then we can begin to unlock good teaching and learning through quality assurance in observations, book looks and conversations with staff and students.
Get your curriculum plans right, followed by behaviour culture, then good teaching and learning can happen!
Knowing a little more about the cognitive science behind effective Powerpoint design – and how to deliver the content – also adds significant value. Whether asking all teachers to deliver the same material at any one time, context is key …
