Steven Watson: Reforming teaching: a social cognitive perspective

Teachers learn by watching great teachers: A response to the Secretary of State for Education’s espoused theory of professional learningSince the beginnings of compulsory secondary education in England, questions have been asked about the general attainment level of those leaving education. In order to improve standards, there have been increasing numbers of initiatives aimed at improving the quality of teaching. These have been in the form of stronger accountability and in professional development. Perhaps no more attention has been given to any other subject as it has to the teaching of mathematics. In this lecture, I consider how we might go about developing the quality of mathematics teaching through professional development. I draw on the evidence of my recent research. The research is based on a four-year mixed methods embedded multiple case study involving four secondary school mathematics departments participating in a professional development programme. From this I propose a