Sir, – William Reville's article on the effectiveness of whole-class instruction was a fresh reminder that just because it comes from the past doesn't mean it is all bad ("The reason why modern teaching methods don't work", March 2nd). I am sure there are plenty of new-agey objectors whose more politically correct approach to teaching, often backed up by something they call "the research", gives them the warm glow that their magical teaching methods trump the "industrial model".
The real truth of the matter is that there is no one magic method of teaching nor one magic method of assessment, despite the current hype, and no educator worth their salt would suggest otherwise. Anyone who tells you different is trying to sell you something. – Yours, etc,
PETER LYDON,
Clondalkin,
Dublin 22.
Sir, – William Reville’s understanding of the role of the teacher in the classroom is simplistic and reductionist. Prof Reville supports a clinical view of teaching as a well-defined cognitive practice. Not for him the messiness of social and emotional human growth and development of the average teenager! It is as if the student presents to the teacher with some kind of deficit, a type of illness, which the teacher must diagnose accurately and cure using appropriate evidence. However, this clinical model is contested by educational philosophers and theorists who argue that teaching is in fact a complex, organic, living system that is seeking to educate the young person to discover their own talents, be the best person they can become in an uncertain future and play their part in building the type of society needed for a sustainable planet. Yes, we need science and technical competence to do this well. But we also need the moral and ethical framing of a holistic education, otherwise we are in danger of creating a cognitive monster! – Yours, etc,
Dr GERALDINE
MOONEY SIMMIE,
Lecturer in Education,
University of Limerick.