SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT

Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses

The latest addition to our lending library is Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement by John Hattie. Professor Hattie, a Professor of Education at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, wanted to make sense of the hundreds of thousands of education studies with their often-conflicting conclusions, and so he decided to synthesize more than 800 education meta-analyses (studies that convert the effects of multiple studies to a common measure, allowing the overall effects to be quantified). 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Dr. Hattie basically found that good teachers/teaching are hugely important and potentially influential, and he listed six signposts of excellence. Here's one of them: "Teachers need to be aware of what each and every student is thinking and knowing, to construct meaning and meaningful experiences in light of this knowledge, and have proficient knowledge and understanding of their content to provide meaningful and appropriate feedback such that each student moves progressively through the curriculum levels." I would be happy to copy out the other five signposts on request.

Importantly, Dr. Hattie found that teachers' working conditions have much less influence on achievement when compared to good teaching.

 d        TEACHING

0,77     Quality of teaching
0.74     Reciprocal teaching
0.72     Teacher-student relationships
0.72     Providing feedback
0.67     Teaching student self-verbalization
0.67     Meta-cognition strategies
0.59     Direct Instruction
0.57     Mastery learning

                 0.68      Average

           WORKING CONDITIONS

0.28     Within-class grouping
0.23     Adding more finances
0.21     Reducing class size
0.11     Ability grouping
0.04     Multi-grade/age classes
0.01     Open versus traditional classes
-0.09    Summer vacation classes
-0.16    Retention

                 0.08      Average