Becoming an Expert Teacher

Becoming an Expert Teacher equips educators with the attitudes, skills, and practices they need to reach their full potential and profoundly impact students’ lives. A wealth of research has confirmed the powerful influence high-quality teaching has on student learning and achievement. But what does expert teaching actually look like, how do we begin to define and measure it let alone develop it? This informative and inspirational book distills evidence-informed principles of effective instruction into clear, actionable insights while motivating teachers to commit to the science and craft of expertise. Drawing on evidence from cognitive science, teacher-effectiveness research, and the study of expert performance, the authors show how great teaching is developed—not simply through experience alone, but through purposeful improvement over time.

Teachers tend to grow in their practice along three main routes: classroom experience, professional development, and deliberate practice. Experience and professional learning matter, but do not reliably lead to sustained expertise. Over time, growth can slow as routines stabilise. Expert teachers continue to improve through a different path. They engage in deliberate practice: intentional work on specific instructional decisions, refined through feedback and evidence of student learning.

Rather than settle for basic competencies and checklists of techniques, readers will gain a deeper understanding of what expert teachers do differently, how they think about teaching and learning, and what they need to do to become expert teachers.