Have current methods of classroom teaching served their day? Could teaching be improved by replacing today's classroom system with more flexible alternative? What might these alternatives involve?
Speaking at the University of Dundee this Saturday evening, Donald McIntyre, Professor of Education at Cambridge University, will address these questions in response to a growing movement which believes that current classroom teaching methods should be updated or replaced with systems that meet the needs of modern society.
Factors such as the now- widespread use of computers, calculators and televisions in teaching have brought different influences into the classroom and altered the way children access knowledge. The socialisation role of the school, the classroom and the teacher are also open to question as society's expectations of education alter. This has raised questions about how well the system is suited to educating modern children. Dr McIntyre's lecture will include an exploration of possible alternatives to current methods, and a radical reappraisal of the teacher's role.
He said, "It may be unreasonable to expect schoolteachers to absorb successfully all the increasing demands on them while working within the framework of a classroom system that was developed at the time of the industrial revolution. It has been suggested that the classroom teaching system is a simple one to manage but that life in classrooms is complex. Experienced teachers develop an expertise very well suited to dealing with this complexity, but they must be selective about how they attend to the variety of activities that are taking place in the classroom."
Tomorrow's lecture is part of the University's popular Saturday evening public lecture programme. Speakers are invited from all over the UK and are selected for their expertise in a diversity of fields. Other guests in this term's series include Michael Aston, Professor in Landscape Archaeology and Margaret Alexander, Professor of Nursing at Glasgow Caledonian University.
The lecture takes place in the Tower Extension Lecture Theatre, Tower Building, at 7pm on Saturday, January 18. Entry is free.
By Jane Smernicki, Press Officer 01382 344768 j.m.smernicki@dundee.ac.uk