Teacher Judgement and Teacher Effectiveness

Résumé

Sanders' recent argument that differences in teacher behavior do not have any significant effect on levels of student achievement is flawed. His criticisms of research into teacher effectiveness are cogent but apply no less to the research into social factors that he cites to support his view. It is argued that what is really being revealed is the inevitable inadequacy of empirical research for contributing to knowledge of cause and effect in the classroom. Consequently, teacher education should concentrate more on developing conceptual finesse to enable teachers to judge for themselves what they should do in the classroom and to treat empirical research more skeptically.