New blog! ‘The Teachers’ knowledge that has no name’. What should we call this knowledge? heatherfblog.wordpress.com/2025/02/23/t... With special thanks to @michaelfordham.bsky.social - ThreadSky

heatherbellaf.bsky.social • 53 days ago

New blog! ‘The Teachers’ knowledge that has no name’.

What should we call this knowledge?

https://heatherfblog.wordpress.com/2025/02/23/the-teachers-knowledge-that-has-no-name/

With special thanks to @michaelfordham.bsky.social

Comments

rufuswilliam.bsky.social•53 days ago

Excellent - thanks

greeborunner.bsky.social•52 days ago

I always go with curriculum content knowledge. It needs to be rooted in those parameters as subject alone is huge and unwieldy. Getting the detailed knowledge of curriculum first is a massive but important step we can then hang much on.

heatherbellaf.bsky.social•52 days ago

Makes sense.

kirstiemurray.bsky.social•52 days ago

A super blog. Even before you got to it at the end, I was mindful of ITTs who don’t have/ can’t possibly have this knowledge.

Knowing when to *really* emphasize the nuanced meaning of Archbishop in a lesson on medieval saints, because it come up again three weeks later in Norman Conquest matters

heatherbellaf.bsky.social•52 days ago

It does so matter!

doctorpreece.bsky.social•52 days ago

Schematic knowledge? Links to the idea of how you connect the points and in what order?

heatherbellaf.bsky.social•52 days ago

Yes. I liked that. Colleagues wanted something with the sense of 'journey' in it.

mrmountstevens.bsky.social•52 days ago

It's not really a catchy term, but I think of it as deconstruction expertise because it's the ability to reverse engineer your composite area of specialism into component parts so they can be built up again in a student's mind.

mrmountstevens.bsky.social•52 days ago

It's conspicuously absent from the sort of thing non-teaching experts have a tendency to say when they feel the need to pronounce on curriculum and pedagogy.

mrmountstevens.bsky.social•52 days ago

Mind you, it's important to bear in mind that no two routes to specialist expertise are identical, so I don't think we can just assume that breaking down our own thought patterns and trying to transmit them to students will lead to them making meaning in the same way.

heatherbellaf.bsky.social•52 days ago

I like 'deconstruction' in that it describes the process as well as the intended knowledge coming from that deconstruction. I do think we need a useful and intuitive term for *what* knowledge is arrived at via this process.

mrmountstevens.bsky.social•52 days ago

You mean detailed knowledge of the deconstructed map? That's the bit I'm a little more sceptical about - the idea that a single map would be the ideal version for everyone. I see it as more of a dynamic thing, although it may exist more for some subjects. But perhaps I'm misunderstanding you.

heatherbellaf.bsky.social•52 days ago

Yes, I'd say it depends on the subject asto how many roads might lead to Rome. I guess my point isn't about what variety in component content might be considered a route to expertise (though a fruitful discussion). Here I'm making a simpler point that such knowledge is a necessity for teachers.

isaacmoore7.bsky.social•53 days ago

Excellent post. I call the knowledge ‘curriculum progression knowledge’. I think this is why co-planning is important…to equalise this knowledge across classrooms.

heatherbellaf.bsky.social•52 days ago

Yep!

emmaturner75.bsky.social•52 days ago

I talk about knowledge ‘of’ a subject - how it fits together, common misconceptions, great examples of explanations, linear elements, cumulative elements, age/stage expectations, what success looks like inc diff between surface level and deep learning, key knowledge and core proficiencies.

heatherbellaf.bsky.social•52 days ago

All these sound good!

missdcox.bsky.social•53 days ago

Thanks for this. Really interesting especially in the light of the RE community which has many teachers with other specialisms.

heatherbellaf.bsky.social•52 days ago

Yes agree. It's funny how far it is taken for granted that teachers will know what pupils need to learn, step by step, when there is no good reason to presume they will.

hannahpinkham.bsky.social•52 days ago

Yes. And often, when you drill down into this (even with experienced teachers), it isn't articulated as well as you might hope.

heatherbellaf.bsky.social•52 days ago

Yes.

dafyddhumphreys.bsky.social•52 days ago

Your final bit on the importance of co-planning highlights why schools serious about curriculum and T&L need to devote as much time as possible to subject team meetings, and to ensure 90% of the time is spent discussing it (and not ESPO, data, behaviour, and other ephemeral asides)

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