Overcoming the hurdles of non-specialism

When I first started teaching, I trained as a languages teacher. This required me to teach two foreign languages and, as my degree is in Law and German, I spent a large amount of my PGCE improving my French. Often, even though I had all the Powerpoint presentations, laminated flashcards and differentiated worksheets possible, I felt woefully unprepared for lessons. Despite the stress it caused, I thought this was normal; after all, teachers are “teachers of pupils, not subjects” and surely, if pupils didn’t know anything in the real world, they could just look it up on the internet? By that logic, it made no difference to the quality of my teaching that my subject knowledge was often sub-par.

It may have only been five years since I trained. However, my perspective has changed seismically. On the surface, it looks as though I should still see myself as a teacher of pupils rather than subjects: I am now a humanities teacher and, although I teach history at GCSE (a subject in which I have an A level), I mainly teach Key Stage 3 geography. However, I am now a proud convert to knowledge based school of thought when it comes to education. If pupils only know concepts in abstract, how are they supposed to be able to apply them or manipulate them? Further, if I am the person delivering this content, surely I need to know it in depth in order to allow pupils to gain more than a surface understanding?

This change in department and perspective obviously caused a bit of a dilemma: how can I teach content to the same standard as subject specialists if I am not a subject specialist? I don’t feel as though I have fully solved this problem. However, using three main strategies, I have reached the point where I am confident allowing my students’ work to be used as models within other UL schools and where a member of the GA reacted with disbelief when I told her I was not a subject specialist.

1. Using and writing knowledge organisers:

I am a passionate advocate of knowledge organisers as a tool of inclusion and a teaching tool. (http://thepassionatelyboringteacher.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/knowledge-organisers-good-bad-and-ugly.html)  However, they have an added bonus as a non-specialist: for the last two years, I have written the knowledge organisers for year 8 and 9 geography. Writing something with a purpose which requires me to translate often complex concepts into accessible language is a fantastic method to build subject knowledge. These documents are quality assured by a subject specialist, which also prompts incredibly useful conversations about the nuances of different topics and how they can be extended for pupils in lessons.

2. Sharing resources within departments:

Though it often feels like it, no teacher is an island. When I first arrived in humanities, I felt adrift. However, by borrowing resources from other members of staff and discussing them with them, my confidence quickly grew and I built bridges with experts who could help my build my own subject knowledge. Concerning this step, I think it was actually the discussion rather than the resource itself which was truly beneficial: I can vividly remember trying to teach one of my first geography lessons about the structure of settlements by taking a lesson off the system and teaching it straight away. On one slide, I was confronted with a picture of a horse with no further explanation. Needless to say, that portion of the lesson was not taught well or in the way it was originally intended.

3. Using faculty meetings to build subject knowledge:

Early in my teaching career, I seriously considered buying a “I survived a meeting which should have been an email” mug to drink during faculty meetings. They felt like largely administrative affairs which did little to develop me as a teacher. However, two years ago, these meetings changed; our head of department turned most Wednesday afternoons into an exercise in developing the pedagogy and subject knowledge of the department. Often, this meant that subject specialists taught a mini-session on a topic which other teachers were due to teach. This benefitted me massively; not only did I have the chance to learn from and ask questions to an expert, but I also learned teaching techniques and methods which I could use to overcome common misconceptions.

Being a non-specialist does award me an advantage: when learning about new topics, I often encounter and have to overcome misconceptions which the pupils are likely to face, allowing me to plan around them effectively. However, I am a teacher of geography and history and I have the obligation to have the best subject knowledge possible to teach those subjects well. To an extent this could be achieved via CPD days and direct training. However, in reality, these are few and far between and are not tailored to taught content. Day to day, I believe the best way to overcome the hurdles of teaching outside of specialism is to embrace knowledge organisers and the expertise of others in the department.

Rebecca Sayers

For more information contact Rebecca at Nova Hreod Academy admin@novahreodacademy.org.uk