Teacher Understanding Should Be More Than Academics

The Importance of Teacher Understanding

Over the past few years, I have continued to advocate for the importance of teacher understanding. In my view, it is the single most significant factor affecting the achievement of our learners. Unfortunately, in the current pressure cooker of curriculum development, building genuine teacher understanding—which takes time—has too often been replaced by reliance on scripted programmes.

Scripted programmes are not inherently negative. In fact, they can serve as training wheels, providing structure and support until teachers gain confidence. The real risk, however, is that those training wheels never come off. In a climate where teachers are overwhelmed by constant change, there is a danger that these programmes become the only way we teach, rather than a temporary scaffold.

Teacher Understanding: More Than Just Academics

Teacher understanding should not be limited to academic content. Don’t get me wrong—I absolutely believe teachers must understand the cognitive process of learning, and how we commit important information to long-term memory. I’ve written before about the Principles of Teaching and Learning, and these should absolutely be part of every teacher’s foundation. However, if we are to achieve true success for ALL our children, teacher understanding must go further.

The Role of Wellbeing in Learning

Understanding wellbeing is just as important as understanding the learning process itself. In fact, I would argue that knowing how learning happens is insufficient if we overlook the complexity of student wellbeing—especially in classrooms across Aotearoa, where social inequality is so apparent.

All teachers should be trained in understanding trauma and its impacts, and should have a good grasp of the Neurosequential Model in Education. Understanding how stress and trauma affect the brain is absolutely crucial when interacting with children. Many of our students come to school in a heightened state, where the feeling of safety is elusive. In this state, learning simply isn’t possible.

Understanding Child Development

Many of our youngest students arrive at school chronologically five years old, but developmentally only two or three. Teacher understanding of child development is therefore critical. Teachers need to know how to lay solid foundations for later academic learning. We must understand how early experiences shape a child’s development, and recognise that many children have experienced high adversity with low relational support.

If a child has strong relational supports, adversity can be managed; without them, adversity can significantly affect brain development. Teachers need to know where to start with each child, and how to build a web of relational supports—a therapeutic web, if you like. Being developmentally sensitive means recognising that some children will not have had the right experiences or relationships to be “ready” for school.

This video is a good watch.

Regulate–Relate–Reason: A Model for Interaction

An understanding of the regulate–relate–reason model is vital—not just in our interactions with students, but also in understanding our own responses. If we are dysregulated ourselves, we cannot help a child to regulate. To support children positively, we must first regulate ourselves, then relate, before we can access the cortex and gain understanding about what is really happening. The beauty of this is that it applies to all of us: in a state of stress, none of us can deal with situations in a reasonable or thoughtful way.

Supporting Neurodivergent Learners

Understanding our neurodivergent learners is another essential part of our teacher kete. Creating environments and responding in ways that enable success for these learners is vital. Too often, a lack of understanding leads to highly charged situations that could easily have been avoided.

Relationships Are at the Heart of Our Work

I know there will be people who read this and roll their eyes, saying loudly that we are not social workers or therapists and that this is not part of our job. But that is where they are mistaken. We may not be social workers or therapists, but we are in the business of relationships. The very nature of our job is social. Ignoring how the brain works and how we are shaped as individuals is ignoring a fundamental part of our work.

Teaching the Whole Child

It is not enough to understand how to teach. We must deeply understand who we are teaching. These two things are inextricably linked. Without both, many of our learners will not flourish.