I picked up this 1937 Teachers Quarterly for a $1 at a market over the summer. It was really for a bit of a laugh to read and look at how much had changed.

But I was a little surprised to see that after all these years, educators are continuing to send the same messages. And it appears, policy writers are reluctant to listen.

I think the main difference is that this article was written for teachers with a want to change them. Now teachers are very familiar with less talk, more learning. Sadly it a message we try to get through to our government who are supporting teaching as “telling” through their advocacy of programs such as direct explicit instruction.

As education continues to become a valuable market where NAPLAN results are the currency, educators are having to defend pedagogies and their knowledge of how learning occurs.

And this is likely to become even more extreme as we hand over education to private businesses with discussion turning to Australian versions of Charter Schools.