Let's create outstanding teachers, not wait for them to come along

At our evening meal yesterday I was having a good chat with my 13 yr old daughter about the teachers she finds inspiring.  She conceded that about three out of her dozen or so meet her criteria for inspiring.

I've been reading Bounce by Matthew Syed, which makes a convincing argument that strong motivation, hard work and sustained application are much more reliable predictors of outstanding performance than innate talent.

My daughter's face came alive when talking about her inspiring teachers; she looks forward to their lessons, makes really good progress and works hard for them.

And then she talks about her un-inspiring teachers.

The difference is stark.

If Syed is right - and the evidence he offers suggests that he is - then we need to motivate teachers much more, so that they have a sustained desire to be outstanding and inspiring.  Great teachers are NOT born.  They have somehow learned to be brilliant.  Let's determine that all good teachers will become outstanding within the next year.  The school I visited last week, Lampton Academy in Hounslow, has written its own teaching standards to try and ensure that all teachers reach mastery level.  I love it.

Really I just want more (well, all, actually) of my daughter's teachers to be inspiring.

But wouldn't it be amazing if we could make it so that all of the teachers in our nation's classrooms were inspiring.

An impossible dream?