impact on learner achievement. Hattie’s 2012 follow-up book, Visible Learning for Teachers, offered practical teaching strategies and, for many, these two books (and Hattie’s other publications in the Visible Learning series) promise to take the guesswork out of teaching. Controversy was never far away because, in equal measure, his work confirmed and confounded many teachers’ long-held views on what made a material difference to learning outcomes. For instance, the single most powerful factor affecting student achievement is the collective belief of teachers that they can make a positive difference. Common sense perhaps, but the effect size (1.39) is enormous and surely helps to underline the power of a professional community of practice. Meanwhile, things like technology, homework and mentoring have low effect sizes, meaning that, at least in isolation, they appear to do little for learning outcomes. “I wanted to change the debate from ‘watching a teacher’ to ‘watching the impact of a teacher’. I want to change the debate from ‘what works’ (to which the answer is ‘almost everything’) to ‘what works best’,” says Hattie who is laureate professor of education at the University of Melbourne.
He readily admits that effectively scoring different teaching strategies initially led some people to fixate on strategies with high effect sizes, above 0.4, as educational silver bullets, potentially overshadowing the richer learning to be had from the book. Hattie is clear that his work offers no ‘off-the-peg’ teaching strategies guaranteeing results. For Hattie, teachers and teacher expertise are at the heart of a successful education system.
His well-known affirmation, “know thy impact”, was designed to capture the central role educators have to play in turning statistical measures into meaningful education. “Visible Learning is a departure point. It makes recommendations for worthwhile journeys, and invites appraisal of the value of the investment and choice in intervention,” he says.
“The fundamental factor that makes the difference is teachers: how they evaluate decisions about impact; what they mean by impact; how many students enjoy this impact; and the magnitude of this impact. “Too often professional educators like to deny their
expertise, giving credit to the students, the parents, the resources, the policies. “No, it is their expertise. Understand it, privilege it, upscale it. Otherwise the amateurs are taking over.” Hattie recommends teachers and trainers use a four- stage process of diagnosis, intervention, implementation and evaluation. Diagnosis refers to what the teacher is trying to achieve. Only then should a decision be made about the sort of intervention, or interventions, required. Evaluation of the interventions and their impact is crucial. “In this process there is no one right answer, no one right teaching method. The evidence sought, interpreted and approached by the educators (and students) in the school or college is paramount, and this can be so variable,” Hattie says. Other critics have questioned the suitability of
Hattie’s statistical approach based on meta-analyses (akin to taking averages of averages) to an activity as complex and situational as teaching and learning. Hattie is currently writing a paper that will identify as many criticisms of Visible Learning as possible and will provide reactions, agreements and comments. “A lot of criticisms show that the authors have not kept up with my subsequent writings and studies, and quite often fail to heed my own critique in the writings,” he says. In a generous act of academic openness Hattie says he would welcome anyone who wants to reinterpret his findings, and that he will soon release all the relevant data to facilitate this work. Hattie says he has been surprised and humbled by the success of Visible Learning, which has sold more than a million copies (Visible Learning was his tenth book and his total now stands at just short of 40). He quips that his first book in 1984 (about three-mode factor analysis) is still in print, as the publishers printed 200 copies and they are all yet to be sold.
Hattie spends much of his time travelling the world on speaking engagements and visiting schools and colleges. His research has been developed into a professional learning system, Visible Learning Plus, which is maintained by the Visible Learning Partnership, a collaboration between Hattie and Corwin, a professional learning provider.
He is also chair of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), which is equivalent to the UK’s Education and Training Foundation (ETF). AITSL develops and maintains the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (and for school leaders), which teachers need to meet to be registered practitioners. Hattie believes that professional standards for teachers must be backed by assessment and a regulated structure. He thinks that the Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers in England should be part of a system of national regulation of teaching. “The answer is not less professional development, it is more shared evaluations of that development as to its impact on the beliefs of educators and the consequences on students’ learning and experiences,” he adds. Hattie, now 69, has reduced his hours at the University of Melbourne to half, and soon to zero. But it would be a mistake to assume this heralds an immediate switch to tending the garden and spending days watching cricket, a sport he loves. Hattie has a number of books and projects in the pipeline, including Visible Learning for Parents (with his son Kyle Hattie, a teacher) and Visible Learning: Guide to Achievement.
He also plans to continue working with PhD students (he has supervised more than 200 doctoral students) and university colleagues, and to continue spreading the word about Visible Learning. But he does concede that there will be more time for himself – he had a brief career as a music teacher and plans to return to music (the piano and clarinet) – and for his family, including his grandchildren. “I’m probably a bit of a failed retiree already, but I’m
loving it,” he says. For a list of interventions and their effect sizes visit
bit.ly/EffectSizeChart
inTUITION ISSUE 36 • SUMMER 2019 11
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