Education in 2025: The Shifts That Mattered
Tag: curriculum design
Old-School Teaching Techniques Are Back!
An article by Richard James Rogers (Award-Winning Author of The Quick Guide to Classroom Management and The Power of Praise: Empowering Students Through Positive Feedback)
Illustrated by Sutthiya Lertyongphati
Accompanying podcast episode:
For years, the narrative in education was clear: more technology means better learning. Classrooms filled with devices, digital textbooks replaced print, and innovation was measured in the number of screens a school could acquire.
Now, after a decade of high-tech experimentation, something fascinating is happening.
Teachers are rediscovering the power of traditional, low-tech methods. Not because they are nostalgic, but because research is proving that these approaches work. As Dylan Wiliam said,
“Not all innovations improve learning. Sometimes, the most effective tools are the simplest.” – Dylan Wiliam
The future of teaching might just look a little like the past.
1. Simplicity Improves Thinking
Too much digital stimulation can overload working memory and reduce focus. According to the Education Endowment Foundation (2020), simplifying lesson design leads to better learning outcomes, especially in problem solving subjects.
Sometimes a whiteboard and a pen allow deeper thinking than a touchscreen ever could.
2. Handwriting Helps Students Remember More
The research is clear: writing notes by hand improves memory and understanding.
“Writing by hand is a stronger cognitive process than typing.”
– Dr. Virginia Berninger
Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014) found that handwritten notes encourage students to summarise and process information, which boosts long-term recall.
3. Teacher-Led Instruction Works
Student autonomy can have a place in education (especially for older students), but explicit teaching often leads to stronger progress.
“Direct instruction is one of the most powerful teaching tools available to educators.”
– Barak Rosenshine
Reports from the Institute of Education Sciences (2018) show that clear modelling and guided practice significantly increase achievement in literacy and numeracy.
4. Retrieval Practice Builds Long-Term Knowledge
There is a reason that quizzes, tests and assessments are back with a vengeance.
“Testing is not a mere assessment tool. It is a learning event.”
– Henry L. Roediger III
Roediger and Karpicke (2006) found that retrieval practice produces far better retention than re-reading or highlighting.
Flashcards and low-stakes quizzes are not outdated. They are brain-friendly.
5. Balance Matters More Than Tech Integration
Digital tools can enhance learning, but they are not magic.
“Technology amplifies great teaching but cannot replace it.”
– John Hattie
Hattie’s Visible Learning meta-analyses (2018) reveal that teacher clarity has a much bigger impact on achievement than technology alone.
Tech is a support. Not the star of the show.
6. Routines Make Students Feel Safe
Predictability allows students to focus on learning rather than uncertainty.
“Structure creates freedom for students to learn.”
– Doug Lemov
Research by Lemov (2021) shows that routines reduce stress and waste less instructional time. Consider building routines for homework, lesson structures, topic reviews, journaling and anything else that may be appropriate.
7. Printed Text Creates Deeper Reading
Screens encourage quick scrolling. Paper encourages processing.
“Digital reading encourages skimming. Print encourages deep reading.”
– Dr Maryanne Wolf
A University of Maryland meta-analysis (2018) found that print improves comprehension, especially when reading for detail or analysis.
8. Human Connection Is the Ultimate Educational Technology
The best learning happens in positive relationships.
“A teacher’s relationship with students is the single biggest factor in classroom success.”
– Robert Marzano
Marzano (2003) found that strong teacher-student relationships equate to several additional months of learning per year.
9. Back to Basics Because Basics Matter
Employers are noticing that many young people lack essential skills.
“Foundational skills are not optional. They are prerequisites for advanced learning.”
– OECD Education Directorate
The OECD Skills Outlook (2021) reports global declines in basic numeracy and literacy. Schools are responding by emphasising phonics, fluency and vocabulary again.
10. Paper Helps Students Focus
Digital distraction is now one of the biggest challenges in education.
“Students today face unprecedented levels of distraction. Simpler tools help them concentrate.”
– Dr Larry Rosen
Common Sense Media (2022) reports that teens check their phones more than 100 times per day. A paper worksheet can feel like a break for their brains.
11. Blended Learning Works Best When it is Light on Tech
John Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory reminds us that unnecessary complexity restricts learning efficiency.
“Effective teaching is about the intentional selection of methods, not the novelty of tools.”
– John Sweller
The best classrooms blend traditional and digital strategies with purpose.
12. Old-School Methods Now Look Fresh and Innovative
There is a delightful irony in the fact that traditional methods feel new again.
“The future of learning is a balanced classroom where tradition and innovation work together.”
– Sir Ken Robinson
UNESCO (2021) recommends hybrid approaches that keep human interaction at the heart of learning while allowing technology to support, not dominate.
Final Thought
Old-school is not old-fashioned. It is evidence-based.
The lesson schools are learning today is simple: The best methods are the ones that help students think deeply, connect with others, and remember what they learn.
Oftentimes that means closing the laptop and opening a notebook.
Bibliography and References
- Common Sense Media (2022) Social Media, Social Life: Teens Reveal Their Experiences. San Francisco: Common Sense Media.
- Education Endowment Foundation (2020) Cognitive Load: Using Instructional Approaches to Reduce Learners Mental Burden. London: EEF.
- Hattie, J. (2018) Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 1,400 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. London: Routledge.
- Institute of Education Sciences (2018) What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Reports. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
- Lemov, D. (2021) Teach Like a Champion 3.0. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Marzano, R.J. (2003) What Works in Schools: Translating Research into Action. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. - Mueller, P.A. and Oppenheimer, D.M. (2014) The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking. Psychological Science, 25(6), pp.1159 to 1168.
- OECD (2021) OECD Skills Outlook. Paris: OECD Publishing.
- Roediger, H.L. and Karpicke, J.D. (2006) Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests Improves Long-Term Retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), pp.249 to 255.
- Sweller, J. (2019) Cognitive Load Theory and Educational Technology. Educational Technology Research and Development, 67(2), pp.507 to 528.
- University of Maryland (2018) Print vs Digital Reading: A Meta-Analysis on Comprehension. College Park: UMD.
- Wiliam, D. (2016) Leadership for Teacher Learning. West Palm Beach, FL: Learning Sciences International.
- Wolf, M. (2018) Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World. New York: HarperCollins.
- UNESCO (2021) Futures of Education: Learning to Become. Paris: UNESCO.
Back to Basics: How to Set a Summative Assessment
An article by Richard James Rogers (Award-Winning Author of The Quick Guide to Classroom Management and The Power of Praise: Empowering Students Through Positive Feedback). This blog post has been beautifully illustrated by Pop Sutthiya Lertyongphati.
Welcome to this first ever blog post in the Back to Basics series: a collection of articles designed to get straight to the point and offer advice that you can implement in the classroom right away.
In today’s piece, I’ll be sharing my tips on how to set a summative test for your students. These tips are based on more than twenty years of secondary school teaching experience so pay attention: all of what I’m about to share was learned through painful, long and arduous trial-and-error.
Tip #1: Always Give Your Students a Topic List to Study From
If your students don’t know what’s going to come up on the test, then how can they study or revise for it? It seems like such simple advice, doesn’t it? Yet, too many teachers are telling students that “You have a test on what we’ve covered so far”, or that “I’ll give you a test on Unit 1”, without explicitly telling the children which sub-topics, or content areas, in “Unit X’ or ‘what we’ve covered so far’ will be tested.
The bottom line is that you must give your students a list of what they need to revise. This could be as simple as writing a list of topics on the whiteboard for them to copy into their books, or sharing the topic list on their VLE (e.g. Google Classroom, Firefly, Moodle, Managebac, and so on).
Pro tip (next level): Don’t simply share the official syllabus or specification with he students. Even older children need the course content broken down into ‘kid friendly’ language. Make the topic list understandable, and accessible.
Testing Tip #2: Give Your Students Advance Warning
Setting a test the next day, or the next lesson, simply isn’t fair. Don’t you remember when you were in school? Didn’t you need time to study for a test?
Give your students advance notice that a test is happening. The bigger the test, the more time for revision will be needed. Small, end of unit tests may only require a week of advance notice to be given to the students, for example. Larger tests, such as mid-terms, end-of-term, or end of year exams may require a month or more of advance warning. Have you shared the topic list in advance too? You need to!
Testing Tip #3: ALL Summative Assessments MUST Come With Official Answers
These ‘marking schemes’ could be pulled from past-exam papers (if you’re building a test from such questions), textbooks, online question banks, rubrics, or (if you’re struggling to find resources), even an official marking scheme you’ve written yourself.
They key thing to remember here is that your students will need to know where they’ve messed up when the exam is finished, and how they could have scored better. This can only happen if there is an official set of ‘model answers’ that can be given to the students once the test has been marked and feedback has been given.
Some teachers are scared of providing marking schemes in case the students find out that they’ve not been awarded a mark or two when they should have been. Please don’t worry: slightly inaccurate marking is something that all teachers make the mistake of doing from time-to-time. I’ve been teaching for more than twenty years and I still sometimes miss marks that should have been awarded. Having an official marking scheme is actually really good for this purpose: it keeps you and your students accountable, engaged in the learning process and invested in making progress.
Testing Tip #4: Feedback Must be Timely and Specific
You suddenly find yourself with stacks of exam papers to mark, a full timetable to teach and no time to get everything done. I get it. I’ve been there many times.
Somehow, however, you’ve got to get that feedback to the chidlren as soon as you can. Feedback that is delayed is less useful because students forget the details, lose context, or have moved on. Immediate or prompt feedback allows students to make corrections while the material is still fresh.
Several studies argue that delaying feedback reduces its impact. In a study by Vattøy et al. (2021), for example, it was shown that feedback should be “provided timely, extensively, and cumulatively”.
Testing Tip #5: Use Tests for Target Setting
This is probably the one step that the overwhelming majority of teachers forget to action. Once a test is finished, and feedback is given, we tend to forget about it and never revisit it.
This is a huge mistake and a massive loss of both leverage and educational capital.
In a previous blog post entitled Using Data to Empower Students, I described how we, as teachers, are generally very good at collecting data but we are often unsure what to do with that data once it’s collected.
The answer is simple: students need to reflect on their assessments and create personal targets (and the teacher needs to know what those targets are). This could be as simple as the students writing targets on the front of the completed paper, with the teacher then taking a photograph of those targets before inputting them into a spreadsheet.
Then comes the real magic! Before the next test, be sure to ask each student “What’s your target for this test?”, or “What targets did you write down last time?”. Ask these questions often: you’ll be amazed at how powerful they can be!
Bibliography and References
Vattøy, K-D., Gamlem, S. M. & Rogne, W. M. (2021) Examining students’ feedback engagement and assessment experiences: a mixed study. Studies in Higher Education, 46(11), pp. 2325-2337. doi:10.1080/03075079.2020.1723523
