ABSTRACT
People aim for their pupils to be inspired, curious and questioning. They also expect the curriculum of school education to be based on facts, derived from a sound and reliable body of scientific evidence and wisdom, not the opinions of the few, or the fashions of the day. The classroom is not a predictable place. Teaching and sitting exams is sometimes unfavourably compared to a factory process, but as every teacher knows, there are far too many unpredictable events—from behaviour to pupil responses to interruptions—for it to be possible to plan or script everything to the letter. Education is subject to many misconceptions, and some aspects of human thinking and learning are not intuitive. Creativity is a good example—it is not immediately obvious what processes will lead to someone having a worthwhile creative idea. Teachers may feel that they can rely on their gut feeling, particularly after they have accumulated many years of classroom experience.
