ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a number of pieces of research into teaching, carried out over a number of years and conducted in Britain and the United States. The Study of Teaching (1974) which reviews something in the region of 500 studies, both field surveys and experimental research, of various aspects of teacher effectiveness. The chapter gives a detailed consideration to a number of programmes of research into aspects of teacher and student behaviour. The progress of the children in the different classrooms was measured in three areas (English, reading, maths) over the period of the research by means of standardised tests used at the beginning and end of the period. The research methods employed included systematic observation, impressionistic descriptions of classrooms, reference to timetables, and questionnaires. It is clear from the evidence that what is being done by way of empirical research is inadequate to tell anything secure and important about how teachers ought to proceed in the classroom.
