ABSTRACT
Glaser and Bassock (1989) have suggested three essential components to the progress of research for a theory of instruction:
1 the description of competent performance that it is desired learners should acquire (in this tradition, investigation has relied quite heavily on the consideration of the child as novice and the teacher as expert, just as the investigation of teaching expertise has tended to focus on comparison of novice and expert teachers);
2 the analysis ofthe initial state of the learner's knowledge and ability (there is now a considerable knowledge base concerning the emergence of subject knowledge of young learners in a number of fields, (see, for instance, Aubrey, 1994); and
3 the explication of the process of learning, that is, the transition from initial state to desired state that can be accomplished in teaching contexts. (Advances in instructional psychology have begun to uncover the higher-order skills underlying basic curriculum areas, such as, problem solving, planning, reflecting, revising and eValuating.)
Aims
Competent Teaching Performance
Introduction
Whatever approach to instruction is adopted or conception of learning underpins classroom practice, teaching is a complex, cognitive activity with shifting, momentby-moment demands being made which result in a selection of, and reduction in the number and range of stimuli which can be handled at anyone time by the teacher (Doyle, 1986). This can lead both to modification of certain established teaching goals and the ignoring of some incoming data which cannot be adequately processed. Jackson (1968) has described this process as a simplification which does not necessarily render the teaching ineffective. Complexity can be reduced, for example, by the selection of only certain incoming information relating to the management and organization of children, from the arrangement of the classroom context to the progressive focusing on a narrower range of goals related to content presentation. If the demands on teaching from handling complex subject matter increase, for instance, this may result in a corresponding lowering of attention to, or management of complex interpretation of the needs of learners and their responses. Borko and Livingston (1990) noted that as the complexity of subject matter increases when children progress through school there may be a corresponding reduction of attention to personal and pedagogical issues. On the other hand, where the demands made by pupils are high, as is the case with young learners or children with special needs, some reduction of attention to subtlety in the presentation and management of subject content may occur.
