In an ideal professional learning community, you have an opportunity to fill knowledge gaps by collaborating with colleagues on a regular basis. You should never have to ask the “why” in isolation; if there is a clear, faculty-built curriculum map, standards and content are all there.

My conclusion, skoolboy, is that I agree with you a great deal, but strong instructional leadership providing structures for you to compensate for any specific inexperience is another factor in answering the question you raised about quality.

I’m currently interviewing for new positions and recently did 2 demo lessons. Demo Lesson 1 was a subject I knew reasonably well, but had never taught before; I spent a lot of time narrowing and researching the “what,” and had less time for the “how.” I did ok, not great. Demo Lesson 2 was a “what” I’d taught twice before, so I mainly concentrated on the “how” — that lesson got very good feedback all around.

So am I a very good teacher, or just an ok teacher? Surely some policymaker wants to know! But it seems to depend on context.