Explicit instruction (or direct instruction) is a teaching method whereby the teacher tells students what to do and shows them how to do it. The education researcher John Hattie notes: 鈥楾he teacher decides the learning intentions and success criteria, makes them transparent to the students, demonstrates them by modeling, evaluates if they understand what they have been told by checking for understanding, and re-telling them what they have been told by tying it all together with closure鈥�1. It contrasts with the constructivist (or discovery-based / enquiry-based) teaching method, whereby students construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world through experiential learning.
Over the past few decades there has been a move away from explicit instruction, which has been derided by some as outdated 鈥榗halk and talk鈥�. Advocates of the constructivist teaching method argue that the teacher should be the more modern 鈥樚切膙log at the side鈥� rather than the traditional 鈥榮age on the stage鈥�. But, thank goodness, the tables are turning. A significant and growing body of research is showing that explicit instruction is far superior to the constructivist method as a form of teaching. Hattie states plainly that although constructivist enquiry may be 鈥榓 form of knowledge,鈥 form of teaching鈥t ain鈥檛鈥�.2 Hattie鈥檚 opinion is supported by a 2014 Sutton Trust report that reviewed over 200 pieces of research, concluding that 鈥榚nthusiasm for 鈥渄iscovery learning鈥� is not supported by research evidence, which broadly favours direct instruction鈥�. It noted that 鈥榠f teachers want [students] to learn new ideas, knowledge or methods they need to teach them directly鈥�.3
So I was delighted to read a recent NSW Government paper entitled 鈥楥ognitive Load Theory: Research that teachers really need to understand.鈥�4 In short, the paper discusses the importance of short-term (or working) and long-term memory to cognitive load, and the implications this has for learning and therefore teaching. It notes that cognitive load theory 鈥榩rovides theoretical and empirical support for explicit models of instruction鈥� because explicit instruction 鈥榓ccords with how human brains learn most effectively鈥�. It is heartening to see the government advocating explicit instruction as a teaching method and, moreover, outlining clearly why it is superior to the constructivist teaching method. The report also gives several examples of explicit instructional techniques that can be used in the classroom. All our heads of department have a copy of this report.
Perhaps one reason the NSW government has published this report is to try to stem Australia鈥檚 declining results in the OECD鈥檚 PISA testing, a regular program of testing of reading, mathematics and science across 72 countries. Asian countries regularly top the rankings across all three areas, whereas Australia鈥檚 results have declined steadily over the years.5 Andreas Schleicher, director of PISA, notes that Chinese students, who learn in a school system that favours explicit instruction, are much better than Australian students at higher order skills such as reasoning, critical thinking and non-routine problem solving.6
Of course teaching is a complex job, and an effective teacher is more than just a practitioner of explicit instruction. But research is clear on two things. First, the most important school-based influence on student achievement is the quality of the teacher, in particular the teacher鈥檚 content knowledge and the quality of instruction. And second, the explicit instruction teaching method is highly effective.
Teachers are our greatest resource. They are our sages on an incredibly important stage. And when you have good quality teachers who employ good quality teaching methods, the result is good quality learning.
, Headmistress
BA (Hons) Cert Ed PhD MBA (Ed Ldship) MACE MACEL
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1.John Hattie, Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge, London, 2009, p.206.
2.See (2012).
3. What makes great teaching?: Review of the underpinning research, Robert Coe, Cesare Aloisi, Steve Higgins and Lee Elliot Major, October 2014, p. 23.
4. NSW Government Centre for Education, Statistics and Evaluation, 鈥楥ognitive Load Theory: Research that teachers really need to understand鈥�, August 2017.
5. See
6. See