‘Most teaching follows the standard patterns of cultural ritual that has remained largely unchanged despite many attempts to reform and change it’
1/x from Nuthall, ' The Cultural Myths and Realities of Teaching and Learning' ' https://ojs.victoria.ac.nz/nzaroe/article/viewFile/1414/1273

‘Teachers are largely unaware of individual student learning and base their practice on the cultural idea of the busy active classroom.’ (2/x)

'to manage a class of 25 to 30 students, all of who have different, knowledge, skills , interests and motivations, teachers have to focus on the performance of the class as a whole. It's impossible to focus on the individual learning of any one.. for more than brief periods.(3/x)

'Within these standard patterns of whole-class management, students learn how to manage and carry out their own private and social agendas. They learn how and when the teacher will notice them and how to give the appearance of active involvement. ' (4/x)

'Teachers do not talk to students about learning or thinking. They talk about paying attention and not annoying others. They talk about the resources the students need to use, how long the activity should take and what will happen if it is not finished on time’ (5/x)

‘students....talk about the same things. They are constantly comparing how much they have done. How long will it take, do the headings have to be underlined, where did you find that answer, do you have to write it all out, does it have to be finished for homework.’ (6/x)

‘Homework is a classic example of the way learning activities are thought about. ...Nobody cares if the parents do most of it, not even the parents themselves. The point of homework, like most classroom activities, results in a more or less beautifully presented product.’ (7/x)

'..routines and rituals are recognised by the profession and the society at large as the right way to run classrooms, and students have learned what to expect and play the reciprocal roles that these rituals require...teachers do not have to pay more than passing attention’(8/10)

'the system and its supporting myths...make it almost impossible for them to do or think otherwise...it isn't clear that one teacher can possibly be responsible for the learning of 25-35 Ss simultaneously. No one has ever given clear empirical evidence that a teacher can.’ (9/10)

The article is thought provoking and far more optimistic than this thread might imply. Worth a read. A longer version of same piece can be found here: …https://talkinglearningtechnologies.edublogs.org/files/2011/03/2005-Nuthall-Myths-Realities-Teaching-2d6f8lq.pdf