Programme 397, Alfie Kohn on Homework, Testing, Rewards and More (15-4-20)

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney

On this week's podcast I bring you my interview with Alfie Kohn, who writes and speaks about education, especially in areas such as homework, standardised testing and punishments and rewards. Among the items we discuss on the podcast are the following:

• Fostering students’ curiosity and encouraging them to think deeply
• Teachers participating with children in an exploration of ideas to move beyond factual knowledge
• How teachers can teach to promote students’ thinking
• The inverse relationship between teacher control and student learning
• Why learning starts with a question
• John Dewey, Jean Piaget, Ed Deci and Richard Ryan (Self-determination theory)
• Why rewards and punishment don’t help children learn
• Why saying “Good job” to your students is the equivalent of a “verbal doggy biscuit”
• Children who are frequently praised are less generous than their peers
• How children know when they’re being controlled and how they respond to it
• How teachers can respond to students’ work and respect the child’s autonomy
• Implementing a no-homework policy in a school
• Why he believes that giving homework to children constitutes malpractice.
• Excitement (about learning) drives excellence
• Standardised tests and teacher accountability; Authentic assessments – tap into projects done by students over time
• Why standardised teaching tells you only two things: (i) how much time was given to teaching test taking and (ii) how big the houses are near the school.
• Differences between role of parent and teacher: Unconditional parenting and unconditional teaching
• Punished by Rewards
• Unconditional Parenting