There are several theories on the development of expertise. David Berliner is perhaps the best-known academic in the field, identifying five stages of skill development in teachers to build expertise incrementally.

In his model, it’s only in later stages that the person becomes sensitive to the situational challenges in their classroom regarding solving teaching and learning problems, and it is this detail that makes me uncomfortable.

There is an important distinction to draw between procedural and adaptive expertise. Hatano and Inagaki (1986) highlight that where teachers had developed routine expertise, they were outstanding in terms of speed and accuracy but lacked the flexibility to adjust their knowledge to situations beyond the familiar. This is problematic.

We should never lower expectation for teachers, especially new teachers, to teach pupils with non-typical learning profiles or deskill them from responding effectively in non-typical learning environments. We have to be ready to work with unusual and challenging situations - from complex learning difficulties to manifestations in extreme behaviours - every day, from our first day.

Teachers are encountering more pupils with complex learning profiles in mainstream classrooms more frequently (Carpenter, 2010). This means that developing the capacity of new teachers to be adaptive is vital for delivering quality teaching in the dynamic and unpredictable context of the classroom. Adaptive expertise builds confidence.

Which interventions or initial teacher training strategies can ensure that teachers rapidly progress towards proficiency to support all children and account for all eventualities in the classroom?

In most good teacher training experiences, quality teaching develops quickly when trainees work with experts who mentor, making explicit the reasoning and underlying assumptions of experienced teachers. Student teachers are encouraged to develop their own decision making capacities. Turnidge refers to this as “clinical reasoning”.

The practical theorising used to train new teachers does indeed encourage the development of adaptive skills. We can, perhaps, build on this further through greater focus on the pupils and the classroom experiences that are the exceptions to the rule. One study of trainee teachers who had a short, intensive experience in a special school reported a substantial impact on the quality of their teaching (Mintz et al, 2015).

My interest in this area was piqued by a UK Ministry of Defence training literature study (Ward et al) that describes learning adaptive skill as the sine qua non of expertise. In complex operational environments that are ever-changing and unpredictable, the researchers argue that practitioners need to be both skilful in carrying out the routine aspects of their work and able to adapt effectively in unexpected or novel situations (Hoffman, 1998).

There is a direct analogy with the teacher in her classroom, where accelerating proficiency is highly desirable. Rather than bolting on training to help teachers work with children who have non-typical learning profiles, preparedness through complexity preservation should be central to teacher training.

Margaret Mulholland is the special educational needs and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders

This article originally appeared in the 13 December 2019 issue under the headline “Like soldiers in a war zone, teachers must be adaptable”