John Hattie’s Top Ten Visible Learning Takeaways –
Number Four: Teacher Credibility
Students’ perceptions of their teachers carry incredible weight in their determination of a teacher’s credibility. John Hattie stated in a 2012 article that “The key is the student's’ perception that teachers have credibility in enhancing their learning. Students are very perceptive about knowing which teachers can make a difference to their learning. And teachers who command this credibility are most likely to make the difference.” Although important, the focus here is not on the teacher’s’ perception of themselves, but instead on the students’ perception of them. Hattie states that students will turn off if they do not perceive the teacher as credible.
Application to the Classroom
If you are looking for applications to best integrate teacher credibility into our environment then Drs. McKroskey, Haskins and Fink are a great resource (“Make Them Believe in You”). They have researched and shared the four key credibility factors: trust, competence, dynamism, and immediacy. In more detail, here are some of their findings:
Trust begins with the students believing the teacher has their best interest at heart, are fair, include everyone, do not embarrass them, and take in an interest in their life outside of school.
Competence means not just mastering a subject area, but also delivering it meaningfully. This necessitates the critical skill of being able to explain complex ideas and material in a way students can understand. This is another example of Hattie’s idea of Visible Learning where teachers must be able to see learning through the eyes of their students in order to be effective explainers.
Dynamism is focused on the learning being presented in “exciting and engaging ways.” This requires a variety of techniques and enthusiastic interactions and deliveries.
Immediacy refers to using approaches and techniques that reduce the physical and communicative distance between students and teachers including moving out from behind podiums, grouping classes in circles, and using inclusive language (i.e. we or us).
Hattie, J., Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement (2009)
Hattie, J. Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning (2012)
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