Why student-centric teaching is an education game-changer

"I’m a mathematics teacher. I run a tight ship. I need to teach A LOT of information, and I need to teach it explicitly. Therefore, why should I even contemplate using a student-centric approach?”

The above viewpoint is, I believe, held by many maths teachers today. This viewpoint speaks to long-held misconceptions about student-centric teaching, namely, that student-centric approaches:

• lack structure,
• do not allow for explicit instruction,
• limit a teacher’s input and control over learning,
• and are often fun for students but with limited learning.

If these misconceptions were true, then student-centric approaches would have no place in education, especially in mathematics, where explicit instruction is required.

BTW, the message in this article applies across all subject areas. However, it is most applicable to mathematics teachers due to the vast amount of detailed information that needs imparting.

Student-centricity vs teacher-centricity

Of course, when talking about student-centric approaches, we are, by default, comparing to the traditional teacher-centric, procedures-based approach.

Let’s be honest here … student-centric approaches CAN lack structure, limit the chance for explicit instruction and teacher input, and be ineffective for student learning. 

But so too can teacher-directed approaches. Much depends upon the quality of the teaching.

The question to ask, then, is this one: Does an exemplary student-centric approach hold any educational advantages over an exemplary teacher-centric approach - especially in the context of the mathematics classroom?

In this article, I’ll argue that the answer is an emphatic YES. I’ll argue that an exemplary student-centric approach:

• Is highly-structured.
• Allows for ample explicit instruction.
• Opens the door for abundant teacher input.
• Gives teachers increased control over the learning (partly through increased listening).
• Produces higher levels of intrinsic engagement in students. 
• And improves long-term learning.

A highly-structured approach

Note that I’m referring to a highly-structured student-centred approach here, not an unstructured approach of the type ‘Here kids, grab yourself some of this equipment and see what you can discover about trigonometry’.

Agency is the key

To illuminate the value of student-centricity I shall begin with AGENCY. 

Students have agency when they experience a sense of control and ownership over their learning ... when they become responsible learners. 

We all know that teaching a class of high-agency students is efficient and joyous. Teaching high-agency students is efficient. We achieve a comparatively significant outcome for any measure of effort - a lot of bang for little buck. 

On the contrary, teaching a class of students with zero agency - and we’ve all experienced this as well - requires much greater effort, primarily management with a little bit of teaching. It’s exhausting and demoralising - little bang for too much buck.

So if student agency makes such a difference to teaching and learning, then, surely, striving for student agency should be our teacher’s #1 aim as teachers.

When faced with a class of students with little or no agency, why attempt to teach them anything if our approach doesn’t foster student agency? To try to push on and TEACH, ignoring the lack of agency in students seems futile. It would be akin to replacing the dying tomato plants in the greenhouse, time after time, hoping that the next lot will grow, yet never watering them.

So what can we do in the classroom to foster agency?

To see the value in something, sometimes it is worthwhile to consider its opposite.

First, let’s consider what might be going on in classrooms today - unbeknown to teachers - that LIMITS agency in students. 

Here’s one way to limit agency - (I was skilled in this technique for years!) 

When delivering instructions to students and teaching mathematical processes, do so in ways that tell students what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and when to stop doing it so that we can tell them the what, when, and how of the next process.

In other words, if we want to LIMIT agency, use, as our default, a teacher-directed approach, one that gives students (almost) no say in the learning journey, an approach that requires students to follow our lead step by step. 

By using a teacher-centric approach, WE, by default, assume responsibility for our students’ learning. By default, there is very little space for students to take ownership of the process. Why? Because, by default (as part of the teacher-directed process), WE assume ownership for their learning.

In summary, a teacher-centric approach cannot effectively foster agency in students. Again, this is by default. It is through NO FAULT of the teacher. To blame the teacher in this situation would be like blaming the horse rider for losing the race against the Porsche. It is not the rider’s fault that the horse can’t compete against the Porsche for speed.

The student-centric alternative

If a teacher-centric approach is less than ideal in providing students with a sense of ownership and control over their learning, what about a student-centred approach?

Interestingly, the whole point of a student-centric approach IS to give students a sense of responsibility for and control over their learning. The entire point of student-centric teaching is to provide students with opportunities to gain AGENCY over their learning.

To explain why an exemplary student-centric approach is ideal for fostering agency in students, allow me to paint an analogous picture. 

Let’s say you embark on a project unlike any you have previously tackled - such as building a substantial deck or sewing a formal dress. In either case, you are a novice.

And let’s imagine there are two possible realities, learner-centric and teacher-centric. 

The learner-centric reality - the one we almost always choose as adults - looks something like this:

• Watch hours of related YouTube videos.
• Research Google.
• Think, ponder, start a rough plan.
• Talk to someone who knows.
• Refine the plan.
• Begin.
• Run into problems that NO ONE ever bothered to mention in ANY of the research you undertook.
• Find a solution to the first problem, then another, then the next … 
• Realise that this project is little more than a giant problem-solving maze.
• You experienced loads of explicit instruction (videos, articles, verbal). However, in charting your path, YOU chose precisely the information to consume and when. The instruction is both EXPLICIT and LEARNER-CENTRIC 
• You are buzzing because the final product is brilliant AND because the process was rewarding. You feel empowered.
• You attained the maximum possible level of agency through the task. 

To unpack the teacher-centric reality, we’ll venture into the hypothetical; I doubt anyone would do this … 

You hire a personal coach to teach you step-by-step what to do to complete your project.

Your coach shows you exactly what to do, and the order in which to do it. Essentially, this makes you the labourer; you do all the work, but only by following instructions. You never encounter problems to solve; you never invent workarounds; you never make decisions. Because your coach always tells you what to do.

Often, you don’t know WHY you are doing what you are doing because you are not shown the big picture. Depending on your project, you are on the receiving end of “Dig a hole here” … “Make a barrow full of cement using 3:1” … or … “Cut the material along here” … “Stitch these two pieces together”. You simply do whatever you are told to do.  

During this teacher-centric process, you experienced loads of explicit instruction but had no control over what information you consumed and when you consumed it. Your learner experience was 100% teacher-centric.

You made a fantastic product. However, the task was not particularly rewarding nor empowering. You were simply a labourer. 

You experienced zero agency during the task. Although you have the skills, you’d still likely feel like a beginner if you were to replicate the project in many aspects.  

The above story is a direct parallel to the classroom. When we tell our students what to do, when to do it, how to do and when to stop doing it, we turn our students into labourers and limit their opportunity for engagement, empowerment and agency.

However, when we structure a unit so that students are required to think their way through the activities, make choices, run into problems, find workarounds, discover procedures and call on us for explicit instruction when needed, we open the door for engagement, empowerment and agency.

Of course, this isn’t about throwing out the baby with the bath, the water, the soap and the towels. The two analogies I shared were extreme examples of each approach. But teaching is always a continuum. If the idea of student-centric teaching is new to you, I’m hoping this article will inspire you to move in the student-centric direction.

The one aspect that causes student-centricity

What is it about an activity that makes it student-centric? Is there ONE ideal, one principle that differentiates between a student-centric and a teacher-centric activity?

Yes, there is. That one aspect is CHOICE.

Choice! That’s all! Weave choice into an activity or a unit of work, and you add an element of student-centricity to it.

An activity or unit that offers students choice will, by default, require students to think, make decisions and feel a sense of control. And all of that, by definition, provides students with the opportunity for agency.

What does choice look like in an activity?

Choice can come in many forms. There is no space in this article for detailed examples - although I provide a few ideas below. Feel free to sign up to the new Learn Implement Share Course Academy where related courses exist and a course specifically on student-centric approaches is planned for early 2022. 

A couple of student-centric ideas:

• Any well-structured, open task that requires rich thinking.
• Rather than dictating to students all questions to work through (from a textbook, worksheets or online), give students some guidelines and allow them to choose their way through the bank of questions. (This is ridiculously simple yet can make a big difference)
• Map out the outline of an entire day-by-day unit of work and allow students to work at their own pace, and call on you for assistance when required. (You’ll be busier than you’ve ever been as a teacher!)
• Create the above in a self-paced, online format.
• Any activity that requires students to explore underlying concepts BEFORE teaching the procedure based upon those concepts.  
• (Almost) any activity that is not of the type ’copy these notes down and answer ten questions of the same kind.’  

Reflections ...

Are you an educator who has explored student-centric teaching? Are you tempted to further explore student-centric approaches? Do you have questions?

Fire away, below.