Decentralised Teaching and Learning

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My name is Paul Walsh. I’ve taught English in Poland, the Balkans and Saudi Arabia and currently work in Berlin, Germany.

This blog is based on the idea the English Language Teaching (ELT) is out of balance. There’s far too much centralisation and too much control—from the domination of coursebooks, to the chokehold of exam boards, to the global corporations making millions (and paying little or no tax) while ordinary teachers can’t survive on the meagre wages available.

There’s too much profit over pedagogy. Too much capitulation to the way things are. Too much “market justice” and not enough “social justice”. Too few visions of change. 

My response is a healthy dose of decentralisation—to give ordinary teachers more agency and control of their classrooms, their curricula, their practice, and over their working lives in general.

Because our working conditions are our students’ learning conditions. Right?

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 I also started teaching a class at a startup where the learners were very receptive to new ideas, and I had compete control over syllabus and materials. This gave me a chance to integrate some theoretical insights into reality.

So that is where Decentralised Teaching and Learning comes from. See below for a ‘dummies guide’ (click on Options to adjust settings).

 

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What teaching approaches have influenced you?

I’ve been influenced by Task-based learning, the Lexical Approach, Dogme/ Teaching Unplugged and the Learner Autonomy movement.

 

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Describe Decentralised Teaching in one sentence…

Devolving power, resources and responsibility down to the learner in order to optimise learning. 

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Where else do you hang out?

You can also catch me on:

Twitter

 

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Final comments

I also founded Teachers as Workers Special Interest Group (TaWSIG) to push for better working conditions for English teachers. You can join by clicking on the red TaWSIG logo on the right.

TaWSIG was planned as a Special Interest Group within IATEFL (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language), one of the main organisations claiming to represent teachers. However, IATEFL refused to support the formation of a group interested in improving the working conditions of ELT teachers. Their reason? They didn’t want to get people’s hopes up. Read the full story here.

I also edited and published Teacher Stories – in which teachers get to tell their own stories.

And in 2019 I wrote a definition of Precarity for the ELTJ. 

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So, check out the free lesson plans, the blog posts, and spread the decentralised word.

 

Paul