17 August 2026
“The average teacher explains complexity; the gifted teacher reveals simplicity.” – Robert Brault
Teaching is a curious profession. On the one hand, it is incredibly visible. Every lesson is played out in front of thirty young people who are often more than happy to tell you how well it is going. On the other hand, some of the most important aspects of great teaching are almost invisible, even to the teachers performing them.
A recent article by Sufian Sadiq in TES explored this challenge. Drawing on the work around didagogy, Sadiq argues that expert teachers frequently struggle to articulate exactly how they make decisions in the classroom. They are not consciously weighing up options moment by moment. Instead, they act through a combination of purpose, experience, professional identity and instinct.
That observation will ring true for many teachers. Most of us can think of colleagues whose lessons seem effortless. The students are engaged, the classroom feels purposeful and learning happens. Yet if you ask those teachers precisely how they achieve it, the answer is often far less clear than expected. Perhaps the reason is simple. The secret is not a particular technique. It is a superpower.
The teachers we never forget
Most teachers can immediately recall someone who inspired them early in their career. It might have been a head of year who combined empathy with absolute authority. A teacher whose classroom behaviour management appeared almost magical. A colleague who somehow knew every student in the school, along with their interests, aspirations and challenges.
What stands out about these people is that they are rarely identical. Their methods differ. Their personalities differ. Their subject knowledge, routines and classroom styles differ. Yet they often achieve similar outcomes. The common factor appears to be their ability to connect.
Whether describing highly effective classroom practitioners, successful pastoral leaders or outstanding mentors, the same theme surfaces again and again. The teachers who make the greatest impact were those who built genuine connections with young people while maintaining clear expectations and professional boundaries.
This goes beyond simply being liked. Students do not need teachers to be their friends. They need teachers who are fair, consistent and genuinely interested in them as individuals. When those foundations are in place, every other teaching strategy becomes more powerful.
Expertise is more than technique
One of the most interesting points in Sadiq’s article is the warning against “teaching by numbers”. Over the past decade, education has rightly benefited from a greater understanding of cognitive science and evidence-informed practice. Shared language around techniques such as retrieval practice, cold calling and scaffolding has undoubtedly helped professional conversations.
However, there is a danger in assuming that successful teaching is simply the correct application of a set of techniques. Any experienced teacher knows this is not true. Two teachers can use the same strategy in the same lesson with vastly different results. One generates enthusiasm and deep thinking. The other sees limited impact. The difference is often found in factors that are harder to quantify. Relationships. Credibility. Consistency. Authenticity. These are not alternatives to good teaching techniques. They are what make those techniques work.
Discovering your own superpower
If every effective teacher is different, perhaps professional development should focus less on creating identical practitioners and more on helping teachers identify and develop their unique strengths.
Ask a group of experienced teachers what their classroom superpower is and the answers are rarely the same. One teacher may excel at bringing industry experience into the classroom. Complex programming concepts become meaningful because they are connected to real applications in software development, banking, cybersecurity or engineering. Students begin to understand not only how something works, but why it matters.
Another teacher’s strength may be relentless reflection. They constantly ask themselves uncomfortable questions:
- Why am I teaching this topic in this way?
- Is it producing the outcomes I want?
- What would happen if I tried something different?
This mindset turns teaching into an ongoing process of experimentation and improvement. Rather than accepting established practice at face value, reflective teachers continually look for better solutions. Both approaches can be enormously effective, despite appearing completely different on the surface. The important lesson is that neither teacher is trying to copy someone else. They are building upon their own strengths.
Why questioning the orthodox matters
Computing has always been a subject that rewards innovation, and perhaps the same should be true of Computing education. Many of the most successful developments in classroom practice have emerged because teachers were prepared to challenge assumptions.
Consider flipped learning. Traditionally, homework has been used to reinforce content already taught in lessons. The flipped classroom reverses this sequence, allowing students to encounter core knowledge before arriving in class and freeing lesson time for discussion, application and problem-solving.
Or consider retrieval practice. The goal is not simply to test knowledge but to strengthen memory by repeatedly revisiting key concepts over time. Students often encounter the same questions again and again because remembering is the point.
Programming education provides another example. Many teachers introduce subprograms relatively late because they are perceived as difficult. Yet some practitioners have found considerable success by teaching them early. The reasoning is straightforward: concepts that appear difficult become easier with sustained practice. Students who regularly work with subprograms from the beginning may stop viewing them as difficult altogether.
None of these approaches emerged because someone accepted conventional wisdom. They emerged because someone asked, “Why do we do it this way?”
The Computing teacher advantage
Computing teachers possess a unique opportunity in this regard because the subject naturally connects classroom learning with the wider world. Students often ask questions that begin with “When will I ever use this?” The strongest Computing teachers rarely struggle to answer.
Whether discussing algorithms, networking, databases or programming, they can connect learning to careers, industries and real-world applications. Students begin to see themselves not simply learning about technology but becoming creators, problem-solvers and innovators. Young people are more likely to engage when they understand how the skills they are developing relate to the wider world beyond the classroom.
Finding your unique selling point
Sadiq argues that professional development should help teachers understand their own decision-making more deeply. That is an important goal. Yet perhaps there is another question worth asking alongside it. What is your superpower?
Not the strategy that appears on a lesson observation template. Not the initiative currently being discussed in staff meetings. Not the technique everyone is talking about online.
What is the thing that students and colleagues remember about you?
Whatever it is, it is worth recognising and developing because great teaching rarely comes from becoming a copy of somebody else. It comes from understanding what makes you unique and using it to make a difference. If teaching is your product, then your superpower is your unique selling point. The challenge is making sure you know what it is.
Want to know more? Watch the latest ‘At the chalk face’ video where we go into more detail!
