Karmel Oration: The role of educator expertise in the ‘fake news’ world

The most powerful influence on effective student learning relates to our educators’ adaptive expertise. Our educators and educational institutions are under fire from the pressure to reduce costs associated with the training and induction of teachers, and their ongoing professional learning; claims that there is a falling supply of teachers; there is ongoing backlash against evidence-based research (‘fake news’); and continued debate over inputs to the system without reference to outputs. This oration will explore the notion of expertise and evidence and how expertise is anchored in evaluative thinking. It will be illustrated with methods that will help educators see the consequences of their expertise and returns to the 1973 Karmel Report’s plea for enhancement of ‘human resources’ in all our schools.