• Expertise development

    • Expertise development can be defined in layman’s terms as not just covering the curriculum but developing the habits and behaviours associated with expertise in a given domain. For example, thinking and approaching tasks like a mathematician or a historian rather than doing the maths or history course. This of course has significant implications for how lessons are taught. Research has given us a good understanding of how individuals develop expertise. In the acquisition of expertise, extended deliberate practice (e.g. high concentration practice beyond one's comfort zone) has been found to have a significant role. Experts become expert because they are prepared to put in the necessary work and to persevere when they meet obstacles in their subject; they are motivated to do that because they have developed a sense of the subject and that leads to a love of the subject. So exploring the nature and conventions of a subject is key to developing expertise within it.

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      This resource provides key information about expertise development.