MESH benefits for policy makers and politicians.

The MESH system is simple and cost effective. It gives policy makers and researchers high impact outcomes for low costs.

MESH provides quick and low cost ways to maximise the impact of research and to disseminate new knowledge in any field.

The system is this: Over a few brief meetings, researchers work with teachers to summarise the key findings from their research which is relevant to teaching practices or to the content taught to learners. The process from start to publication can take as little as three days of staff time. AI is speeding up the process. If MESHGuide users wish they can follow the links to full scale research studies.

New knowledge can be added to what is known where a MESHGuide exists already. The knowledge is then available to any teacher anywhere, translatable to 249 plus languages at the touch of a button through Google Translate.

So, producing MESHGuides can meet goals of the government ministry responsible for international aid as well as the education ministry.

If governments want a research-informed teaching workforce, then MESH provides a route to achieving that.

Often policy makers have no experience in the field they are responsible for. If you are not an experienced educator then we have some advice for you.

First of all, we ask you to understand the difference between an “instructor” and a “ trained teacher”.

An instructor is a purveyor of established knowledge. A teacher is someone who is able to design programmes of learning which take account of prior knowledge of learners and to chose and adapt the methods of ‘teaching’ this knowledge to meet the learning approaches of diverse learners.

Trained teachers are expected to acquire the following forms of knowledge:

– subject content knowledge I.e. what concepts does the learner need to understand.

  • General and subject specific pedagogic knowledge I.e. how to organise lessons so that the students build their knowledge on firm foundations over years and how to explain/demonstrate subject content so learners understand it.
  • Curriculum and assessment knowledge: what subject matter is to be covered when, and how is it best assessed.
  • Knowledge of context i.e. contextual matters which influence learners’ approach to subject matter (social/religious)
  • Knowledge of learners: i.e. understanding how the brain works, student characteristics and how learning takes place.
  • Knowledge of the technologies that support learning. Some concepts can be effectively learned and knowledge can be deepened through computer supported learning.

Keeping teachers and their teaching up to date is a challenge for all countries.

Sponsoring MESHGuides is one way of achieving this goal.