Deliberate practice in teaching: what teachers do for self-improvement

Abstract Two studies investigated teacher activities that may lead to the development of competence, if not expertise. In Study I, 136 teachers indicated in a questionnaire that evaluation and planning activities (informal and formal) best parallel deliberate practice activities that Ericsson and colleagues report as accounting for expertise in other domains. In Study II, log data and interviews from eight experienced teachers indicated that these activities provide opportunities for self-improvement even though that may not have been why teachers did them. The frequent and mindful engagement in these activities, prompting cycles of teaching – evaluation – revision, may be what accounts for expertise.