If you’re a teacher, it may seem obvious that your ability to teach is an inherent part of who you are. Like any other aspect of your character, surely you are who you are wherever you are? If you can explain clearly, build routines, insist on high standards and make students work hard in one school, why wouldn’t you be able to do the same somewhere else?
It’s easy to see why the idea of moving effective teachers into struggling schools has such appeal. For policymakers, it feels fair, practical and admirably direct: if some children have less access to strong teaching, then paying strong teachers to work where they’re needed most looks like a straightforward act of justice.1 For teachers, the assumption is just as seductive. If we’ve been successful in one school, it’s natural to believe that success belongs to us, that our explanations, routines, standards and judgement will travel with us wherever we go. But as many teachers discover, moving schools can shatter that belief. Success i…
