Sometimes you just know in advance: this will be a talk with me nodding and smiling. And that’s precisely what happened during Stephen Chew’s keynote. Not because he simply confirmed what I already believed, though he did that at times, but because he clarified complexity without oversimplifying it. We were both keynote speakers at Babeș-Bolyai University in Romania this May, and his talk was a true tour de force on effective teaching. Not filled with tips and tricks, but with insights that stick.
Chew started from a deceptively simple question: What makes teaching so difficult? His answer wasn’t a complaint about overloaded curricula or administrative burdens, but a sharp analysis of what he calls “the cognitive challenges of effective teaching.” His list now includes nine challenges – from students’ mistaken beliefs about learning to misconceptions, weak metacognitive skills, and the persistent belief that multitasking while studying is fine. Spoiler – or rather, not really: it’s not.
What struck me most was how he centred the idea of context. “There are no best practices,” Chew said, “only practices that may work in a given context – or not.” Teaching is constant planning, adjusting, and fine-tuning. Always. And that’s precisely why having an accurate mental model of learning is crucial: if you misunderstand how learning works, even the most well-intentioned lesson may miss the mark.
Another highlight was his take on student trust – the idea that students will only truly engage if they believe their teacher is competent, honest, and genuinely invested. It sounds obvious, but in practice, that trust is often underestimated. “Please see me,” Chew quoted, then added: “I hold you to high standards, I believe you can reach them, and I’ll help you get there.”
Equally familiar: his critique of popular but ineffective study habits. Re-reading, highlighting, studying with music on or TikTok in the background – it may feel like studying, but it isn’t. Chew shows how we can help students better equip themselves: through self-testing, spaced repetition, interleaving, and above all, by helping them assess their own learning.
Years ago, I blogged about Chew’s “Beliefs that make you stupid.” This lecture reminded me how relevant those ideas still are – and how, as teachers, we are often part of both the problem and the solution. His message wasn’t pessimistic, just honest. Learning is hard. Teaching is even harder. But with a solid understanding of the cognitive challenges, we’re already halfway there.
If you’ve never seen Stephen Chew in action: start with his video series How to Get the Most Out of Studying. Highly recommended.