Breaking old habits and adopting new ones: how to change teaching practice when change is hard Image There is some consensus about the types of skills an effective educator has in his or her repertoire. Generally, they are: being skilled in developing safe and supportive learning environments, checking for student understanding, adjusting instruction according to needs, developing socio- and emotional competences in their learners, among others. However, when we observe teaching practices in low- and middle-income countries, we see that many teachers don’t implement these effective teaching practices (see here, here, and here). If countries invest tens (even hundreds) of millions every year on teacher professional development, the perennial question is why aren’t teaching practices improving?