Communicate a belief in the academic potential of all pupils,
by:
• Using intentional and consistent language that promotes challenge and aspiration.
• Setting tasks that stretch pupils, but which are achievable, within a challenging curriculum.
• Creating a positive environment where making mistakes and learning from them and the need for effort and perseverance are part of the daily routine.
• Seeking opportunities to engage parents and carers in the education of their children (e.g. proactively highlighting successes).

Demonstrate consistently high behavioural expectations, by:
• Creating a culture of respect and trust in the classroom that supports all pupils to succeed (e.g. by modelling the types of courteous behaviour expected of pupils).
• Teaching and rigorously maintaining clear behavioural expectations (e.g. for contributions, volume level and concentration).
• Applying rules, sanctions and rewards in line with school policy, escalating behaviour incidents as appropriate.
• Acknowledging and praising pupil effort and emphasising progress being made.

Notes

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Learn how to… statements are drawn from the wider evidence base including both academic research and additional guidance from expert practitioners.

1. Learning involves a lasting change in pupils’ capabilities or understanding.
2. Prior knowledge plays an important role in how pupils learn; committing some key facts to their long-term memory is likely to help pupils learn more complex ideas.
3. An important factor in learning is memory, which can be thought of as comprising two elements: working memory and long-term memory.
4. Working memory is where information that is being actively processed is held, but its capacity is limited and can be overloaded.
5. Long-term memory can be considered as a store of knowledge that changes as pupils learn by integrating new ideas with existing knowledge.
6. Where prior knowledge is weak, pupils are more likely to develop misconceptions, particularly if new ideas are introduced too quickly.
7. Regular purposeful practice of what has previously been taught can help consolidate material and help pupils remember what they have learned.
8. Requiring pupils to retrieve information from memory, and spacing practice so that pupils revisit ideas after a gap are also likely to strengthen recall.
9. Worked examples that take pupils through each step of a new process are also likely to support pupils to learn.

Avoid overloading working memory, by:
• Taking into account pupils’ prior knowledge when planning how much new information to introduce.
• Breaking complex material into smaller steps (e.g. using partially completed examples to focus pupils on the specific steps).
• Reducing distractions that take attention away from what is being taught (e.g. keeping the complexity of a task to a minimum, so that attention is focused on the content).

Build on pupils’ prior knowledge, by:
• Identifying possible misconceptions and planning how to prevent these forming.
• Linking what pupils already know to what is being taught (e.g. explaining how new content builds on what is already known).
• Sequencing lessons so that pupils secure foundational knowledge before encountering more complex content.
• Encouraging pupils to share emerging understanding and points of confusion so that misconceptions can be addressed.

Increase likelihood of material being retained, by:
• Balancing exposition, repetition, practice and retrieval of critical knowledge and skills.

• Planning regular review and practice of key ideas and concepts over time.
• Designing practice, generation and retrieval tasks that provide just enough support so that pupils experience a high success rate when attempting challenging work.
• Increasing challenge with practice and retrieval as knowledge becomes more secure (e.g. by removing scaffolding, lengthening spacing or introducing interacting elements).

Notes

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Learn how to… statements are drawn from the wider evidence base including both academic research and additional guidance from expert practitioners.

Deliver a carefully sequenced and coherent curriculum, by:
• Identifying essential concepts, knowledge, skills and principles of the subject and providing opportunity for all pupils to learn and master these critical components.
• Ensuring pupils’ thinking is focused on key ideas within the subject.
• Working with experienced colleagues to accumulate and refine a collection of powerful analogies, illustrations, examples, explanations and demonstrations.
• Using resources and materials aligned with the school curriculum (e.g. textbooks or shared resources designed by experienced colleagues that carefully sequence content).
• Being aware of common misconceptions and discussing with experienced colleagues how to help pupils master important concepts.

Support pupils to build increasingly complex mental models, by:
• Discussing curriculum design with experienced colleagues and balancing exposition, repetition, practice of critical skills and
knowledge.
• Revisiting the big ideas of the subject over time and teaching key concepts through a range of examples.
• Drawing explicit links between new content and the core concepts and principles in the subject.

Develop fluency, by:
• Providing tasks that support pupils to learn key ideas securely (e.g. quizzing pupils so they develop fluency with times tables).
• Using retrieval and spaced practice to build automatic recall of key knowledge.

Help pupils apply knowledge and skills to other contexts, by:
• Ensuring pupils have relevant domain-specific knowledge, especially when being asked to think critically within a subject.
• Interleaving concrete and abstract examples, slowly withdrawing concrete examples and drawing attention to the underlying structure of
problems.

Develop pupils’ literacy, by:
• Demonstrating a clear understanding of systematic synthetic phonics, particularly if teaching early reading and spelling.
• Supporting younger pupils to become fluent readers and to write fluently and legibly.
• Teaching unfamiliar vocabulary explicitly and planning for pupils to be repeatedly exposed to high-utility and high-frequency vocabulary in what is taught.
• Modelling reading comprehension by asking questions, making predictions, and summarising when reading.
• Promoting reading for pleasure (e.g. by using a range of whole class reading approaches and regularly reading high-quality texts to children).
• Modelling and requiring high-quality oral language, recognising that spoken language underpins the development of reading and writing (e.g. requiring pupils to respond to questions in full sentences, making use of relevant technical vocabulary).
• Teaching different forms of writing by modelling planning, drafting and editing.

Notes

Learn that… statements are informed by the best available educational research; references and further reading are provided below.

Learn how to… statements are drawn from the wider evidence base including both academic research and additional guidance from expert practitioners.

1. Effective teaching can transform pupils’ knowledge, capabilities and beliefs about learning.
2. Effective teachers introduce new material in steps, explicitly linking new ideas to what has been previously studied and learned.
3. Modelling helps pupils understand new processes and ideas; good models make abstract ideas concrete and accessible.
4. Guides, scaffolds and worked examples can help pupils apply new ideas, but should be gradually removed as pupil expertise increases.
5. Explicitly teaching pupils metacognitive strategies linked to subject knowledge, including how to plan, monitor and evaluate, supports independence and academic success.
6. Questioning is an essential tool for teachers; questions can be used for many purposes, including to check pupils’ prior knowledge, assess understanding and break down problems.
7. High-quality classroom talk can support pupils to articulate key ideas, consolidate understanding and extend their vocabulary.
8. Practice is an integral part of effective teaching; ensuring pupils have repeated opportunities to practise, with appropriate guidance and support, increases success.
9. Paired and group activities can increase pupil success, but to work together effectively pupils need guidance, support and practice.
10. How pupils are grouped is also important; care should be taken to monitor the impact of groupings on pupil attainment, behaviour and motivation.
11. Homework can improve pupil outcomes, particularly for older pupils, but it is likely that the quality of homework and its relevance to main class teaching is more important than the amount set.

Plan effective lessons, by:

• Using modelling, explanations and scaffolds, acknowledging that novices need more structure early in a domain.
• Enabling critical thinking and problem solving by first teaching the necessary foundational content knowledge.
• Removing scaffolding only when pupils are achieving a high degree of success in applying previously taught material.
• Providing sufficient opportunity for pupils to consolidate and practise applying new knowledge and skills.
• Breaking tasks down into constituent components when first setting up independent practice (e.g. using tasks that scaffold pupils through meta-cognitive and procedural processes).

Make good use of expositions, by:
• Starting expositions at the point of current pupil understanding.
• Combining a verbal explanation with a relevant graphical representation of the same concept or process, where appropriate.
• Using concrete representation of abstract ideas (e.g. making use of analogies, metaphors, examples and non-examples).

Model effectively, by:
• Narrating thought processes when modelling to make explicit how experts think (e.g. asking questions aloud that pupils should considerwhen working independently and drawing pupils’ attention to links with prior knowledge).
• Making the steps in a process memorable and ensuring pupils can recall them (e.g. naming them, developing mnemonics, or linking to memorable stories).
• Exposing potential pitfalls and explaining how to avoid them.

Stimulate pupil thinking and check for understanding, by:
• Planning activities around what you want pupils to think hard about.
• Including a range of types of questions in class discussions to extend and challenge pupils (e.g. by modelling new vocabulary or asking pupils to justify answers).
• Providing appropriate wait time between question and response where more developed responses are required.
• Considering the factors that will support effective collaborative or paired work (e.g. familiarity with routines, whether pupils have the necessary prior knowledge and how pupils are grouped).
• Providing scaffolds for pupil talk to increase the focus and rigour of dialogue.

Notes

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Learn how to… statements are drawn from the wider evidence base including both academic research and additional guidance from expert practitioners.

Develop an understanding of different pupil needs, by:
• Identifying pupils who need new content further broken down.
• Making use of formative assessment.
• Working closely with the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) and special education professionals and the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
• Using the SEND Code of Practice, which provides additional guidance on supporting pupils with SEND effectively.

Provide opportunity for all pupils to experience success, by:
• Adapting lessons, whilst maintaining high expectations for all, so that all pupils have the opportunity to meet expectations.
• Balancing input of new content so that pupils master important concepts.
• Making effective use of teaching assistants.

Meet individual needs without creating unnecessary workload, by:
• Making use of well-designed resources (e.g. textbooks).
• Planning to connect new content with pupils' existing knowledge or providing additional pre-teaching if pupils lack critical knowledge.
• Building in additional practice or removing unnecessary expositions.
• Reframing questions to provide greater scaffolding or greater stretch.

• Considering carefully whether intervening within lessons with individuals and small groups would be more efficient and effective than planning different lessons for different groups of pupils.

Group pupils effectively, by:
• Applying high expectations to all groups, and ensuring all pupils have access to a rich curriculum.
• Changing groups regularly, avoiding the perception that groups are fixed.
• Ensuring that any groups based on attainment are subject specific.

Notes

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Learn how to… statements are drawn from the wider evidence base including both academic research and additional guidance from expert practitioners.

Provide high-quality feedback, by:
• Focusing on specific actions for pupils and providing time for pupils to respond to feedback.
• Appreciating that pupils’ responses to feedback can vary depending on a range of social factors (e.g. the message the feedback contains or the age of the child).
• Scaffolding self-assessment by sharing model work with pupils, highlighting key details.
• Thinking carefully about how to ensure feedback is specific and helpful when using peer- or self-assessment.

Make marking manageable and effective, by:
• Recording data only when it is useful for improving pupil outcomes.
• Working with colleagues to identify efficient approaches to marking and alternative approaches to providing feedback (e.g. using whole class feedback or well supported peer- and self-assessment).
• Using verbal feedback during lessons in place of written feedback after lessons where possible.
• Understanding that written marking is only one form of feedback.
• Reducing the opportunity cost of marking (e.g. by using abbreviations and codes in written feedback).
• Prioritising the highlighting of errors related to misunderstandings, rather than careless mistakes when marking.

Notes

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Learn how to… statements are drawn from the wider evidence base including both academic research and additional guidance from expert practitioners.

1. Establishing and reinforcing routines, including through positive reinforcement, can help create an effective learning environment.
2. A predictable and secure environment benefits all pupils, but is particularly valuable for pupils with special educational needs.
3. The ability to self-regulate one’s emotions affects pupils’ ability to learn, success in school and future lives.
4. Teachers can influence pupils’ resilience and beliefs about their ability to succeed, by ensuring all pupils have the opportunity to experience meaningful success.
5. Building effective relationships is easier when pupils believe that their feelings will be considered and understood.
6. Pupils are motivated by intrinsic factors (related to their identity and values) and extrinsic factors (related to reward).
7. Pupils’ investment in learning is also driven by
   their prior experiences and perceptions of
   success and failure.

Develop a positive, predictable and safe environment for pupils, by:
• Establishing a supportive and inclusive environment with a predictable system of reward and sanction in the classroom.
• Working alongside colleagues as part of a wider system of behaviour management (e.g. recognising responsibilities and understanding the right to assistance and training from senior colleagues).
• Giving manageable, specific and sequential instructions.
• Checking pupils’ understanding of instructions before a task begins.
• Using consistent language and non-verbal signals for common classroom directions.
• Using early and least-intrusive interventions as an initial response to low level disruption.
• Responding quickly to any behaviour or bullying that threatens emotional safety.

Establish effective routines and expectations, by:
• Creating and explicitly teaching routines in line with the school ethos that maximise time for learning (e.g. setting and reinforcing expectations about key transition points).
• Practising routines at the beginning of the school year.
• Reinforcing routines (e.g. by articulating the link between time on task and success).

Build trusting relationships, by:
• Liaising with parents, carers and colleagues to better understand pupils’ individual circumstances and how they can be supported to meet high academic and behavioural expectations.
• Responding consistently to pupil behaviour.

Motivate pupils, by:
• Supporting pupils to master challenging content, which builds towards long-term goals.
• Providing opportunities for pupils to articulate their long-term goals and helping them to see how these are related to their success in school.
• Helping pupils to journey from needing extrinsic motivation to being motivated to work intrinsically.

Notes

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Learn how to… statements are drawn from the wider evidence base including both academic research and additional guidance from expert practitioners.