Developing pupil ownership

If you've been following these posts, you'll have picked up the theme of pupil ownership.  I think this is important.  The model of a teacher-driven, teacher-centred classroom is outmoded.

The future is uncertain, the skills that pupils will require when they leave school are unknown: of the seven- or eight-year olds you teach next week, many will leave the school system in 2024.  This is a sci-fi year.  Children won't know what 'driving' means or 'handwriting' or 'shopping trolley'.  We don't know precisely what skills young people will need, but we do know that they'll either need to work things out for themselves/make informed decisions/evaluate what they've done, or that we should equip them with the capacity to self-manage, self-assess and self-evaluate.

And if developing pupil independence isn't a substantial enough carrot, the Teachers' Standards require that pupils are guided to reflect on the progress they have made and their emerging needs and encouraged to take a responsible and conscientious attitude to their own work and study.

How could you go about this with the children in your class this week?  You could start by auditing your current practice. To the right are some questions you could ask yourself. Inclusion of any these elements would indicate a degree of pupil ownership.  (Just to acknowledge the possibility of some of these elements would be a starting point.) But if pupil ownership is part of your classroom climate then these elements are not bolt-ons.  This way of thinking should become integral to your practice.

To get pupil ownership up and running, identify some gaps and start putting some steps in place.  For example, at the start of a new topic (or theme or unit) ensure there's sufficient space  (time, opportunity) for pupils to identify what they already know and the skills/knowledge they'd like in place by the end of the topic. This is curriculum design and that's your first lesson of a new unit planned (in skeleton form).  There's an example of the left of doing this using a KWL grid and an iPad. 


When reporting back, pupils could decide the method or tool to use - poster, presentation, video, podcast.  Remember: this is the 21st century - why do pupils need to write sentences about what they've learnt?   Ensure there's sufficient space for pupils to assess what they've done - encourage them to assess thoughtfully, to be critical friends.  Self-assessment isn't just about colouring in a set of traffic lights or raising a thumb (although this is a start): it's about equipping children to make informed judgements about the progress they've made.

Guiding pupils to reflect on their progress

Teachers' Standard 2 requires you to guide pupils to reflect on the progress they have made and their emerging needs.

How can you do this?  You could get pupils to write reflectively, give them a reflective writing frame, or a questionnaire to complete.  But this will immediately exclude some pupils.  The requirement is not to guide only those pupils who can write reflectively to reflect.  This is all pupils.

To ensure this is an inclusive part of your practice this needs to be about thinking (reflecting) and speaking and listening.  There will be pupils in the class who are less confident about talking and some who are unable to speak in certain social situations.  You may work with pupils who have significant communications difficulties - the suggestions here will need further thinking, but guiding pupils to reflect remains an expectation: it's not acceptable to say "My pupils can't do that."  If you're working in a Nursery or Reception class there's no reason why pupils can't think about or articulate what they can and can't do, but you might need to adapt the language in the suggestions below.

For the substantial majority, talking is the most inclusive way for pupils to articulate their thinking.  Developing the role of reflective talk also a good way to establish a culture in your classroom that will prepare you well for observation (by tutors, mentors, school senior leaders, Ofsted inspectors).  Those who observe you teach will often talk to pupils about their learning, their progress and their learning needs.  Typically, observers will be drawn to the pupil/s in your class who you would least like them to be drawn to.  So equipping all pupils with the capacity to articulate their thinking isn't just about meeting the Standards.  It's about having successful observations.  And, most importantly, it's about pupil entitlement.

A useful way to think about how to do this is to start with the questions that pupils might be asked and then to think about the answers that you'd like to hear them come up with.  Here are some examples:

It's important to emphasise that these aren't responses that pupils can meaningfully learn by rote. You can't use My Turn/Your Turn as a strategy to embed reflection.  This is about creating a climate in your classroom in which pupils talk confidently about their progress and the barriers they encounter.  So it's not just about what happens in one lesson ("We did reflection on Tuesday morning"), this should be a part of all learning.  And you're not going to get this to happen overnight - so if Ofsted are visiting tomorrow and this isn't already part of your classroom climate, then it's too late.

So start now.  You could use the questions above as prompts.  Create enough space in your lessons for thinking and dialogue, and get pupils used to talking about what they can and can't do, and the progress they've made.

Raising the bar: How do you make activities more challenging?

Challenge will keep pupils engaged and motivated (TS7), ensure that the promotion of good progress (TS2) is at the heart of your teaching, and signal to anyone monitoring your practice (tutors, mentors, senior leaders, etc.) that you set high expectations (TS1).  But the challenge needs to be relevant to the learning, and you'll need to employ different types of challenge to ensure that all learners are challenged.* 

I'm going to start by busting some myths about challenge.

More of the same isn't more challenging.  If a child has completed one set of questions, then another set of questions that duplicates the level of challenge is a waste of time.  It is a way of keeping the pupil busy, but that doesn't equate to high expectations or pupil progress. (No Teachers' Standard requires you to keep pupils busy.)  This is a problem with depending on worksheets.  

Writing more sentences about something isn't more challenging.  Requiring more able pupils to write more content will keep them busy longer but doesn't challenge them. Actually, writing more about something can be easier - more words allow writers to waffle.  And if this is a history lesson or an RE lesson, for example, measuring outcomes in terms of the quantity of written output (the least able group will write 4 sentences, the most able group will write 2 paragraphs, etc.) will mean that pupils in your class with the capacity to excel in these subjects will fail if they aren't confident writers.

Bigger numbers isn't more challenging.  65 + 22 is no more challenging than 15 + 12 (there are no complicated tens boundaries to cross); calculating the area of a 12m x 7m rectangle is no more challenging that calculating the area of a 3cm x 5cm rectangle (it's just times tables); counting in hundreds is no more challenging than counting in ones (one hundred, two hundred, three hundred...).

So how can you increase challenge?

Get pupils to set their own more challenging tasks.  These could be based on the tasks they've already completed.  The tasks they set themselves will tell you a lot about the pupils' understanding, and you can intervene (raise the bar) if you feel the self-set task isn't sufficiently challenging.  This could also have a positive effect on your workload, saving you hours devising insufficiently challenging tasks.  (If you're working in the Early Years, models of good practice would suggest children are already initiating activities.)

Think carefully about what the curriculum actually requires.  If this is a history lesson, for example, you'll want pupils to articulate their knowledge and understanding of the past (KS1), to note connections, contrasts and trends over time, to devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance (KS2).  Challenge isn't about writing more, it's about developing more understanding, becoming more analytical, becoming more competent at identifying and questioning patterns.   If the task focuses on writing, this will only tell you that confident writers can write more than those who find writing difficult. You already know this.  It won't tell you anything about their capacity for noting connections or devising questions.  Opportunities to talk, share and present ideas will push expectations to a higher level for all pupils. This is about the climate you create in your classroom.

Think carefully about what makes a task more challenging.  Why is 17 + 6 harder than 22 + 6?  Why is it harder to calculate the area of a rectangle you've drawn yourself than one you've been given on a worksheet?  Why is counting in 3s harder than counting in hundreds?  Once you've worked out what makes something more challenging, use this to inform the challenges you set pupils, and to inform your interventions after you've asked pupils to set challenges for themselves.

*NB: If you find yourself at an interview and you're asked about providing challenge for pupils, make sure your answer refers to challenging the least as well as the most able pupils in your class.

Working with a group - what's your teaching role?

There's been some whole class input, perhaps, and now pupils are working in groups.  You're working with one of these groups.  What should you be doing?

Fundamentally you’re accountable for the pupils’ progress during this activity (TS2).  Note: the important thing isn’t that the pupils complete the activity they’ve been set – there's no Teachers' Standard that requires you to ensure that pupils complete activities.  The significant thing is that pupils make progress: by the end of a successful lesson pupils will have acquired something (a skill, knowledge, understanding) which they didn't have at the start.   If the activity is driven by the learning outcome then completion of the activity and making progress are one and the same thing.  But if the activity is just a filler - an apparently related task that pupils spend 20-25 minutes doing in the middle of the lesson that doesn’t in itself contribute to progress – then you'll need to adjust the activity as you teach it in order to secure progress (and then make sure that subsequent planned activities are intrinsically linked to pupil progress).  If you think your only role is to ensure task completion, you’re thinking of yourself as a task manager.  You’re not a task manager, you’re a teacher.  So teach.

Accurate and productive use of assessment is central to your teaching role (TS6).  Make sure that when you work with a group you have the means to record what you observe, and use this information to monitor progress, set targets, and plan subsequent lessons. 

The further suggestions below assume that the activity is fundamentally of  value, i.e. the activity contributes to pupil progress.  The character of each intervention (left-hand column) will depends on your personal approach, your choice of words, tone, gesture, balance of listening and talking, use of resources, etc. There are, for example, as many ways of making the activity more challenging as there are shades of grey.  The middle column links the intervention to the Teachers' Standards.  The right-hand column suggests a more pupil-centred approach to the intervention with a further asterisked link to the Teachers' Standards.

What if...

All the pupils know what’s required and are doing it or 

one/some/all of the pupils complete the task/activity very quickly?

One/some/all of the pupils don’t know what to do?

One/some/all of the pupils are disengaged?

There's insufficient time for one/some/all pupils to complete the activity?

The activity requires collaboration but the pupils aren’t collaborating?

"How inclusive was that?" - evaluating lessons 2

Teachers' Standard 8 requires you to take responsibility for improving teaching.  Wherever there are opportunities, I'd encourage you to take ownership: decide which aspects of your practice you'd like to discuss with colleagues.  You can do this by deciding in advance the focus for you response to "How did that go?"

You could consider how inclusive your lesson was.  The Venn diagram below is a useful way of thinking about this.  With each of the elements you could ask yourself to what extent... For example, To what extent did I set suitable learning challenges (for all children)? As with any evaluation you then need to be prepared to provide evidence of this.  How do you know that the learning challenges were suitable?  (This links back to how you have planned the lesson.)  

You could evaluate the inclusivity of your practice independently, without the support of or feedback from an observer.  The DfES produced a useful teaching observation checklist intended for school self-evaluation but you could apply it to your own evaluative thinking.  It's important to remember that inclusion is about all pupils, not just pupils with an identified educational need.

Focusing lesson evaluation on inclusivity addresses Teachers' Standards 8 and 5 - you're demonstrating that you have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils and can evaluate 

distinctive teaching approaches to engage and support them.

How "interesting" blunts pupils' interest

Teacher: "What's 9 times 7?"

Pupil A: "56."

Teacher: "That's an interesting answer.  Has anyone got a different answer?  What's 9 times 7?"

Pupil B: "63."

Teacher: "Yes, 63.  Well done."

Here the initial problem is that interesting comes to mean wrong.  There's a reluctance to use the word "wrong" in schools.  It's like putting crosses next to pupils' written answers, or using a red pen (for anything).  But all of the alternatives we employ ("interesting", question marks, green pens) give the same message: "That's incorrect."  (Green pens will be banned from classrooms in five years - mark the date in your diary.)

And what's so wrong with letting pupils know they've got the wrong answer?  They will have already worked out that interesting means wrong and will have dealt with it, so it's not going to lead to lasting psychological damage (at least no more than any other aspect of everyday life in school does). 

The problem is that the wrong/right answer scenario 

1) tells you only who does or doesn't know a specific fact - as an assessment tool it's of very limited use;

2) challenges no one (you either know the answer or you don't) - it's a nonstarter in terms of demonstrating your high expectations;

3) disengages pupils and fosters a risk-averse climate in your classroom (wrong answers are dismissed, only correct answers praised).  How will you understand the needs of pupils if you don't know what they are struggling with?  (And I'd love to hear if anyone's ever been motivated by "That's the wrong answer, but well done for trying.")

Actually, using "interesting" (or question marks/crosses, red/green pens) isn't really the issue.  These assessment tools are perfectly suited to this pub quiz approach to questioning. You could swap "What's 9 times 7?" with any other closed question with a single correct answer: What shape is this?  What's the capital of France?  Which two atomic components combine to make water? Who wrote Moby Dick? The issue is that you've asked the wrong question.  Closed questions lead to wrong/right answers; wrong/right answers lead to disengagement.

So what could you ask instead?  

Instead of "What's 9 times 7?" you could ask "How many ways can we make 63?"

Instead of "What shape is this?" you could ask "What are the properties of this shape?"

Instead of "What's the capital of France?" you could ask "What can you tell me about Paris?"

And if you are set on asking closed questions, treat all of the answers you get (right or wrong) impartially (keep your elation/disappointment to yourself), record them (flip chart, white board) and then, collaboratively, investigate.  So when pupils  suggest  that 9 times 7 is 56 (or 61 or 63 or 72), you can follow up, model (drawing on pupils' ideas) why only one answer is correct, and deal with any misconceptions straight away.

Wouldn't that make for an interesting lesson?

What stands out when you're outstanding?

If you're on an initial teacher training (ITT) programme or are a qualified teacher, you're expected to meet (at least) and, as a rule, exceed a set of standards, the Teachers' Standards.  You'll be observed and judgements about the extent to which you're meeting or exceeding the Standards will be made.  You'll be encouraged (I hope) to make judgements about your own practice based on a set of criteria that will have been shared with you. UCET and NASBTT (April 2012) suggest that 

Trainees graded as `outstanding’ teach consistently good lessons that often demonstrate outstanding features across a range of different contexts (for example, different ages, backgrounds, group sizes, and abilities) by the end of their training.

I thought it would be interesting to ask a group of mentors what they were looking for in 'outstanding' trainees.  I Wordled what they wrote and here's what came out: 

Here engagement refers to pupil engagement (trainee engagement is implicit), relationship to the relationship between the trainee and the pupils, and differentiated to the extent of provision for all pupils' strengths and needs.  Creative carries many implications, but here refers to the extent to which learning is delivered in ways which ensure pupil engagement.  I've picked up the implications of ownership elsewhere.

Why homework needs more thinking

Picture this.  It's the end of Thursday or Friday afternoon and you're handing out a worksheet to each child to take home with maths or comprehension questions to complete or spellings to learn or class work to finish.  What's wrong with this?

The problem isn't about children spending insufficient time playing or the disruption to quality family time.  Homework was never intended to be something that helped families bond or enabled children to play more.  The problem with homework is that too often it has no effective impact on learning.  Why?

1) Homework provides opportunities for pupils to consolidate misunderstanding or to learn things wrongly.  This isn't the fault of parents/carers.  If you want a child to learn something, sort it out in school.  (Of course there's the stuff that children learn at home, from interacting with people and things outside school, but I'm talking about homework, set by teachers for children to do when they're not at school.)

2) Homework too often emphasises or extends the gap between high and low achievers.  Let's imagine you've set the same five multiplication problems as homework for all, the children who get it will complete successfully, the children who don't, won't.  (This is a problem with worksheets in general.)  

3) You have no way of accurately monitoring who did what.  Some parents/carers will complete the questions on behalf of their children - so the children won't have understood how to do it but you'll think they have.  And some parents/carers will complete the work incorrectly.

4) Some parents/carers are better equipped to support their children than others.  Often these will be the parents/carers of the most able pupils in your class.  So, again, homework will serve to widen the gap between the least and the most able child.

5) Homework creates unnecessary workload, particularly if you're expected to mark work which children (or parents/carers) complete at home.  This reduces your time to focus on learning and teaching in the classroom.

What's the solution?  Your school will have homework policy ("...parents and school working in partnership...regular homework...linked to the taught curriculum...") and Teachers' Standard 4 requires that you set homework to consolidate and extend the knowledge and understanding pupils have acquired.  The government have stepped back from telling schools how many hours of homework a 5-year old should do so there's nothing stopping you (within the bounds of the school homework policy) from deciding what to ask pupils to do.  So when you're setting homework, make it something that children can take ownership of, that doesn't contribute to widening the gap between more and less able, that allows you to check on misconceptions or misunderstandings, and that doesn't add to your marking workload.  How?

• Set tasks which don't  necessarily involve writing or recording on paper.  These could be "Think about..." activities, observation or physical/kinaesthetic activities.
• Link these tasks to lessons you'll be teaching in a couple of days, or next week.  Be clear with your pupils that the set task is in preparation for such-and-such lesson.
• Use the introduction of this lesson as an opportunity to hear children's contributions and adjust the homework tasks you set to ensure that all children can participate.

For example:  Think about why some people walk to work, others drive, and some cycle or use public transport (in preparation for a lesson on writing a balanced argument or a geography lesson on urban transport choices).  Or: Sit in as many different chairs as you can find (in preparation for a D&T or history project on furniture design).  Or Look for right angles around your home (in preparation for a lesson on the properties of shapes).