Modelling techniques - how, what and when

Back to overview

7 October, 2022 —
Blog

Modelling techniques – how, what and when

Mark Miller looks at how we can model teaching techniques

Share on:

by Bradford Research School
on the 7th October 2022

Mark Miller is Director of Bradford Research School

Teachers need to know what great teaching looks like, which is why mechanism 8 of the EEF Professional Development guidance report- Modelling the technique – is so important. According to the guidance, ‘modelling is the provision of an observable sample of performance, either directly in person or indirectly (via film or pictures), for a teacher to reflect on or imitate.

From Observation to Adaptation

Having concrete models of what great teaching looks like is valuable, but our goal isn’t simply to demonstrate them. The goal is to change classroom practice.

Zimmerman and Schunk (2007) share a model of self-regulation that I think is helpful when considering how models work in teacher professional development (even though it originates in a different context):

Observation: Cognitive acquisition of skill from modelled and verbal instruction
Emulation: Demonstration of skill with social guidance and feedback
Self-controlled: Internalisation of skill and its independent demonstration
Self-regulated: Adaptation of skill to changes in personal and contextual conditions

If we want the models of teaching techniques we use in PD to transfer into enacted classroom practice, we need to carefully think about the stages, so that teachers go from seeing to copying to enacting to innovating.

Models and Modelling

PD leaders can model in a PD session or stage a video of the delivery of the technique. Alternatively, they could try and make it more ‘real’ by videoing classroom practice or asking colleagues to observe. They could even watch videos from outside of their context, such as Dixons Open Source videos. All of these have benefits and pitfalls.

Control the game

In the above video from Kate Henney, Dixons Trust Assistant Principal for Research and Development in English, the ‘staged’ demonstration helps to exemplify the strategy that is being explained. This means we can be precise in what we want to model, but it may feel less authentic than seeing it in the real classroom environment.

In-class live models bring in the real conditions in which observers can see a technique performed. But the technique that you want to see may not need to be performed. For example, if you want to witness behaviour techniques from an expert practitioner, you might not see any of the techniques that you wanted! And you don’t want the teacher to throw in a technique they wouldn’t have used, not least because it would send the wrong signals about cues.

Live modelling in PD does allow you to make explicit some of the implicit thought processes, and this can also happen in coaching sessions. It’s good to look for multiple representations and models in a variety of contexts.

What, Why…and When

We wrote in a previous blog in this series about the fact that those who lead teacher development need to be able to clearly communicate:

what the techniques are
why they have been chosen

When this happens, we are less likely to simply enact an observation-emulation pattern, where techniques are prescribed and then repeated, without a clear understanding of the rationale and mechanisms that are likely to make things successful. And if techniques sit within a framework or a consistent approach then they are less likely to be seen as gimmicks or ‘one-offs’.

But don’t forget the when.

One of the challenges in modelling the use of techniques is that we can focus on only modelling the technique. But in the classroom, it might not always be clear when the right moment for the technique is, so we need to also model the cue.

Sometimes the cue is explicit. Something clearly happens for the technique to be used. An example would be an approach to a pupil receiving a warning about behaviour. The Art of the Consequence, from Teach Like a Champion, is a technique I love using to deescalate behaviour in a positive way. Harry Fletcher-Wood writes about it here. The option to use this technique happens at a clear, specific moment. The cue is the need to reprimand a pupil, so the technique comes in. If we model this technique, we are also modelling the cue.

But the cue may not always be so obvious in a complex classroom environment. Therefore those who are modelling techniques need to model the cue, even if it is simply through a ‘think aloud’ process, much as we might do when modelling in the classroom.

A final note on modelling techniques. If we intend techniques to be used in classroom practice, we need to ensure that those tasked with learning the techniques believe that they will be able to use them and will be successful in doing so.

See the full list of mechanisms below, and the other blogs in the series.