Research School Network: The often overlooked magic of a strong exit routine Katie White reflects on the importance of establishing clear and predictable classroom routines
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The often overlooked magic of a strong exit routine
Katie White reflects on the importance of establishing clear and predictable classroom routines
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by Devon Research School
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Katie White
Co-Deputy Director, Devon Research School
Katie is Co-Deputy Director at Devon Research School, and an English teacher and Coaching Lead at Kingsbridge Community College. She works with the Research School team to share research findings and best practice with schools across the South West.
Establishing clear routines and expectations for behaviour and learning
At the start of a new academic year, much attention is rightly given to establishing routines and expectations for behaviour and learning. Teachers may revisit everything from how we welcome students into the classroom, to where they sit, how equipment is organised and what they should do when the lesson begins.
Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt popularised the metaphor of an elephant and its rider to describe two interacting modes of mental processing, where the elephant represents automatic, intuitive and emotional processes and the rider represents conscious, deliberate thinking. Following this metaphor, strongly embedded routines reduce the amount of conscious direction required from the rider, freeing up our limited attentional capacity for other things.
Clear routines are particularly important for our most vulnerable students who may find the school environment more challenging. When the mechanics of a lesson are predictable, pupils have fewer things to process and can devote more of their attention to the learning itself. The EEF’s Guide to Inclusive Teaching, for example, highlights the importance of establishing clear routines and expectations.
Explaining the ‘why’
In order to create the routines that support effective learning behaviours and help secure the attention for learning that we strive for, we need to have a united approach to embedding them into our school culture. But there is another group whose understanding matters too: pupils.
Explaining why a routine exists can help pupils understand its purpose rather than seeing it simply as another instruction to follow. If pupils understand that a particular routine helps everyone get ready to learn, protects learning time or makes transitions calmer and more predictable, they may be more likely to engage with it.
This is consistent with a broader principle of implementation: people are more likely to engage with change when they understand its purpose and see its relevance to them. The same principle can apply to the routines we ask pupils to adopt.
Don’t forget the end of the lesson
Our thinking about routines does usually start at the beginning. But, as you go into your academic year, I would urge you to think also of the often overlooked magic of an exit routine. As the lesson draws to a close, there can be a temptation to squeeze in one final activity, answer a question or two, and then release pupils as the bell goes. Yet the final few minutes are still part of the learning environment – and they are also the bridge between one lesson and the next.
A well-designed exit routine might include a consistent sequence of actions: completing or submitting work, reflecting on the learning, organising equipment, checking the room and waiting for dismissal. The precise routine will depend on the context and the purpose, but the underlying principle is the same as at the beginning of the lesson: make expectations clear and predictable.
When exit routines are structured (just as at the beginning) with clear cues and chained procedures, they create a smooth lesson transition that avoids “scrambling” and maintains that all important calmness.
So, this Autumn, when you revisit routines for learning and think of going back to the beginning, think also, of beginning at the end.
Reflection questions
What do we want pupils to do when the lesson ends?
How will they know what is expected?
Have we given them enough opportunity to practise the routine?
And how consistently is it applied across the school?
Haidt, J. (2006). The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom. New York: Basic Books.
ScenarioSpace training resource
Schools can access a scenario-based training resource on Creating a Calm Classroom Environmenthere. This interactive session is designed to help teachers explore evidence and overcome common barriers to creating a calm classroom environment, using scenarios and guided discussion.
