Research School Network: Maximising Opportunities to Learn This week’s post looks at the third dimension from the ​‘Great Teaching Evidence Review’

By Andy Tharby

The new ​‘Great Teaching Evidence Review’ from Evidence Based Education provides an excellent framework for school leaders when thinking about their school improvement priorities. The report is divided into four dimensions and in this post we will be looking at the third dimension ​‘Maximising Opportunities to Learn. 

This is divided into three key elements:

3.1 Managing time and resources efficiently in the classroom to maximise productivity and minimise wasted time (e.g., starts, transitions); giving clear instructions so students understand what they should be doing; using (and explicitly teaching) routines to make transitions smooth.

3.2 Ensuring that rules, expectations and consequences for behaviour are explicit, clear and consistently applied.

3.3 Preventing, anticipating and responding to potentially disruptive incidents; reinforcing positive student behaviours; signalling awareness of what is happening in the classroom and responding appropriately.

The report states that there is a large body of evidence that supports the use of these strategies to promote learning. 

For example:

​“Praetorius et al. (2018) present evidence of correlations between measures of attainment and classroom management from 1,000 classrooms across ten studies, with a median correlation of 0.18 – the largest of their three dimensions.”

What follows are the implications of these findings for senior leaders, and curriculum leaders and those tasked with planning and delivering school-based professional development programmes.

3.1 Managing time and resources efficiently in the classroom; giving clear instructions; using routines to make transitions smooth.

Implications for leaders:

Are there agreed upon expectations for the starts and end of lessons (and other transitions) across the school or in your subject area?

How is lesson time, and thus learning time, maximised through crisp and simple routines?

Are students taught these expectations and routines explicitly at a granular level? Do they get a chance to practise them and receive feedback on them?

How are early career teachers supported in delivering these routines and expectations? When do they receive feedback on their progress?

What happens when students (or teachers) refuse to or unable to follow these expectations? What kinds of support and interventions are planned in?

How are instructions made clear and easy to follow? Do teachers understand the significance of Cognitive Load Theory and why so children are unable to assimilate long and convoluted instructions?

What do you plan to do at the start of next academic year to support students in learning new (and more complex) routines and expectations in the wake of Covid-19?

3.2 Ensuring that rules, expectations and consequences for behaviour are explicit, clear and consistently applied.

Implications for leaders:

How are rules and expectations made explicitly clear to all staff, students and parents/​carers?

Can all staff and students explain the school rules? Can they explain why they are fair? Can they explain what happens when these are violated?

How are sanctions and consequences applied? How do you know that this is consistent across the school or curriculum area?

When inconsistency occurs, how do you respond to ensure that it is less likely to happen again?

How is professional development around rules, expectations and consequences organised?

How are teachers supported to feel confident in applying the school rules confidently?

3.3 Preventing, anticipating and responding to potentially disruptive incidents; reinforcing positive student behaviours; signalling awareness of what is happening in the classroom and responding appropriately.

Implications for leaders:

How is the data collected around disruptive incidents collated, managed and used to help plan for the prevention of future infractions?

How are teachers trained and supported so that they learn how to anticipate potential disruption? Do they get an opportunity to practise these skills and receive immediate feedback?

How is positive behaviour reinforced across the school? How are praise and rewards used? How do you know whether your approach is effective?

How are teachers trained and supported to develop the art of ​‘withitness’, the sense that they are always aware of what is happening in their classroom?

How do teachers adopt tailored approaches to support the needs of students with a history of challenging behaviour? How is this knowledge managed and shared around the school?