Using a Framework of
6 Key Principles to Increase the
Effectiveness of Smaller Classes
Maurice Galton
Faculty of Education,
University of Cambridge UK
Professional Development Activities
on Small Class Teaching - Seminar
14 July 2010 Hong Kong
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Six Principles to guide
improvements in practice
•
•
•
•
Clear statement of learning objectives
Extended questioning during whole class discussion
More active pupil participation
Increased cooperation between pupils by working in pairs
and groups
• Less use of corrective and more informing feedback
• More use of the assessment for learning approach
Whenever possible exploration precedes instruction and examples are
situated in contexts that are meaningful to the pupils
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Justification for the Six Principles
1. Empirical: John Hattie’s meta analysis of
numerous studies shows that following
these principles results in considerable
gains in attainment.
2. Theories of learning (particularly social
constructivist ones) predict many of these
empirical findings, particularly the idea
that ‘talk drives learning.’
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Six Principles
CURRICULUM
PEDAGOGY
ASSESSMENT
QUESTIONING
LEARNING
OBJECTIVES
PUPIL
PARTICIPATION
ASSESSMENT
FOR LEARNING
PAIR/GROUP
WORK
FEEDBACK
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Making Pupils Metacognitively Wise
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
STRATEGIC
THINKING
CONCEPT
DEVELOPMENT
KNOWLEDGE AND
SKILLS ACQUISITION
… using plan-do-review cycle…
with emphasis on
task-processing feedback
Mainly through whole
classes interactive teaching
and group work
Mainly by direct instruction
to whole class
Assessment through
‘dialogic’ questioning and
extended written work
Assessment mainly by
short, quick questioning and
short answer written tests
Assessment mainly through
pupil reflection, self-evaluation
and class debriefing…
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First Key Principle: Specifying
learning objectives
 Too often objectives are specified only in terms
of the content or task (e.g. To count in tens from
one to a hundred, to memorise the words of a
song/poem)
 Teachers need also to consider the purpose
behind these activities. Is it to facilitate problem
solving (counting), to aid comprehension
(recitation), etc?
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Teachers tend to identify what pupils
will do not what they will learn.
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2
3
4
5
6
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Which of the following tell pupils about learning?
(success criteria which are shared with pupils)
To make a Christmas decoration
To be able to interpret a pie-chart
To improve ball throwing skills
To complete exercise 3a in your maths text book
To discuss what foods are good for us
To know when to use ‘a’ and ’the’
To draw and label a diagram of a simple electric circuit
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Some key action words when
specifying learning objectives
Low level (transmission): to recall, define, identify,
state, recognise, name, list, measure
Medium level (application): to use, show, perform,
explain, illustrate, predict, interpret
Higher level (understanding): to classify, design,
organise, compose, discover, summarise,
conclude, separate
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Using key action words when
specifying learning objectives
e.g. To count up to one hundred in tens and to use
this method to perform simple calculations more
rapidly. (low to medium level)
e.g. To memorise a poem and demonstrate
comprehension by acting out the parts of various
characters in the narrative. (low to medium
level)
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Some key questions when specifying
learning objectives
•
•
•
Have I not only described the activity but also its
purpose?
Have I described the purposes in terms of
expected pupil behaviour using action words?
Have I linked the stated objectives to
appropriate use of teaching methods? In general
the higher the level the less direct instruction
and the greater use of teaching strategies based
on the six principles.
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Second Key Principle: Extended
questioning during class discussion
• Much questioning consists of rapid
exchanges between the teacher and an
individual pupil.
• These exchanges have been described as
cued elicitations in which the teacher asks
questions while providing heavy clues as to
the answers required.
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Second Key Principle: Extended
questioning during class discussion
In promoting higher level objectives, pupils
need to partake in more thoughtful
discourse. This requires teachers
 To provide some ‘thinking’ (wait time).
 To use encouraging phrases such as,
“Interesting. Can you say more?” “Does
anyone else want to add more?” rather than
repeating the first answer. example
 To use classroom space flexibly. example
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Dialogic Teaching
Change in questioning strategies to promote
dialogic talk:
 structured and cumulative questioning
which guide and prompt, reduce choices,
minimize risk and error and expedite
handover of concepts and principles
 training which enables pupils acquire a
repertoire of learning talk, which includes
the ability to explain, to argue cases, to give
reasons to back up assertions and to arrive at
conclusions through negotiation
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Some key questions about
extended class discussion
•
•
•
•
How many pupils generally participated?
Were thinking times sufficient?
Did the pupils’ responses indicate that
more than simple recall was taking place?
Did my (the teacher’s) responses help to
extend discussion?
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Third Key Principle: More active
pupil participation
When endeavouring to apply newly acquired
knowledge to novel situations, pupils generally
find it easier to gain understanding through
‘learning by doing’. It helps if
 The context is a familiar one
 Ideas are shared through activities such as
‘brainstorming’, creating ‘concept maps’, etc as
a form of initial scaffolding
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Some key questions about
active pupil participation
•
•
•
•
As far as possible was the task situated in
a context which was meaningful for the
pupils?
Was there some initial exploration of the
pupils’ ideas before activity began?
Was the task sufficiently motivating?
Did pupils demonstrate understanding by
reaching reasonable conclusions?
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Fourth Key Principle: Increased
cooperation between pupils




Group and pair work often fails because
There is not sufficient academic challenge.
Organisation allows only some children to
actively engage in the task.
Rules of cooperation have not been established
and are not re-enforced.
Class does not engage in a debriefing session in
which they discuss how well they worked
together, etc and ways of doing better next time.
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Key questions about increased
cooperation between pupils
•
•
•
•
Was adequate time allowed?
Did the task allow most of the pupils to
actively participate for most of the time?
Were pupils reminded about the rules (e.g.
taking turns, listening carefully etc.)?
Did the class have a chance to discuss
how well they worked as a group/pair?
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Fifth Key Principle: Less use of
corrective and more informing feedback
 Much feedback consists of showing pupils
where they went wrong and then
providing the right answer (corrective
feedback)
 Feedback can also be used to help pupils
to learn how to spot their own mistakes
and eventually to self-correct (informing
feedback)
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3 Kinds of Feedback
1 About Self: should focus on effort rather than on
person. Thus ‘That’s a good try’ rather than ‘Well
done’. Purpose is re-enforcement.
2 Task processing: (informing) ‘Where have you
got to?’ ‘What do you think may have gone
wrong?’ ‘What are you going to do next?’
Purpose is self-regulation.
3 Evaluative: (corrective) most powerful when it is
about faulty interpretation rather than supplying
missing information. ‘Show me how you got that
answer’ rather than, ‘ You need to do it like this.’
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Effect of Feedback (Ranked by Effect Size)
Teachers:
• provide cues
(What do you think might happen if…?)
• ask for explanation
(How did you get that answer?)
• praise effort
(That was a good try.)
• praise correct answer
(That’s correct! Well done.)
• correct answer
(You need to add these two numbers.)
Rank
Effect
1st
big
2nd
big
3rd
big
4th
medium
5th
small
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Key questions about less use of
corrective and more informing feedback
•
•
•
Did I praise effort as well as success?
Did my questions help pupils to spot
where they went wrong or how they could
improve their work?
When correcting a piece of work did I get
the pupil to show me how s/he arrived at
the answer?
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Sixth Key Principle: Use of the
assessment for learning approach
 Assessment for learning makes use of
formative assessment in order to diagnose
pupils’ learning difficulties and thereby
provide the required teaching to remedy
these deficiencies. At its lowest it employs
techniques such as ‘traffic lights’ to sort
pupils into groups for attention. At its best
it is personalised and caters for individual
needs.
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Key questions in the use of the
assessment for learning approach
•
•
•
Were the forms of classroom organisation
sufficiently flexible to allow groups of pupils
with similar learning needs to come together?
Was much of the formative assessment based on
what pupils said and did rather than what they
wrote?
Did I build these oral assessments into a pupil
profile?
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Professional Development
 In facilitating teachers’ paradigm shift in
pedagogy, the approach of “Learning Circles”
has been crucial. Both inter-school sharing across
subjects and intra-school sharing of pedagogical
issues, which focuses at any one time on a specific
aspect of pedagogy, allows teachers to observe and
evaluate each other’s classroom practice and
thereby enhances the participants’ professionalism.
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How can teachers best monitor and
evaluate their small class practice?
• When applying the six key principles,
teachers are advised to ask a colleague
for help in monitoring their classroom
practice. (If that is impossible, then they
can record their lessons.)
example
• To ask pupils for evaluation data.
(Asking pupils merely whether they
enjoyed the lesson or learned anything is
unlikely to be useful.)
example
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How do teachers know that they’re doing the things
that will help promote learning in smaller classes?
As a group (or individually)
• Regularly review progress by asking
themselves a number of key questions
• Then try to identify the sources of evidence
• Then consider what explanations that
different kinds of evidence provide
• Then discuss what actions need to be taken
next (e.g. to re-plan the lesson)
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A simple evaluation tool
Questions Sources of What does What actions
for
evidence the evidence should we
reflection
tell us?
take?
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Video clips,
observation
records,
pupils’
evaluation,
pupils’ talk,
etc.
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Some Indicators of Success
What teachers of small class might look for
1. A shift from interactions with pupils which are brief and
random to those that are longer and more sustained.
2. Lessons that often provide opportunities for pupils to
explore their ideas before formal instruction begins.
3 An increase in the proportion of pupil talk, much of it
occurring between pupils.
4. Evidence of ability to assess pupils’ understanding on
the basis of what they say rather than what they write.
5. Willingness to change classroom layout to meet the
requirements of different learning tasks and different
kinds of learning talk.
6. Encouragement to pupils to reflect critically on the
procedures and methods used when actively engaged on
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tasks.
Key References
Hattie, J. and Timperley, H (2007) The Power of
Feedback, Revue of Educational Research, 77
(1):81-112.
Hattie, J. (2005) The paradox of reducing class size
and improving learning outcomes, International
Journal of Educational Research, 43 (6) 387-425.
Watkins, C (2003) Learning: A sense-makers guide,
London: Association of Teachers and Lecturers
(ATL).
Galton, M. (2002) Learning and Teaching in the
Primary Classroom, London: Sage Publication.
Wood, D. (1998) How Children Think and Learn,
Oxford: Blackwells.
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