WAYLAND COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL
A Specialist Technology College
Teaching &
Learning Policy
Last review date
1
2010
Policy Statement
Teaching and Learning is the core purpose of the school and the school’s
quality and status is judged in relation to its effectiveness in this activity.
Wayland Community High School’s aspirations for its students, requires
that its teachers have a particular attitude to their work. As well as being
totally committed to the progress of children in its broadest sense, Wayland
teachers must be child centred rather than primarily focusing on the
demands of structures or the system, they must be flexible and enterprising
risk takers rather than focusing on predictability and safety and they must
be conscious that they are working in a learning community where children
and adults learn together and from one another.
We regard this as the fertile ground in which high quality Teaching and
Learning develops.
The following Guidelines specify the key features that characterise the high
quality Teaching and Learning at Wayland Community High School that
we regard as the benchmark of good professional practice for a classroom
teacher.
We recognise that good behaviour in school underpins and supports high
quality teaching and learning. This policy therefore goes hand in hand
with our Behaviour for Learning Policy.
All lessons delivered at Wayland will follow the structure outlined in the
appendices of this policy, ‘The Wayland Lesson’. All teachers are
encouraged to consult and add to the TOOLKIT in the appendices of this
policy, ‘From Good to Great, twelve principles which promote learning at
Wayland Community High school’.
Planning and preparation
• the lesson plan has clear and explicit aims and objectives which have
due regard for the age and stage of all students in the teaching group
and which reflect the priorities identified in the Scheme of Work and
the Department’s Annexe to the School’s Teaching and Learning
Policy
• the content, methods and structure of the lesson selected is
appropriate for the student learning intended
• the lesson is planned to link up appropriately with past and future
lessons
• materials, resources and aids are well-prepared and checked in good
time
• all planning decisions take account of the students and the context
• the lesson is designed to elicit and sustain students' attention, interest
and involvement
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Lesson presentation
• the teacher should aim to be confident, relaxed, self-assured,
purposeful and to generate interest in the lesson
• the teacher's instructions and explanations are clear and matched to
students' needs. Students must understand what they are expected to
do and learn and they must understand what would constitute success
• the teacher's questions include a variety of types and range and are
distributed widely across the class to fully engage students, to
challenge them, to extend their learning and to enable them to show
how their learning is developing
• a variety of independent and co-operative learning activities are
planned as appropriate to engage students and to cater for a variety of
learning styles and needs
• students are actively involved in the lesson and are given
opportunities gain ownership and to organise their own work
• the teacher shows respect and encouragement for students' ideas and
contributions and fosters their academic, social and emotional
development
• materials, resources and aids are used efficiently and effectively to
promote good or outstanding progress
Lesson management
• the teacher arrives promptly for the lesson to greets pupils and create
and encouraging atmosphere, to administers the lesson register and
deals immediately and effectively with student lateness such that it
does not impact significantly upon the time available for learning
• the lesson starter is smooth and prompt and sets up a positive mental
set for what is to follow
• students' attention, interest and involvement in the lesson is
maintained through effectively practiced pedagogy
• students' progress during the lesson is carefully monitored by
questioning, observation and through responses to tasks (AfL)
• constructive and helpful feedback is given to students to ensure that
they always know what they have to do to make further progress
• transitions between activities are smooth and preserve a clear thread
of learning throughout the lesson
• the time spent on differentiated activities is appropriate to its
perceived effectiveness given the overall aims of the lesson and the
capability of the teaching group.
• the pace and flow of the lesson is adjusted and maintained at an
appropriate level throughout the lesson
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• adjustments to the lesson plan are made whenever appropriate. The
teachers must use their judgement to decide whether to “follow the
children” in a particular lesson will enable them to more effectively
achieve their short term aims for the class
• the endings of lessons are used to good effect. There must be a
plenary exercise that reviews and confirms learning for both the
teacher and the students.
Classroom climate
• the climate is purposeful, task-oriented, relaxed, emotionally
secure and with an established sense of order. This maintained
whether the class are engaged in independent, small group or
whole class activities
• students are supported and encouraged to learn, with high
positive expectations conveyed by the teacher
• teacher-student relationships are largely based on mutual respect
and rapport
• feedback from the teacher contributes to fostering student selfconfidence and self-esteem
• the appearance and layout of the learning environment is conducive to
positive student attitudes towards the lesson and facilitates the
activities taking place
Discipline (please also refer to our Behaviour for Learning Policy).
• good order is largely based on the positive classroom climate
established over time by the teacher and by good lesson preparation
and management
• the teacher's authority is established fairly and consistently and is
accepted by students
• clear rules and expectations regarding student behaviour are displayed
in the classroom and referred to by the teacher at appropriate times
• student behaviour is carefully monitored and appropriate actions by
the teacher are taken to pre-empt misbehaviour occurring
• misbehaviour of individual students is dealt with by an appropriate
use of investigation, counselling, academic help, reprimands and
punishments. The teacher’s immediate response to misbehaviour must
not impact upon the learning time available to the rest of the class.
• confrontations are avoided and skilfully defused
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Assessing students' progress
• marking of students' work during and after lessons is thorough and
constructive and returned in good time. Frequency of marking is
specified in the Department’s Annex to the School’s Marking and
Assessment Policy. Taking into account the type of work being done
by a class, marking must be done sufficient to ensure that students
have adequate feedback to ensure their continued progress
• feedback on assessments is aimed not only to be diagnostic and
corrective, but also to encourage further effort and maintain selfconfidence, which involves follow-up comments, help or work with
particular students as appropriate
• a variety of approaches to assessment are used, covering both
formative and summative purposes. Teachers should endeavour to use
the full range of AfL opportunities to monitor and evaluate responses
to tasks
• opportunities are provided for students to assess their own work and
that of their peers against assessment criteria with which they are
familiar and understand. They should be able to make accurate
statements about their own progress and also be able to engage in
establishing targets for future work
• a variety of records are kept which provide a secure assessment of
progress which is submitted approximately half-termly to the Subject
Leader and Progress Leader via the school’s “Traffic Lights”
monitoring system.
• assessment of students' work is used to identify areas of common
difficulties, the effectiveness of the teaching and whether a firm basis
for further progress has been established. This knowledge is used in
the planning of future work
• assessment is made of the study skills and learning strategies
employed by students in order to foster their further development.
Teachers must develop a good understanding of why a student may
not be learning effectively (literacy or numeracy issues, social or
emotional characteristics etc). This knowledge is used in the planning
of future work.
 Students are also assessed on their Behaviour for Learning under the
C.O.P.E. criteria detailed in our Behaviour for Learning Policy (C:
Co-operate, O: On Task, P: Punctual, E: Equipment).
Reflection and evaluation
• the effectiveness lessons for all students in each teaching group are
habitually evaluated and this knowledge is used to inform future
planning and practice
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• current practice is regularly reviewed, preferably with a colleague to
identifying aspects for useful development
• use is made of a variety of ways to reflect upon and evaluate current
practice (e.g. peer observation and discussion, co-coaching,
performance management activities, adviser support)
• the teacher regularly reviews whether his or her time and effort can be
organised to better effect
• the teacher regularly reviews the strategies and techniques he or she
uses to deal with sources of stress. Teachers should be mindful that
their work is a highly social, interpersonal and often emotional
activity and a teachers well-being is a key resource for their
effectiveness in the classroom
At all times teachers reflect the main school policies within their
work:
Behaviour Policy
SEN Policy
Assessment Policy
Marking Policy
Homework Policy
Equal Opportunity Policy
(Teaching and Learning Policy)
This policy document was produced in consultation with the entire school
community, including pupils, parents, school staff, Governors, LEA
representatives, school community nurse and local Healthy School Standards
representatives as appropriate.
This document is freely available to the entire school community. It also has
been made available on the school’s website.
It will be formally reviewed on an annual basis.
Review date………………………………………………..
Signed………………………………………………..
Chair of Governors
Date……………………………………
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Appendices:
1. The Wayland Lesson.
2. ‘From Good To Great’, Twelve principles which promote learning at
Wayland Community High School.
The Wayland Lesson
At the last OfSTED inspection the quality of Teaching & Learning was satisfactory.
Since 2008 we initially focused on a MTG or MTL focus refining further our MIS system and
developing the ladders of attainment seeking to spread across KS3 and KS4. We also put a lot
more emphasis on an academic tutoring day enabling parents to attend during a whole day
even with tutors. This increased attendance from 66% in 2007 (average across the year) to
82% (2010). We also increased contact with teachers/tutors in Year 7, 9 and 11. We sought to
make the teaching purposeful and clearly linked to achievable goals.
Difficulty in recruitment (particularly in English, Design Technology and Science) has
catalysed a more coherent approach to;
Improving the quality of teaching so that more lessons were good moving towards
outstanding
Making better use of marking so that students know how to improve their work
Behaviour for Learning links hand in hand with wanting to drive standards of teaching up
faster.
Currently a small group of staff (4) are working with targeted staff to improve standards in
the classroom. This is achieved through observations and 1:1 coaching and mentoring which
produces a PD improvement action plan for each professional.
Alongside min-ofsted inspections in Summer 2010 a new ‘Effective Learning’ team will be
led by Paul McCann (Assistant Headteacher).
To support the drive to raise standards further the review and restructuring of the Pastoral
system is centred on Learning over 3 key phases: unlocking learning, improving learning and
preparing for lifelong learning.
Pivotal to new and current staff (and supporting those appointed as instructors) and in
conjunction with the Behaviour for Learning agenda a ‘Wayland Lesson’ will be introduced
in time for the internal mini-ofsted inspections. Following Middle Leader professional
development with Swavesey Village College this format will be reinforced through regular
informal visits to classrooms by Middle Leaders, learning walks by Senior Leadership and
the ‘Effective Learning team’ working in direct intervention where standards are causing
concern.
All formal observations and intervention work will use the OfSTED criteria as a guideline –
middle leaders pairing up with Senior Leaders to ensure quality control.
What does the Wayland Lesson look like?
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There are some outstanding teachers working at Wayland Community High School. In an
effective lesson – seeking to move from satisfactory to good (or even better) the following
characteristics would be evident – use as a checklist.
Before the start:
The group are met at the door, the class are settled into the room quickly and learning starts
immediately. A register is called and a seating plan reflecting different target groups within
the classroom is obviously referred to. Any low level disruption is challenged quickly and
without loss of learning time.
The lesson:
There should be clear evidence of planning. Resources and materials are able to meet the
needs of individuals and differentiate. Previous reference to a lesson may be made but the
lesson aims and objectives are clearly stated and visible throughout the lesson.
The teacher exhibits good subject knowledge and is able to engage the students quickly so
learning is rigorous and challenging. The teacher uses a number of different strategies to
engage the students including paired work, group work, presentations, the use of modern
technologies, learning styles and targeted questioning and class discussion. Student opinion
should be sought throughout the lesson. Clear Assessment for learning should be taking place
The teacher moves around the room effectively, fully aware of any health & safety issues,
ensuring students are using relevant dialogue with each other. Encouraging them to refer to
the last piece of work and what they now need to do to improve. Student creativity should be
encouraged and if an idea is not working then a clear change of direction with explanation to
the students should be apparent. Student should be given time to express views, share ideas
and contribute to any wider discussion.
Rewards should dominate with verbal praise and encouragement alongside other more
tangible prizes. No one individual should be allowed to dominate learning, pace or any part
of the lesson.
Plenary:
Reflecting on the lesson, what they have learnt new, how they have improved, where the
learning is going and what else they need to do next time to improve.
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Checklist for lesson observation quick visit alongside OfSTED criteria
Teacher Name:
Settling in – attentive and
engaged
Register and initial task
Seating Plan and other
re-organisation
Learning Introduction
Aims and Objectives
The question today!
Pace & rigour
Clear planning and
differentiated resources –
matching lesson plan
Different teaching strategies
Dialogue with group –
Question, feedback etc
Dialogue with individuals
Use of modern technologies
Paired/group work
Rewards and sanctions
Pupil contribution to class
learning
Pupils knowing how next to
improve
Clear plenary and summary of
progress
Health & Safety points
Areas of development for
teacher
Use of support – teaching
assistant etc
Good behaviour - modelled
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Class:
Date
Behaving the way Wayland expects!
In a recent pupil survey a little under half of you thought that misbehaviour in your lessons
can effect your learning. Interestingly over 80% of you clearly understand how to behave and
we want to respond to your comments by making sure all your friends know what they cannot
do anymore.
I want to learn and I should let others around me learn – every minute of each lesson is
important so arriving on time and being ready is important.
The following areas are not acceptable in lessons and I do not want to behave like this. I want
my teachers to stop other pupils behaving like this in order that my learning can be at my
best.
In order to improve my learning and to not stop others learning
I will not:
Arrive late at lessons
Start the lesson without the correct equipment
Call out or interrupt the teacher when they are talking
Act in a silly way with my friends so others find they are learning more slowly
For it is my job to let everyone enjoy their learning in the lesson as well as myself
I will
Try my hardest, listening carefully to teacher instructions
Remember what I must do to improve
Find out what I need to do to improve further
Ask my teacher about work they have assessed for me (marking)
Know my minimum target level or grade and what I got on my last short report
Expect to go onto behaviour report if I do not improve
Have to go somewhere else on some lessons so others are not disturbed
Make sure I understand my homework and complete it on time
Attend school regularly and not miss important learning in my subjects.
I will C.O.P.E in every lesson:
C:
O:
P:
E:
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Co-operate.
On task.
Punctual.
Equipment.
From Good To Great
Twelve Principles which promote learning at Wayland Community High
School
The most basic duty of a teacher is to ensure that the students in their care learn and make
progress in their education.
Teachers consider themselves to be professional and this amongst other things implies that
they take responsibility for developing their practice to a level which ensures an efficient and
effective service for our children. Teachers therefore engage as a matter of course in a range
of development activities which focus upon both the “what” and “how” of teaching.
The professional environment of teaching has changed in three important ways in recent
years. The first two of these have made teaching more problematic. Society and its children
are changing and schools, teachers and teaching has had to adapt to take account of these
changes and even to offset some of the less desirable products of these changes. In addition,
the direct demands made upon schools by central and local government, as a response to
changes in society and the economy and also as an artefact of central government’s need to
monitor and control, has imposed a framework upon schooling specifying what should be
taught backed up with a pattern of consequences for those who do not perform in the
prescribed way.
The third development has much more positive implications. Recent research in areas of
educational, developmental, cognitive, social and clinical psychology now offer new insights
into the learning process and the development of knowledge in many subject-matter areas. As
a result, the curriculum and pedagogy are changing in schools today. They are attempting to
become more student centred than teacher-centred, to connect the school to real-life
situations, and to focus on understanding and thinking rather than on memorization, drill and
practice.
As a result we are in a position to identify twelve key principles which will provide a
comprehensive framework for the design of schemes of work and the teaching that delivers
them at Wayland Community High School.
A great deal of the teaching delivered at Wayland is “good”. We will now focus upon moving
“From Good to Great”. We will achieve this by embedding these twelve principles in our
teaching and using them as the framework for the reflective self evaluation which is critical
to the high achieving teacher’s discharge of their professional responsibility for self
development and improvement of practice. While perfection is certainly not the aim we have
a responsibility to look at every lesson and reflect:
“Did all of the students achieve learning objectives appropriate for them?” “Was the
pedagogy appropriate?”
“What could I improve?”
The twelve principles are:
Learning requires the active, constructive involvement of the learner.
Research findings
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Learning at school requires students to pay attention, to observe, to memorize, to understand,
to set goals and to assume responsibility for their own learning. These cognitive activities are
not possible without the active involvement and engagement of the learner. Teachers must
help students to become active and goal oriented by building on their natural desire to
explore, to understand new things and to master them.
In the Wayland classroom
It is a challenge for us to create interesting and challenging learning situations that encourage
the active involvement of students. The following would be recognised as examples of good
practice:
• Avoiding situations where the students are passive listeners for long periods of time.
• Providing students with hands-on activities, such as experiments, observations, projects, etc.
• Encouraging participation in classroom discussions and other collaborative activities.
• Organizing school visits which are purposeful and well structured around the intended
learning.
• Allowing students to take some control over their own learning. Taking control over one’s
learning means allowing students to make some decisions about what to learn and how.
• Assisting students in creating learning goals that are consistent with their interests and
future aspirations.
Learning is primarily a social activity and participation in the social life of the
school is central for learning to occur
Research findings
Many researchers say that social participation is the main activity through which learning
occurs. Social activity and participation begin early on. Parents interact with their children
and through these interactions children acquire the behaviours that enable them to become
effective members of society. According to the psychologist Lev Vygotsky, the way children
learn is by “internalizing the activities, habits, vocabulary and ideas of the members of the
community in which they grow up.” The establishment of a fruitful collaborative and cooperative atmosphere must therefore likely be an essential part of the learning environment at
Wayland Community High School. Research also shows that social collaboration can boost
student achievement, provided that the kinds of interactions that are encouraged contribute to
learning. Finally, social activities are interesting in their own right and help to keep students
involved in their academic work. Students work harder to improve the quality of their
products (essays, projects, artwork, etc.) when they know that they will be shared with other
students.
In the Wayland classroom
We can do many things to encourage social participation in ways that facilitate learning:
• Assigning students to work in groups and then assuming the role of a coach/co-ordinator
providing guidance and support to these collaborative learners.
• Creating a classroom environment that includes group workspaces where resources are
shared.
• Modelling and coaching the skills of collaborative learning through the way we work with
the students. We are in effect teaching the students how to co-operate with each other.
• Creating opportunities within lesson planning for students to interact with each other, to
express their opinions and to evaluate other students’ arguments.
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• By creating opportunities for social learning outside their normal social and cultural context
by linking the school to the Wayland community in as many ways as we can.
People learn best when they participate in activities that are perceived to be
useful in real life and that are culturally relevant .
Research findings
Many school activities are potentially meaningless to students since they may not understand
why they are doing them nor what its purpose and usefulness is. Sometimes school activities
are not meaningful because they are not culturally appropriate. Many schools are
communities where children from diverse cultures (not necessarily from different countries)
learn together. There are systematic cultural differences in practices, in habits, in social roles,
etc., that influence learning. Sometimes meaningful activities for students coming from one
cultural or social background are not meaningful to students who are coming from another.
In the Wayland classroom
As teachers we can make classroom activities more meaningful by situating them in an
authentic context. An example of an authentic context is one in which the activity is typically
used in real life. For example:
 students can improve their oral language and communication skills by participating in
debates about live issues.
 They can improve their writing skills by being involved in the preparation of a
classroom newspaper.
 Students can learn science by participating in a community or school environmental
project.
 The school can be in contact with local business people and invite them to visit the
school to join in lessons relating to some aspect of their organisation, or allow the
students to visit their workplace.
We also need to be aware of the cultural differences of the children in their classroom and to
respect these differences. We should look for ways of using them as strengths to build on,
rather than as defects. Our ESL students for instance will feel differently in the classroom if
their culture is reflected in the common activities.
New knowledge is constructed on the basis of what is already understood and
believed
New knowledge is constructed on the basis
Research findings
The idea that people’s ability to learn something new follows from what they already know is
not new, but more recent research findings have shown that the ability to relate new
information to prior knowledge is critical for learning. It is not possible for someone to
understand, remember or learn something that is completely unfamiliar. Some prior
knowledge is necessary to understand the task at hand. But having the prerequisite prior
knowledge is still not sufficient to ensure adequate results. People must activate their prior
knowledge in order to be able to use it for understanding and for learning. Research shows
that students do not consistently see the relationships between new material that they read and
what they already know. Research also shows that learning is enhanced when teachers pay
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close attention to the prior knowledge of the learner and use this knowledge as the starting
point for instruction.
In the Wayland classroom
Here we should be looking to help students to activate prior knowledge and to use it for the
task at hand. This can be done in a number of ways:
• By discussing the content of a lesson before starting in order to ensure that the students have
the necessary prior knowledge and in order to activate this knowledge.
• We need to be wary that students’ prior knowledge may be incomplete or they may have
false beliefs and critical misconceptions. We do not simply need to know that students know
something about the topic to be introduced. We need to be prepared to investigate students’
prior knowledge in detail so that false beliefs and misconceptions can be identified.
• We need to check on and activate prior learning. This may involve purposeful activities
built into the lesson plan or it may involve asking the students to do some preparatory work
on their own.
• We need to carefully plan our questioning to include the kind of question that helps students
see relationships between the present task or lesson and what they already know.
The most effective teachers in any school are the ones who have the knowledge, skill and
insight to enable students to grasp relationships and make connections. They do so by
providing a model or a scaffold that students can use as support in their efforts to improve
their performance.
People learn by employing effective and flexible strategies that help them top
understand, reason, memorize and solve problems.
People learn by employing effective and
Research findings
Children develop strategies to help themselves solve problems from an early age. For
example, when younger children are told to go to the supermarket to buy a list of food items,
they often repeat the items on their way to remember them better. These children have
discovered rehearsal as a strategy to improve their memory without anybody telling them to
do so. When they go to school, children need help from teachers to develop appropriate
strategies for solving mathematics problems, when understanding texts, doing science,
learning from other students, etc. Research shows that when teachers make systematic
attempts to teach learning strategies to students substantial gains can result. Strategies are
important because they help students understand and solve problems in ways that are
appropriate for the situation at hand. Strategies can improve learning and make it faster.
Strategies may differ in their accuracy, in their difficulty of execution, in their processing
demands and in the range of problems to which they apply. The broader the range of
strategies that children can use appropriately, the more successful they can be in problem
solving, in reading, in text comprehension and in memorizing.
In the Wayland classroom
We must keep in mind the importance of our students knowing and using a variety of
learning strategies. There will be circumstances when we might want to teach these strategies
directly. However there are many scenarios where an indirect approach is very effective. A
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useful approach is to give students a task and provide a model of the inquiry process or ask
key questions. For example:
 In an English lesson, a teacher can explicitly show students how to outline the
important points in a text and how to summarize them. Alternatively, they can ask a
group of students to discuss a text and summarize it. They can help in this process by
participating in the discussion and by asking critical questions.
 In science, a teacher can show students how to conduct experiments: how to form
hypotheses, how to keep a systematic record of their findings, and how to evaluate
them.
The content of these examples may seem obvious and part of everyday classroom practice –
but is important to be mindful of what the students should be deriving from the experience
(what are they supposed to be gaining from this other than factual knowledge about the
subject?)
It is important to ensure that our students learn to use these strategies on their own and do not
always rely on us as teachers to provide the necessary support. We need to gradually fade
their assistance and allow students to take greater responsibility for their learning.
Learners must know how to plan and monitor their learning, how to set their
own learning goals and how to correct errors.
Learners must know how to plan and
Research findings
The term ‘self-regulation’ indicates students’ ability to monitor their own learning, to
understand when they are making errors, and to know how to correct them. Self regulation is
not the same as being strategic. People can use strategies for learning mechanically without
being fully aware of what they are doing. Self-regulation involves the development of
specific strategies that help learners evaluate their learning, check their understanding and
correct errors when appropriate. Self-regulation requires reflection in the sense of being
aware of one’s own beliefs and strategies. Reflection can develop through discussion, debates
and essays, where children are encouraged to express their opinions and defend them.
Another important aspect of reflection is being able to distinguish appearance from reality,
common beliefs from scientific knowledge, etc.
In the Wayland classroom
We can help students become self-regulated and reflective by providing them with
opportunities:
• To plan how to solve problems, design experiments and read books;
• To evaluate the statements, arguments, solutions to problems of others, as well as of one’s
self;
• To check their thinking and ask themselves questions about their understanding— (Why am
I doing what I am doing? How well am I doing? What remains to be done?);
• To develop realistic knowledge of themselves as learners— (I am good in reading, but need
to work on my mathematics);
• To set their own learning goals;
• To know what are the most effective strategies to use and when to use them.
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Sometimes prior knowledge can stand in the way of learning something new.
Students must learn how to solve internal inconsistencies and restructure
existing conceptions when necessary
Sometimes prior knowledge can stand in
Research findings
Sometimes existing knowledge can stand in the way of understanding new information.
While this is often the case in the learning of science and mathematics, it can apply to all
subject matter areas. It happens because our current understanding of the physical and social
world, of history, of theorizing about numbers, etc., is the product of thousands of years of
cultural activity that has radically changed intuitive ways of explaining phenomena. For
example, in the area of mathematics, many children make mistakes when they use fractions
because they use rules that apply to natural numbers only. Similarly, in the physical sciences,
students form various misconceptions. The idea that the Earth is round like a pancake or like
a sphere flattened on the top happens because it reconciles the scientific information that the
Earth is round, with the intuitive belief that it is flat and that people live upon its top. Such
misconceptions do not apply only in young children. They are common in secondary school
and FE/HE students as well.
In the Wayland classroom
There are many things we can do to mediate in developing students ability to work with and
learn from counterintuitive information?
• We should maintain an awareness that students have prior beliefs and incomplete
understandings that can conflict with what is being taught at school.
• In our lesson planning we can create the circumstances where alternative beliefs and
explanations can be brought out into the open and discussed.
• We can build on the existing ideas of students and slowly lead them to more mature
understandings. Ignoring prior beliefs can lead to the formation of misconceptions.
• A powerful approach is to provide students with observations and experiments that have the
potential of showing to them that some of their beliefs can be wrong. Examples from the
history of science are a good source for this purpose.
• Science teachers are frequently in the position of challenging students prior “knowledge”
and they have to be careful to present explanations with clarity and, when possible,
exemplified with models in order to successfully embed new understanding.
Given that students must be given enough time to restructure their prior conceptions. We
should consider in creating schemes of work that it may be better to design a curriculum that
deals with fewer topics in greater depth than attempting to cover a great deal of topics in a
superficial manner.
Learning is better when material is organised around general principles and
explanations, rather than when it is based on the memorization of isolated
facts and procedures
Learning is better when material is
Research findings
All teachers want their students to understand what they are learning and not to memorize
facts in a superficial way. Research shows that when information is superficially memorized
it is easily forgotten. On the contrary, when something is understood, it is not forgotten easily
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and it can be transferred to other situations (see also the next principle on transfer). In order
to understand what they are being taught, students must be given the opportunity to think
about what they are doing, to talk about it with other students and with teachers, to clarify it
and to understand how it applies in many situations.
In the Wayland classroom
can carry out in order to promote understanding of the material that has been taught:
• We can ask students to explain a phenomenon or a concept in their own words.
• Showing students how to provide examples that illustrate how a principle applies or how a
law works.
• We can encourage students to attempt to solve characteristic problems in the subject-matter
area. Problems can then increase in difficulty as students acquire greater expertise.
• When students understand the material, they can see similarities and differences, they can
compare and contrast, and they can understand and generate analogies.
• We should try to teach students how to abstract general principles from specific cases and
generalize from specific examples.
Learning becomes more meaningful when lessons are related to real-life
situations
meaningful
Research findings
Students often cannot apply what they have learned at school to solve real-world problems.
For example, they may learn about Newton’s laws at school but fail to see how they apply in
real-life situations. Transfer is very important. Why should someone want to go to school if
what is learned there does not transfer to other situations and cannot be used outside the
school?
In the Wayland classroom
We can improve students’ ability to transfer what they have learned at school by:
• Insisting on mastery of subject matter. Without an adequate degree of understanding,
transfer cannot take place (see previous principle).
• Helping students see the transfer implications of the information they have learned.
• Applying what has been learned in one subject-matter area to other areas to which it may be
related.
• Showing students how to abstract general principles from concrete examples.
• Helping students learn how to monitor their learning and how to seek and use feedback
about their progress.
• Teach for understanding rather than for memorization (see previous).
Learning is a complex cognitive activity that cannot be rushed. It requires
considerable time and periods of practice to start building expertise in an area
Learning is a complex cognitive activity that
Research findings
Research shows that people must carry out a great deal of practice to acquire expertise in an
area. Even small differences in the amount of time during which people are exposed to
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information can result in large differences in the information they have acquired. Cognitive
psychologists Chase & Simon (1973) studied chess experts and found that they had often
spent as many as 50,000 hours practising chess. A 35-year-old chess master who has spent
50,000 hours playing chess must have spent four to five hours on the chessboard from the age
of 5 every day for thirty years! Less accomplished players have spent considerably less time
playing chess.
Research shows that the reading and writing skills of secondary school students relate to the
hours they have spent on reading and writing. Effective reading and writing requires a lot of
practice.
Students from disadvantaged environments who have less opportunities to learn and who
miss school because of work or illness will not be expected to do as well at school compared
to children who had more time to practice and acquire information.
In the Wayland classroom
Here are some ideas we could use to help students spend more time on learning tasks:
• We should look at how we can increase the amount of time students spend on learning in
the classroom. This requires thought about punctuality, start-up drills, discipline and selfdiscipline, teaching efficiently, effective transitions and so on.
• We should give students learning tasks that are consistent with what they already know and
what we already know about them.
• We should not try to cover too many topics at once, giving students time to understand new
information.
• We should help students engage in ‘deliberate practice’ that includes active thinking and
monitoring of their own learning (see sections on self-regulation).
• We could give students access to books so that they can practice reading at home.
• We should work with parents to encourage and support them in providing richer educational
experiences for their children.
Children learn best when their individual differences are taken into
consideration
Research findings
Research shows that there are major developmental differences in learning. As children
develop, they form new ways of representing the world and they also change the processes
and strategies they use to manipulate these representations. In addition, there are important
individual differences in learning.
Developmental psychologist Howard Gardner has argued that there are many dimensions of
human intelligence other than the logical and linguistic skills that are usually valued in most
school environments. Some children are gifted in music, others have exceptional spatial skills
(required, for example, by architects and artists), or bodily/kinaesthetic abilities (required by
athletes), or abilities to relate to other people, etc. Schools must create the best environment
for the development of children taking into consideration such individual differences.
In the Wayland classroom
Here are some ideas we should consider for creating the best environment for the
development of children, while recognizing their individual differences:
• Learning how to assess children’s knowledge, strategies and modes of learning adequately.
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• Introducing children to a wide range of materials, activities and learning tasks that include
language, mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences, art, music, movement, social
understanding, etc.
• Identifying students’ areas of strength, paying particular attention to the interest, persistence
and confidence they demonstrate in different kinds of activities.
• Supporting students’ areas of strength and utilize these areas to improve overall academic
performance.
• Guiding and challenge students’ thinking and learning.
• Asking children thought-provoking questions and give them problems to solve. Urge
children to test hypotheses in a variety of ways.
• Creating connections to the real world by introducing problems and materials drawn from
everyday situations.
• Showing children how they can use their unique profiles of intelligence to solve real-world
problems.
• Creating circumstances for students to interact with people in the community, and
particularly with adults who are knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the kinds of things that
are of interest to the students.
Learning is critically influenced by learner motivation. Teachers can help
students become more motivated learners by their behaviour and by the
statements they make.
Learning is critically influenced by learner
Research findings
Motivated learners are easy to recognize because they have a passion for achieving their
goals and are ready to expend a great deal of effort. They also show considerable
determination and persistence. This influences the amount and quality of what is learned. All
teachers want to have motivated learners in their classrooms. How can they achieve this?
Psychologists distinguish between two kinds of motivation: extrinsic motivation and intrinsic
motivation. Extrinsic motivation results when positive rewards are used to increase the
frequency of a target behaviour. Praise, high grades, awards, money and food can be used for
that effect. Intrinsic motivation is when learners actively participate in activities without
having to be rewarded for it. The child who likes to put together
puzzles for the fun of it is intrinsically motivated. An important characteristic of intrinsically
motivated learners is their belief that effort is important for success. Teachers can influence
students’ determination to achieve by their behaviour and the statements they make.
In the Wayland classroom
As teachers we must try to use encouraging statements that reflect an honest evaluation of
learner performance which:
• Recognizes student accomplishments.
• Attributes student achievement to internal and not external factors (e.g. ‘You have good
ideas’).
• Helps students believe in themselves (e.g. ‘You are putting a lot of effort on math and your
grades have much improved’).
• Provides feedback to children about the strategies they use and instruction as to how to
improve them.
• Helps learners set realistic goals.
We should also strive to:
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• Refrain from always grouping students according to their ability within the class. Ability
grouping gives the message that ability is valued more than effort.
• Promote co-operation rather than competition. Research suggests that competitive
arrangements that encourage students to work alone to achieve high grades and rewards tend
to give the message that what is valued is ability and diminish intrinsic motivation.
• Provide novel and interesting tasks that challenge learners’ curiosity and higher-order
thinking skills at the appropriate level of difficulty.
It would be strange if teachers reading this could not respond to specific principles: – “Well, I
do that anyway”. We are all the product of a costly training process and over the years we
develop patterns of practice that we think suit us. Therein lies the problem. It is natural to
develop approaches that provide us with a line of least resistance, which we find most
pleasurable or satisfying because it links with something we think we are good at, that we are
interested in or that has “worked” in the past. It is our responsibility to remain sensitive to the
possibility that it may not be working now, as things have changed.
By using these teaching and learning principles as a tool to help in reflecting upon our
teaching and where necessary re-engineering what we offer and how we deliver, we will
continue to raise our game and we will be confident that teaching at Wayland is moving on
from “Good to Great”. The students will engage more readily with school and our status as
professionals within the community will be further enhanced.
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