Cathy Metcalf, Year 5 teacher and expressive arts lead at St Mary's RC Primary School, shares four approaches to help learners move beyond the search for a single right answer.

For many of our more able learners, much of their education is spent seeking (and usually finding) answers. Correct answers. They are the children in our class who ‘know’ they have the answer we are looking for, and frequently the learners who struggle when they get an answer wrong. But how do these learners cope when there is no ‘right’ answer? When everyone’s ideas and opinions are valued and acceptable, and right and wrong are no longer the outcomes or intentions of the lesson?

Element 3c of the NACE Challenge Framework reminds us of our responsibility to consider “social and emotional support” as well as academic provision for the more able. Similarly, the updated education inspection framework (EIF) calls for schools to develop “pupils’ character… so that they reflect wisely, learn eagerly, behave with integrity and cooperate consistently well” and “pupils’ confidence, resilience and knowledge so that they can keep themselves mentally healthy”. In Wales too, wellbeing has a significantly raised profile in the context of ongoing curriculum reform.

Learners who are not used to the feeling of struggle and failure are likely to crumble when faced with a task or approach that does not entail a straightforward correct answer. As practitioners, we have a responsibility to ensure that our more able learners are regularly exposed to a high-enough level of challenge to experience the feeling of struggle, in an environment where they feel part of a supportive learning community. 

In my ‘other life’ (beyond teaching) I have worked as a musical director in theatre for nearly 15 years, and I feel that the expressive arts provide so many opportunities for this kind of development. I am always looking for ways to explore and use the arts in my pedagogical approach, and have found the following approaches to be particularly successful for more able learners: 

1. Draw on creative role models to develop growth mindset

Carol Dweck’s theory of growth mindset is important to helping learners understand the benefits of ‘staying with’ a task or problem, even when it feels beyond their ability – and here, there is much to be learned from the world of expressive arts.

Many artists and musicians spend weeks, months, even years perfecting a work. Even the process of rehearsing for a performance (be it a school concert, instrumental examination or West End production) requires dedication and resilience, calling for repetition after repetition to ensure consistency.

For learners it can be powerful to take inspiration from an artist or other celebrity and to understand how they approach their craft. The NACE Essentials guide to learning mindset suggests encouraging learners to “research individuals they admire who have achieved something great and explore what these people have in common.”

In my school, figures such as Walt Disney and J. K. Rowling are year-group models, and pupils learn about how they have created their masterpieces through teamwork, setbacks and extensive editing. Developing a growth mindset permeates our whole school culture and reinforces the idea that “the most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time” (Thomas Edison).

2.  Set creative open-ended tasks

The guidance for more able learners from the regional consortia within which I work suggests “setting creative open-ended tasks” within our everyday practice. I recently used a task which involved playing short excerpts of music and asking children (and staff) to choose the colour they felt the music was describing.

Of course, with this type of task there is no ‘right’ answer, yet the lesson serves many purposes: to encourage reasoning and justification for any answer, to develop child talk in a low-stake environment, and as an introduction to the technical vocabulary required for describing music.

It was particularly interesting to note how many of my more able learners were fixated upon ‘Yes, but who is right Miss?’ and I am already planning further activities using paintings, sculpture and digital art to try and change this mindset.

3. Provide regular mental workouts

In its recent thematic review of provision for more able learners, Estyn recognises a problem in many schools of simply setting more work in terms of quantity, rather than extensions which require deeper thinking.

I try to provide my class with opportunities to think deeply about their academic work, but also to think deeply in an altogether more abstract, creative way. The use of ‘thunk’ questions and ‘cognitive wobble’ are particularly strong ways of encouraging learners to question their own perceptions of the world, and even to challenge information that is presented to them by teachers and parents.

Some of my favourite ‘thunks’ are excellent warm-ups for art, drama and literacy lessons… e.g. If I drop a bucket of paint on a canvas, is it art? What if I drop the bucket deliberately? What colour is Tuesday? If I compose a piece of music, but it is never played, is it still music?

Character studies during drama or literacy lessons also provide opportunities for ‘cognitive wobble’ – the result of conflicting information clashing when we need to form an opinion about something. e.g. We know thieves are villains, and yet Robin Hood is a hero... 

My class last year also took part in a project with a visiting neurologist, who taught the pupils about the brain, and how it works in the same way as any other well-exercised muscle. They learnt about different parts of the brain and how it functions, and many were able to make links with the ongoing work we had done on mindset.

4. Challenge parents to change their perspectives

Finally, I am reminded of a conversation with a parent who had been flicking through a maths book before a parent-teacher consultation. The parent commented on the number of mistakes in the book and expressed concern over their child’s lack of mathematical understanding. The child in question was, in fact, a strong mathematician who really thrived when challenged and was learning to articulate her mistakes and what she had learnt from them.

If we want to reframe the concept of success for our learners, we also need to challenge the perception of ‘right’ answers held by parents – which in many cases is passed on to their children. Ensuring that parents are well informed of the learning culture in a school, particularly that of mindset and deep learning/challenge is crucial in supporting this change.

We have recently introduced Individualised Achievement Plans for our most able learners, which involve a target-/project-setting meeting between learner, teacher and parent, and already we are seeing the benefits of parents’ support when more open-ended tasks are introduced and continued at home.

I was particularly struck by a comment in the NACE Essentials guide to learning mindset: “the risk with more able learners can be that teachers do not sufficiently reward effort, due to success being perceived as a ‘given’ [… A]ll learners need ‘process praise’ to build or reinforce that all-important growth mindset.” This is of course true, and not just of learners at school age. We all need to feel as though our efforts, whether at work or elsewhere, are appreciated, and we are all likely to perform better when praised.

For our young learners, receiving support, praise and encouragement not only at school but also at home can have a huge impact. Engaging with parents to ensure a consistent approach is key.

I recently read an NCETM article titled “The answer is only the beginning”. It seems to me that the more we are able to instil this mindset in our more able learners, the better we equip them for whatever challenges they may face, both academically and throughout their lives.

References and further reading

·         Healthy and happy – school impact on pupils’ health and wellbeing (Estyn, 2019)

·         How best to challenge and nurture more able and talented pupils: Key stages 2 to 4 (Estyn, 2018)

·         Regional Strategy and Guidance for More Able Learners (Education Achievement Services for South Wales, 2018)

·         NACE Essentials: Using mindset theory to drive success (NACE, 2018; login required)

·         The Learning Challenge (James Nottingham, 2017)

·         The Little Book of Thunks (Ian Gilbert, 2007)

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