Guidance, ideas and examples to support schools in developing their curriculum, pedagogy, enrichment and support for more able learners, within a whole-school context of cognitively challenging learning for all. Includes ideas to support curriculum development, and practical examples, resources and ideas to try in the classroom. Popular topics include: curriculum development, enrichment, independent learning, questioning, oracy, resilience, aspirations, assessment, feedback, metacognition, and critical thinking.
Lol Conway, Curriculum Consultant and Trainer for the Design and Technology Association
Throughout my teaching, inclusivity has always been at the forefront of my mind – ensuring that all students can access learning, feel included, and thrive. Like many of my fellow teachers, at the start of my teaching career my focus was often directed towards supporting SEND or disadvantaged students, for example. I have come to realise, to my dismay, that more able students were not high up in my consideration. I thought about them, but often as an afterthought – wondering what I could add to challenge them. Of course, it should always be the case that all students are considered equally in the planning of lessons and curriculum progression and this should not be dictated by changes in school data or results. Inclusivity should be exactly that – for everyone.
True inclusivity for more able students isn’t about simply adding extra elements or extensions to lessons, much in the same way that inclusivity for students with learning difficulties isn’t about simplifying concepts. Instead, it’s about structuring lessons from the outset in a way that ensures all students can access learning at an appropriate level.
I realised that my approach to lesson planning needed to change to ensure I set high expectations and included objectives that promoted deep thinking. This ensured that more able students were consistently challenged whilst still providing structures that supported all learners. It is imperative that teachers have the confidence and courage to relentlessly challenge at the top end and are supported with this by their schools.
As a Design and Technology (D&T) teacher, I am fortunate that our subject naturally fosters higher-order thinking, with analysis and evaluation deeply embedded in the design process. More able students can benefit from opportunities to tackle complex, real-world problems, encouraging problem-solving and interdisciplinary connections. By integrating these elements into lessons, we can create an environment where every student, including the most able, is stretched and engaged. However, more often than not, these kinds of skills are not always nurtured at KS3.
Maximizing the KS3 curriculum
The KS3 curriculum is often overshadowed by the annual pressures of NEA and examinations at GCSE and A-Level, often resulting in the inability to review KS3 delivery due to the lack of time. However, KS3 holds immense potential. A well-structured KS3 curriculum can inspire and motivate students to pursue D&T while also equipping them with vital skills such as empathy, critical thinking, innovation, creativity, and intellectual curiosity.
To enhance the KS3 delivery of D&T, the Design and Technology Association has developed the Inspired by Industry resource collection – industry-led contexts which provide students with meaningful learning experiences that go beyond theoretical knowledge. We are making these free to all schools this year, to help teachers deliver enhanced learning experiences that will equip students with the skills needed for success in design and technology careers.
By connecting classroom projects to real-world industries, students gain insight into the practical applications of their learning, fostering a sense of purpose and motivation. The focus shifts from achieving a set outcome to exploring the design process and industry relevance. This has the potential to ‘lift the lid’ on learning, helping more able learners to develop higher-order skills and self-directed enquiry.
These contexts offer a diverse range of themes, allowing students to apply their knowledge and skills in real-world scenarios while developing a deeper understanding of the subject and industry processes. Examples include:
Creating solutions that address community issues such as poverty, education, or homelessness using design thinking principles to drive positive change;
Developing user-friendly, inclusive and accessible designs for public spaces, products, or digital interfaces that accommodate people with disabilities;
Designing eco-friendly packaging solutions that consider materials, manufacturing processes, and end-of-life disposal.
These industry-led contexts foster independent discovery and limitless learning opportunities, particularly benefiting more able students. By embedding real-world challenges into the curriculum, we can push the boundaries of what students can achieve, ensuring they are not just included but fully engaged and empowered in their learning journey.
Find out more…
NACE is partnering with the Design & Technology Association on a free live webinar on Wednesday 4 June 2025, exploring approaches to challenge all learners in KS3 Design & Technology. Register here.
Posted By Amanda Hubball,
17 April 2023
Updated: 17 April 2023
NACE Associate Amanda Hubball, Deputy Head and More Able Lead at Challenge Award-accredited Alfreton Nursery School, explains why and how environmental education has become an integral part of provision in her early years setting.
1. What’s the intent?
The ethics of teaching children of all ages about sustainability is clear. However, teaching such big concepts with such small children needs careful thought. The intention at Alfreton Nursery School is to stimulate an enquiring mind and to nurture children to believe in a solutions-based future.
Exposure to climate change from an adult perspective is dripping into our children’s awareness all the time. At Alfreton Nursery School we believe it is so important to take the current climate and give children a voice and a role within it. The invincibility of the early years mindset has been harnessed, with playful impact.
2. How do I implement environmental education with four-year-olds?
Environment
Just as an effective school environment supports children’s mathematical, creative (etc) development, so our environment at Alfreton is used to educate children on the value of nature. The resources we use are as ethically made and resourced as possible. We use recycled materials and recycled furniture, and lights are on sensors to reduce power consumption.
Like many schools, we have adapted our environment to work with the needs of the planet, and at Alfreton we make our choices explicit for the children. We talk about why the lights don’t stay on all the time, why we have a bicycle parking area in the carpark and why we are sitting on wooden logs, rather than plastic chairs. Our indoor spaces are sprinkled with beautiful large plants, adding to air quality, aesthetics and a sense of nature being a part of us, rather than separate. Incidental conversations about the interdependence of life on our planet feed into daily interactions.
Our biophilic approach to the school environment supports wellbeing and mental health for all, as well as supporting the education of our future generations.
Continuous provision and enhancements
Within continuous provision, resources are carefully selected to enhance understanding of materials and environmental impact. We have not discarded all plastic resources and sent them to landfill. Instead we have integrated them with newer ethical purchasing and take the opportunity to talk and debate with children. Real food is used for baking and food education, not for role play. Taking a balanced approach to the use of food in education feels like the respectful thing to do, as many of our families exist in a climate of poverty.
Larger concepts around deforestation, climate change and pollution are taught in many ways. Our provision for more able learners is one way we expand children’s understanding. In the Aspiration Group children are taught about the world in which they live and supported to understand their responsibilities. We look at ecosystems and explore human impact, whilst finding collaborative solutions to protect animals in their habitats. Through Forest Schools children learn the need to respect the woodlands. Story and reference literature is used to stimulate empathy and enquiry, whilst home-school partnerships further develop the connections we share with community projects to support nature.
We have an outdoor STEM Hive dedicated to environmental education. Within this space we have role play, maths, engineering, small world, science, music… but the thread which runs through this area is impact on the planet. When engaged with train play, we talk about pollution and shared transport solutions. When playing in the outdoor house we discuss where food comes from and carbon footprints. In the Philosophy for Children area we debate concepts like ‘fairness’ – for me, you, others and the planet. And on boards erected in the Hive there are images of how humans have taken the lead from nature. For example, in the engineering area there are images of manmade bridges and dams, along with images of beavers building and ants linking their bodies to bridge rivers.
3. Where will I see the impact?
Our environmental work in school has supported the progression of children across the curriculum, supporting achievements towards the following goals:
Personal, Social and Emotional Development:
Show resilience and perseverance in the face of challenge
Express their feelings and consider the feelings of others
Understanding the World:
Begin to understand the need to respect and care for the natural environment and all living things
Explore the natural world around them
Recognise some environments that are different from the one in which they live
(Development Matters, 2021, DfE)
More widely, children are thinking beyond their everyday lived experience and connecting their lives to others globally. Our work is based on high aspirations and a passionate belief in the limitless capacity of young children. Drawing on the synthesis of emotion and cognition ensures learning is lifelong. The critical development of their relational understanding of self to the natural world has seen children’s mental health improve and enabled them to see themselves as powerful contributors, with collective responsibilities, for the world in which they live and grow.
Kate Peacock, Acting Headteacher at Trellech Primary School, explains how “SMILE books” have been introduced to develop pupil voice and independent learning, while also improving staff planning.
Our vision, here at Trellech Primary, is to ensure the four purposes of the Curriculum for Wales are at the heart of our children’s learning – particularly ensuring that they are “ambitious capable learners” who:
Set themselves high standards and seek and enjoy challenge;
Are building up a body of knowledge and have the skills to connect and apply that knowledge in different contexts;
Are questioning and enjoy solving problems.
What is a “SMILE Curriculum”?
We have always been very proud of the children at Trellech Primary, where we see year on year pupils making good progress in all areas of the curriculum. Following the publication of Successful Futures and curriculum reform in Wales, the school wanted to embrace the changes and be forward-thinking in recognising and nurturing children as learners who are responsible for planning and developing their own learning. As a Pioneer School, we made a commitment to:
Give high priority to pupil voice in developing their own learning journey.
Develop pupil voice throughout each year group, key stage and the whole school.
Embrace the curriculum reform and develop children’s understanding.
Allow all learners to excel and reach their full potential.
Ensure each child is given the opportunity to make good progress.
These goals have been developed alongside the introduction of SMILE books, based on our SMILE five-a-day culture:
Standards
Modelled behaviour
Inspiration
Listening
Ethical
What is a “SMILE book”?
Based on these key values of the SMILE curriculum, the SMILE books are A3-sized, blank-paged workbooks which learners can use to present their work however they choose. They are used to present the children’s personal learning journey. In contrast to the use of books for subject areas, SMILE books show the development of skills from across the Areas of Learning and Experience (AoLEs) in their own preferred style.
This format enables pupil voice to be at the fore of their journey, while clearly promoting each pupil’s independent learning and supporting individual learning styles. Within a class, each SMILE book will look different, despite the same themes being part of the teaching and learning. Some may be presented purely through illustration with relevant vocabulary, while others develop and present their learning through greater use of text.
Launching the SMILE books
As a Pioneer School we collaborated with colleagues who were at the same point of their curriculum journey as us. Following this collaboration, we agreed to trial the introduction of our SMILE books in Y2 and Y6 with staff who were members of SLT and involved in curriculum reform.
In these early stages, expectations were shared and pupils were given a variety of resources to enable them to present their work in their preferred format within the books – enabling all individuals to lead, manage and present their knowledge, skills and learning independently.
Pupil and parent feedback at Parent Sharing Sessions highlighted positive feedback and demonstrated pupils’ pride in the books. Consequently, SMILE books were introduced throughout the school at the start of the following academic year. For reception pupils scaffolding is provided, but as pupils move through the progression steps less scaffolding is needed; pupil independence increases and is clearly evident in the way work across the AoLEs is presented.
Staff SMILE planning
Following the success of the implementation of pupil SMILE books and to ensure clarity in understanding of the Curriculum for Wales, I decided to trial the SMILE book format myself, to record my planning. This helped me to develop greater depth of knowledge and understanding of the Four Purposes, Cross-Curricular Links, Pedagogical Principles and the What Matters Statements for each of the AoLEs.
During this early trial I wrote each of the planning pages by hand, which enabled me to internalise the curriculum with an increased understanding. Also included were the ideas page for each theme and pupil contributions through the pupil voice page.
This format was shared with the whole staff and has evolved over time. Some staff continue to write and present planning in a creative form, while others use QR codes to link planners to electronic planning sheets and class tracking documentation. The inclusion of the I Can Statements has enabled staff to delve deeper and focus on less but better.
Each SMILE medium-term planning book moves with the cohort of learners, exemplifying their learning journey through the school. The investment of time in medium-term planning enables staff to focus on skills development in short-term planning time. This is evident in the classroom, where lessons focus on skills development and teachers are seen as facilitators of learning.
Impact on teaching and learning
Following our NACE Challenge Award reaccreditation in July 2021, it was recognised that the use of SMILE books had a positive impact on pupil voice and the promotion of independent learning for all. Our assessor reported:
SMILE books, which the school considers to be at the heart of all learning, are used by all year groups. Children complete activities independently in their books showing their own way of learning and presenting their work in a range of styles and formats. As a result, even from the youngest of ages, pupils have become more independent learners who are engaged in their learning because they have been involved in the decision-making process for the topics being taught.
The SMILE approach to learning has strengthened pupil voice and given children the confidence to take risks in their own learning by choosing how they like to learn.
The SMILE approach to learning has created a climate of trust where learners are confident to take risks without the fear of failure and are valued for their efforts. Pupils appreciate that valuable learning often results from making mistakes.
SMILE promotes problem solving and enquiry-based activities to help nurture independent learning.
Using SMILE books, independent learning is promoted and encouraged from the youngest of ages. The SMILE approach encourages MAT learners to lead their own learning by equipping them with the skills and knowledge to know how they best learn. As a result, more able pupils are critical thinkers and have high expectations and aspirations for themselves.
Our SMILE approach continues to develop here at Trellech, ensuring the continual development of our learners and independent learners with a valued voice.
Zoe Enser, author of the new book Bringing Forth the Bard, shares eight key steps to help your students get to grips with (and enjoy!) the symbolic, allusive, musical, motif-packed language of Shakespeare.
The language of Shakespeare is perhaps one of the greatest barriers to most readers unfamiliar with its style, allusions and patterns. Shakespeare’s language can be something of a leveller as it doesn’t necessarily matter how proficient you are at reading generally; all students (and indeed many adults) will stumble across his words and need to deploy a different approach to reading than they are used to.
With so many finding the language problematic, there is a temptation to strip some of the complexity away; to focus instead on summaries or modern adaptations. There is, though, much to be gained by examining his words as they appear, much as you would when exploring a poem with your class.
Getting it can be really satisfying, and a key light-bulb moment for me at school was seeing how unpicking meaning could be looked at like a problem to be solved, much like solving equations in maths or finding the intricate pieces of a jigsaw. Most importantly perhaps is that his use of poetry, imagery and musicality frequently stays with us, and lines from Shakespeare that linger in our mind and our everyday language remain due to their crafting. We want to allow students to have that opportunity too.
Here are eight steps to bring Shakespeare’s language to life in your own classroom:
1. Begin by giving students an overview of the plot, characters and themes. Good quality performance, coupled with summary and questioning, will mean students arrive at language analysis ready to see how it relates to these bigger ideas. Audio readings of the plays can also be useful here to allow them to hear the language spoken and to model fluency.
2. Reassure students they won’t get it all immediately. Explain that the joy in studying Shakespeare’s language comes from the gradual understanding we gain and how it enriches our understanding, which is a process: one which even those familiar with his work will continue to go through. It is a process where we layer understanding, deepening each time we revisit it. If students have been used to exploring simpler texts this might be a challenge at first to consider this different approach, but model this for them, demonstrating how you can return to the same quote or extract again and again to delve deeper each time.
3. Look at short extracts and quotes from across a play or a range of texts to examine patterns and connections. Linger on individual words and then trace them as they are used elsewhere so students can notice where these links are and hypothesise as to why.
4. Use freely available searches to explore the frequency and location of key words and phrases. For example, a search on Open-Source Shakespeare reveals there are 41 direct references to ‘blood’ or ‘bloody’ in the play Macbeth, some of which are clustered within a few lines. This provides an opportunity to explore why this is the case and what Shakespeare was doing with these language choices. Equally, looking for references to the sun in Romeo and Juliet reveals 17 instances, and if then cross-referenced with light it brings forth a further 34 references, suggesting that there is a motif running through the text which demands further attention. Allowing students to explore this trail in their discussions and consider the prevalence of some words over others can reveal much about the themes Shakespeare was trying to convey too. For example, simply looking at the light and dark references in Romeo and Juliet enables students to see the binaries he has woven into the play to mirror the idea of conflict.
5. Discuss the imagery Shakespeare is trying to create with his language via pictures, selecting those which are most appropriate to convey his choices at different points. Thinking about how different audiences may respond to these is also a useful way to examine alternative interpretations of a single word, line or idea. This can also support learners with different needs as they have visual images to link to ideas, especially abstract ones, repeated throughout the text. This will provide them with something more concrete to link to the text and, as images are repeated throughout the narrative, can act as support for the working memory and enhance fluency of retrieval as they recognise the recurring images visually. This can be particularly useful for EAL students, supporting them to follow the plot and explore the patterns that emerge.
6. Teach aspects of metre (such as iambic and trochaic pentameter), ensuring students have lots of opportunities to hear the language spoken aloud so they can appreciate the musicality of the language and choice of form. Using methods such as walking the text, whereby students physically walk around the room whilst reading the text and responding to the punctuation, can be a powerful way to convey how a character feels at any given point. Lots of phrases, short clauses, or single syllable words can change the pace of the reading and we should model this and give students the opportunity to examine how this may then impact on performance. Long, languid sentences can create a different performance, and where the punctuation has finally landed in his work can reveal a lot about how a character or scene has been read. Try different ways of reading a single line to illustrate why we place emphasis on certain words and pauses at different points.
7. Read the text aloud together. As well as modelling reading for students, employing practices such as choral reading (where the class all read the text aloud together with you) or echo reading (where they repeat lines back) can be another way in which we remove the barriers the language can create. Students build confidence over time as the language becomes more familiar but also they do not feel so exposed as they are reading with the group, and not alone.
8. Let students play with and manipulate the language so they are familiar with it, and it doesn’t become a block to their interaction with the plays. Pre-teach the vocabulary, letting students consider words in isolation and explore quotes so that they don’t become overwhelmed at trying to interpret them. Even translating short phrases and passages can provide a useful coding activity which can support later analysis.
Zoe Enser was a classroom teacher for 20 years, during which time she was also a head of English and a senior leader with a responsibility for staff development and school improvement. This blog post is an excerpt from her latest book, Bringing Forth the Bard (Crown House Publishing). NACE members can benefit from a 20% discount on this and all purchases from the Crown House Publishing website; for details log in to our member offers page.
Kyriacos Papasavva, Head of Religious Studies at St Mary’s and St John’s (SMSJ) CE School, shares three ways in which the school seeks to nurture a love of learning – for students and staff alike.
Education becomes alive when educators and students love what they do. This is, I think, the whole point of teaching: to inspire a love of learning among those we teach. Love, however, is not something that can be forced. Instead, it is ‘caught’.
For such a desire to develop in our pupils, there must be a real freedom in the learning journey. From the teacher’s perspective, this can be a scary prospect, but we must remember that a teacher is a guide only; you cannot force children to learn, but it is genuinely possible to inspire among pupils a love of learning. To enable this, we should ask ourselves: to what extent do we as teaching practitioners allow the lesson to go beyond the bulwark we impose upon any limited, pre-judged ‘acceptable range’? How do we allow students to explore the syllabus in a way that is free and meaningful to the individual? If we can find a way to do this, then learning really becomes magical.
While there is the usual stretch and challenge, meta-questions, challenge reading, and more, the main thrust of our more able provision in the religious studies (RS) department at SMSJ is one which encourages independent research and exploration. Here are several of the more unique ways that we have encouraged and challenged our more able students in RS and across the school, with the aim of developing transferable skills across the curriculum and inspiring a love of learning amongst both students and staff.
1. Papasavitch (our very own made-up language)
We had used activities based on Jangli and Yelrib, made-up languages used at Eton College, to stretch our pupils and give them exciting and unique learning opportunities. These activities were so well received by our pupils; they wanted more. So we developed ‘Papasavitch’, our very own made-up language.
This is partly what I was referring to earlier: if you find something students enjoy doing, give them a space to explore that love; actively create it. To see if your pupils can crack the language, or have a go yourself, try out this sample Papasavitch activity sheet.
2. The RS SMSJ Essay Writing Competition (open to all schools)
In 2018, SMSJ reached out to a number of academics at various universities to lay the foundations of what has become a national competition. We would like to thank Professor R. Price, Dr E. Burns, Dr G. Simmonds, Dr H. Costigane, Dr S. Ryan and Dr S. Law for their support.
Biannually, we invite students from around the UK (and beyond) to enter the competition, which challenges them to write an essay of up to 1,000 words on any area within RS, to be judged by prestigious academics within the field of philosophy, theology and ethics. While we make this compulsory for our RS A-level pupils, we receive copious entries from students in Years 7-11 at SMSJ, and beyond, owing to the range of possible topics and broad interest from students. Hundreds of students have entered to date, including those from top independent and grammar schools around the UK. (Note: submissions should be in English, and only the top five from each school should be submitted.)
You can learn more about the competition – including past and future judges, essay themes, examples of past entries, and details of how to enter – on the SMSJ website.
3. Collaboration and exploration – across and beyond the school
The role of a Head of Department (HoD), as I see it, is to actively seek opportunities for collaboration and exploration – within the school family and beyond into the wider subject community, as well as among the members of the department. At SMSJ, this ethos is shared by HoDs and other staff alike and expressed in a number of ways.
Regular HoD meetings to discuss and seek opportunities for implementing cross-curricular links are a must, and have proven fruitful in identifying and utilising overlap in the curriculum. Alongside this, we run a Teacher Swaps programme where teachers can study each other’s subjects in a tutorial fashion, naturally creating an awareness and understanding of other subjects.
The Humanities Faculty offers a ‘Read Watch Do’ supplementary learning programme for each year group, which runs alongside regular home learning tasks. The former also supports other departments through improved literacy, building cultural capital and exploration via the independent learning tasks.
Looking beyond the school, our partnerships with the K+ and Oxford Horizons programmes help our sixth-formers prepare for university, while mentoring with Career Ready and the Civil Service supports our students to gain new skills from external providers. Our recent launch of The Spotlight, a newspaper run by students at SMSJ, has heralded a collaboration with a BBC Press Team. Again, this shows other opportunities for cross-curricular overlap, as students are directed to report on different departments’ extracurricular enrichment activities. The possibilities are endless, and limited only by our imagination.
To learn more about any of the initiatives mentioned in this blog post, and/or to share what’s working in your own department/school, please contact communications@nace.co.uk.
Emma Sanderson, Head of English at NACE member and Challenge Award-accredited Hartland International School (Dubai), shares advice for successful use of “Genius Hour” project-based learning to challenge and motivate learners, inspired by Google’s “20% time”.
As teachers, our awareness of the importance of challenging questions is always at the forefront of our minds, particularly with our more able learners. However, the onus of asking challenging questions shouldn’t always be placed on the teacher. Cue Genius Hour, an idea inspired by Google’s “20% time”, in which employees are encouraged to spend 20% of their time working on any project of their choosing, on the condition that it ultimately benefits the company in some way, and which is famously credited with giving rise to many of Google’s most successful innovations.
Google’s “20% time” is similar to the use of Genius Hour in our school: encouraging students to take ownership of their learning by using a proportion of curriculum time to focus on topics they are passionate about. By coming up with their own driving question to focus their research, students manage their own learning journey and subsequently become even more engaged with the learning process.
Here are three key steps to use Genius Hour project-based learning effectively:
1) Support students to develop their driving question.
The driving question of the project will become the focus of the students’ research. Whilst students may be tempted to simply find out more information about a topic close to their heart, the key is to construct a question that allows for in-depth research and is also broad enough for students to include their personal opinions. Even our most able learners will need support with this task, and for this, question stems can be incredibly useful:
What does _______ reveal about _________?
To what extent does…?
What motivates_________?
How would you develop…?
What alternatives are there for…?
How can technology be used to…?
What assumptions are there about…?
What are the [ethical] implications of…?
How can we challenge…?
What would happen if…?
How can we improve…?
What might happen if…?
Students might be encouraged to come up with solutions to real-life problems or delve into ideas linked to current affairs that they are intrigued by. Either way, these broad question stems allow for thorough exploration of a topic.
2) Help students develop their research skills.
Left to their own devices, students may be tempted to simply Google their question and see what answers come up. Instead, offer guidance on the best and most reliable sources of information for their project.
It may be that students are directed towards relevant reference books in the library. Additionally, online resources can prove invaluable; the Encyclopaedia Britannica offers a wealth of knowledge for students, whilst news websites aimed at teenagers (for example Newsela and The Day) encourage students to form their own opinions on current affairs and offer suggestions for further reading.
Our more able learners may be more adept at focusing their internet searches and filtering through the vast array of results. If this is the case, students would be expected to determine whether a source is reliable or biased and should be confident at citing their sources.
3) Encourage creativity in how students present their findings.
Ideally, students will be excited and motivated to complete their Genius Hour project, and originality in how they present their results should be encouraged. Students may want to create a video, make a presentation, write a passionate and persuasive speech, design an informative leaflet… The more freedom the students have, the more their creativity will flourish.
One of our students gave a rousing speech on the question, “What alternatives are there to living on planet Earth?” (ultimately concluding there were none and that we need to change our lifestyles in order to save the planet). Another offered a passionate presentation on the theme “How can we improve Earth’s biodiversity while allowing people to still eat meat and plants?” And after witnessing the impact of Covid-19 first hand, one student wrote an insightful article to answer the question, “What has Covid-19 revealed about our society in 2020?”
This approach to project-based learning can also be effectively applied during distance learning – students can be given the success criteria for the project and set the challenge of managing their own time. There is ample opportunity to use technology to give presentations remotely, either live through Zoom or Teams, or recorded individually using a platform such as Flipgrid.
In summary…
Overall, Genius Hour is a fantastic tool to promote deeper thinking in the classroom, whilst also having huge benefits across the wider curriculum. We have found this approach has worked particularly well with Key Stage 3 students and is the perfect opportunity to refine the research and presentation skills required at GCSE, whilst also impacting positively across the curriculum in all lessons. Furthermore, it sends the message to students that their passions outside of school are valued, which in itself can prove to be hugely motivational. Presenting their findings at the end of the project instils confidence in our learners, giving them the vital communication, leadership and time management skills necessary for life beyond education.
Further reading: “Cognitive challenge: principles into practice”
NACE’s report “Cognitive challenge: principles into practice” explores approaches to curriculum and pedagogy which optimise the engagement, learning and achievement of very able young people, combining relevant research and theory with examples of current practice in NACE Challenge Award-accredited schools. Preview and order here.
Dr Ann McCarthy, NACE Associate and co-author of NACE’s new publication “Cognitive challenge: principles into practice”.
When you’re planning a lesson, are your first thoughts about content, resources and activities, or do you begin by thinking about learning and cognitive challenge? How often do you consider lessons from the viewpoint of your more able pupils? Highly able pupils often seek out cognitively challenging work and can become distressed or disengaged if they are set tasks which are constantly too easy.
NACE’s new research publication, “Cognitive challenge: principles into practice”, marks the first phase in our “Making Space for Able Learners” project. Developed in partnership with NACE Challenge Award-accredited schools, the research examines the impact of cognitive challenge in current school practice against a backdrop of relevant research.
What do we mean by ‘cognitive challenge’?
Cognitive challenge can be summarised as an approach to curriculum and pedagogy which focuses on optimising the engagement, learning and achievement of highly able children. The term is used by NACE to describe how learners become able to understand and form complex and abstract ideas and solve problems. Cognitive challenge prompts and stimulates extended and strategic thinking, as well as analytical and evaluative processes.
To provide highly able pupils with the degree of challenge that will allow them to flourish, we need to build our planning and practice on a solid foundation.
This involves understanding both the nature of our pupils as learners and the learning opportunities we’re providing. When we use “challenge” as a routine, learning will be extended at specific times on specific topics – which has useful but limited benefit. However, by strategically building cognitive challenge into your teaching, pupils’ learning expertise, their appetite for learning and their wellbeing will all improve.
What does this look like in practice?
The research identified three core areas:
1. Design and management of cognitively challenging learning opportunities
In the most successful “cognitive challenge” schools, leaders have a clear vision and ambition for pupils, which explicitly reflects an understanding of teaching more able pupils in different contexts and the wider benefits of this for all pupils. This vision is implemented consistently across the school. All teachers engage with the culture and promote it in their own classrooms, involving pupils in their own learning. When you walk into any classroom in the school, pupils are working to the same model and expectation, with a shared understanding of what they need to do.
Pupils are able to take control of their learning and become more self-regulatory in their behaviours and increasingly autonomous in their learning. Through intentional and well-planned management of teaching and learning, children move from being recipients in the learning environment to effective learners who can call on the resources and challenges presented. They understand more about their own learning and develop their curiosity and creativity by extending and deepening their understanding and knowledge.
2. Rich and extended talk and cognitive discourse to support cognitive challenge
The importance of questions and questioning in effective learning is well understood, but the importance of depth and complexity of questioning is perhaps less so. When you plan purposeful, stimulating and probing questions, it gives pupils the freedom to develop their thought processes and challenge, engage and deepen their understanding. Initially the teacher may ask questions, but through modelling high-order questioning techniques, pupils in turn can ask questions which expose new ways of thinking.
This so-called “dialogic teaching” frames teaching and learning within the perspective of pupils and enhances learning by encouraging children to develop their thinking and use their understanding to support their learning. Initially, pupils might use the knowledge the teacher has given them, but when they’re shown how to use classroom discourse effectively, they’ll start to work alone, with others or with the teacher to extend their repertoire.
By using an enquiry-orientated approach, you can more actively engage children in the production of meaning and acquisition of new knowledge and your classroom will become a more interactive and language-rich learning domain where children can increase their fluency, retrieval and application of knowledge.
3. Curriculum organisation and design
How can you ensure your curriculum is organised to allow cognitive challenge for more able pupils? You need to consider:
What is planned for the students
What is delivered to the students
What the students experience
Schools with a high-quality curriculum for cognitive challenge use agreed teaching approaches and a whole-school model for teaching and learning. Teachers expertly and consistently utilise key features relating to learning preferences, knowledge acquisition and memory.
Planning a curriculum for more able pupils means providing a clear direction for their learning journey. It’s necessary to think beyond individual subjects, assessment systems, pedagogy and extracurricular opportunities, and to look more deeply at the ways in which these link together for the benefit of your pupils. If teachers can understand and deliver this curriculum using their subject knowledge and pedagogical skills, and if your school can successfully make learning visible to pupils, you’ll be able to move from well-practised routines to highly successful and challenging learning experiences.
Taking it further…
If we’re going to move beyond the traditional monologic and didactic models of teaching, we need to recast the role of teacher as a facilitator of learning within a supportive learning environment. For more able pupils this can be taken a step further. If you can build cognitive challenge into your curriculum and the way you manage learning, and support this with a language-rich classroom, the entire nature of teaching and learning can change. Your highly able pupils will become increasingly autonomous and more self-reliant. They’ll become masters of their learning as they gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter. You can then extend your role even further, from learning facilitator to “learner activator”.
This blog post is based on an article originally written for and published by Teach Primary magazine – read the full version here.
NACE is collaborating with York St John University on research and resources to help schools support more able learners with higher levels of perfectionism. In this blog post, the university’s Laura C. Fenwick, Marianne E. Etherson and Professor Andrew P. Hill explain how some classrooms are more perfectionistic than others and how reducing the degree to which classrooms are perfectionistic can help enhance learning and maintain student wellbeing.
Research suggests that more able learners are typically more perfectionistic than their classmates. Accordingly, more able learners place great demands on themselves to achieve unrealistic standards and respond with harsh self-criticism when their standards go unmet. However, more recently researchers have begun to explore the idea that perfectionism may not solely be an individual problem. Instead, environments such as the classroom have perfectionistic qualities that can both increase levels of perfectionism among those in the environment as well as having a detrimental impact on everyone in the environment regardless of their personal level of perfectionism. This is of concern as perfectionistic environments are likely to hinder learners’ capacity to thrive, and contribute to a range of negative outcomes, such as greater stress and poorer wellbeing.
A perfectionistic environment (or “perfectionistic climate”) refers to cues and messages that promote the view that performances (e.g. grades) must be perfect and less than perfect performances are unacceptable. The cues and messages are created by important social agents such as teachers, coaches and parents, and can be communicated both intentionally as well as inadvertently. In the classroom, the teacher is likely to be the main source of this information; in particular, though the language that is used, how tasks are structured, and the strategies used to reward or sanction student behaviour. Fortunately, teachers also have the potential to help reduce how perfectionistic the classroom is by purposefully avoiding certain cues and messages and promoting others. Here, we identify key components of a perfectionistic classroom and provide alternative strategies aimed at reducing the likelihood that the classroom is experienced as being perfectionistic by students.
Unrealistic expectations
Perfectionistic classrooms include expectations that are unrealistic and never lowered. The expectations are uniformly applied and do not account for the individual ability of the learner, their personal progress, or individual circumstances.
Key takeaways: In most classrooms, it is likely that learners will know what is expected of them in terms of behaviours and grades. However, what is most important about these targets and expectations is that they are realistic and adaptable for each learner. Standards that are personally challenging and lie within reach with concerted effort are the most optimally motivating and offer the greatest development opportunity for students.
Frequent or excessive criticism
Frequent or excessive criticism is also a feature of a perfectionistic classroom. This can include a focus on minor and inconsequential mistakes or an undue emphasis on the need to get everything “just right”.
Key takeaways: Avoid pointing out unimportant mistakes and focusing on errors when work reflects a student’s best effort or shows progress. Remedial feedback is obviously necessary, but the language used is important. Effective feedback focuses on the quality of the work, not the qualities of the learner (“this aspect of the work can be improved” versus “you have made a mistake here”). Ensure that positives are highlighted and reinforced before offering critical comments, especially for more perfectionistic students.
Problematic use of rewards and sanctions
The use of rewards and sanctions are common and powerful motivational tools in the classroom but when used to create feelings of shame or guilt, they can become problematic. Public displays of reward or sanction are best avoided because they promote these types of coercive emotions and encourage social comparison as opposed to a focus on personal development. Withdrawal of recognition and appreciation based on performance, for example, also reinforces the view that personal value comes solely from recognition and achievement.
Key takeaways: It is difficult to avoid the use of rewards and sanctions, but where possible these need to be provided privately. For rewards, focus on behaviours (e.g. effort) rather than innate qualities and for sanctions, encourage a sense of personal ownership and agency in proposed repreparation. Ultimately, it is important that students feel liked and valued regardless of their performances and behaviour, good or bad.
Anxiousness or preoccupation with mistakes
One final aspect of a perfectionistic classroom is anxiousness or preoccupation with mistakes. Risk taking is avoided and failure is discouraged.
Key takeaways: Mistakes (even big ones) need to be normalised in the classroom. A strong focus on creativity, problem-solving, and opportunities for learning through “trial and error” will instil a more resilient mindset and counterbalance undue apprehension regarding mistakes.
Summary
The concept of perfectionistic environments emphasises the need for more purposeful construction of the classroom. In being mindful of each of the issues above, and better monitoring and changing the cues and messages provided in the classroom, we believe teachers can alter the degree to which the environment is experienced as perfectionistic by students. In addition, in doing so, this will help reduce perfectionism and its negative effects among all students and be especially useful and important for more able and talented students who are more prone to the problems associated with perfectionism.
References
Hewitt, P. L., & Flett, G. L. (1991). Perfectionism in the self and social contexts: Conceptualization, assessment, and association with psychopathology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 456-470.
Hill, A. P., & Grugan, M. (2020). Introducing perfectionistic climate. Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education, 4, 263-276.
Stricker, J., Buecker, S., Schneider, M., & Preckel, F. (2020). Intellectual giftedness and multidimensional perfectionism: A meta-analytic review. Educational Psychology Review, 32, 391-414.
Join the conversation… York St John University’s Professor Andrew P. Hill will lead a keynote session on 17 November 2020 as part of the NACE Leadership Conference, exploring current research on perfectionism and more able learners, and how schools can create learning environments that reduce perfectionistic thinking. View the full conference programme.
In the opening weeks of this term, we held two online meetups for NACE members – focused on exploring challenges and opportunities in the current context, sharing ideas and experiences with peers, and identifying priorities and core principles for the coming weeks and months.
While acknowledging the significant differences in the experiences of both students and staff members over the past six months, the two sessions also highlighted some strong common themes and key messages:
1. Humanity first and teaching first
While wellbeing is and should remain a priority, NACE Associate Neil Jones makes the case that for more able learners, study is in fact an intrinsic part of their humanity. The meetups highlighted the need to focus on restoring learners’ confidence and self-belief; reinstating healthy and effective learning routines; showing care, calm and confidence in learners’ abilities and futures; continuing to consider the needs of the more able in planning and practice (and supporting colleagues to do so); maintaining high expectations and ambitions; and being aware of the risk of learning becoming “endless” for the more able (particularly in remote/independent learning).
2. Assess, but don’t add stress
While meetup attendees agreed on the importance of understanding where students are and identifying gaps in learning, they also emphasised the importance of achieving this without creating additional pressure, either for staff or learners. Take time over this, building in low-/no-stakes assessment, regular verbal feedback, and involving students in the process of identifying where they feel more/less confident and what they need to do next.
3. Stay ambitious in teaching and learning
A recurrent message from the meetups was the importance of remaining ambitious in teaching and learning – balancing the need to pare back/streamline without narrowing the curriculum or lowering expectations, and auditing deficits without leaping to remedial/deficit thinking. Key ideas shared included a focus on meaningful tasks; teaching to where learners could be now; choosing language carefully to inspire, excite and set high expectations; finding ways to incorporate hands-on as well as theoretical learning; finding opportunities for collaboration; and prioritising dialogic teaching and learning – recognising the loss of rich language exchange during school closures.
4.Continue to build on “lessons from lockdown”
Both sessions also highlighted the many innovative practices developed during school closures, many of which will be retained and further developed. Examples included the use of technology and/or project-based learning to support learners in working both independently and in collaboration with one another.
Finally, the meetups reinforced the importance of engaging and listening to students – involving them in conversations about their experience, interests and passions, and making them part of the creative, innovative thinking and discussion that will help schools and individuals continue to move forward positively. Or as NACE Associate Dr Keith Watson has written, “Not merely recovering, but rebounding and reigniting with energy, vigour and a celebration of talents.”
For more on these key messages and other ideas explored during the meetups, watch the recordings:
NACE member meetups are free to attend for all NACE members, offering opportunities to connect and share ideas with peers across the UK and beyond, as well as hearing from NACE Associates and leading schools.
Not yet a NACE member? Starting at just £95 +VAT per year, NACE membership is available for schools (covering all staff), SCITT providers, TSAs, trusts and clusters. Members have access to advice, practical resources and CPD to support the review and improvement of provision for more able learners within a context of challenge and high standards for all. Find out more.
This past month has been marked for me by the death of two major influencers on my thinking and life over 30 years. Lord Harry Renwick died from COVID-related complications and Sir Ken Robinson from cancer.
Harry was a past Chairman of the British Dyslexia Association, a lifelong passion, and an early supporter of the societal and economic good that computing could bring. He was generous to me with his time and opened many doors in parliament, but also outside. Importantly, he led me to the work of Thomas G West. I still have a signed copy of “In the Mind’s Eye” (first edition) on my shelf. I have been delighted to discover that there is a new edition now available.
Tom’s work in the USA on visual giftedness ought to be as influential and well-known as Howard Gardner’s books. His evidence on visual thinking and creativity in science and mathematics made sense of various anecdotes I had collected over the years but could not make coherent.
That is where the link with Sir Ken Robinson comes in. I did not know him well; we met five times over around 15 years, the last time being a decade ago. I would like to add my tribute to him and address a criticism of his thinking that has been raised in many of the otherwise warm obituaries and tributes to a life well-lived.
I followed Ken Robinson speaking at a conference around 1995. My advice to anyone who would listen was, “Do not accept an invitation to speak after Ken Robinson.” At that time the usual reaction was, “Who is he?” I don’t think there is anyone connected with education now – since his famous TED lecture "Do schools kill creativity?" – who would ask that. He was a brilliant communicator, of that there is no doubt, but I want to pay tribute to him outside the podium.
He was as engaging and fun away from the speaker platform as he was on it. He was an avid networker who loved to connect people who he thought would find each other stimulating company. His network of contacts was truly global. An educator I much admire, Richard Gerver, who was mentored by Sir Ken, has written a very personal tribute here. It is well worth a read.
1999 was the 40th anniversary of a famous speech by C P Snow, “The Two Cultures”. I gave a talk at a conference on the “Renaissance of Learning”. After leaving the platform Ken came up to me. He wanted to talk about one slide. I had argued that there was a false dichotomy in education policy in the UK but also internationally, that the arts were creative, and engineering was a discipline. Drawing on C P Snow’s ideas I suggested that you could not be a great engineer if you were not creative or a good artist without discipline. I had given examples of “seeing” the mathematics as an aesthetic experience. Ken wanted the reference, which was to Tom West’s work. His advice to me was simple: “Keep saying it, one day they’ll listen.”
Over the years I have been contacted by people around the world on email or social media, where the opening line has been: “I met Sir Ken at a conference and he suggested I look you up. He said you’d been thinking about this for years.”
None of the exchanges that followed have ever been with timewasters. I think the last was around five years ago, five years after we last spoke. He used his global celebrity status to bring like minds together. He was far humbler and more cautious than the public speaker image may project.
The criticism I want to address is this: that he did not appreciate creativity in science and maths. In my opinion, for what it’s worth, he avoided the celebrity status trap of pontificating on things that he had little mastery of. I think he was right to do so.
Of course, he was a passionate about the arts, but he had a genuine interest in creativity in all its forms. The people he pointed in my direction were engaging with his ideas in physics, chemistry, mathematics and many more disciplines.
He will be much missed as an inspiration, but he has left a legacy of a life lived well.
If you are passionate about creativity in education, I can pay no finer tribute to Sir Ken than his own words to me: “Keep saying it, one day they’ll listen.”
About the author
NACE patron Dr Chris Yapp is an independent consultant specialising in innovation and future thinking. He has 30 years’ experience in the ICT industry, with a specialisation in the strategic impact of ICT on the public sector, creative industries, digital inclusion and social enterprises. With a longstanding interest in the future of education, he has written and lectured extensively on the challenges of personalised learning, lifelong learning, educational transformation and the knowledge economy.
Join Chris at this year’s NACE Leadership Conference (16-20 November) for a session exploring the use of learning technologies to extend and enrich learning. View the conference programme.
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