There is a growing interest among schools in how adaptive teaching can help support pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), to make meaningful progress towards the learning goals of lessons.
Every teacher, support staff and leader has a role to play in building an inclusive school in which every child flourishes. If an evidence-informed approach to inclusive education is a priority in your school, then you might be interested to learn more about adaptive teaching.
This article explores four ways teachers can put adaptive teaching into practice in a whole-class setting using some components explored in our new Adaptive Teaching: Train the trainer programme.
Why is adaptive teaching important?
Not all pupils learn at the same rate and may require different kinds of support in the classroom to succeed. Being able to understand pupils’ diverse learning needs is an important part of teachers adapting the support they provide.
The Educational Endowment Foundation explains that “adjusting, adapting and assessing in the classroom” are key to high-quality teaching. And high-quality teaching is “crucial to the progress of all pupils”, including those with a SEND.
Adaptive teaching is also referenced as a foundational skill for all teachers to learn in the Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework. The aim is to increase pupil success while maintaining high standards for all pupils.
So, how can teachers put adaptive teaching into practice?
1. Anticipate barriers to learning
Being able to anticipate barriers to learning can help a teacher adapt their practices to the wide range of learning needs of the pupils they teach. Key to this is understanding pupils’ prior knowledge and any specific difficulties that pupils with SEND may need adaptation or support with.
Prior knowledge acts as a foundation for learning a new topic and could include key vocabulary, concepts or skills. When pupils can commit some key information to their long-term memory, it helps them to learn more complex ideas. If pupils have less well-developed prior knowledge or misconceptions it may hinder learning, particularly if new ideas are introduced too quickly.
Teachers need to anticipate the sorts of misconceptions or common errors pupils make when they are learning about the specific topic. Predicting where prior knowledge and misconceptions will create challenges is an essential first step to supporting all pupils in their learning.
It's also important to consider that pupils with special learning needs may experience additional barriers and challenges.
2. Use assessment diagnostically
Making effective use of formative assessment is another way to introduce adaptive teaching. Key to achieving this is using assessment in a diagnostic way, providing the teacher with actionable information regarding what pupils have learned or understood.
There are different approaches to formative assessment, depending on the subject, topic, the types of misconceptions involved and teachers’ knowledge of pupils’ starting points and needs.
There are many ways this diagnostic approach to assessment might be conducted in the classroom. For example, through probing some key vocabulary or concepts at the start of the lesson or using a hinge question to probe pupil thinking later in the lesson.
Central to the effectiveness of any approach is that they provide a quick and practical way to assess all pupils’ knowledge and understanding. The aim is to help the teacher diagnose common errors so they can make informed decisions regarding the next step of the lesson.
3. Respond and adapt the next step of the lesson
Following diagnostic assessment, it’s important to act on this information with a tailored response. Teachers should aim to identify the nature of a particular error, how many pupils have misunderstood the concept and how critical this misunderstanding is. They can then choose an appropriate approach depending on the nature of the error.
Some of these approaches may include:
Offering feedback: Assessing the type and priority of errors, identifying any patterns and considering the most effective way to provide feedback.
Explicit instruction: Providing explicit teaching, such as re-teaching or re-explaining, can help tackle any gaps in knowledge and direct pupils’ attention to errors and misconceptions in critical knowledge.
Scaffolding: Considering the type of scaffolding and how quickly or slowly that scaffolding is removed to ultimately encourage independence.
Flexible grouping: Creating temporary groups for pupils with similar needs and requiring similar supports can help to direct learning.
Using teaching assistants: Considering the effective deployment of teaching assistants may help to supplement any learning.
4. Monitor whether that adaptation is working or needs adjustment
Finally, it’s important that teachers monitor how successful their response was in correcting pupil misconception. Evaluating the success of adjustments is important to know whether adaptations are working or how they could be improved in future.
It could involve teachers asking themselves – and pupils – key questions about the outcome and to assess whether the content has been understood. Teachers might return to a diagnostic approach to assessment to help answer these questions. For example, an exit ticket activity that checks what pupils have understood or where they might still have misconceptions.
Adapting teaching to support pupils’ needs creates more opportunities for success, which in turn helps them believe they can achieve similar goals in the future.
Adaptive teaching relies on expertise
The elements that underpin adaptive teaching involve many tools and strategies that teachers already have. However, some may need help to apply this knowledge in a way that supports all their pupils, and especially those with SEND.
Explore our Adaptive Teaching programme
On our programme, you will explore how to design, tailor and deliver effective professional development for your teachers.
You’ll get a range of resources to support teachers in getting to grips with the key elements of adaptive teaching. You’ll also have an opportunity to explore and develop effective approaches to implementing evidence-informed professional development for teachers on adaptive teaching.
Our Adaptive Teaching programme uses a train-the-trainer model to provide a more sustainable approach to professional development. If you’d like to find out more about how this could work in your setting, visit our programme page.
