Adaptive teaching is a way for teachers to create the conditions that support all pupils to access the same learning. In this article, we explore the definition of adaptive teaching and its core stages.
What is adaptive teaching?
Adaptive teaching is an important aspect of high-quality teaching. The term has emerged to describe how teachers adapt the support they give to pupils, each with different starting points and learning needs, so they can work towards the same learning goals of a lesson.
It’s an approach that shapes every stage of planning, teaching and assessment. It begins before lessons at the planning stage, where teachers anticipate pupils’ learning needs and plan accordingly. It continues into lessons where teachers might provide supports such as scaffolds to some or all pupils.
Adaptive teaching is not a set of extra activities or different strategies. It also contrasts with ‘differentiation’, where pupils can be set different learning goals or given different activities, which risks predetermining their potential.
How the education sector defines adaptive teaching
Although 'adaptive teaching’ is a phrase that’s growing in use in education, it brings together older ideas and can draw on pre-existing techniques and strategies.
Writing for the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), Jon Eaton, Director of Kingsbridge Research School, understands adaptive teaching as “being responsive to information about learning, then adjusting teaching to better match pupil need.”
Adaptive teaching is described in the initial teacher training and early career framework as the need to maintain high expectations for all pupils, understand barriers to learning, use formative assessment and draw on scaffolding strategies. These approaches are often already part of an effective teacher’s practice.
The EEF’s Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools guidance report also recommends approaches that can support an adaptive teaching mindset. These include flexible grouping within lessons, skilful allocation of teaching assistants, use of digital technology, as well as supporting pupils to consolidate some of these cognitive strategies internally so pupils can plan, monitor and evaluate their approach to learning.
Adaptive teaching as part of universal provision
Adaptive teaching is an essential foundation of a school’s universal level of provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
It sits alongside other elements of whole-class, high-quality teaching, which is central to universal provision. These elements, such as explicit instruction to help pupils learn new knowledge and skills, support an adaptive teaching approach.
In response to the government’s SEND reform consultation, the EEF notes that adaptive teaching is one part of effective SEND support, which “relies on a combination of high-quality universal teaching, alongside support for teachers to make effective adaptations and target support.” The EEF notes that if a focus on adaptive teaching is used at the expense of other universal teaching strategies, it does present some risks. Any adaptations need to be well thought out and balance the potential benefits with the risks.
What are the key stages of adaptive teaching?
There are four key stages of adaptive teaching, and teachers must decide between many potential approaches to be responsive to pupils’ learning needs.
- Anticipating barriers to learning, for example, gaps in prior knowledge, misconceptions, needs related to SEND, and using this when planning lessons.
- Using formative assessment effectively, for example, to detect barriers, spot misconceptions, or check for understanding.
- Responding and adapting the next step of the lesson, for example, providing feedback on tasks, using scaffolding strategies, or grouping flexibly.
- Monitoring whether that adaptation is working or needs adjustment, for example, checking whether all pupils have understood and whether pupils are experiencing success.
This is not a linear process, but a cycle. Throughout and after the final step, teachers should feed this information back into their ongoing planning.
Read more about these four stages of adaptive teaching and ways to put them into practice.
Get expert support to deliver adaptive teaching training
Teachers need to be curious about their pupils' experiences, ask questions and find ways to help every child thrive. Professional development can help build expertise and enable teachers to monitor and adapt their responses to barriers of learning
Our Adaptive Teaching: Train-the-trainer programme helps leaders develop this expertise so they can design and deliver effective professional development to their teachers on adaptive teaching.
