Our School
Removing Barriers to Learning
Every child learns differently. Adaptive teaching means that teachers focus on the whole class and adapt their teaching to make it appropriate for all students. At Spindle Point, we adapt our teaching to respond to the different strengths and needs of all our pupils, removing barriers to learning and allowing all our children opportunities to meet the expectations of the lesson.
Graduated Approach to SEND Support
Adaptive teaching involves setting the same ambitious goals for all students, but providing different levels of support. Following interventions and referrals to a range of services, class teachers use the individual recommendations given by professionals to support the needs of all our pupils. Teachers and the SENDCo meet regularly to assess the progress that our pupils are making and decide on any next steps.
Based on Research
The Education Endowment Foundation (2020) found strong evidence that improving high quality teaching for all students will improve outcomes for students with SEND.
The recommended strategies include:
- Scaffolding, such as a writing frame, that is gradually removed as the student becomes increasingly independent
- Explicit instruction, such as teacher demonstration followed by guided practice and independent practice
- Technology, which can assist teachers to model processes and present ideas visually, and can also provide technical aids for students, such as speech generating apps
- Cognitive strategies, such as chunking or memorisation techniques, can support students with SEND or breaking down tasks into smaller steps.
- Flexible grouping, where groups are formed for an explicit purpose allow teachers to set up opportunities for collaborative learning and to allocate different tasks to group members. Written tasks are not always necessary to show and develop understanding. At Spindle Point, our lessons can involve drama, discussion, arts or school visits.
Here is a selection of activities you might see when adaptive teaching is in use:
- Content or questions being rephrased.
- Language adaptations to help all learners grasp concepts.
- Showing examples of a ‘finished product’, i.e., WAGOLLs (what a good one looks like) but with ‘deconstructions’ to explicitly show how they can get there.
- Putting key points in bold or making them more visible in a different way.
- Using keyword prompts.
- Having flexible and temporary groupings to help scaffold learning.
- Breaking down instructions in a step-by-step format.
- Making sure feedback is both challenging and specific and that learners actually have time to process it and respond to it.
- Having all students complete the same task – no differentiation of tasks or questions. Instead, providing scaffolding in the form of starting points, extra cues or stem sentences (with the idea that these can be taken away over time).
Ultimately, one key component of an adaptive classroom is communication. Knowing who the learners are, their backgrounds and what makes them tick is key to knowing where they might need support.
Having a classroom where nothing is presumed (level or ability, for instance) means that anyone can learn how to achieve the highest level of understanding.
So, the benefits of adaptive teaching are integral within its principles, taking these from the ECT examples (p.17) to:
- provide opportunity for all pupils to experience success, including by maintaining high expectations for all, balancing input of new content so that pupils master important concepts, and making effective use of teaching assistants
- meet individual needs without creating unnecessary workload, including making use of well-designed (existing) resources; planning to connect new content with pupils’ existing knowledge or providing additional pre-teaching; building in additional practice; reframing questions to provide greater scaffolding; and considering carefully how to intervene within lessons with individuals and small groups rather than planning different lessons for different groups of pupils
- group pupils effectively, including by applying high expectations to all groups, changing groups regularly, and ensuring that any groups based on attainment are subject specific
Having a classroom where nothing is presumed (level or ability, for instance) means that anyone can learn how to achieve the highest level of understanding, despite their target grades.
Benefits of adaptive teaching
Here are some of the main ones:
1. Adaptive teaching increases student engagement. It provides students with a personalised learning experience that is tailored to their needs. It means that students are more engaged and motivated.
2. It improves learning outcomes. Adaptive teaching seeks to provide all students with the support they need to succeed. All students will better understand and retain information, which leads to higher levels of academic achievement.
3. Adaptive teaching supports diverse learners. With adaptive teaching, students’ different abilities and backgrounds are recognised but their ability to understand and carry out tasks is not presumed. Support is there if needed, but there is no ‘easy task’ for low-ability students to do instead.
4. It encourages student autonomy. With adaptive teaching, students have more control over their learning. They’re not given different tasks to do on the basis that they’re a high or low achiever. If support or scaffolding is needed, it will be given, but if students want to rise to a challenge, they’re fully able to despite their perceived ability or background.
5. Adaptive teaching is better for teachers. When teachers are planning one lesson for all rather than a few different lessons and activities, they’re able to better use their time. What’s more, when all students are attempting the same task, teachers have a better understanding of who has grasped a concept well and who hasn’t.
6. It correlates with better student performance. According to PISA, “adaptive instruction” is linked to better outcomes.
7. Adaptive teaching creates a fully inclusive classroom. With all students working on the same activity, there are no obvious groupings of higher/middle/lower attainers as in previous pedagogical teaching strategies.
Who does adaptive teaching help the most?
Generally speaking, adaptive teaching benefits all students but it may be particularly beneficial for students who have diverse learning needs and may require additional support to succeed.
Here are some examples of students who will benefit from adaptive teaching the most:
- Students with disabilities or learning differences: Adaptive teaching will provide them with a personalised learning experience that doesn’t limit their potential. Unlike being given easier work to do, with adaptive teaching, students are given support and accommodation like extra time, 1:1 questioning and support, and scaffolding resources.
- Students with EAL (English as an Additional Language): Adaptive teaching means that students who have English as an additional language can be supported to access the materials of their peers. Whether this is by bilingual instruction, visuals or other strategies.
- Higher attainers: Adaptive teaching means that students can work at an accelerated pace and can be challenged.
- Pupil Premium (PP): Students from low-income backgrounds often do less well at school. With adaptive teaching, PP students are able to have the same goals and aspirations as non-PP students but can be given support if this is needed.
Overall, adaptive teaching benefits all students but it is particularly beneficial to those with diverse learning needs, SEND, EAL or PP as it allows them to access the same lesson content and fully engage in the curriculum.