Teaching And Learning - “Pedagogy”
How we teach
Pedagogy, as defined by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), refers to the research-informed methods and practices of teaching that enable learning, particularly focusing on evidence-based strategies to improve student outcomes. It encompasses teaching approaches, curriculum delivery, feedback, and classroom interaction. Staff at Neston and Mosaic Trust have invested in a professional development cycle working alongside neuroscientist Sarah Cottinghatt and expert teachers.
Key aspects of our school and whole Trust’s approach include:
Evidence-Based Practice
Adaptive Teaching
Core Pedagogical Approaches: Highlighting methods such as scaffolding, cognitive load management, explicit instruction
Staff at Neston understand that pedagogy involves not just the techniques used, but their thoughtful implementation to improve academic outcomes and address socioeconomic gaps.
What you will see in Neston classes:
Cold call (focus area- checks for understanding)
Cold call is used to get a small sample of student responses. This means teachers may want to think carefully about which student they ask and what that indicates or does not indicate about the rest of the class’ understanding. Cold call might also work well for probing students’ answers from show me boards or when responding to hinge questions. Whole-class questioning techniques should be considered if the teacher’s purpose is to find out what everyone understands.
Teachers do not have to tell students not to put their hands up. Students who put their hands up tell the teacher something important: ‘“I think I know the answer”. This means that often they are not the best person to call upon since they may not be indicative of the class’ understanding. So, allowing hands up can be a useful way to work out who not to ask initially.
Desired effect
The teacher gets a sense of what students know and can make inferences about a deeper answer than they might be able to read on a whiteboard for example.
“I need a bit more of an understanding of why students have given the answers they have on their whiteboards.”
“I need a sample of what students seem to know.”
Getting and holding attention (focus area- behaviour)
What is it?
Get and hold attention is a technique where the teacher uses a clear signal to show students they need their visible attention. This should become a routine technique so students become familiar with your expectations. Sometimes, it is useful to narrate some instructions alongside the signal, e.g. if the teacher uses a countdown, they may use instructions in between each number. However, the signal may be non-verbal (claps or a hand in the air), in which case the implied instruction is that students stop and give their visible attention. The technique is also called ‘hold attention’ because it is advisable to wait a couple of seconds after getting students’ full attention to be sure everyone is ready to hear your next instruction.
Desired effect
All students know you need them to stop what they are doing and give you their visible attention. Students stop promptly.
Problems it helps solve
Transitions between activities are often confused and chaotic
Not all students seem to listen and process what they are supposed to do in the next task
It takes a long time to get students’ attention
Giving clear instructions (focus area- behaviour)
What is it?
Teachers need to give instructions that tell students concisely what they need to do (rather than what not to do). Where instructions are necessarily lengthy and ongoing, they can be made visible by writing them on the board or using a visual reminder. This is not all though. Instructions need to tell students how to participate in the task and the noise level expected of them. For example: “When I say go, in silence, open your literacy books and write down the definition from the board… Go!” The positioning of the instructions here is important. If the teacher had said “Open your literacy books and write down the definition from the board in silence”, students may have started to do it straight away. The rustling of books and the fact that students are no longer paying full attention to the teacher would have masked her instruction to write down the definition.
Adam Boxer calls this ‘front-loading’ instructions, i.e. front-loading them with information about how to carry them out and when. In short, clear instructions are front loaded, state what to do, are made visible when necessary and are as concise as possible.
Desired effect
Students all understand what they need to do and start carrying out the instructions at the appropriate time.
Problems it helps solve
"Students seem unclear about what they need to do even after I have given an instruction."
"Students start doing my instructions before I have finished talking and then do not carry them out properly."
Teach it back
‘I say, you say’. ‘Think, pair, share’ (focus area- checks for understanding)
What is it?
Have students explain a concept or method as if they were the teacher, either to a partner or the class.
If students can explain something clearly, it usually means they understand it.
Desired effect
This strategy reveals gaps in understanding and encourages student ownership of learning.
Problems it helps solve
“Students have a shallow understanding of a method or concept.”
“Students are unable to explain a concept or a method.”
“Students are not aware of their gaps in their learning.”
Show me boards (focus area- checks for understanding)
What is it?
Show me boards (or ‘mini whiteboards’ as they are also called) is a technique for gathering responses from the whole class and creating the expectation that all students think hard and respond to a question(s)/task.
Desired effect
All students participate cognitively and physically to the question(s)/task. All students feel their answers have been seen. The teacher gets a decent sense of what students know by making an inference based on surveying multiple responses.
It should be noted that when students write sentences on their boards, it can be hard to read everyone’s answer. This doesn’t mean show me boards are only good for one word answers or in certain subjects (e.g. maths). It can still be beneficial for the teacher to see as many boards as possible and subtly focus on those students whose answers are usually indicative of the group. It is key that they attempt to survey all students’ answers though.
Problems it helps solve
“I need a good sense of what all students understand.”
“Sometimes I move on from an idea only to find later in the lesson that multiple students did not understand it.”