Shared Clarity about next Learning Steps

Capability 6

Aim

To develop a shared understanding of ‘Shared Clarity About Next Learning Steps’

Definition – What do we mean by ‘Shared Clarity about next Learning steps’?

Put simply, ‘next steps’ is about

– the direction or the plan that the teacher needs to have about where the learning is headed;

– what the teacher needs to do in order to effectively communicate the direction to the students; it addresses the question, ‘After we have learnt this, what do we need to learn next?’;

– what the students need to be able to do to play their part in ensuring that the teaching and learning has direction for them.

Table Talk

In which capabilities have we come across ‘Shared Clarity about Next Learning Steps’

Where ‘next steps’ fits inCapability 2 – ClarityWhen sharing the ‘big picture’ relevance of

the learning Going from the GLI to the SLI and reviewing

the learning – where we have been and where we are going to go

Where ‘next steps’ fits inCapability 3 – Assessment LiteracyPeer/self assessment against S.C. and determining

where to next – right now and future learningConferencing around assessment (e.g., running

records, e-asTTle)

Where ‘next steps’ fits inCapability 4 – Promoting further Learning Feed forward’

when promoting further learning (oral/written) Capability 5 – Active ReflectionWhere do we need to go next with this learning?

Where ‘next steps’ fits inCapability 1 – Learning focused

Relationships ‘Shared Clarity about next Learning Steps’

genuinely allows students to share ownership and responsibility for the learning, especially where students have some understanding of the learning progressions within a learning area.

What teachers need...

• To start with the end in mind

• Subject knowledge

• Subject learning progressions

• Identity with the subject

• ‘Where to next’ resources which show student learning progressions

What students need...

A clear idea of what they are learning – the big pictureA clear idea of where they are currently at in their learningA sense of progression for the next stepsThe above to be explicit and visual

A challenge...

To create a visual resource, which students can use to co-construct ‘next steps’ with the teacher.

Some examples

Exemplars displayedPlanning enlarged and on the wallStudent-speak indicatorsVisual displays

“But it is important to remember that it is the pupils who

will take the next steps and the more they are involved in the process, the greater will be their understanding of how to extend their learning.”

(Assessment Reform Group (1999), p8)