Activity: Launching Independence

The seven strategies below enable teachers to design or re-package learning opportunities in ways that are more pupil-centred and supports the pupils with the acquisition and development of thinking skills and personal capabilities. These approaches promote independent and collaborative learning and align closely with the aims of AfL (Assessment for Learning) and active learning approaches. While the strategies refer mainly to classroom practice, they provide a useful starting point for teachers to explore how they may be addressed and enhanced through the use of online and remote learning tools.

Click on the buttons below to see the posters and how the concepts on each poster can be modified for remote or hybrid learning:

All posters together

All posters together.pdf


Many teachers will be familiar with these posters as they were part of the staff development for the curriculum implementation. It is important to link new approaches to blended learning with the curriculum. The posters provide a stimulus that enable teachers (individually or collectively) to:

· discuss and explore their beliefs and ideas about learning and teaching;

· critically evaluate their current practice;

· identify priorities (within their own lessons and subjects) to support pupils in improving their outcomes by becoming more independent and collaborative thinkers and learners.

Using the poster with a staff group - Setting up the task – the leader can:

Display the posters on a wall, or place each one on a separate table

Arrange the participants into pairs or small groups (for example, departmental groups, groups crossing different departments)

All time for each group to study each poster, using it as a stimulus to address the question at the bottom

Each group decides on which poster to put:

        • a green sticker (“we’re already doing this well, not a priority”)

        • an amber sticker (“good starting point for us, would like to learn more”)

        • a red sticker (“very challenging, couldn’t see us doing this, at least not yet”)

Identify the posters with most green, amber and red stickers. Select the one with most amber, and the one with most red.

Based on the staff responses consider:

What are be the implications for whole-school, departmental professional learning? How can we (as a school/department) or I (as an individual teacher) begin to address these areas

For example:

- select one or two themes to use as a focus for some action research; seek volunteers to find out some more information about the approaches and co-design and try out various strategies; team-teach and evaluate the impact of strategies on pupils’ learning; etc

- discuss and share some practical tweaks or approaches to classroom practice;

- Identify and share innovative practice across the school.

The briefing sheets here suggest practical activities for Getting Started and Moving On for each of the 7 strategies.

Discuss with staff; how can these activities be enhanced through online and blended learning provision?

Stop and process

Consider the following questions with colleagues:

What other tools or strategies can you use to develop the theme of this poster through remote/blended learning?

How can you access or share the best practice that exists within the school?