Chapter 4: Meeting Individual Differences

Task 4.1.4 What do you understand by adaptive teaching?

How would you describe the term adaptive teaching?

You might like to read the blog by Mould (2021) to help you with this task.

https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/eef-blog-assess-adjust-adapt-what-does-adaptive-teaching-mean-to-you

Using this description, what do you think this means for practice in the classroom?

Observe your mentor or another teacher teaching a class and write notes on:

• How they organised the class to enable learning needs to be addressed (e.g. seating arrangements, how pupils were grouped)
• Whether learning outcomes were adapted (in which case, how different pupils knew which learning outcomes they were working towards) or whether different tasks were set to enable pupils to work towards the same learning outcomes
• How work was scaffolded to support some pupils and what work some pupils moved onto in order to challenge them further
• What teaching approaches they used to cater for different learning needs
• How subject content was presented for pupils with different learning needs
• How work built on pupils’ interests, social and cultural experiences
• Whether the pace of work was appropriate for all pupils to have a chance to learn effectively and achieve success.

After the lesson, discuss with your mentor or teacher observed:

• if and how the lesson was adapted prior to the lesson so it was appropriate for this specific class and/or if it was adapted during the lesson for the needs of that class in that particular lesson
• how effective the various adaptations to the lesson were for the needs of all pupils.

Task 4.1.6 Lesson planning for adaptive teaching: one stimulus with different tasks and/or outcomes

You have a set of photographs showing the changing landscape of London from 1850 to present. (If you do not like the choice of photographs, choose your own stimulus, for example, an astronaut working in a space lab, a contemporary image/photo from the news, or an environmental activist at work. Images can be found on websites like https://www.freeimages.com). Describe two or more ways in which you could use these photographs to teach your subject. Confine your discussion to one to two lessons with a class you teach. For each example, identify:

• how you use the photographs;
• the activities you set your pupils;
• the objectives and learning outcomes;
• how you assess outcomes;
• the ways in which the activities are adapted.

Discuss with your mentor your plan, how tasks and/or outcomes have been adapted for your pupils and why your choice of task, learning outcomes and assessments (e.g. through different outcomes of different types of assessment) are appropriate.

Modifying lesson planning

Select one of these pupils and consider how their presence in your class would modify your lesson planning.

Summary and Key Points

This unit explores key ways in which you as a teacher working in a school can contribute to pupils’ wellbeing in adolescence. It is important to remember that:

• Adolescents’ health and wellbeing underpins their academic attainment.
• An understanding of adolescents’ physical, mental, emotional, cognitive and social development is important foundational knowledge for all working in the secondary phase.
• All school staff must be aware of the process for raising safeguarding concerns, concerns about a pupil’s mental health or significant behaviour changes.
• Teachers must be aware of schools’ statutory duties under the Equality Act 2010 and issues relating to minority, marginalised or stigmatised identity groups.
• The role of form tutor is incredibly important for monitoring pupils’ health and wellbeing.
• High quality, timetabled PSHE delivered by trained or specialist staff should form a part of a schools’ approach to pupil health and wellbeing, alongside your understanding of your role in delivering PSHE.
• All staff are responsible for pupil wellbeing, whether teaching or non-teaching, and they must all work together as a team.
• The relationships that adults working in secondary schools form with pupils are significant contributors to pupils’ self-regulation and their present and future wellbeing.

Weblinks

Actively recognising different pupil characteristics is important for meeting their needs. In addition to the tasks within the chapter, you may find it useful to look more deeply at data for yourself:

Managing discussion

Task 4.5.1 Reflecting on teacher’s values

The task draws on the Teachers’ Standards in England (DfE, 2011b, updated July 2021). Look particularly at the Preamble as well as the standards.

Look particularly at the Preamble as well as the standards.

• Do you believe that these should be your core values as a teacher? Are there any you do not agree with?
• Are there any aspects that may be more difficult to apply than others?
• Are there any issues that you think you might experience in putting these values into place?
• Are there any aspects of the values relating to teaching that you think are missing here?

Discuss this information with your mentor.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1040274/Teachers__Standards_Dec_2021.pdf

Values-based education

Watch the values-based education video and consider how you might adapt the completed positive human values diagram at 01:35

Task 4.5.5 critical incidents

Read through the following extracts and discuss the two cases with another beginning teacher, or in a group. There are prompt questions to support your reflections.

Some questions to support discussion:

• What would you do in each of these cases if you were the teacher?
• What advice would you give to the pupils?
• Can you imagine any difficult decisions you might have to take? If so, explain the considerations.
• If you didn’t know what to do, do you know where to get the advice and support you need to help you manage challenging situations?
• How do the situations relate to the particular formulation of the ethical responsibilities of teachers as stated in your course requirements or accreditation standards?

M level – What issues are raised by these cases. Discuss and justify your response with relation to theory and research (1,500 words).

Chapter 4.6

This chapter from the eighth edition of Learning to Teach in the Secondary School has been included as it gives a good historical policy overview.

Historical context to policies and statutory frameworks

This section discusses key SEND policies and legislations – also see the downloadable chapter above (Peacey, 2019) and Hodkinson’s historical analysis (in Key Issues in Special Educational Needs, Disability and Inclusion, 2019) which provide a comprehensive policy explanation. The Warnock Report (1978) was a significant UK education milestone, replacing outdated categories of ‘handicap’ with the continuum of special needs. Warnock pushed to include parental input in the education of children with SEND, recommending where possible that children with SEND be educated in mainstream schools. The subsequent Education Act 1981 included many of Warnock’s recommendations, such as educating children with SEND in mainstream schools, requiring every teacher to have responsibility for educating pupils with SEND, and the development of the Statement, a legal document for children with more severe SEND outlining provisions and entitlements after a statutory assessment.

In England and Wales, the first SEN Code of Practice (CoP) was developed in 1994, mandating all local authorities to provide SEN provisions for pupils regardless of school placement settings (DfE, 1994a). The CoP 1994 outlined five stages in SEN assessment and introduced the role of SENCos. The practical guidance in this CoP echoed the global push for inclusive education (e.g. Salamanca Statement by the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO, 1994b)). Whilst the CoP 1994 made an important contribution in terms of SEN assessment, it incorporated little guidance about inclusive classroom practice. Consequently, schools increasingly relied on local authorities to fund provisions and statutory assessment referrals. A revised CoP (Department for Education and Skills (DfES), 2001) introduced ‘School Action’ and ‘School Action Plus’ in England, a staged approach requiring schools to demonstrate that they had used their own resources to work with a child before requesting local authorities for support.

Despite progress in recent decades in including children with SEND within mainstream schools in England, parents of children with SEND were still excluded from key schooling decisions. The Children and Families Act 2014 introduced an updated SEND CoP (DfE and DoH, 2015) which superseded all previous CoP. This chapter will reference the SEND CoP 2015 throughout.

The CoP 2015 outlines a graduated approach to identifying and supporting pupils with SEND, involving four stages of action: assess, plan, do and review which is coordinated by the SENCo (DfE and DoH, 2015, p.100). A pupil with SEND could avail two levels of support depending on ongoing assessment and review of their difficulties:

• SEND support: If a pupil is identified with SEND, schools should utilise their own resources to arrange provisions to support learning and remove barriers. This may entail working with external stakeholders and specialists. If the pupil does not progress as expected, the school or parents can seek referral for Education, Health and Care (EHC) assessment.
• Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP): Usually formulated after an EHC assessment from the local authority involving different professionals. EHCP outlines statutory guidance for requisite resources and interventions, and the roles of different stakeholders to ensure the pupil makes sufficient academic and social progress.

Task 4.6.2 Diversity in the classroom

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25

The CoP outlines your statutory responsibilities as a teacher in England in relation to pupils’ SEND.

• Talk to your mentor about the range of diverse needs in your classroom, and the specific statutory duties that you have as a beginning teacher – e.g. what is the government guidance on the identification, assessment and diagnosis of SEND?
• What are the statutory documents that you need to maintain in order to evidence provision for a pupil – e.g., an individual education plan (IEP) or a pupil passport?

Are there national guidelines for all schools to follow, or does your school have its own guidelines regarding the evidence of support you need to collate for each pupil?