Effective Primary Pedagogical Strategies in English and Mathematics in Key Stage 2: A Study of Year 5 Classroom Practice Drawn from the EPPSE 3-16 Longitudinal Study

Abstract

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTThe EPPE project is a major longitudinal study funded by the Department for Education. The research would not be possible without the support and co-operation of the six Local Authorities (LAs) and the many pre-school centres, primary schools, children and parents participating in the research.We would like to give special thanks to the research assistants: Rosemary Ellis, Jill Head, Isabella Hughes, Rose Jennings, Margaret Kehoe, Laura Manni, Helen Mirelman, Stella Muttock and John Stokes who collected the data for this report.We are also grateful to Professor John Siraj-Blatchford for his advice on the early stages of this study and the children and staff of Hamilton Primary School and their headteacher, Graeme Aldous, for helping us refine the pedagogical strategies; their feedback was very helpful. In addition we are grateful to Christopher Stone of Arthur Terry School for allowing us access to his school's policies. Tables Table 2.1a Criteria for inclusion in Group A: Excellent schools (academically effective, good quality pedagogy) 14 Effective pedagogical strategies 25 Table 3a Qualitative descriptions of the numerical ratings 29 Table 3b Quantitative scores and their qualitative descriptions 29 Table 3.1a Organisation 31 Table 3.2a Shared Goals 35 Table 3.4a able 3.4a Overall Classroom Climate 39 Table 3.4b Table 3.4b Child-Teacher relationship 40 Table 3.4c Table 3.4c Teacher support 41 Table 3.4d Table 3.4d Safe, supportive environment 42 Table 3.5a Table 3.5a Behaviour Management 46 Table 3.6a Collaborative Learning: Time target child spends working in a group 52 Table 3.6b Table 3.6b Collaborative Learning: Frequency of group work observed 52 Table 3.7a Personalised Learning 55 Table 3.8a Making Links Explicit 58 Table 3.9a Table 3.9a Dialogic teaching and learning: comprehension and analysis activities 63 Table 3.9b Dialogic teaching and learning: communicatio 63 Table 3.10a Table 3.10a Assessment for learning (AfL) 66i Executive SummaryThe Effective Provision of Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education project is a large scale, longitudinal, mixed-method research study that has followed the progress of 3000+ children since 1997 from the age of 3 to 16+ years.A continuing question for EPPSE was whether pre-and primary school experiences or children's early home learning environment (HLE) could reduce inequality. While the original studies found that parents' socio-economic status (SES) and qualifications were significantly related to child outcomes, they also found that the quality of the early HLE was important Sammons et al, 2004). Also important, and particularly relevant to this study, was the extent to which educational influences (pre-school and primary school quality and effectiveness) also shaped children's educational outcomes. These reports were published as 'Variations in Teacher and Pupil Behaviours in Year 5 Classrooms' and 'The Influences of Teaching Quality on Children's Progress in Primary School .This earlier research found t...

Autism, intense interests and support in school: from wasted efforts to shared understandings

“…As a result, teachers might possess "positive attitudes in principle" (Lindsay 2007, p. 13), about educational inclusion, but these are inevitably tempered by the demands of meeting the curriculum. School staff must, therefore, be able to modify their approach for autistic children, especially as flexible teaching has been associated with high-quality pedagogy and overcoming inequality (Siraj-Blatchford et al 2011). In addition, the unquestioned, high value placed on "broad and balanced" education programmes (Alexander 2000;DfE 2014) should be reconsidered if schools are to be truly inclusive and accessible, with curriculum planning incorporating from its inception a diversity of learning styles and needs (R. Jordan 2005).…”

Autism, intense interests and support in school: from wasted efforts to shared understandings

“…As a result, teachers might possess "positive attitudes in principle" (Lindsay 2007, p. 13), about educational inclusion, but these are inevitably tempered by the demands of meeting the curriculum. School staff must, therefore, be able to modify their approach for autistic children, especially as flexible teaching has been associated with high-quality pedagogy and overcoming inequality (Siraj-Blatchford et al 2011). In addition, the unquestioned, high value placed on "broad and balanced" education programmes (Alexander 2000;DfE 2014) should be reconsidered if schools are to be truly inclusive and accessible, with curriculum planning incorporating from its inception a diversity of learning styles and needs (R. Jordan 2005).…”

Evidence‐based practice: the use and abuse of research

“…In their exhaustive meta-analysis entitled What Really Works in Special and Inclusive Education, Mitchel and Sutherland (2020) assert that their aim is to assist teachers to use the 'best available evidence ' (p. 3) and whilst they are insistent that one size does not fit all, they argue that certain common elements of effective teaching are universal. Quoting Siraj-Blatchford et al (2011), they note that teachers who are effective in teaching disadvantaged learners routinely demonstrate skills in a bundle of strategies, such as having excellent organisational skills, establishing a positive classroom environment, personalising their teaching, using evaluative feedback and making regular use of plenary sessions in class. Such generalist teaching strategies are redolent of the 'teacher craft knowledge' noted within Inclusive Pedagogy (Florian and Black-Hawkins, 2013, p. 815) and undoubtedly mark out what the 'good teacher' does routinely, with all pupils.…”

“…Quoting Siraj‐Blatchford et al . (2011), they note that teachers who are effective in teaching disadvantaged learners routinely demonstrate skills in a bundle of strategies, such as having excellent organisational skills, establishing a positive classroom environment, personalising their teaching, using evaluative feedback and making regular use of plenary sessions in class. Such generalist teaching strategies are redolent of the ‘ teacher craft knowledge ’ noted within Inclusive Pedagogy (Florian and Black‐Hawkins, 2013, p. 815) and undoubtedly mark out what the ‘good teacher’ does routinely, with all pupils.…”