Research and Practice Summary

Case Studies

You have seen these case studies before: they explore how four teachers – improving their practice and without adding to their workload – conducted their own practitioner inquiries into developing quality pedagogy and making productive use of assessment.

You can read back to Weeks 3 or 5, if you want to remind yourself of the issue they wanted to tackle and the alterations to their practice that they implemented.

We pick them up here from the point where they have framed their evaluative inquiry question. We see the methods they decide to use to collect evidence; we see how some of them choose to make a further adjustment to their practice after starting their inquiries; and we begin to see evidence of impact on them and their pupils as this begins to emerge.

When reading these case studies, you will need to take account of your own pupils’ characteristics, the context of your classroom and the nature of the material that you are teaching.

Case study A: Grouping pupils effectively

Andy’s approach to grouping pupils effectively in Year 1

To evaluate the impact of his pupil grouping intervention, Andy wrote the following evaluative question:

• how can I use group activities over two half-terms to improve the engagement and attainment of my Year 1 pupils?

Andy considered the following sources of data:

• brief observation notes made by himself and the Teaching Assistant (TA) during the lessons and shared briefly after school three times a week
• his own observations and reflections on the extent to which the pupil grouping intervention was having the desired effect on their engagement
• the progress records for his class that he had been updating twice weekly to measure their attainment

Further adjustments

Andy was aware that this intervention might cause some pupils some distress, as he was nudging them out of their comfort zones.

He was therefore prepared to experience a certain amount of pushback at first, while the children adjusted to this new way of working. He made time to listen to any of their concerns at the beginning of lunchtime, and found that after a few days, the complaints dried up as the children adapted to this new way of working.

The following half-term as he monitored the impact of the group activities, Andy decided to make a further adjustment, whereby pupils were required to work in near attainment groups for all literacy and numeracy lessons: this would help him to target his and his TA’s support for particular groups of pupils. The pupils would then return to their mixed attainment group tables when studying other topics.

He reminded himself of some of the other reading he had done of research and practice summaries in year 1, this time relating to setting high expectations (Standard 1) and managing behaviour effectively (Standard 7).

Throughout the inquiry period, Andy repeatedly reminded the children of the aim they were all working towards – to be able to work and talk productively with everyone in the class. Andy reinforced good behaviour with the use of verbal praise and by awarding house points, publicly celebrating the features of productive talk he wanted to see more of, such as listening carefully, sharing resources and building on the ideas of others.

Evidence of impact so far

The ECF statements, across several standards, helped Andy to make sense of what his evidence was telling him.

From the evidence he has collected so far, Andy understands that:

• teacher expectations can affect pupil outcomes; setting goals that challenge and stretch pupils is essential
• by repeatedly making his intentions clear, he has been able to ‘bring the children with him’ on this journey to helping them to work productively with any of their peers
• paired and group activities can increase pupil success, but to work together effectively pupils need guidance, support and practice
• by using the same method in every literacy lesson for a term, and extending this to numeracy lessons after one half-term, and switching between mixed and near attainment groupings, he has given the children many opportunities to practise working with others, and therefore to get better at doing so over time

How pupils are grouped is also important; care should be taken to monitor the impact of groupings on pupil attainment, behaviour and motivation.

• a small number of the mixed attainment groupings have proven problematic, but
• several of his pupils have become much more confident in working with a wider range of peers

Through engaging in the inquiry so far, Andy has also learned better how to:

Communicate a belief in the academic potential of all of his pupils, by:

1a. Using intentional and consistent language that promotes challenge and aspiration.

• his TA – who had been working in Key Stage 1 for many years – feels the class have made much faster progress than other classes she has known

And he has:

1e. Created a culture of respect and trust in the classroom that supports all pupils to succeed (e.g. by modelling the types of courteous behaviour expected of pupils).

• publicly celebrating the features of productive talk he wanted to see more of, such as listening carefully, sharing resources and building on the ideas of others

Case study B: Modelling and scaffolding

Vashti’s use of modelling and scaffolds to support writing in Year 4

To ensure she was developing her practice effectively, Vashti devised this evaluative inquiry question:

• how can I use ‘speaking sentences’ well, over the space of two terms, to reduce the prevalence of basic errors in written literacy among pupils with a Speech, Language and Communication Need (SpLCN) in Year 4?

Vashti considered the following evidence she already had to hand:

• data from her marking of writing assessments from the target class
• data from her colleagues’ marking of writing assessments from her control group, the two other year 4 classes (they record such data centrally in her school)
• personal reflections and observations generated through dialogue in her mentor meetings, and recorded in her Learning Log Additionally, she held a short 5-minute ‘focus group’ with the 4 target pupils at the start and end of the intervention.

Further adjustments

Halfway through the study period, Vashti noticed that the pupils were improving in some aspects of their writing. However, they were still often mis-spelling high frequency words.

As a result of this mid-cycle analysis, she realised she could use her scaffold to more deliberately plan for her pupils to be exposed to high-utility, high-frequency vocabulary. She decided to add a table of high-frequency words to the laminated scaffold sheet, with the correct spelling in the ‘tick’ column, and common mis-spellings in the ‘cross’ column.

Because she was encouraged by her early observations and reflections, she also expanded the use of ‘speaking sentences’ to all pupils in her class, with three levels of scaffold sheets adapted for her pupils’ prior attainment, monitor their use and withdraw them as her pupils became more successful.

Evidence of impact so far

The ECF statements, across several standards, helped Vashti to make sense of what her evidence was telling her about her own practice. Through engaging in the inquiry so far, she learned better how to:

6b. Draw conclusions about what pupils have learned by looking at patterns of performance over a number of assessments (e.g. appreciating that assessments draw inferences about learning from performance).

• 5 of the 6 target SpLCN pupils have made significant progress in the summative writing assessment

4d. Provide sufficient opportunity for pupils to consolidate and practise applying new knowledge and skills.

• several pupils are able to describe how they have benefited from using the laminated sheet and the speaking activity to organise their thinking and their writing

Reflecting on her findings, Vashti drew the following interim conclusion for her own teaching:

Classroom talk, combined with scaffolding resources, can be a powerful driver for improving written literacy among pupils with SpLCN in Year 4. (4a, 4p)

She realised that she should continue with this approach to supporting her pupils’ writing, but keep a careful eye on the successful use of the scaffold, so her pupils could still succeed when she withdrew it.

Case study C: Making marking manageable

Louise’s new approach to marking in Secondary History

To ensure she was developing her practice effectively, Louise devised this evaluative inquiry question:

• how can I implement codes and verbal feedback well, so that my Year 9 History pupils are able to correct misconceptions and make progress, and I am able to reduce the amount of time I spend marking?

To evaluate the impact of her ‘minimal marking’ intervention, Louise decided to collect the following naturally occurring data:

• pupil voice – using a hands-up survey in class – with the experimental class (before and after the half-term), to capture how well they felt they had been guided to improve their work
• book scrutiny of a sample of target pupils
• summative assessment of a written piece, from both of her classes so she could compare
• focus group conversation (5 min lunchtime conversation with target pupils)

Further adjustments

After using her new method once, Louise noticed that some of her pupils didn’t seem to understand how they were supposed to respond to the coded feedback. She also realised that she was not always allowing them enough time in lesson to respond to her feedback.

In the next lesson, she used a visualiser to model how she expected pupils to respond to each of the codes, and gave her pupils a second chance to respond to her feedback.

In addition to the slide, where she had explained the most common codes, she added a ‘Time to Respond’ box – as a reminder both to herself and her pupils.

Evidence of impact so far

The ECF statements, across several standards, helped Louise to make sense of what her evidence was telling her about her own practice. Through engaging in the inquiry so far, she learned better how to:

6p. Reduce the opportunity cost of marking by using codes and verbal feedback.

• she was able to cut the marking time for a set of books from 2 hours to 30 minutes
• her two Year 9 classes (one experimental, one control group) achieved a very similar distribution of scores in a summative written assessment
• her pupils in the experimental group had not encountered any significant problems as a result of the new way of marking

6h. Give whole-class feedback so they know what they need to do to improve and have the time to do it.

• she practised giving whole-class feedback, having created a standard slide, which reminded her to give specific feedback and 15 minutes a lesson to do it

Based on these findings, Louise made the following tentative claims from her inquiry:

• using codes/verbal feedback does not detrimentally affect pupil progress, compared with a standard written marking approach
• on average, using codes/verbal feedback saves the teacher over an hour a week, per teaching class, compared with a standard written marking approach

Having reviewed her practice in this way, she will use this insight to now apply the same principles of verbal feedback and minimal marking to her Year 7 and Year 8 classes, while monitoring the impact of that on her pupils and herself.

Case Study D: Questioning

Mo’s use of direction and elaboration to improve questioning in GCSE PE

To ensure he was developing his practice effectively, Mo devised this evaluative inquiry question:

• how can I best adapt the way I ask questions, implemented every lesson for one term, to improve the quality and amount of talk among Pupil Premium girls in Y11 GCSE PE?

To help him answer this question, Mo decided to collect the following data:

• arrange a follow-up lesson observation with the assistant head for teaching and learning, using the school’s in-class video technology
• interview a sample of pupils, including Pupil Premium girls, in a focus group lasting 5 minutes after final period on a Wednesday
• book scrutiny, sampling 6 of the target pupils, compared with a sample of 6 high attaining pupils. Mo marks these books every other week, so this data is near to hand

Further adjustments

Once he started collecting evidence, Mo decided he needed to make one adjustment to his approach for the inquiry. In particular, based on his marking of books, he wrote key questions that he would target at particular pupils, to make sure that he was able to check understanding and fill gaps as they progress from one lesson to the next.

Mo also started using his new approach to ‘responsive questioning’ with his other classes.

Evidence of impact so far

The ECF statements, across several standards, helped Mo to make sense of what his evidence was telling him about his own practice. Through engaging in the inquiry so far, he learned better how to:

4m. Include a range of types of questions in class discussions to extend and challenge pupils.

• he saw much more evidence of high-quality questioning in his second filmed lesson
• all 16 pupils were asked a question at some point in the lesson

6f. Prompt pupils to elaborate when responding to questioning to check that a correct answer stems from secure understanding.

• all were asked follow-up questions to help them elaborate on their thinking
• there was a change in the books of the Pupil Premium girls during the inquiry period – their written responses were far more articulate and well-structured, reflecting the discussions they had had in class

4n. Provide appropriate wait time between question and response where more developed responses are required.

• all were given sufficient wait time
• the pupils liked the fact that he gave them time to prepare an answer before calling on them

Based on this, Mo made the following tentative claim from his inquiry so far:

Responsive questioning is a useful tool for improving the quality of talk and writing among Pupil Premium girls in Year 11 GCSE PE.

And because he had developed his questioning practice to this extent, Mo decided to apply the same approaches to his other classroom-based lessons.