Research and Practice Summary

Case Studies

These case studies explore how two teachers developed their own teaching and conducted their own practitioner inquiries into setting high expectations and managing behaviour effectively. Both are interesting but you should focus on the one most closely related to the exploratory question you are working on. The case studies set out the issue the teacher was interested in, how they gathered evidence about the impact upon pupils of their own normal practice and how they used the research embedded in the ECF to decide how to introduce an alteration to the way they taught.

When studying 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.

Setting high expectations

Sam, a Year 5 teacher, believes that he is good at forming positive relationships with his class. He has a proactive approach to behaviour management, and he encourages his pupils to work hard through the use of praise and reward points. As a result, Sam doesn’t have many problems with behaviour, and his pupils say they enjoy his lessons.

However, progress data indicate that a number of pupils in Sam’s class (including lower and higher prior attaining pupils) are not achieving age-related expectations in maths. To investigate this further, Sam decided to develop his teaching in this area and to undertake a practitioner inquiry.

Following a discussion with his Head of Year (who advised him on which pupils to concentrate on), he decided to undertake some pupil voice work, to see what his pupils thought about his normal practice and how far they agreed that the expectations he had of them were challenging.

Sam wrote an initial, exploratory question:

• what do Year 5 pupils say, think and feel about the work they are set in maths?

To answer this question, Sam decided to give his class a short survey, which consisted of hands-up/ hands-down responses to 5 questions. This took just 2 minutes at the end of a lesson. He then interviewed a small, representative sample of pupils in 3 focus groups of 3. He did this during 5 minutes of morning break, on three mornings of one week. The data Sam collected suggested the following:

• pupils like receiving praise and encouragement when they feel they deserve it
• sometimes, pupils feel the work is too easy, or that they have ‘done it before’
• sometimes pupils don’t understand the expectations Sam has of them
• sometimes, pupils don’t understand how they are supposed to respond to the feedback Sam gives them about how to push their learning on to the next level What alteration to his teaching might Sam make to improve the levels of challenge, support and feedback he provides for pupils?

A multifaceted approach to setting high expectations

Reflecting on the data he had collected, Sam looked again at the research on high expectations in the Early Career Framework to help him plan an intervention based around setting high expectations. He realised that setting high expectations is a complex process, with many moving parts. Sam therefore decided to create a multifaceted ‘high expectations plan’, comprising the following elements:

• set pupils a short weekly quiz to determine their current level of knowledge and understanding; he made sure that this was non-threatening so that the pupils were supported by a positive environment and recognised that they could learn from their mistakes
• write explicit, descriptive success criteria for each maths lesson and refer to these success criteria intentionally and consistently in lessons – this was so the pupils would understand the challenge he was setting them and how to achieve it
• he wanted to model for them how pupils like them might respond to a classroom environment where the expectations were high – he invented a fictional pupil, ‘risk-taking Sam’, but told them that Sam was based on himself; he did this to a) model what it looks like to take risks and push yourself out of your comfort zone; b) model common mistakes and misconceptions made by pupils in the class; c) help pupils anticipate common misconceptions and identify solutions before they arise; and d) create an environment where risk-taking and mistake-making are embraced as a part of the learning process – he hoped in this way to influence the attitudes of his pupils
• contact the parents and carers of three pupils each week to celebrate success where pupils have reached or exceeded expectations in maths

Managing behaviour effectively

Meera knows that behaviour in her Year 8 classes needs to improve. Each week, she spends several hours setting, running and chasing up detentions. Often, these detentions involve the same pupils each week.

Because she has to spend time in lessons dealing with low-level disruption, this has a detrimental impact on Meera’s ability to teach effectively, and on the progress of pupils in her classes.

To improve her practice with regard to managing behaviour effectively, Meera decided to undertake a practitioner inquiry.

Knowing that many of her colleagues have excellent behaviour-management skills, Meera wrote the following, exploratory question:

• how do high-performing teachers normally establish a positive climate for learning at School X?

Meera’s school encourages teachers to observe each other informally, and her inquiry coincided with an ‘observe-to-learn fortnight’, which made it easy for her to arrange to observe three colleagues, teaching similar classes to her own, one from within her own department and two from other departments.

She followed their advice to come in just for the first 10 minutes of their lessons when they were reinforcing routines.

Meera was pleasantly surprised and encouraged to see the pupils she found challenging working diligently in other lessons. She noticed that the teachers had little poor behaviour to react to. They had already done the hard work when they had set up their routines.

The observations helped her to understand that teachers, by being good role models themselves, can affect the motivation and behaviour of their pupils.

When Meera spoke to the teachers together one lunchtime, they gave her their top tips. She also read again her Learning Log notes for Module 1, where she had recorded her insights into demonstrating high expectations of behaviour.

From these chats, and from her reading, Meera collated the following insights:

• that it’s best, where possible, to establish routines at the beginning of the year, but it is more important to keep practising them, reinforcing positives, for example, by highlighting the behaviours she wants to see more of
• pupils with SEND especially, but all pupils really, respond best when they know clearly what the teacher’s expectations are. Meera decided she would always praise effort, always praise when a pupil reacted well to making a mistake, always correct a pupil if they spoke out of turn
• it is useful to use rewards and sanctions consistently and predictably. However, this should not be the sole method of behaviour management as it is ‘after the fact’
• it is important to have high expectations with regard to behaviour and to stick to them rigorously
• it is important to give pupils manageable, specific and sequential instructions (short routines) to make expectations really clear and to minimise misbehaviour caused by confusion
• it is a good idea to use consistent language and non-verbal signals for common classroom directions
• when dealing with low-level disruption, it is important to use minimally invasive interventions in the first instance, to avoid escalating conflict and to give pupils the opportunity to respond

Meera also analysed the behaviour data relating to her classes and noticed a pattern that most of the pupils she regularly sets detentions for are boys who speak English as an Additional Language (EAL) in Year 8.

What alterations to her practice might Meera begin to try to improve the behaviour of pupils in her lessons?

A multifaceted approach to managing behaviour effectively

After she had pulled together all her evidence, Meera identified a number of strategies she wanted to try in order to improve behaviour in her Year 8 lessons, centred around memorable behaviour routines:

• Create a set of short, positively worded, three-step routines to make clear her expectations with regard to pupils’ behaviour in each part of a lesson – for example:

  • entering the room – enter in silence, planner on desk, start the ‘do now’ task
  • when the teacher is talking – hands empty, perfect silence, eyes on me
  • during class discussions – take turns, give reasons, track the speaker
  • during independent work – collect resources, check understanding, work in silence
  • at the end of the lesson – chair under desk, stand behind chair, wait to be dismissed

• create visual reminders of the above and non-verbal signals to help pupils understand behaviour expectations for each part of a lesson

• deliberately practise the routines until the pupils can do them without thinking, and mention the routines regularly using clear, consistent language and non-verbal signals – for example, her hand up means she is waiting for quiet

• make sure all pupils understand her expectations with regard to behaviour (as well as tasks) in each part of a lesson, especially those pupils who receive detentions most frequently – she would nominate a pupil to repeat back an instruction if she suspected the class were confused

• reinforce these routines and expectations through the consistent and predictable use of rewards and sanctions (e.g. not allowing pupils to speak while the teacher is speaking)

• because she often found herself at a loss for what to say in the heat of the moment, she would use scripted responses when responding to incidents of low-level disruption, to avoid escalation and to give pupils time to respond – for example, she made a habit of always referring off-task pupils back to the learning intentions of the lesson