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Recording available via:
https://bit.ly/3ufQa1t
Passcode: Py0Lt.%d

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Supports children with speech, language and communication difficulties. Children with communication difficulties might find it hard to express themselves, understand words, speak in sentences and understand simple instructions. I CAN’s mission is to ensure that no child who struggles to communicate is left out or left behind.

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What works for literacy difficulties - Gary Brookes update

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What works for literacy difficulties - Gary Brookes update

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How children with special educational needs experience mainstream schools

Rob Webster

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Inclusion conjures images of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) learning in classes alongside peers in a mainstream school. For pupils in the UK with high-level SEND, who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (formerly a Statement), this implies an everyday educational experience similar to that of their typically-developing classmates. Yet in […]

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TARGET prompts when selecting interventions

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TARGET prompts when selecting interventions

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Attitudes towards inclusive education scale

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Attitudes towards inclusion - instructions

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Gary Aubin: launch session slide deck 1/11/22

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Gary Aubin: launch session slide deck 1/11/22

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1/11/22: in-person morning 9am-1pm
1/12/22: remote twilight 4-5.30pm
12/1/23: remote twilight 4-5.30pm
26/1/23: in-person morning 9am-1pm

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High quality teaching: The 'five-a- day' principle

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The James Hornsby School and Laindon Park Primary School slides

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The James Hornsby School and Laindon Park Primary School slides

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recent blog from Prof Jonathan Sharples re implementation and PD

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recent blog from Prof Jonathan Sharples re implementation and PD

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In the 10 years that the EEF has been up and running, we have learnt a huge amount about teaching and learning. One of the most striking insights that has emerged from the evidence base has been that how things are implemented in classrooms is as significant as what is implemented in classrooms.

The popular programme, Embedding Formative Assessment, helpfully exemplifies the judicious combination of powerful evidence-based pedagogies on assessment ('what') with a structured focus on implementation ('how').

The recent EEF Guidance Report on Effective Professional Development has added new insights around the ways in which we can support teachers to develop their practice through high quality professional development. But where does professional development fit in with the implementation of a new strategy or approach?

PD is just one possible implementation activity

Whilst drilling down into the detail of what effective PD looks like is certainly useful, schools should also step back and consider how it works alongside other potential implementation activities.

The emerging evidence on implementation suggests a combination of activities is likely to be effective - such as communication, incentives, and monitoring. This means PD should ideally be part of a package of implementation activities, that reinforce each other and are sequenced appropriately.

For example, if staff don't understand why a whole-school training opportunity is being provided, or aren't motivated to take up that opportunity, it may be better to build staff motivation first through, say, piloting the approach in specific classes or year groups. This is important, as schools tend to default to professional development as the principal implementation activity without necessarily reflecting on how it works alongside other activities (sometimes referred to as ​'train and pray'!).

And when we zoom out even further and look at implementation as a whole, the selection of implementation activities (including PD) becomes just one thing to consider. We also need to think about how we identify priorities, select the right approaches to implement, communicate clearly, plan and monitor implementation, and develop a vibrant improvement culture, etc.

Amidst the complexity of school improvement, we can describe implementation as ​"the aggregation of lots of small things done well". Helpfully, the new PD guidance offers steers to do one of those crucial things well.

'Active ingredients' vs ​'mechanisms'?

The Effective Professional Development guidance report has introduced an important shift from discussing different forms of PD (e.g. coaching) to the key mechanisms that underpin PD (e.g. such as ​'revisiting prior learning', and ​'prompting action planning'). This has enabled a more precise understanding of the ​'building blocks' of effective PD, thereby creating a more actionable set of recommendations.

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in the 10 years that the eef has been up and running

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we have learnt a huge amount about teaching and learning. one of the most striking insights that has emerged from the evidence base has been that how things are implemented in classrooms is as significant as what is implemented in classrooms. the popular programme

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helpfully exemplifies the judicious combination of powerful evidence-based pedagogies on assessment (‘what’) with a structured focus on implementation (‘how’). the recent eef guidance report on effective professional development has added new insights around the ways in which we can support teachers to develop their practice through high quality professional development. but where does professional development fit in with the implementation of a new strategy or approach?   pd is just one possible implementation activity  whilst drilling down into the detail of what effective pd looks like is certainly useful

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schools should also step back and consider how it works alongside other potential implementation activities. the emerging evidence on implementation suggests a combination of activities is likely to be effective – such as communication

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and monitoring. this means pd should ideally be part of a package of implementation activities

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that reinforce each other and are sequenced appropriately. for example

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if staff don’t understand why a whole-school training opportunity is being provided

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or aren’t motivated to take up that opportunity

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it may be better to build staff motivation first through

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piloting the approach in specific classes or year groups. this is important

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as schools tend to default to professional development as the principal implementation activity without necessarily reflecting on how it works alongside other activities (sometimes referred to as ‘train and pray’!). and when we zoom out even further and look at implementation as a whole

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the selection of implementation activities (including pd) becomes just one thing to consider. we also need to think about how we identify priorities

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select the right approaches to implement

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and develop a vibrant improvement culture

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etc. amidst the complexity of school improvement

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we can describe implementation as “the aggregation of lots of small things done well”. helpfully

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the new pd guidance offers steers to do one of those crucial things well.   ‘active ingredients’ vs ‘mechanisms’?  the effective professional development guidance report has introduced an important shift from discussing different forms of pd (e.g. coaching) to the key mechanisms that underpin pd (e.g. such as ‘revisiting prior learning’

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and ‘prompting action planning’). this has enabled a more precise understanding of the ‘building blocks’ of effective pd

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thereby creating a more actionable set of recommendations.  effective professional development  if you’re familiar with the school’s guide to implementation

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you may be wondering how the ‘mechanisms’ in the pd report relate to the term ‘active ingredients’.  when using ‘active ingredients’

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we are referring to the distinct behaviours

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principles and practices that a school is looking to introduce through an intervention i.e. defining what precisely the approach is seeking to do ( see here for a summary).  in contrast

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the ‘mechanisms’ in the pd guidance report are describing the key elements of one particular implementation activity – professional development – so are focused on how those key behaviours and practices are introduced.  as an example

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if we wanted to implement retrieval practice in our school or in a department

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we might summarise the ‘active ingredients’ of the approach like this:  retrieval practice takes place at the beginning of lessons and last no more than 5 minutes. teachers use multiple-choice questions to structure retrieval practice. the questions test high-value knowledge. the questions are challenging. the distractors include common misconceptions.  specifying these active ingredients allows us to commu

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EEF blog: Understanding the relationship between implementation and...

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The EEF's Jonathan Sharples explains how professional development fits into the implementation process.

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A School's Guide to Implementation online course

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An interactive online course, which guides you through some key activities in the Schools Guide to Implementation guidance report.

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TOOL #1a: 'implementation readiness' - see page 27 in guidance report

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TOOL #1a: 'implementation readiness' - see page 27 in guidance report

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TOOL #3: gathering and interpreting data

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TOOL #3: gathering and interpreting data

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4 prompted implementation planning sheet A3

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Maximise the impact of new approaches and practices.

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GA blog: incl COM-B model and behaviour change

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GA blog: incl COM-B model and behaviour change

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This model (adapted from Michie et al, 2011) can help SENDCOs to consider what it is that prevents teachers from adopting new behaviours - i.e. the teaching practices - that support students with SEND to thrive. By reflecting on capability, motivation and opportunity, SENDCOs can ensure that evidence-informed changes to practice can be successfully embedded in classrooms.

Do staff have a strong understanding of what good, evidence-informed teaching looks like for students with SEND, so that they can then implement it?

This reflection tool can support teachers to consider their own practice in terms of the ​'5‑a-day' strategies. It can help them to establish the concrete habits that sit behind terms like ​'explicit instruction' and ​'cognitive and metacognitive strategies'.

It may be that a SENDCO needs to work with colleagues who drive teacher development in their school in order for this to support behaviour change at the whole-school level. The EEF's Effective Professional Development guidance report can support the design and implementation of successful CPD programmes to meet this aim.

Are staff motivated to develop their teaching practice for students with SEND?

If not, SENDCOs may need to consider whether to speak to staff about:

The strength and credibility of the evidence around the ​'5‑a-day'. The EEF's Schools guidance report and the that informed it can help with this.

Ways in which teachers can change their practice and implement the 5‑a-day, that won't involve re-planning all their lessons.

The right of all parents to select a mainstream education for their children.

Opportunity

Are there wider factors that might prohibit teachers from putting in place some of these strategies? A SENDCO might need to consider, for example:

Do these approaches complement or contradict wider messages being given to staff around effective teaching?

Have Teaching Assistants received training about the ​'5‑a-day' and the implications for how they carry out their role in class?

Does their school have the resource (student laptops, visualisers) to make using technology a realistic approach for teachers?

Developing the ​'5‑a-day' approach won't replace the need for staff to know their learners as individuals. It won't lessen the need for the pupil in Year 8 with a visual impairment to have an increased font size or for the autistic child in Year 2 to have a visual timetable. It will, however, give teachers a number of evidence-informed approaches that support all learners to access classroom learning.

By considering what might be preventing teachers from implementing new approaches in their classrooms -through the lens of capability, motivation or opportunity - SENDCOs can ensure that lessons from the evidence become embedded in teaching practice for the benefit of pupils with additional needs.

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sendcos have a specialised knowledge of the steps practitioners can take to support pupils with additional needs. they know the areas where their school excels in this regard

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as well as what the evidence suggests in terms of making purposeful improvements . but how can sendcos take their own knowledge and ensure it meaningfully impacts teachers’ practice in classrooms?  more so than ever

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teachers are juggling numerous competing priorities – some old and some brought on by the pandemic. as a result

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exploring evidence relating to supporting students with send might understandably fall down their lengthy to-do lists.  fortunately

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the best available research indicates that gains can be made for pupils with send without an overhaul of existing practice. in fact

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it suggests that familiar teaching approaches – illustrated in the eef’s new ‘5-a-day’ resource – can benefit these pupils

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and their peers:  explicit instruction cognitive and metacognitive strategies scaffolding flexible grouping technology  special educational needs in mainstream schools  these strategies may already be familiar to mainstream teachers

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emphasising the potential impact that these approaches can have for pupils with send may prove a valuable step in changing practice.  as all sendcos know

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developing teacher practice around send is about more than just raising awareness of a teaching approach. teachers may need support to develop or change what they do in the classroom.  behaviour change and the com-b model  it is useful for sendcos to carefully consider what changes they would like to support teachers and tas to make. the ‘com-b’ model can be used as a framework to consider how a sendco can support behaviour change in their school:  the ‘com-b’ model - adapted from michie et all

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2011  this model  (adapted from michie et al

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2011)  can help sendcos to consider what it is that prevents teachers from adopting new behaviours – i.e. the teaching practices – that support students with send to thrive. by reflecting on capability

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sendcos can ensure that evidence-informed changes to practice can be successfully embedded in classrooms.  capability  do staff have a strong understanding of what good

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evidence-informed teaching looks like for students with send

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so that they can then implement it?  this reflection tool can support teachers to consider their own practice in terms of the ‘5-a-day’ strategies. it can help them to establish the concrete habits that sit behind terms like ‘explicit instruction’ and ‘cognitive and metacognitive strategies’.  it may be that a sendco needs to work with colleagues who drive teacher development in their school in order for this to support behaviour change at the whole-school level. the eef’s effective professional development guidance report can support the design and implementation of successful cpd programmes to meet this aim.  motivation  are staff motivated to develop their teaching practice for students with send?  if not

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sendcos may need to consider whether to speak to staff about:  the strength and credibility of the evidence around the ‘5-a-day’. the eef’s   s pecial educational needs  in mainstream   schools guidance report and the  evidence review  that informed it can help with this. ways in which teachers can change their practice and implement the 5-a-day

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that won’t involve re-planning all their lessons. the right of all parents to select a mainstream education for their children.     opportunity  are there wider factors that might prohibit teachers from putting in place some of these strategies? a sendco might need to consider

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for example:  do these approaches complement or contradict wider messages being given to staff around effective teaching? have teaching assistants received training about the ‘5-a-day’ and the implications for how they carry out their role in class? does their school have the resource (student laptops

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visualisers) to make using technology a realistic approach for teachers?  developing the ‘5-a-day’ approach won’t replace the need for staff

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EEF blog: The role of the SENDCO in developing teaching practice

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This model (adapted from Michie et al, 2011) can help SENDCOs to consider what it is that prevents teachers from adopting new behaviours - i.e. the teaching practices - that support students with SEND to thrive.

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This is the story of two teachers. Angela and Amber have been teaching for 10 years each. Angela is a 32-year-old primary teacher whose particular specialism has been teaching reading in Years 3 and 4. Amber is a secondary drama teacher, now in her early 50s, who came into teaching after a first career as [...]

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One of the key objectives of the Behavioural Insights Team at its creation in 2010 was to spread the understanding of behavioural approaches across the policy community.

Alongside the policy work and trials conducted by the Team over the last three years, we have conducted many seminars, workshops and talks with policymakers, academics and practitioners.

From these many sessions, together with our trials and policy work, has emerged a simple, pragmatic framework: the EAST framework. EAST stands for Easy, Attractive, Social and Timely.

Though we do not claim that EAST is a comprehensive summary of all there is to know about behavioural science, we do think that for busy policymakers, the EAST framework is an accessible, simple way to make more effective and efficient policy.

Minister for Government Policy, Oliver Letwin, said:

"The behavioural science literature can be complex, so having a simple framework which policymakers can easily access and apply is invaluable. As the Minister responsible for Government Policy, I've seen how some of these insights can be applied in practice to help generate policy that's smarter, simpler and is highly cost-effective."

Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude said:

"The publication of this framework, only two months after we announced the spin out of the Behavioural Insights Team into a mutual joint-venture, is a clear sign that this new business model will deliver results both for policymakers and for citizens. Giving the team the freedom to meet demand from across the public and private sectors, not just in the UK but overseas, is enabling more people to benefit from their work - and our retained stake means that their success is also a win for hardworking taxpayers."

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EAST: Four Simple Ways to Apply Behavioural Insights

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If you want to encourage a behaviour, make it Easy, Attractive, Social and Timely (EAST). These four simple principles, based on the Behavioural Insights Team's own work and the wider academic literature, form the heart of the team's new framework for applying behavioural insights.

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Time and support to do your job better - what's not to like? Something, apparently. Only 45% of teachers believe their school's professional development provision is helping them improve. Schools could buy in external programmes instead - but of the many programmes evaluated by the EEF, few have had positive effects. Why is it so hard to get professional development right - and what can we do?

Effective professional development does three things well:

Identifies teaching skills which will improve student learning

Helps teachers learn those skills

Fits this around life in busy schools

Leading professional development is so hard because this is a test on which only full marks suffice. Beautifully-designed and implemented training - about learning styles - is as disappointing as meticulously-evidenced cognitive science - explained maladroitly.

This post frames the three things needed for professional development to work as three questions. It's partly based on a recent systematic review of the evidence conducted with Sam Sims, Sarah Cottingham and Alison O'Mara Eves, which I'll write more about in future posts.

Question 1: What do we want teachers to know and do?

To be effective, professional development must help teachers do things that help students learn more. Why make such an obvious statement? Well, in the last few years, the EEF has funded evaluations of programmes which encouraged teachers to:*

Talk less to students during classwork, so students can work things out themselves (Hanley et al., 2016; Humphrey et al., 2018; IEE, 2016);

Teach students French to improve their English; teach students computing to improve their maths (Boylan et al., 2018; Wiggins et al., 2017);

Work together - without clear guidance on what to work on (CEP, 2014; Humphrey et al., 2020).

None of these programmes significantly increased learning (four of them had negative, but non-significant, results). Perhaps this is because:

Learning in French didn't transfer to English; learning in computing didn't transfer to maths;

When a programme lacked a clear focus, teachers didn't get much from it;

When teachers didn't help students... you can guess what happened.

Effective professional development must promote valid, viable strategies to improve learning. I've suggested some strategies (in Responsive Teaching and Habits of Success). Almost everyone with internet access has done the same, and any robust source of guidance will work, such as Rosenshine, Deans for Impact or the Great Teaching Toolkit. What matters is that we identify teaching strategies which will make a difference for our students.

Question 2: How will we help teachers change?

Midnight. An angel soothes your worried brow, and whispers a teaching strategy so perfect it guarantees stellar results for your students. Question 1 is solved.

Morning. Your brow furrows again. Knowing what's needed isn't enough. How are you to show the strategy matters, and help teachers change?

Historically, researchers have answered this question by pointing to features of professional development associated with impact. For example, programmes which work tend to be collaborative, sustained and subject-specific (for example, Cordingley et al., 2015). Unfortunately, these correlations don't necessarily explain why they work. An effective programme may include collaboration. That doesn't mean collaboration caused improvement. A sustained programme may or may not help: it depends whether we're sustaining formative assessment or LiteraPE. In other words (Sam Sims and I argue) superficial features like collaboration are poor (and poorly-evidenced) proxies for effectiveness. Our systematic review took a fresh look at the evidence, focusing on two things.

Professional development can do four things:

1. Promote teacher insight - I know that working memory is limited

2. Motivate goal-directed behaviour - I'll limit the burden on my students' working memories

3. Teach techniques - I'll use dual coding to overcome that burden

4. Embed practice - I'll make it a habit

Programmes which addressed all four were more likely to lead to increased student learning (than those that addressed three or fewer). This makes sense: a teacher can't use an insight (working memory is limited) without a practical technique way to apply it (like dual coding). A teacher won't use a practical technique for long without help making it a habit. And encouraging teachers to use a technique habitually - without discussing why it works - is as reliable a source of lethal mutations as a bat collecting expedition down a Chinese mine.

Professional development must help teachers to change their practice. We made a shortlist of mechanisms which help people to change, resisting the temptation just to include only our favourites, and instead including only those for which we found a promising body of evidence. These included setting goals, planning when and where to act, and rehearsing. The more behaviour change mechanisms a programme include, the more likely it was to help students learn more.

Both of these findings were new - at least to the research literature. (I'll say more about them in future posts.) They offer a powerful recipe to help teachers adopt a change: use a range of mechanisms to address all four purposes.

Question 3: How will we make our plans fit reality?

You can have the best teaching strategy and the best training design - and still see your plans awry. As Mike Tyson almost put it, "Everyone has a plan, until they get put on cover." Our good ideas must still work as colleagues get sick, photocopiers fail, and prioritise shift.

This demands meticulous execution: getting the details right, searching out barriers, overcoming them. My favourite non-example is the programme which had problems getting teachers to attend training - having scheduled it during SATs week. It also means adapting programmes so they work for teachers - while sticking to the underlying principles.

Looking at implementation in our systematic review, we found a number of things that help. Some are obvious, like getting support from leaders. Others are also obvious, like making things as quick, easy and efficient as possible for teachers. Others are obvious too, like offering changes which meet teachers' needs. Obvious things get forgotten: we have to make professional development work for teachers.

Conclusion

So why does much professional development go wrong? Getting all three things right is hard. You spend months reading the evidence - then struggle to make it usable for colleagues in different departments. You spend hours honing your use of deliberate practice - but find briefing keeps encroaching on professional development. A lot of promising work goes to naught.

All the more reason to think hard about all three questions simultaneously:

What do we want teachers to know and do?

How will we help teachers change?

How will we make our plans fit reality?

Future posts will say more about how we can do this.

If you found this interesting, you may like:

* Evaluating programmes which don't return positive results isn't necessarily a criticism of the EEF. Evaluations which turn out null or negative results allow them to write things like this, encouraging schools not to spend time and money on popular programmes which don't work.

References
Boylan, M., Demack, S., Wolstenholme, C., Reidy, J. and Reaney-Wood, S. (2018). ScratchMaths: Evaluation report and executive summary. Education Endowment Foundation. Centre for Economic Performance (2014). Hampshire Hundreds: Evaluation Report and Executive Summary. Education Endowment Foundation. Cordingley, P., Higgins, S., Greany, T., Buckler, N., Coles-Jordan, D., Crisp, B., Saunders, L., Coe, R. (2015) Developing Great Teaching: Lessons from the international reviews into effective professional development. Teacher Development Trust. Hanley, P., Böhnke, J. R., Slavin, B., Elliott, L., & Croudace, T. (2016). Let's Think Secondary Science Evaluation Report and Executive Summary. London: Education Endowment Foundation. Humphrey, N., Hennessey, A., Ashworth, E., Frearson, K., Black, L., Petersen, K., Wo, L., Panayiotou, M., Lendrum, A., Wigelsworth, M., Birchinall, L., Squires, G. and Pampaka, M. (2018). Good Behaviour Game: Evaluation report and executive summary Humphrey, N., Squires, G., Choudry, S., Byrne, E., Demkowicz, O., Troncoso, P. & Wo, L. (2020). Achievement for All: Evaluation Report. Education Endowment Foundation. Institute for Effective Education. (2016). Teacher Effectiveness Enhancement Programme Evaluation Report and Executive Summary. London: Education Endowment Foundation. Wiggins, M., Parrao, C., Austerberry, H. and Ingold, A. (2017). Foreign Language Learning in Primary School: Evaluation report and executive summary. Education Endowment Foundation.

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Professional development that works: three questions to ask

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Time and support to do your job better - what's not to like? Something, apparently. Only 45% of teachers believe their school's professional development provision is helping them improve. Schools could buy in external programmes instead - but of the many programmes evaluated by the EEF, few have had positive effects.

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THINK 'FAIR' and check the evidence from intervention comparisons.

Evidence from comparisons of interventions can be misleading. You should think carefully about the evidence that is used to support claims about the effects of interventions. Look out for:

* Unfair comparisons of interventions

* Unreliable summaries of comparisons

* How intervention effects are described

An overview the Key Concepts, with some school-based examples, is available here.

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Key Concepts for thinking critically about educational claims

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Effective CPD and toothpaste what do they have in common?

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Effective CPD and toothpaste what do they have in common?

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Introduction to the essential mechanisms of effective professional development, showing how these work together to form the balanced approach to PD professional development design.

https://youtu.be/3uiT97eTG-g?si=kMiCKXKIIePX6uQW

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supporting high quality teaching is pivotal in improving children’s outcomes. indeed

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research tells us that high quality teaching can narrow the disadvantage gap. it is therefore hugely encouraging to see a host of new initiatives and reforms that recognise the importance of teacher quality such as the early career framework and the new national professional qualifications. these exemplify a growing consensus that promoting effective professional development (pd) plays a crucial role in improving classroom practice and pupil outcomes

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offering recommendations on how to improve professional development and design and select more impactful pd.  pd has great potential; but it also comes with costs. we know that teachers engage in professional development activities whilst balancing multiple and

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competing commitments and time pressures. the need is clear

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and implemented so that the investment is justified.  this guidance will support schools in selecting external pd and designing and delivering their own pd. it will also support external providers in designing

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and explaining their offering to schools.  to develop the report’s three recommendations

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we reviewed the best available international research as well as current practice

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and consulted with school leaders and academics. as with all eef guidance reports

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its publication is just the start of how we aim to support schools in implementing these recommendations. we will be working with the sector

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including through our colleagues in the research schools network

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Three recommendations for designing and selecting effective professional development.