Earlier this year I catalogued the many insights gleaned from educational experts which have been most influential in my curriculum thinking, in a post entitled, This much I know about… the principles of curriculum planning in action. In a series of short essays I am exemplifying in more detail ten of those influential insights, and explaining why I think they are so important to progressing pupils’ learning. This post explores inclusive, engaging teaching – that is teaching where every pupil has to engage with what is being taught and think hard about it (Dylan Wiliam).
‘If you leave students out because of your anxiety about their anxiety, you’re no use to them. You’re not carrying them; you are leaving them behind.’ (Tom Sherrington)
If learning is a permanent change to a pupil’s long-term memory and memory is the residue of thought, then getting pupils to think hard is key to progressing their learning.
So, teaching so that all pupils think hard is the challenge facing all teachers; getting it right is an incredibly complex process. One of the things we have to do is keep the pressure on pupils so that they might, at any one time, be asked to contribute to class discussion or explain what they have been thinking.
‘”Pressure on pupils” that’s outrageous – is the man so out of touch that he doesn’t know we have a mental health crisis on our hands?’ I hear you cry. Well, I wrote a book on mental health in schools back in 2017 and in 18 years as a headteacher I learnt a great deal about young people’s mental health. And I recently interviewed Sir Simon Wessely, Regius Professor of Psychiatry at KCL about teenage mental health and he said that the evidence says there has been a rise in mental health issues for 16-24 year old females. Despite that, I do think we have to create safe, humane conditions in our classrooms where everyone feels happy to contribute.
