2. Involving pupils in planning

Foundation Stage/Year 1       

Essex

Teachers agreed that at this age children’s comments about what they would like to learn were rather random and they needed more experience. Teachers shared ideas about what to do with children’s ideas which could not be covered – one free lesson to explore these or homework challenges were suggested.

Cowes

One Reception class had a camping area and children suggested what to include in it.

Year 1 teachers found that children often already knew much of what was to be covered so plan had to be modified.

One teacher described a topic on the sea in which she gave general areas, then children generated questions which were displayed.

Teachers agreed that the involvement of children in planning keeps topics fresh each year, opens teachers’ minds about children’s interests and links with a creative curriculum as children’s ideas are generated.

Herts

Children were now involved in planning.  Their questions tended to be knowledge based.  Misconceptions revealed presented a challenge.

The impact of pupil involvement had been greater ownership, control, motivation, parental involvement and higher self esteem.

In one nursery children were interested in how the toilets worked, what happens to the dirty water etc. so a plumber was called in to talk to the children.

Hull

All teachers involved children in planning.  One teacher created ‘thought showers’ as an interactive display and revisited themes to check that the children had learnt what was planned.  Children came up with lots of questions that probably would not have been covered previously.  Children brought things in from home.

One teacher described a discussion about plants in which the subject of honey arose. Children wanted to know where honey comes from and one child described exactly how it was made (the bee being sick etc.).  The topic went a lot further than planned and children tasted different honeys etc.  Another idea they had was to see if plants grew better if they hear music.  Plants were taken to hymn practice etc. and children were very enthusiastic to see the results (it made no difference!)

The impact has been that children have greater ownership of learning; they refer back to learning constantly and know what they want to do next.  They are very enthusiastic.

One teacher has also generated questions for parents to encourage their involvement.

Nantwich

One teacher had sent home a slip of paper to parents to say what would be learnt in the following week.  Children were highly motivated and went to the library, brought things in etc. Parents gave positive feedback and were enjoying supporting their children.

Another teacher asked the children to plan the role play area which has led to more ownership of the area (‘They don’t trash it now’)

Teachers are asking children what they would like to know about an area being covered and found that children have interesting questions, revealing that children knew more than was anticipated. Teachers are now starting from a more appropriate baseline.

One teacher displays the 6 areas of learning, first with the teacher’s coverage in one colour.  Children’s ideas are written up in another colour. Post its are added from children’s ideas as they plan new things.  This approach has led to 50% self-initiated learning

Tameside

Teachers had had pre-planning meetings with children and asked what they already knew and what questions they wanted to explore.  Teachers felt they were now being more flexible to children’s learning needs, they could ‘go with the flow’ and being involved had made them into more independent learners.   Children were more motivated because they have more ownership of lessons.  Teachers are planning to have pre planning discussions with their new classes in July.

Year 1/2

Essex

Sharing next week’s lesson objectives had been very motivating.  Being told what they would be learning made children think more deeply and had led to them researching at home.  One teacher had a learning wall on which children were contributing things they wanted to find out more about.

Cowes

All teachers found that they gave the children too wide a scope initially and realised they should have shown the children more specific coverage.  Two teachers had taken all children’s questions and shared them between groups.  Groups were then asked to choose the most important questions to be answered/covered. These were then broken down into specific activities by children and teachers together.

It was noted that if teachers had simply followed QCA schemes, most children would be taught what they already knew.

Herts

One teacher described how children were very excited by planning for themselves and the teacher, given minimum coverage.  Children were given copies of a weekly planner.  Children were more enthused and brought things in from home.  The teacher believed that without their involvement, work would have been too easy for them.

Children were, as a result, more engaged, motivated, had greater ownership of their learning, were making links between home and school and were meeting more challenges.  One teacher wrote children’s names beside their ideas which were displayed.  This was very motivating for them.

Hull

All teachers agreed that pupil involvement has been very successful.  Children are enthusiastic and very focused.  Teachers said that children clearly want to learn at a higher level than we have given them credit for.  Standards are higher and children have greater ownership.  In one class children thanked each other for lessons which they had planned. Teachers wondered whether this approach would work for Literacy and Numeracy. 

One teacher described a non-fiction topic on snails which led to children producing books, pictures, leaflets and PowerPoint presentations.  One child created a presentation at home and taught the next lesson!

Nantwich

Teachers are discussing with children what they know and what they want to find out and how they could find this out.  Pictures are used as discussion prompts. Motivation has improved as children have greater involvement and teachers said that it was easier to target specific children’s needs.

The pre planning discussions have surprised teachers as to how much the children already know.  One school found that they need to match questions to key skills better, because children were asking random questions such as ‘How much sand is there on the beach?’

One school sent a newsletter home briefing parents about learning to be covered next week which resulted in great parental support. 

Teachers agreed that children had greater ownership of their learning and were highly motivated as a result of planning involvement.  Children were asking a greater range of more challenging questions and were aware that teachers are also learning new things with them.  There has been a positive link with children’s developing ‘growth’ mindset.  In one class the children decided where the class outing should be to.  When asked at the end of the year which had been their favourite topic they chose this, because they had had the greatest involvement.

Tameside

One teacher described planning with children for science and literacy using the interactive whiteboard.  She showed the knowledge and skills she was going to teacher and got the key skills form the National Curriculum white pages.  The children then planned what they would like to investigate based on those skills (e.g. they picked out instructions and asked to write instructions for growing sunflowers.  Children asked questions such as ‘Can we read instructions about baking cakes and growing plants because that will help us?’

Another teacher had displayed what would be learnt next week and found this led to children bringing in books and research they had done.

Year 3/4

Essex

Teachers agreed that these strategies empowered children and led to greater effort and higher expectations.  Teachers had used questioning skills to provide guidance. Misconceptions were often revealed.

It was seen as highly significant to show children the intended coverage first.  Post it notes were very effective for children’s ideas.  Time needs to be provided during the course of a unit of work for questions to be asked. 

Cowes

Teachers found that their involvement in planning had led to children taking more ownership and having more pride in their work.  Children’s questions slotted in well with teachers’ intentions.

One teacher formulated an interactive display around ‘I know, I think, I wonder’ questions, which illustrates the development of learning through photos and questions.

Herts (includes special)

Presenting children with learning objectives to be covered had been very successful and helped with differentiation.

It was noted that some children in special schools were not sure what a question was.

All teachers had used an interactive learning tree successfully

Children have been researching at home, producing power point presentations and coming up with questions beyond their imagined capability as a result of their involvement in planning.

Hull

All teachers had found pupil involvement in planning to be successful.  All children researched at home.  Pupils tended to need prompting to link skills with learning content.  One teacher assessed children after a topic in which they had been involved and found that 46% of the class was above average compared to 28% in the previous topic when they were not involved.

Children were extremely enthusiastic and motivated and were able to preempt the learning.  One child was so keen on the Viking topic, the parents felt that they had to take him/her to the Jorvic museum to continue learning.

Nantwich

One school asked the children what they knew about the Vikings, without giving them the coverage and found they knew very little.  When asked what they would like to know they came up with most of the teacher’s plans. Another teacher involved children in WW2 planning and had an interactive display of their questions and answers and found they were very enthusiastic and were doing research at home.  Another teacher took children‘s questions and turned those into objectives and linked them to the subject key skills. These were displayed.  Children liked knowing what was coming up.

One teacher took children’s questions, stuck them on to either knowledge or key skills posters, then took the extra questions and put them in to a ‘top hat’ to be used for homework.  First thing every day was then spent discussing what they had found out about each question. An example of a question: ‘Are materials used to make products at home stronger than ‘natural’ materials in rocks and soils?’

Tameside

One teacher had asked the children not only what they want to know, but also what they want to find out.  Involving them in this way had led to more cross curricular learning, more motivation and more ownership of lessons.  They brought more information in to school.  Teachers had learnt they need to be more flexible in their planning and take children’s lead.

Year 5/6

Essex

One teacher found that children already knew a great deal about friction so was able to follow their interests. This led to work on Formula 1 and the role of stickiness and buoyancy.  Children of both sexes were very enthusiastic.  The teacher was also more enthusiastic than before as she had to research some things herself.  Another teacher had the same experience in science, leading to some work on how a hearing aid works.  This improved children’s language and encouraged independent learning.

Two teachers found that starting a history discussion with images had encouraged children to start researching.  One child asked a teacher if Romans had bows and arrows.  Not satisfied with the teacher’s negative reply, the child researched at home and found that they did!

One teacher found that children took ideas beyond the QCA scheme on Anglo Saxons.  Another had a 3D ‘learning tree’ with flowers of learning, which, as they were learnt, were moved from the ground to the tree.

Teachers found that children’s work was ‘far beyond’ the usual standard as a result of this approach.

Cowes

Some teachers had problems with having no set classroom, so developed individual learning posters that included, for instance, ‘I know, I would like to find out, I have learnt.’ Also included were previous test levels and personal targets.

One teacher told the class what she thought they needed to learn/revise for Y6 SATs, then asked them in 2s, 4s and whole class to come up with their own ideas as well.  This provided lesson plans for the run up to SATs.

Herts

Teachers were surprised by the current level of knowledge and depth of question which resulted form children’s involvement in planning.  Teachers can easily see children’s understanding and their misconceptions, as well as what they are most interested in.

One teacher posts on her blog the learning for next week.  Children write back to her stating where they have found interesting sites on the internet.

Hull

Involving children in planning had led to children being able to identify and demonstrate how learning takes place, their learning had been extended and their interest and motivation was greater.

Nantwich

Children were proud when their questions were being covered. Teachers found that children were more motivated and liked the interactive displays.  Their research skills were developed, they were peer teaching and their work was of higher quality.

One teacher changed the planned ‘cloze procedure’ end of topic to covering areas from the procedure alongside video.  Children then disseminated their knowledge about their areas of interest to the rest of the class.  This was a much more effective assessment of their learning.

Tameside

In one class children were able to generate questions after looking at key skills and knowledge.  The questions were stuck on posters displaying knowledge or skills.  The impact was that children were highly motivated and could choose their own learning style, such as different mediums for art work.

Secondary

Essex

One teacher working on dissolving used the ‘what do we know and what do we want to know’ approach and found that the work went further than before.

Quotes from students:

‘It’s not just the teachers doing the planning’

‘The teachers didn’t think of this-we did.’

‘I’ve just found out the answer to x’s question.’

The impact on learning has been that students have exceeded teachers’ expectations from the beginning and teachers feel they have had to ‘step up’ their own planning and knowledge.

One teacher working with Year 10 on ‘Other cultures’ poetry’, designed as a collaborative learning project, described the school approach which is currently being trialled.  A pack told the pupils what they needed to be able to achieve, included examples of good practice and exam questions examples and they were expected to work completely independently given these materials.  Students plan a presentation then answer an exam question at the end.  The result so far has been that students have been boosted by the responsibility given to them

Cowes

Teachers noted the importance of a cross curricular focus across subject areas, so that core skills could be strengthened and features of A4L could be extended and included across the subjects.

Teachers found that involving students meant they were not surprised by lessons, were excited about their own ideas, whingeing was reduced and off task students were now engaged.

Herts (+ special)

One teacher described how, at various points during unit of work, students reflect on their progress.  Involving students has led to higher quality questions, focusing on how and why, not just what.

Teachers feel they are no longer just ‘doing things to the students’ and have handed control to the students.  Although it takes time at the outset, time is saved further down the line.

Hull

Teachers had involved students in what they wanted to learn and made interactive displays.  Students had limited ideas on how they wanted to learn the content.

The impact had been increased motivation and involvement.  Teachers felt it was important to be brave enough not to teach things that children clearly already knew.