https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/support-for-schools/school-planning-support
Moving forwards, making a difference - A planning guide for schools 2022–23
The tiered model for school planning
Meaningful school planning is not quick. It is a complex process that takes time, thought, and sustained effort. Narrowing down on key priorities is the first essential step in this process. The tiered model for school planning is designed as a starting point to enable busy school leaders to consider where best to invest time, energy, and resources for the benefit of their particular pupils.
1. High quality teaching
The evidence tells us that high quality teaching is the most important factor when it comes to improving attainment outcomes, particularly for disadvantaged pupils. Schools should focus on developing teaching practice over a sustained period to drive meaningful change in their setting. School plans to maximise teaching quality may include:
• high quality daily teaching: the ‘five-a-day’ approach;
Teaching is complex but there are certain key elements that can be integrated into daily practice to enhance its quality. The ‘five-a-day’ approach identifies these evidence-based ‘best bets’, which research evidence suggests can have a positive impact across phases and for all pupil groups, including those with SEND. The five elements of the approach are summarised below.
1. Explicit instruction: Teacher-led approaches with a focus on clear explanations, modelling, and frequent checks for understanding. This is then followed by guided practice, before independent practice.
2. Cognitive and metacognitive strategies: Managing cognitive load is crucial if new content is to be transferred into pupils’ long-term memory. Provide opportunities for pupils to plan, monitor, and evaluate their own learning.
3. Scaffolding: When pupils are working on a written task, provide a supportive tool or resource such as a writing frame or a partially completed example. Aim to provide less support of this nature throughout the course of the lesson, week, or term.
4. Flexible grouping: Allocate groups temporarily, based on current level of attainment. This could, for example, be a group that comes together to get some additional spelling instruction based on current need before re-joining the main class.
5. Using Technology: Technology can be used by a teacher to model worked examples; it can be used by a pupil to help them to learn, to practice, and to record their learning. For instance, you might use a class visualiser to share pupils’ work or to jointly rework an incorrect model.
• improving literacy and mathematics outcomes;
See our take on Improving Mathematics in KS 2 and KS3: EEF's guidance where we show what a good fit timely practice is to make following this guidance easy to embed in whole school planning and day to day lesson planning.
• securing effective professional development;
We at timely practice have created a suite of training using timely practice - which we hope to launch to bring to whole school INSET training in timely practice using timely practice, designed so that teachers can experience the power of the timely practice way. See our Explaining and Training course within this customer knowledge base for videos on embedding learning and finer detail training.
• using diagnostic assessment to address learning gaps.
Diagnostic assessment in mathematics needs to be at a fine granular level, it can be difficult to obtain and for teachers to refer to when planning each lesson. However this is timely practice’s role and it helps the teacher/school to do the following:
decide to adjust the level of challenge of activities: every lesson the teacher plans which learners learn which small bite on a topic using the assessment for learning data and ensures each small bite becomes embedded in each learners' long term memory.
We encourage a more tightly spiralled scheme of learning which makes it easy to
reteach specific concepts or topics,
adjust curriculum content in the medium or long term;
In a mixed ability class, or higher sets in classes set by attainment, quality first teaching may be allocated as suggested in the EEF report
provide pupils with feedback through which they can address their own areas for improvement; or
decide which pupils may need additional, targeted academic support.
so that some learners are given a “whole class - back stop - timely practice, retrieval practice” assignments and others are given personalised assignments.
In KS3 and KS4 classes are often set by attainment, some entire classes can use timely practice and so
get personalised retrieval practice and feedback through timely practice assignments,
every lesson, flexible groupings can be made to teach each topic on each learners' firm learning foundations.
Although the diagnostic assessment suggested in the EEF guidelines (page 11) are good, they do not compare in depth, accuracy or effectiveness to using timely practice.
2. Targeted academic support
For pupils in need of additional support, research suggests that providing targeted academic support finely tuned to the needs of individual pupils offers potential benefits. School planning should therefore be open to the idea of planning interventions to complement high quality classroom teaching.
Most pupils will benefit solely from a focus on high quality, whole-class teaching. However, some children may require extra, targeted support that is tailored to their specific needs to get their learning back on track.
Additional interventions could involve revisiting foundational knowledge, practicing basic skills, or pre-learning upcoming content. Key to success will be making sure that interventions complement and strongly link to the curriculum being covered in-class, with the content being set by teachers where possible.
The TARGET model, drawn from insights from a range of EEF interventions and programmes, offers a helpful summary of typical active ingredients of successful targeted academic support.
T - Timing Resourcing Give it time Expert delivery Teacher links Intervention sessions are often brief (e.g. 15–60 mins) and regular (e.g. 2–5 per week).
A - Assessment Assessments are used to identify pupils, guide areas of focus, and to track pupil progress.
R - Resourcing The intervention has structured supporting resources and lesson plans, with clear objectives and possibly a delivery script.
G - Give it time Careful timetabling is in place to enable consistent delivery. Sessions are typically maintained over a sustained period (e.g. 8–20 weeks).
E - Expert delivery Interventions are delivered by a qualified teacher or, if they are unavailable, a trained teaching assistant. The intervention programme is followed precisely and suggested delivery protocols are followed.
T - Teacher Links If not delivered by the classroom teacher, the intervention deliverer and the teacher/s communicate regularly and make appropriate connections between out-of-class learning and classroom teaching
With timely practice, the preferred model is the teacher gives the intervention within the classroom, with the support of learning assistants. Of course the school can provide a tutor with the assessment for learning data, perhaps gathered in the classroom - which has the additional benefit of embedding learners existing learning more deeply - and then plan the programme, that becomes clear from the data.
Our progress data, because it is only small scale, is not reliable but we show impressive progress.
3. Wider strategies
Wider strategies address non-academic barriers to success at school that have a significant influence on attainment. Approaches to wider strategies that are likely to support learning include:
• improving attendance;
In our limited trials shows at KS4 the timely practice class reported some learners (brazenly) reported to their teacher that they had “come into school today” for their maths lesson.
• improving behaviour and re-establishing routines and relationships.
Of course motivation and successful learning go hand in hand. Good behaviour is always easier to achieve with classes of motivated learners than classes of disaffected learners, so using timely practice - especially as a familiar and calming start to each lesson - seems to promote motivation, although we have not had a chance to measure this yet.