Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools: EEF's guidance
Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools | EEF
Introduction
Timely practice was designed for both learners with identified Special Educational Needs and Disability but also those who clearly have undiagnosed learning needs (and often it seems to us, that at least one of the undiagnosed learning needs is having a smaller working memory capacity than their peers).
R1: Create a positive and supportive environment for all pupils without exception
Timely practice enables learners to learn better and feel more positive about themselves as learners. We reduce shame and maths anxiety and increase motivation, pace of learning and progress. Each learner is always taught on their firm learning foundations and there is time in each lesson for feedback, meaning each leaner has “the next best thing” to a personal tutor in every lesson.
R2: Build an ongoing, holistic understanding of your pupils and their needs
Timely practice has assessment baked in,
it guides the teacher as to what the next steps of every learner is,
it empowers the teacher to teach so that all learners only ever are taught on firm learning foundations
R3: Ensure all pupils have access to high quality teaching
Timely practice is a perfect example where good teaching for pupils with SEND is good teaching for all.
R4: Complement high quality teaching with carefully selected small-group and one-to-one interventions
Timely practice is designed to remove the need for interventions outside of maths lessons, and instead provide “high quality, structured, targeted interventions” each lesson.
R5: Work effectively with teaching assistants
Timely practice recommends that teaching assistants work within the classroom with the teacher.
Since the teacher wants to teach small groups, the bite of learning that is their next step in learning each topic, when only one learner - the low attaining learner who has brought the teaching assistant into the classroom - it is tempting to think that the teaching assistant will teach the learner the small bite of learning. This shouldn’t happen all the time. More create ways are for the teaching assistant to supervise the class doing their timely practice, while the teacher teaches the layer and then when the teacher teaches the whole class, allow the learner to stop listening after a “secret signal between the teacher and the learning assistant” and allow the learner to go on to complete the learner's timely practice assignment.
We don’t recommend teaching assistants be attached to learners throughout the lesson, as learners need to be able to work independently and accurately. The teaching assistant needs to have some quotes up their sleeve, to explain why they are not giving as much help as the learner might want in their maths lessons e.g.
“right now, you are answering your timely practice questions, so I can only help you with reading, scribing and spelling”
“research says that getting feedback after one night’s sleep is better for your learning than me assessing your work now”
“I’ll leave you to get on with these questions, and come back soon to see how you have done”