The School Curriculum Ten Years Hence - UCET: Universities ...

and ‘work related learning’ - not that these are themselves
unimportant but so that we do not lose sight of the key principles of
good teaching and learning.
We must not forget that far too many of our young people fail to
achieve to their potential. Too many disengage from learning during
the secondary years and present a very considerable challenge to
schools and teachers to re-engage. Experience of failure and lack of
support, from peers, family or the wider community, can be
intensely demotivating for pupils in our schools, particularly those
from homes where education is less strongly valued.
In our recent report Improving City Schools (OFSTED 2000a), HMI
identified some of the key features of the teaching in those schools
that are most successful in tackling these problems of
underachievement and disengagement. The report says:
Teaching has to be especially well-planned, systematic and
incremental. Work must be purposeful and within the capability of
pupils, but it must also move them on in knowledge and
understanding. This is a critical factor where pupils’ motivation, selfbelief
and capacity to organise themselves can be low - notably, but
not only, on the part of some boys. The impact on the classroom
climate of poor concentration and sometimes poor behaviour by
even a handful of pupils can be debilitating; astute management
and considerable stamina are needed to deal effectively with them.
This report goes on to identify a number of key features of effective
teaching in these schools:
• an insistence that pupils will do their best, coupled with support
that enables them to meet the challenges set
• sustained interaction by teachers with pupils, including the skilled
use of questions and the call for pupils to articulate their thinking
• clear and uncomplicated classroom routines
• good use of time and resources, a premium placed on maintaining
concentration and pace
• use of assessment to target action to address individual learners’
needs
• skilful use of support teachers and/or support assistants to create
flexibility in grouping and to target individuals or groups for
intensive support
These are not only, of course, the features of effective teaching in
disadvantaged city schools only but apply more generally - it is just
that they are more crucial to success in these schools. The
individual learner must always be a key focus for the teacher but
especially so where, for whatever reason, the learner is in danger of
disengaging.