This article was originally published on 17 October 2023
Adaptive teaching represents a welcome shift away from some of the problematic practices associated with differentiation. Yet, if you ask teachers exactly what adaptive teaching looks like in action, the answers will not typically be confident or consistent.
This is a problem, because if adaptive teaching is to live up to the hype, and not become a passing fad, we need to be able to define what it is, what it isn’t and how it works in practice.
What is adaptive teaching?
The Early Career Framework describes adaptive teaching as providing the “opportunity for all pupils to experience success, by adapting lessons, whilst maintaining high expectations for all, so that all pupils have the opportunity to meet expectations”.
Adaptive teaching has also been positioned as being different to differentiation. Instead of teachers developing “all/most/some” activities in the name of meeting different levels of need, adaptive teaching recentres the aim of every pupil pursuing the same learning goal, enabled by the teacher’s careful consideration of adaptations, well-chosen scaffolds and support over time.
Within this broad definition, we can think about two types of adaptations:
1. Microadaptations
The term “microadaptations” was coined by American researcher Lyn Corno to refer to small and sensitive adaptations that teachers make.
This might involve pre-teaching a tricky word or concept before reading a complex text in science, or deploying flexible grouping in a history lesson so that the teacher can quickly re-explain the concept of the divine right of kings to a small group.
2. Significant adaptations
These are larger adaptations that a smaller number of pupils will need on a regular basis, such as receiving in-lesson support from a teaching assistant.
For some pupils, significant adaptations will always be necessary, but the aspiration must be to reduce the reliance on scaffolds over time.
How do microadaptations work?
In principle, the more thoughtful we are about microadaptations, the fewer significant adaptations we should need to make.
Microadaptations can be mobilised at every stage of teaching to make the curriculum more accessible for every pupil.
Let’s take the example of teaching key stage 1 pupils about the Great Fire of London. There are a number of activities teachers can use before, during and after teaching this topic that will help them to diagnose pupils’ levels of understanding and make timely microadaptations.
Before learning
Before learning about the Great Fire of London, ask pupils to generate 20 questions about the event.
Teachers share a timeline of British history and see if pupils can accurately place the Great Fire on it.
Share statements and ask pupils if they think these are true. For example, there was no organised fire brigade in London at the time of the fire (true).
During learning
Pupils often fail to relay being stuck, or gaps in their knowledge. Teachers should talk about gaps in understanding as “muddy points”, and normalise the process of pupils taking steps to “clean up” those gaps.
A simple way to check and consolidate understanding is to pause intermittently and ask pupils to verbally explain their learning in just one minute. Draw on a representative sample of pupils to give a clear indication of meaningful microadaptations to make.
Pause at regular intervals and pose quick five-question quizzes designed to diagnose whether pupils are absorbing new historical information.
After teaching
After learning about the fire, check pupils’ understanding with a “hinge-point” question, or questions, that can best help the teacher decide whether to move on to a new topic (“green light” for “go”) or spend more time learning about the topic (“red light” for “no”). With a little discussion and clarification, it offers a useful formative assessment point that encourages microadaptations along with pupil reflection.
Encourage pupils to explain - either verbally or using a graphic organiser - what they knew before the topic and what they have learned after it.
For some pupils, we may need to reteach aspects of a topic before moving on. For instance, some pupils may need to reread an important source and talk it through. Be prepared to reorganise groups within the lesson for this purpose.
Adaptive teaching offers us lots of positive ways forward so that more pupils succeed, but every teacher needs support to understand it and practise it, in action.
Alex Quigley is the national content and engagement manager at the Education Endowment Foundation. He is a former teacher and author of Closing the Writing Gap, published by Routledge
