What do effective teachers believe?

Why might you want to explore your beliefs about how pupils learn?

Research evidence

The beliefs you hold determine how you interpret new information and react to it, whether the new input comes from your pupils’ responses to a learning activity, from research, or from theory. They operate subconsciously and affect profoundly, but subtly, everything you do. Teachers have been found to have strong beliefs about issues which can have a major impact on pupil learning such as:

• whether learners benefit more from working with others or from working individually; and
• appropriate ways to respond to learners’ mistakes and how this might encourage or discourage them from taking risks.

Reviewing and refining your beliefs isn’t easy, but it is possible.  It’s certainly worthwhile if you become aware of evidence mounting up that doesn’t fit your world view or you find things just not working for some groups of pupils.  Understanding action research or getting involved in coaching, especially based on watching and analysing video footage of own and other people’s your teaching, can help you to uncover, examine and refine your beliefs – and help you to consider making changes to your practice. 

Your evidence

You might like to increase your understanding of your beliefs and a colleague’s current views by observing each other teach a lesson.  Note down the teaching practices you use when responding to different issues or pupils in the classroom, including:

• ways in which you react to different pupils’ learning responses
• how far your responses helped pupils’ learning
• similarities and differences in your expectations of the learning behaviour of boys and girls
• similarities and differences in your expectations of the learning behaviour of faster and slower learners, and
• ways you use and build on mistakes and misconceptions to promote learning.

You may find it helpful to analyse how you respond to the approaches to learning shown by your pupils. Could you tape record, take diary notes, or ask a colleague to observe your teaching during selected lessons in order to monitor the way you help children?

Next steps

Once you have a clearer insight into some of your beliefs about learning that underpin your current teaching practices you might like to consider introducing some new ways of working. You could monitor the effects of implementing these different ideas on your pupils’ progress.  If you are not sure what new ways of working to introduce could you work with another, more experienced, colleague or a professional with expertise in this area?

Find out more

RoM Anthology (PDF, 237kb) section 1, page 1: What teachers’ beliefs help to promote pupil learning?
Research of the Month: Teachers and school-based research (May 2003)

How do the beliefs we hold about ability affect pupils’ capacity to learn?

Research evidence

Evidence from several studies suggests that if you believe all pupils have the ability to learn, you are likely to hold high expectations of all pupils and be more successful in promoting high standards. If you believe that ability is fixed you may have low expectations of some pupils. Pupils who think success depends on innate ability may give up in order to avoid failure. If you acknowledge your pupils’ efforts they are likely to believe they can improve. And if you praise pupils for what they do well (such as successful strategies or techniques that they use) you are likely to increase their perceptions of themselves as learners because you are making them aware of what makes them successful.

Your evidence

You may like to explore the feedback you give to pupils. One way of doing this would be to select some of your pupil’s workbooks (pupils of different ability for example) and make a tally chart like the one below of the types of feedback you gave to them over the last few weeks.

Type of feedback	Child A	Child B	Child C	Child D
Encouragement given for effort
Successful strategy/technique commented upon
Diagnostic advice given
No comment or non-specific comment given

You might like to consider how far your comments enhance pupils’ perceptions of their potential as learners.

Next steps

Now you have had chance to reflect on how feedback works at the moment you might like to plan to build on your strengths.  What strategies did you like best – could you try adapting and using these with other students?  Which students seemed to offer most scope for expanding expectations through feedback – would they be a good group to work with?

Find out more

RoM Anthology (PDF, 237kb) section 1, page 2, What do effective teachers believe about pupils’ ability?
Research of the Month: Assessment for learning, putting it into practice (September 2004)

How do teacher expectations affect pupils’ progress with learning?

Research evidence

Teachers who believe that pupils in low sets have a limited ability to learn and consequently hold low expectations of them, may actually teach in ways that play a part in depressing these pupils’ attainment.

With the best of intentions, these teachers may use a great deal of repetition, practice and ‘rote’ learning and ask closed questions that funnel pupils unthinkingly towards particular responses rather than engage them in discussion. Using such techniques helps pupils to reach a ‘correct answer’, but encourages them to rely more on using memory than developing understanding.

Your evidence

Gathering evidence about the way you interact with lower ability pupils can help you to discover the opportunities you create for developing your pupils’ thinking and understanding. One way you could do this would be to record a lesson on audiotape. When you listen to the tape, you could record how often you ask questions designed to:

• recall factual information from memory (e.g. 'What is the capital city of Italy?')
• check understanding (e.g. “Why do you think that?”); and
• encourage thought and reflection (e.g. 'What do you really think happened?')

What do you notice about the kind of questions you use with your pupils?

Next steps

Now you have had chance to reflect on the ways you try to support lower achievers you might like to see if you can increase the number of questions you ask that probe their understanding and encourage them to think and reflect (higher-order questions). Would you find it helpful to work with a colleague to devise and practice asking higher-order questions that will work well for these pupils? Afterwards, you could audiotape another of your lessons to see whether you used more higher-order questions with your pupils.

Find out more

RoM Anthology (PDF, 237kb) section 1, page 2:, What do effective teachers believe about pupils’ ability?
Research of the Month: Effective talk in the classroom (September 2006)

How can we ensure all pupils have the opportunity to learn?

Research evidence

Teachers who are positive that all pupils have the ability to learn try different approaches to help pupils when they persistently fail to grasp a concept.

Whereas teachers who believe in fixed ability are likely to attribute pupils’ lack of success to the pupil – they may believe that the pupil is not ready to learn a concept.  As a consequence, these teachers may, with the best of intentions, set pupils tasks that are too easy and lack challenge, or return to practising skills learned earlier because they do not want their pupils to feel discouraged.

Your evidence

To help you work out what you can do to be more successful at helping all your pupils to learn effectively, you might like to identify a recent lesson where you feel that some of your pupils made only limited progress with their learning. You could consider why you think this happened. You could also ask your pupils to complete a comment form about what they found easy/difficult about the lesson, what they learned from it (content and skills), what kind of support they felt they needed, and where they felt they needed more practice. You may find it interesting to compare your views with those of your pupils.

Moving forwards

Now you have had chance to reflect on how you respond to pupils’ failure to grasp a concept you might like to use your reflections and your pupils’ feedback to help you to match activities to your pupils’ learning needs appropriately. Would you find it helpful to ask your pupils to record their achievements and where they think they need more practice or support regularly in a journal?

Find out more

RoM Anthology (PDF, 237kb): section 1, page 2, What do effective teachers believe about pupils’ ability?
Research of the Month: Consulting pupils about teaching and learning (June 2005)