Overview

last updated:September 2006

Why is the issue important?
Whole-class interactive teaching is a core feature of the national strategies. It involves teachers working in ways that give pupils opportunities to learn through speaking. Teachers can enhance pupil participation in classroom talk through good questioning for example. But the demands of classroom teaching can make it hard for teachers to resist dominating classroom talk.

What did the research show?
To begin with, the teachers tended to prioritise group delivery over developing individual pupil understanding in whole class situations because they were anxious about covering curriculum objectives. They also tended to spread questions widely amongst the class, rather than explore any one pupil’s understanding in greater depth, probably because they were concerned about ensuring participation by as many pupils as possible. But over the course of the project, the teachers started to make changes to their practice, implementing strategies that enhanced their pupils’ engagement in whole class question and answer sessions.

How was this achieved?
Teachers reflected on videos of their lessons, identifying several strategies likely to extend pupil participation and to improve the quality of pupil contributions. Many teachers decided to experiment with paired talk within whole-class teaching episodes. Some teachers operated a 'no hands up’ policy, in which they chose a pupil to answer from the whole class. Other teachers tried giving children more time to think about their answers, with the aim to open up to a wider range of pupils to take part and increase the quality of the answers.

How was the research designed to be trustworthy?
Twelve teachers took part in this study. As well as being its subjects, all the teachers took some part in the research. Three headteachers from the schools acted as key teacher-researchers.  They collected a range of data including:

• video recordings of whole class episodes that captured non-verbal interactions and pupil responses
  
• audio recordings of teachers’ talk
  
• observation of a sample of high and low achieving boys and girls using structured observation schedules to capture their verbal and non-verbal responses
  
• post-observation interviews with pupils using questions aimed at establishing pupils’ level of understanding.

What are the implications?
The research showed the importance of:

• active participation by more children in class
• increasing opportunities for pupils to talk directly to one another
  
• the benefits of questioning and building upon knowledge pupils have gained outside school. 

What do the case studies illustrate?
The case studies show ways teachers have changed their practice to boost the engagement levels of all pupils, and especially quiet pupils. They explore, for example:

• using pupils’ prior knowledge in whole class teaching
• teaching children to ask questions
• increasing opportunities for paired work.