Putting It Into Practice: Student-Centred Learning

By Holly Youlden

At the start of term, we spoke at length about the importance of learning being student-centred. In this blog post, we are going to explore some of the ways you can put pedagogy into practice by looking at staff reflections, reading, and top tips! 

Staff reflections: 

Having spent a year exploring the topic of “student-centred learning” with their Professional Learning Community (PLC), Charlotte Dunn and Maya Amara summarised what this meant in their CPD session during INSET. They summarised what student centred learning means and does not mean in our context in this table: 

What ‘student centred’ does mean in our context

What ‘student centred’ doesn’t mean in our context

Students are given lots of opportunities to talk to each other through pair or group discussion When group work does take place it is well scaffolded and structured Students are given opportunities to reflect on how they might approach a task before doing it Students work on tasks that are appropriate for their ability levels and needs Students have some sense of autonomy over their learning. They feel empowered.

It doesn’t mean there is no teacher talk - direct instruction is extremely valuable when teaching new concepts or modelling It doesn’t mean there is no scaffolding or structure to lessons  It doesn’t mean group work every lesson It doesn’t mean that different groups of students should always be doing something different from each other. It doesn’t mean that students are completely in control of the classroom It doesn’t mean students need to ‘discover’ new learning for themselves. We still need to teach them things.

(From C. Dunn’s “Student-Centred Learning” CPD, 1st September 2022) 

Reflecting on the training, Jenny Scott said her biggest takeaway was “the idea of using choice (which makes a task more student-centred) as a form of differentiation. For example, in the past I have commonly included a gap fill task followed by a stretch question, but what if the more able students could choose to do the more advanced question instead of the gap fill, rather than as an additional task? A consideration that was discussed around this was students choosing an option that wasn't actually the best task for their level, so this is something that I am excited to trial in my lessons in future and see how I can best overcome this hurdle.”. 

Similarly, Jojo Laber from Maths said that this session helped her realise that, “facilitating a student-centred learning environment is more natural than you'd think! Although at first impression it may seem like there's more work involved, it actually becomes a much less energy-demanding lesson when you're sure that the students know what direction to take their learning in for that lesson. It provides the opportunity for students to take ownership of what they're learning and therefore feel more encouraged to engage well throughout the lesson.”

How can I learn more?

Try reading…

• Blog post from Andrew Moore about student-centred scaffolding

• Blog post from Flo Rayner about group work

• CPD slides from Charlotte Dunn and Maya Amara about using choice to make lessons more student-centred

• Never Work Harder Than Your Students by Robyn R. Jackson (Professional Learning Library)

• Teaching Walkthrus by Efrat Furst, Clare Sealy, Dylan Wiliam, and Kate Jones (Professional Learning Library)

• Student-centred page on the Professional Learning Platform

Try speaking to…

• Charlotte Dunn- English

• Maya Amara- Maths

• Georgina Abbott- Expressive Arts

• Dipesh Patel- Science

Please share any great examples of student-centred learning with me at h.youlden@westminsteracademy.org.uk!

Book Review: Some Kids I Taught And What They Taught Me

By Donna Boam

Some Kids I Taught And What They Taught Me by Kate Clancy is a non-fiction book whereby the author, who has been teaching for 30 years, uses a series of vignettes to make insightful - and at times very moving - reflections about the UK state education system.

This isn't a book that will tell you how to mark more efficiently, plan lessons that are perfectly differentiated or manage your trickiest class on a Friday period 5. But, it is a book that reminds you of the transformative power of teaching, but how we cannot solve all the problems without some fundamental changes to how education is viewed and managed by policymakers. 

One moment in the book focuses on Cheyenne, a Year 10 student who is gifted numerous consumer items by her absent father "in a black bag" at Christmas time. Clancy, a self confessed "liberal leftie", muses on this girl's upbringing, her aspirations, and how already at 15 her path in life seems so determined. As Clancy writes "Cheyenne has more consumer items than my children... Yet she has noticed that something is amiss here, that they have something she does not, that my second hand bicycle has a quality which makes it a rich person's present, while her black bag of goods is a poor present." This chapter really resonated with me, about the gap that exists between rich and poor, the gap that often exists between us teachers and our students, and how we need to be constantly aware and tuned into the difficulties that some of our students face. 

Her observations are at times uncomfortable as they are so truthful, along with the reality that there is no magic wand we can wave to ensure that all children have a fair chance in life. Schooling can only do so much, and parts of it are flawed, as a result of government policy and endless interventions by people that are not experts. 

However, she reminds the reader of the potential that one single teacher can inspire, the amazing things that can happen when colleagues work together, and how the best schools do all they can to make their education both inclusive and empassioned. It gave me food for thought and it also made me proud to be a teacher. And it definitely made me cry.

Some Kids I Taught And What They Taught Me by Kate Clancy is available to borrow from the WA Professional Library. See a list of the titles available here and you can place a book request by filling in this form here.