How a shared pedagogy improves our pupils’ prospects.
Pedagogy may not be a word which is used in everyday language, but in simple terms it is the method and practice of teaching. Having a well-thought-out pedagogy makes our teaching effective and efficient.
With children only having a finite number of hours in school, the time we have to educate them is limited. This is why it is absolutely crucial to optimise those hours, using every second as efficiently as possible. If we are doing it correctly then at the end of a child’s school career s/he will be well prepared to flourish and lead a positive, fulfilling life.
As part of Paradigm, Culloden Primary Academy shares a pedagogy with the other schools in the Trust. This comes from two evidence-based works – the first is Teach Like a Champion, a collection of techniques which combine to deliver incredibly effective learning to the children. Over the last three years we have added Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction, which establishes ten different strategies for teaching and assessing. The two works complement each other, providing a well-rounded base on which to build our pedagogy.
By using the same pedagogy in every classroom at Culloden Primary we ensure there is consistency in the way we teach, in the way we behave and in the way we apply our rules, from Early Years through to Year Six. This benefits both pupils and staff as children always know what to expect, whatever lesson they are in, and respond well to this.
However, we also understand every class and every child is different, so our pedagogy is designed to be flexible, giving our teachers the tools for each individual situation so they can adapt the strategies to fit the needs of their pupils and subjects, while still meeting the underlying rationale.
Having the same pedagogy across the school allows us to improve our teaching and curriculum effectively – a single innovation which proves to be successful can be quickly and easily applied to all classes. And as every Paradigm school has the same pedagogy, improvements from Culloden are shared across the Trust, and we benefit from every improvement made at the other academies.
As you will know, Culloden is effective above national standards across all key stages and has been for a number of years – this is in large part due to our pedagogy. It enables our pupils to become confident learners and prepares them to lead fulfilling lives, playing an active, positive and productive role in our democratic society.
