Conditions for learning that support assessment for learning

Cultivating the best conditions for learning in the classroom

Thinking about how children learn makes it possible to work out how best to teach. When children understand what helps them to learn they can review the effectiveness of the strategies they have used and their attitudes to learning.

Teachers and practitioners need to start by reflecting on their assumptions about how children learn, how these affect their own practice and how the ethos and attitudes in the school or setting support the learning process.

Schools and settings can help children to learn specific skills, but we can also help children become better learners through helping them recognise their own learning strengths and areas for development.

These ideas are explored further in the publication Pedagogy and personalisation (Ref: 00126-2007DOM-EN).

To create the right conditions for learning, teachers and practitioners will need to understand how to:

• manage a class, a group and an individual, and establish routines
• interact effectively with children to include them and use language to build mutual respect
• ensure that learning builds on prior learning and attainment, varying approaches to ensure that children and young people learn in a variety of ways (including incorporating a flexible approach when structuring learning for gifted and talented children who do not follow usual learning patterns)
• plan effective use of time, space and resources, and make use of the wider environment to meet the needs of different groups
• promote social and emotional skills, both explicitly and implicitly.