Adaptive Teaching

Adaptive teaching is a twofold approach in which prior to teaching, teachers identify potential barriers to learning through effective planning, and then during teaching, continually modify their instruction based on ongoing assessment and feedback, responding to pupils’ learning needs in real time. Unlike traditional differentiation, which often involves pre-planning different tasks for different ability groups, adaptive teaching is more dynamic and responsive. 

At its core, adaptive teaching:

• Maintains high expectations for all pupils at both planning and teaching stages.

• Uses formative assessment continuously in responding to evidence of pupil learning as it emerges.

• Adjusts teaching strategies in the moment based on pupil progress and need.

• Focuses on developing pupil autonomy, agency and metacognition.

• Treats the learning environment as flexible and evolving.

Adaptive teaching forms a central part of staff CPD and is monitored frequently using Steplab.