For students to progress confidently and be responsible for their learning, it is essential that teacher and students have shared clarity about what is to be learnt. They need to be clear about the big picture of learning, and the day-by-day learning steps towards it.
"For students truly to be able to take responsibility for their learning, both teacher and students need to be very clear about what is being learnt, and how they should go about it. When learning and the path towards it are clear, research shows that there a number of important shifts for students. Their motivation improves, they stay on-task, their behaviour improves and they are able to take more responsibility for their learning."
Absolum, M. (2006). 'Clarity in the Classroom'.
The essential components of clarity are:
When there is shared clarity in the classroom, both teacher and students are able to describe:
When these are in place, what exists is a partnership between teacher and students, where:
As fundamental to the success of the learning and teaching process, the teacher frequently checks students’ understanding of the intended learning and whether it meets the students’ expectations and needs.