What does good adaptive teaching look like? It’s a question that lots of schools are asking right now, as differentiation falls out of favour.

The Ofsted inspection framework suggests that “elaborate or differentiated approaches” are no longer required in the classroom.

The Department for Education’s core content framework for initial teacher training agrees with this, stating that “adapted support” should be provided for children and young people with additional needs.

But what does this shift mean in practice?

Some may argue that adaptive teaching is the same as differentiation, but there is a crucial difference: adaptive teaching starts with the whole class, whereas differentiation focuses on individuals.

When it comes to applying this principle of adaptive teaching to the classroom, a good place to start is to recognise that it can be divided into proactive and reactive approaches.

Adaptive teaching: two approaches

Proactive adaptive teaching

As a first step, teachers need to know what should be ordinarily available in the classroom to support high-quality teaching. Lots of local authorities have documents that outline what is expected here, but the one published by Portsmouth City Council is particularly helpful.

It explains how teachers can meet a range of needs through making small, inclusive adjustments to lesson organisation. For example, resources should be placed within easy reach of all pupils, so as to increase independence and reduce stigma.

Strong teacher-pupil relationships are key to successful adaptive teaching. Prior to a lesson, teachers should make sure that they understand pupils’ learning differences and how each child or young person feels about their learning.

A robust whole-school formative assessment system can really help here.

Teachers also need to consider how they plan to promote the independence and participation of all pupils through their teaching, including how they plan to give everyone the opportunity to communicate their understanding.

They should pay attention to how they model tasks and give instructions, taking care not to overload pupils with too much information. It may be appropriate to adapt teaching with the provision of alternative and augmentative communication.

More teaching and learning:

• Differentiation is dead, long live adaptive teaching
• Adaptive teaching: why it matters
• How to make EYFS assessment more inclusive

Planning for the effective deployment of support staff is also key. The Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants website provides some helpful advice on this.

Teaching assistants should be clear about who they are working with and what they have been asked to do, with professional development being provided where necessary.

For instance, training support staff in questioning techniques makes their scaffolding of learning more effective. Teachers can proactively plan for this by considering the types of questions that may be asked in a lesson, and sharing this information.

Finally, the Education Endowment Foundation has some helpful advice to support proactive approaches to adaptive teaching in its report Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools.

Reactive adaptive teaching

Once the lesson is underway, adaptation in the moment is key to maximising learning. Teachers who know their class well will quickly pick up on dips in concentration or notice when pupils seem unsure.

Quick, ongoing formative assessment and good communication with the additional adults in the room allow for small adjustments to be made to the task, enabling a pupil to achieve success.

For example, a teacher might use questioning to activate prior knowledge, or allow children time to talk and problem-solve. They may decide to elicit a pupil’s response in a different way, if they can see that a pupil is struggling to communicate their ideas.

Timings may need to be adjusted or an additional resource provided to support learning.

Metacognitive approaches can also be helpful, as they empower children and young people to understand how learning happens.

Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants has produced a helpful lanyard card that offers some simple strategies for adapting teaching in the moment, but teachers shouldn’t be afraid to improvise.

Sometimes the most successful learning happens as the result of a dialogic encounter between teacher and pupil, in which misconceptions are identified.

Adaptive teaching in the moment requires the bravery of a teacher to deviate from the script, but its success lies in having a respectful learning community. Where there is a climate of trust and collaboration, everyone feels safe to ad lib a little.

Julie Wharton is a senior lecturer and NasenCo course leader at the University of Winchester Institute of Education