ABSTRACT

An outstanding lesson should demonstrate that students have all made exceptional progress. However, this is only possible to reliably ascertain if at the beginning of the lesson the existing learning has been checked. An outstanding teacher is then able to adapt their planned lesson based on the information gained at the start of the lesson. The same is true for the end of the lesson – an outstanding teacher will use it as an opportunity to gain real knowledge about what the students have learned and then use this for planning the next lesson. The plenary is the time to ask the question ‘what have the students learned?’ That is not the same as what ‘have the students done?’ during the lesson but what have they actually learned? The plenary then requires clear planning; an outstanding teacher is able to design activities that check the actual knowledge in the room. This may not be what the teacher would expect all the students to have learned but what the students actually demonstrate they know by the end of the lesson.