ABSTRACT
What has been outlined so far in this book are the authors’ beliefs which can be summarised as follows:
Children working collaboratively is vital because it stops them being dependent on the teacher or other adults and therefore helps them to become independent learners.
Skills training to work in pairs, as a group, or as an independent learner, need to be specifically planned and taught.
Time should be allowed for refining learning and practising skills.
Matching tasks and children’s abilities as a way of differentiating is inappropriate because it does not move children through their ‘zone of proximal development’ for their learning. Practising the ‘basics’ needs to happen at another time, not during the learning.
Expecting different outcomes from children of different abilities as a way of differentiating is also inappropriate as it leads to low expectations.
The way children feel about themselves in relation to the others in the classroom affects their motivation, which in turn influences the quality of their work. Using the collaboration structures enables children to come to know others, to value others and so to value themselves and their work.
