Introduction

As practitioners there are many daily practices and strategies which we implement to provide opportunities to support children’s learning and development. Many of the practices and strategies that we implement can also help us in managing larger groups of children on lower ratios.

Although we implement these practices and strategies with good intentions, they may actually be exclusionary. The aim of this article is to highlight some of the common daily practices and strategies that we use and reflect upon how they could potentially have a detrimental (albeit unintentional) impact upon children’s learning and development.

Daily practices and strategies

Daily practices and strategies can help practitioners to manage classrooms effectively and promote structure and routine, which some children thrive on. However, when we use things such as practices and strategies daily, we can become complacent. If someone was to ask us why we may do certain things within our practice, we may simply reply “because it is what we have always done”.  We can forget to stop and take the time to really think about what we do and why we do something and to also evaluate if they are still effective for the children within our classrooms. Sometimes what we are doing can inadvertently work against what we are trying to achieve and become detrimental to the learning and development of children. They could also create pockets of inequality and uphold discrimination for some children. Below I will highlight some common, daily practices and strategies and suggest some ways that they may not be as effective as we first think.

• Asking children to put their hand up to ask/answer a question

We often set a classroom rule that if a child wants to ask or answer a question then they need to raise/put up their hand. This is primarily used as a classroom behaviour management strategy. It is not practical to have 30 plus children shouting out at the same time. Furthermore, asking children to put their hand up to answer a question can also be a quick way to assess how the children are learning/understanding the information that you are giving them by asking that they answer it.

However, I was the child at school who often knew the answer to a question but would never put my hand up as I was shy and nervous in case, I got it wrong. So alternatively, I would tell my friend next to me, and she would put her hand up and answer. However, one year at the end of term our teacher gave out classroom awards and my friend received the award for putting her hand up and getting the most correct answers. I had never felt so cheated, as she proudly celebrated her award. 

Although it is not always the best practice to ‘pick’ a child to answer a question either. If we are honest in these cases, we are often directing the question to a child who may not appear to be paying attention, may be talking, or even a child that does not typically put their hand up, so you put the spotlight on them. In all these cases, it can be extremely detrimental to a child’s learning and development (particularly their wellbeing). If we honestly reflect on the cases where we direct a question towards a child who we think may not be paying attention, this is a form of reprimanding. Although are intention is to gain their attention, what it is actually doing is causing them public embarrassment in front of their peers. You are purposefully calling them out to answer a question that you are quite sure that they did not hear (or was not able to process), which can create a sense of low self-esteem.

• Asking a child to read out loud to the class

It can seem to be a good practice strategy to ask children to read out loud to the class, it could be a word, a sentence or a paragraph. It could be an opportunity for them to share their own work with their peers. However, not all children want to do this and may not feel comfortable or confident. Although it is good to foster children’s own self-confidence, they should never be chosen to read out loud without any prior notice or conversation around if they want to. I still remember an English class in secondary school where I was late and as I walked into the class, the teacher announced that I needed to come and stand at the front of the class and read out loud from the page that they were currently on because I was late. As I stumbled to the front of the class and tried to find the page, in my fluster of embarrassment, I read out loud the name ‘Leonardo’ instead of ‘Leonard’ (I am dyslexic and reading out loud is not one of my strengths). The teacher laughed at me and so did the rest of the class. Although it was a funny moment to them, I was mortified.

• Asking children to choose a partner to work with

We often ask children to choose a partner to work with or to get into small groups to work together on a task. This is a good way to encourage teamwork and to promote peer learning. However, not all children have the skills or confidence to do this. They may struggle with social interaction and not have the confidence to ask someone to work with them. Furthermore, it can create a social divide and create exclusion.  I used to dread P.E sessions at school, because often two of the most athletic children were always chosen as the team captains as the rest of us would stand in front of them. The team captains would then proceed to take in turns to select the rest of the children in our class to join their team. They would always choose their friends first and towards the end I would often be the last child standing in front of them and the team leader who had to have me on their team would let out a big sigh and mumble that it was unfair that they had to have me on their team (physical activity was often a challenge for me as I am also dyspraxic  and struggled with co-ordination).

• Naming tables/grouping children

It is a common practice within classrooms to arrange tables into groups for children to work at. I have heard many different names for table groups such as colours (red table, blue table etc) or flowers (such as poppy, sunflower etc). I always thought that this was a lovely idea and gave children a sense of community and belonging. This was until my own son came home from school one day, very proudly announcing that he did well in a spelling test. As I shared in his pride, he said, “if I keep doing well, I might be able to join the cheetah’s and not be a tortoise anymore!” When I asked him more about this, I discovered that the class had four table groups: cheetahs, leopards, sloths and tortoises.

When I spoke to my son’s classroom teacher about this and how children were ‘assigned’ table groups, they explained each table was based on each child’s ability, which was assessed through their base line assessments at the beginning of the year, and depending on each child’s progress over each term they can be moved to different tables. My heart dropped when I realised that the cheetahs were children working above the expected level, leopards were working at the expected level, sloths were working below the expected level and the tortoises were children with SEND and specific learning needs. Although this was never stated to the children in the class, my son knew that he wanted to progress enough to be able to sit at the cheetah’s table.

It was only through having a discussion with the teacher that they realised what they had done. It came from a good (although misguided) place that she wanted to group the children in terms of their assessed ability so that she could work with the children that needed more support more readily. Although this can be an effective strategy to some degree, it would have been less discriminative if the group names were not associated with fast and slow animals. This strategy also does not consider the many benefits of peer learning, especially when mixed abilities of children support and encourage each other.

Alternative practices and strategies

The strategies and practices which I have highlighted are only a few which we often use within our classrooms. The purpose was to give you something to prompt your own thinking about the things you do every day within your classroom, often without thinking, and to encourage you to consider if they are inclusive or not. I am not suggesting that all these strategies and practices are ‘bad’ but just to get you thinking differently about them. For some practitioners and children these practices and strategies are effective. However, it does not mean they are effective for everyone. To be an inclusive environment, there should be lots of different ways a child can choose to participate (with a particular emphasis on the word choose!). You should avoid putting children ‘on the spot’ and expect an immediate response with an answer or an action. Alternatively, you can have more than one way that a child can choose to participate. For example;

• Begin by thinking about the language that you use, are you asking or telling a child to do something? Alternatively, you could reframe your request as an invitation and invite children to do something. An invitation can seem less demanding than directly asking or telling a child.
• Children can raise their hand to ask or answer a question, but at the same time also provide them with resources, such as a mini whiteboard to write/draw an answer/response on to show you instead of saying it out loud. You could also implement visuals signs and gestures, such as a thumbs up to indicate that they have something to share or putting their hand on their head to show you that they are thinking.
• I would always avoid ‘picking’ children to answer a question without them showing you that they are comfortable to do so. If a child appears not to be listening or paying attention, provide a gentle reminder to the whole class to listen. Although it could be an indication that children are in need of a sensory break, so do not be reluctant to stop teaching/delivering an activity and provide a sensory break before continuing.
• When asking children to find a partner you could support them in choosing a partner by suggesting who they could work with or put all the children’s names into a bowl and invite each child to pick out the name of another child to be there partner. This could be an effective strategy to use in P.E and small group work as well.
• Reading out loud can promote literacy skills, however, some children do not yet have the confidence to be able to do this and can create feelings of anxiety. You could alternatively invite children to read to a friend or to a favourite teddy. You could invite a child to read out loud to the class ahead of time and respect their choice if they do not want to.
• If you are naming table groups in your classroom, be very mindful of what names you are assigning and if there could be a hidden meaning associated with it that could be seen as indirect discrimination. To include all children, you could invite them to decide on their own table/group name.
• You should also display a visual poster in your classroom which shows the different ways a child can choose to participate, including putting their hand up, use alternative/digital forms of communication, inviting them to contribute to group discussions or write/draw on a mini whiteboard as previously suggested.

Although I have written this article in the context of supporting the learning and development of children, it can be applied to any learner, no matter their age. As adults, how many of us would be confident enough to put our hand up in a classroom full of our peers or to be able to find a partner to work with? How many of us let out a big sigh at a training event when we are asked to role play a scenario in front of others? When implementing a practice or strategy within your own classroom, consider how you would respond if you were asked/expected to do it. This is especially important when those practices and strategies you are using are being experienced by children (or adults) daily and sometimes even multiple times throughout the day. It can create an environment where they feel anxious, fearful and lower their self-confidence.

Conclusion

For many of these examples I have discussed, even 30 years on, I can readily recall my own experiences of how I felt when these practices and strategies were used within my own childhood education. I am sure that if you took a moment, you can all recall a memory from your own time in education that echo’s similar experiences to my own. However, as in my son's more recent experience, we still use the same/ or similar practices and strategies because in many ways they can be effective.

However, it does highlight that we do not always consider the potential detrimental impact they can have on children and unintentionally uphold discriminatory practices. We need to reflect upon who are they effective for; us as practitioners or for the children? If the answer is they benefit us as practitioners more than the children, then we need to look at more inclusive strategies.

This is the main take away that I hope you get from this article: the importance of continuously asking ourselves why we do what we do and what benefits and potential disadvantages it can create. Also, by providing a range of different ways that a child (or adult) can choose to participate can help to lower anxiety and promote their autonomy. Through being enabled to choose their own way to participate, everyone can feel that their contribution is seen, heard and valued.