Learning and Teaching

The ideal lesson at Wellington is focused, paced, varied and engaging. We appreciate the value of many traditional teaching methods and we employ them with skill and enthusiasm, but we also believe that lessons are best when pupils are actively involved in a dynamic process of thinking and discovering understanding for themselves.

The way pupils learn is more important than the way teachers teach, and we therefore place increasing emphasis on interactive and co-operative learning and on devising lessons that draw on the different knowledge, aptitudes and learning styles of individual pupils. The following guiding principles and aspirations have been determined by Heads of Departments:

Independent learning is a primary goal both inside and outside class. Teachers should plan lessons that encourage pupils to take an active role in constructing their knowledge, skills, attitudes and understanding. This includes setting research tasks, collaborative projects and problem solving challenges. Pupils should be encouraged to think for themselves, ask questions and come to answers through discussion and reflection.

Lessons should include opportunities for pupils to lead discussion, work together and work independently; they should never be structured solely around the delivery of material by the teacher. It is also important that the teacher plays an important part in guiding and supporting the independent learning of pupils.

Within the wide range of teaching styles that are appropriate to any subject, all teachers should ensure that their lessons include:

• a mixture of effort by both the teacher and the pupils
• opportunities for pupils to speak and respond both to the teacher and to each other
• time for pupils to write notes or consolidate discussion in written form
• varied presentational styles and activities in order to keep lessons stimulating
• differentiated strategies suited to different learning needs and styles
• effective use of the resources available including books, hand outs, projections, displays, AV and IT equipment, etc.

Work outside lessons should wherever possible be genuinely preparatory. While it is vital that some preps be used to consolidate learning acquired in class, some preps should also be designed to make pupils think ahead by reading material in advance, researching topics to come and considering leading questions before class discussions. Prep should never be set for its own sake and should always be set with clear instructions, expectations and deadlines.

It is essential that pupils learn how to learn according to their individual aptitudes and learning styles. Time should be devoted in lessons to the topic of learning itself, so that pupils learn about appropriate strategies for learning, practice and revision in each subject.

Teachers must be familiar with each pupil as an individual, and should record information about each pupil's learning needs, styles and progress in their mark books for easy reference. Teachers should spend time ensuring that each pupil is aware of his or her specific developmental targets and how best to attain them. This can be done through formative assessment practices and/or through one-to-one teacher-pupil sessions in class or, where necessary, in support workshops. The latter should preferably be arranged between teacher and pupil on an occasional as-needed basis - it is the teacher's responsibility to ensure this happens when needed.

Wherever possible tasks should be differentiated for varied ability levels and learning styles. This does not mean that teachers must set a different task for every pupil, but that they should design tasks that will allow different degrees of stretch and challenge, and that across the whole programme of teaching and learning for a topic there should be a range of activities that cater to visual, auditory, kinaesthetic and other learning styles, each reinforcing the other.

All teachers must be familiar with the College's Learning Support policy, handbook and services. They should incorporate Learning Support strategies into their own teaching when appropriate and seek guidance from the Head of Learning Support when necessary.

It would be disingenuous to say that tactical learning for examinations has no place at Wellington. Examination success is important to the College because of the opportunities it opens to its pupils beyond school. It is therefore essential that in addition to learning freely and independently, pupils also be taught the knowledge and skills required for high performance in examinations.

These objectives are not mutually exclusive - independent learning should be better preparation for examination success than spoon-fed learning because the knowledge should be better internalised - but there is nonetheless clearly a place for specific instruction in the requirements of different assessment types, the essentials of examination technique, and the analysis of past examination performance.

As an IB World School, Wellington believes that the ideal learner (in all academic programmes offered by the College) will be:

• inquirers
• knowledgeable
• thinkers
• communicators
• principled
• open-minded
• caring
• risk-takers
• balanced
• reflective

Teacher should encourage pupils to consider themselves in light of the learner profile and should build opportunities for developing its attributes into their lessons. Teachers should also aspire to modelling the learner profile in their own intellectual lives.