Why Adaptive Teaching is Important?

Adaptive teaching means that teachers adapt their teaching to make it appropriate for all students in their classroom. Adaptive teaching is an approach aimed at achieving a common instructional goal with learners whose individual differences, such as prior achievement, aptitude, or learning styles differ.

This has replaced the term 'differentiation' quite recently which implied that teachers should create distinct tasks for different groups of students within the classroom. Adaptive teaching moves away from the idea of labeling individuals and groups according to their ability, instead it is centered on the idea that teachers have high expectations for every pupil in their care. Within the practice of effective adaptive teaching, all learners experience the same high expectations set out by the teacher, with differing layers of support, to help them make good progress in studies as well as in future.

Why is Adaptive Teaching Important?

Adaptive teaching is vital in ensuring that all learners achieve the best possible outcomes. Adaptive teaching:

• Helps to cultivate a more inclusive classroom space, where each child’s needs have been addressed.

• Helps teachers to understand pupils’ prior understanding of the subject matter, allowing them to plan more effectively.

• Helps teachers to identify and plan for any barriers to learning which may exist.

• Enables teachers to provide equitable learning opportunities for all children and plan teaching strategies that will help to yield better academic outcomes.

• Gives every child the chance to succeed so that no child is left behind. This can help to decrease gaps in progress and attainment between learners.

• Helps to nurture a greater respect and admiration for education, ensuring that students are motivated and engaged in their learning.

• Supports both teachers and pupils alike. This can help to increase teachers’ long-term professional satisfaction.

Adaptive Teaching Strategies

Adaptive teaching is indeed a crucial element in ensuring that every learner is able to maximize their learning potential. The success of any adaptive teaching strategy relies on the creation of a positive learning environment. This will help to provide a warm and inclusive atmosphere, where all students are respected, valued and understand their role in cultivating positive behaviour for learning.

The first element of adaptive teaching lies in Curriculum Development. Curriculum development committees can work to develop curriculum that is flexible and adaptable to the needs of individual learners. This can include providing multiple pathways for learning, incorporating real-world problem-solving tasks, and ensuring that learning objectives are aligned with the needs and interests of the learners.

The second element is Effective Curriculum Planning. Where the curriculum is well planned and considers the progression of skills across the age ranges, the need for in-the-moment adaptive teaching strategies will decrease – as teachers will have already considered the many barriers and challenges learners may face, and planned and resourced accordingly. When considering the needs of all learners, teachers should not remove challenge entirely. Challenge is an essential aspect of learning. It needs to be present and pitched correctly.

The third element is Teacher Training. Schools and teacher training institutions can provide ongoing professional development opportunities that focus on strategies for adaptive teaching. This can include training on how to differentiate instruction, personalize learning, and use formative assessments to inform instruction. Teacher trainers can also provide support and coaching to help teachers apply these strategies in the classroom. This may be, for example, through the use of targeted teacher or TA support, pre-teaching vocabulary, releasing lesson content online early, or providing audio summaries or lesson introductions before the lesson.

The fourth element is Textbook Publishing. Textbook publishers can develop materials that are designed to support adaptive teaching. This can include providing a variety of learning resources and activities, including digital resources, and designing materials that can be easily modified to meet the needs of individual learners.

Fifth element is Assessment, which is an essential aspect of adaptive teaching as it helps to steer teaching and learning to improve outcomes. Formative and summative assessments can be used to inform in-the-moment adaptations and future planning. By gaining a snapshot of learners’ current understanding, the teacher can use a range of in-the-moment adaptations to address any gaps in knowledge or areas of misunderstanding.   

In-the-moment adaptive teaching includes:

• Rephrasing questions or content.
• Adapting language to ensure all learners understand the content.
• Providing exemplars or WAGOLLs – ‘what a good one looks like.’
• Highlighting and emboldening key learning points.
• Prompting learners with key words, visuals, sound bites or other sensory stimuli.
• Setting up temporary groups as an additional layer of scaffolding.
• Gauging group responses to support individual answers.
• Giving step-by-step instructions for tasks.

The sixth element is Evaluation. Effective adaptive teaching also involves careful evaluation. The strategies used must support progression if they are to be deemed effective. Teachers and teaching assistants should have a secure understanding of the elements of high-quality teaching and use them to best suit the needs of their learners.

The seventh element is Community Engagement. Schools can work with community organizations and local businesses to provide opportunities for learners to apply their learning in real-world settings. This can include internships, mentorship programs, and service-learning projects. These experiences can help learners to develop skills and knowledge that are relevant to their interests and career goals.

Finally, adaptive teaching strategies should be selected purposefully and used flexibly to ensure the best possible outcomes for all pupils.

Prof. (Dr.) Manoj Mehrotra

Director, SMS Lucknow