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Teaching independence

Many teachers in diverse ability classrooms tell me that they would love to spend more time with their high ability students, but they feel they can’t do this because they are unable to leave their low ability students. I have been a teacher in diverse ability classrooms and I understand that the needs of students with disability or behavioural concerns are very immediate and they often need additional support. It is also easy to slip into a mindset of “the stronger students will be fine without me”. Teachers often fear professional repercussions if weakest students are not meeting benchmarks, especially in the primary years. If an Education Assistant is available, they are often assigned to work with the weakest group. Just this week I had a teacher ask me, “if I have three ability-based reading groups, I can work with one, my EA can work with another, but there is no-one to work with the third group, so this type of differentiation won’t work in my classroom”.

This mindset has two key effects on students: 1) our weakest students rarely work without an adult present and their ability to develop healthy independence (not to mention preventing or reversing learned helplessness!) is next to nil; and 2) our most able students rarely have a teacher present for support and their unhealthy hyper-independence can lead to low resilience, unhealthy perfectionism and a belief that they don’t need a teacher. This practice is perpetuated by the common practice of giving work that is too difficult to weaker students (so they can’t complete it without help) and too easy for high-ability students (so they can complete it without help). As teachers we must do better than this as we are doing neither group any favours.

There are a number of key strategies that can help teachers and EAs to come away from struggling students and spend more time with others, including highly able students:

• Acknowledge the importance of both active teaching and independent practice in the learning process. All students, including those who struggle, need independent practice to cement learning.

• Give an activity that can genuinely be completed independently! This can be differentiated for different students or ability groups. This is one of the main reasons why weaker students learn that they will only be successful with an adult present.

• Have highly effective behaviour management strategies.

• Have highly effective routines and structures within classrooms. These help students build independence around the room, know where to find resources, where to put finished work, steps to follow etc.

• Consistently implement appropriate disability adjustments and sensory strategies and review these if they are not working.

• Explicitly teach ‘how to work independently’ to the whole class (just like you would teach a Maths concept). Have independence resources available such as checklists, task steps, visual supports, resources, ‘what to do if I get stuck’ resources, and ‘what to do when I’m finished’. These should anticipate reasons why students might stop working independently. Include praise and feedback about their success at doing things by themselves.

For individual students with significant learned helplessness, these additional strategies are important:

• Have a clear, measurable IEP goal related to independence. This should be agreed upon between the teacher and EA (and parent, student and specialist staff as needed) and be able to be achieved ideally within weeks to one term. If it is not being achieved, it should be reviewed.

• Practice gradual withdrawal of support while still ensuring the student feels safe. This is particularly true if an EA is assigned to support a particular student. Withdrawal should always be done in very very small steps so that the student can continually feel successful.

• Acknowledge that glitch days and moments will happen and that a student may need more support at these times. Resume working towards the independence goal when the student returns to baseline regulation.

Teachers should ask for support in any or all of these areas if they need to upskill or build their confidence. Please contact us at Growing Up Greatness if you would like individual coaching or professional learning for your school staff.

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Kylie Bice Director and Education Consultant Growing Up Greatness