Tom Sherrington

Skólastofur fyrir alla: Eru allir nemendur að læra?

“You can't claim to believe in inclusion unless you teach so that every student succeeds.”

— Tom Sherrington

Um fyrirlesturinn

Að kenna öllum nemendum samtímis er flókið og krefjandi en fullkomlega raunhæft. Tom Sherrington leiðir okkur í gegnum aðferðir sem tryggja að hver einasti nemandi sé virkur, hugsi og skapi merkingu. Ef þau eru ekki að því, þá eru þau ekki heldur að læra. Fyrirlesturinn er hagnýtur fróðleikur fyrir kennara sem vilja ekki sætta sig við að nokkur nemandi heltist úr lestinni, óháð getu, bakgrunni eða áskorunum.

Hver er Tom Sherrington?

Tom Sherrington er einn áhrifamesti sérfræðingur Breta í þróun kennsluhátta. Hann er einn stofnenda Teaching WalkThrus og höfundur bóka á borð við The Learning Rainforest og metsölubókarinnar Rosenshine's Principles in Action. Nýjasta verk hans, Teaching WalkThrus-ritröðin sem hann samdi með Oliver Caviglioli, hefur náð til kennara í yfir 50 löndum. Með 30 ára reynslu að baki sem kennari og skólastjóri miðlar Tom þekkingu sinni á bloggsíðunni teacherhead.com, sem er daglegur viðkomustaður þúsunda kennara um allan heim. Tom ferðast um heiminn með skýr og vísindalega studd skilaboð um áhrifaríka kennsluhætti. Markmið hans er einfalt en metnaðarfullt: að vandaðar kennsluaðferðir nái til hvers einasta nemanda, í hverri einustu kennslustofu.

Spurningar og svör frá Sli.Do

How can we make sure that inclusive classrooms serve not only students with special needs but also the academically strong students who need more of a challenge?

I partially reject the premise of the question,  By definition inclusive classrooms are for everyone.  If we worry about  the process of supporting students with special needs having a detrimental effect on higher attaining students we’re likely to pull away from supporting students who need the most help - this is the default already.  Special needs students get the worst deal and that’s worth noting.  That said, the solution is in making the curriculum inherently challenging and design practice tasks that can be done independently for those who are ready. We don’t offer occasional challenge - we make the whole framing of the curriculum challenging so that nobody can find it too easy.  We then support everyone else to succeed with guidance and scaffolding.  Read this blog:  https://teacherhead.com/2025/11/04/is-teaching-to-the-top-compatible-with-teaching-inclusively/

If a teacher could make just one change to their teaching, which change would do the most for the participation and learning of students who struggle to keep up with the group?

Make sure students always have resources to support thinking and systematically involve everyone in all task, questions, talk activities.  There’s no one change  - but all students must think and some need more resources to think with and a structure for participation  - talk, writing, show me boards etc. Read this:  https://teacherhead.com/2025/10/29/everyone-must-be-thinking-to-be-learning-but-what-are-they-thinking-with/

What is the hardest part of working out whether you have actually got every student learning, not just the ones who show it?

There are two hard parts:

  1. Unless they show you, you can’t get any sense of learning - and actually nor can they. You need evidence of learning through talk, writing, actions - something generating a response that relies on the learning in hand. This must go beyond simple reproductions of notes, copying out, chanting back - it must be generative, 

  2. Even if they show you today, really learning can only be judged in the long run so you have to check back later to see what remains after time for forgetting, So you have to revisit and review regularly. 

How do we actually achieve inclusion? Is it enough to assess needs, know each student individually and keep circulating around the room?

YOu need to respond to the evidence you gather - reteaching, giving more support, address misconceptions etc.  Circulating is just one part of gathering evidence.  You might need to look at tests and in-class routines like show-me boards, listen to a sample of responses after pair talk.  But then you need to take stock of what that tells you and address the gaps in knowledge and fluency - you need to then check again that those inputs have secured learning.  Lots of interactive feedback loops are needed.   Of course some of that feedback tells you to move on faster because students are succeeding. 

How can teachers make lessons genuinely inclusive for students with very different needs, without lowering expectations or creating an unmanageable workload?

Make sure your resources and planning always embed tiers of difficulty in the practice tasks and different levels of scaffolding. This might be question sets of increasing difficulty, more extended  or more open response tasks alongside more simple recall questions so that students can progress from guided practice to more independent practice.  This is where workbooks and textbooks are so powerful - not everyone needs to be doing the same exact questions as along as they are all aiming to achieve the same challenging goals.  You can’t do this from a linear powerpoint slide deck that is the same for everyone.    Another element is varying the types of scaffolds you use - sentence builders, paragraph overviews, partially completed compositions or maths problems etc.  This should all be planned in from the start so the preparation is already done on behalf of the whole team.,