Adaptive Teaching Strategies
Week 1 – Effective classroom adaptations
Effective adaptations remove barriers to learning without reducing expectations or creating unnecessary separation. Often, small changes to instructions, resources, routines or the learning environment can make a significant difference to pupils’ access and participation. In this session, we’ll explore practical classroom adaptations that teachers and support staff can use to help more pupils engage successfully, develop independence and thrive alongside their peers.
Week 2 – Supporting Working Memory
Working memory plays an important role in helping pupils hold onto and use information while completing a task. When too much information is presented at once, some pupils can quickly become overwhelmed or lose track of what they need to do. In this session, we’ll explore simple, practical strategies that teachers and support staff can use to reduce demands on working memory, make instructions easier to follow and help pupils become more successful and independent learners.
Week 3 – Visual Supports and Dual Coding
Visual supports can make learning clearer, more accessible and easier to remember. When carefully combined with spoken or written information, visuals can help pupils understand instructions, organise their thinking and make connections between ideas. In this session, we’ll explore how teachers and support staff can use visual supports and dual coding purposefully to reduce barriers, strengthen understanding and promote greater independence.
Week 4 – Chunking Learning Successfully
Breaking learning into smaller, manageable steps can help pupils process new information without becoming overwhelmed. Effective chunking keeps the learning goal ambitious while making the route towards it clearer and more achievable. In this session, we’ll explore how teachers and support staff can break down instructions, tasks and new content purposefully, helping pupils maintain focus, experience success and gradually build greater independence.
Week 5 – Supporting Independence
Effective support should help pupils become more confident and capable learners, rather than increasingly reliant on adults. This means knowing when to provide a prompt, scaffold or reassurance—and when to step back and allow time for thinking, problem-solving and productive struggle. In this session, we’ll explore practical ways teachers and support staff can reduce dependency, gradually remove support and help pupils develop the confidence and strategies to work more independently.
Week 6 – Small Changes with Big Impact
Inclusive practice does not always require significant changes or additional resources. Often, small, thoughtful adjustments to our language, routines, resources, environment or use of adult support can make a meaningful difference to pupils’ access, confidence and independence. In this final session, we’ll reflect on the strategies explored across the series and consider how small, consistent changes can become part of everyday practice—removing barriers and improving learning for everyone.