But to what extent should we share these learning intentions and success criteria with students? When? How often should we as teachers refer back to them? Should we always refer back to them at the end of the lesson?
In Visible Learning for Teachers, Hattie gives the evidence for sharing clear learning objectives and success criteria, stating:
“Pathways must be transparent for the student. Teacher clarity is essential, and by this I mean clarity by the teachers as seen by the students.”
Whilst it may be beneficial to the learner to foster a feeling of suspense in some lessons (for example, during an investigation), it might be less advisable in a lesson where students are learning a particularly difficult or complex concept, or practicing a new technique, in which the stress on working memory is great. It could be argued further that this is particularly important for students with students who feel anxious when encountering new material, or find a certain topic difficult.
Research shows that sharing learning intentions with students enhances their learning. Clear learning intentions enable students to focus on the key aspects of the lesson, both during teacher exposition and practice, helping to ensure they leave the room with a clear image of what they were in that lesson to learn.
Given these positive effects, it may be hard to see why teachers are often negative about sharing learning intentions. It is probably connected to the fact that until recently many teachers have been directed to display clear learning objectives in all lessons in order to meet Ofsted criteria. In this way, sharing learning intentions is often perceived as another ‘box-ticking’ exercise. However, the research shows that this is not the case with learning intentions, and as teachers, we cannot allow our personal feelings to stand in the way of what is best for our students.
In his book Embedding Formative Assessment (2011), Wiliam does not advocate that learning intentions must be written on the board from the start of the lesson, but he does suggests that they should be shared with students at some point during the lesson in some way:
[Research evidence] shows it is important that students know where they are going in their learning and what counts as quality work, but there cannot be any simple formula for doing this. It is up to the teacher to exercise professional judgement in how best to communicate learning intentions and success criteria to students.
I agree with Wiliam’s view there is not a simple formula that always works, but in the majority of lessons that I teach I find that the most effective way to share intentions with the student is the simplest: to write the objectives on the board towards the start of the lesson and (verbally) refer back to them regularly, making it very clear when we encounter them, explaining how what we are doing relates back to our objectives.
Regarding success criteria, I also follow a relatively simple process in the majority of lessons. The structure of my questioning should allow me to assess to what extent my students have met the objectives. I often state success criteria in terms of questions that I would like them to answer; in this way it is clear to my students and me whether the objectives have been met.
Of course, this will not work for all lessons, but it is a simple formula for most: Students have a clear picture of what they were there to learn, they know when they have got there, and I have a way of measuring whether this has happened.