By Rachel Davie, Director of Learning and Impact at Camden Learning
Following the success of our Secondary Pedagogy Hub’s face-to-face sessions on adaptive teaching methods, we’re very pleased to share that the programme is running again this academic year.
Of the 17 participants who attended all four sessions in the academic year 2024/25, 89% said the statement “I have a good understanding of adaptive teaching and its evidence base” was “extremely true”, compared to 23% before the sessions.
The success of the Adaptive Teaching and Inclusive Pedagogy Hub sessions means we have now extended the reach of this Hub to middle leaders so that we can make an impact across the whole school, in line with Camden’s Education Strategy to 2030, Building Back Stronger.
Adaptive teaching is increasingly recognised as a cornerstone of inclusive, high-quality classroom practice and the Hub, led by The North London Alliance Research School commissioned by Camden Learning, sought to deepen understanding of it, as well as its practical application.
Hub participant: “Very practical with a lot of ideas and strategies to use in the classroom.”
Running four two-hour sessions between October 2024 and February 2025, the Hub set out to bridge the gap between research and classroom practice through collaboration, modelling and reflection.
Adaptive teaching features prominently in the Early Career Framework and is strongly supported by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) as an effective alternative to traditional differentiation.
While differentiation often relies on pre-planned tasks for specific groups, adaptive teaching focuses on responsive teaching in real time. It emphasises moment-to-moment responsiveness, formative assessment and scaffolding that evolves with student progress.
Despite growing consensus around its value, many teachers say they are uncertain about what adaptive teaching looks like in practice. The sessions run by the Hub were structured on:
- collaborative dialogue using talk partners
- modelling of adaptive strategies (e.g. mini whiteboards, Frayer models)
- evidence-informed practice, drawing on EEF resources and current research
- participants accessed shared materials via a Padlet, including templates and research links.
Participants were able to put the theory into practice, as they trialled and embedded strategies such as flexible grouping, scaffolding and diagnostic assessment. The peer discussions, where participants were able to share experiences, were also highly valued.
The impact of the sessions was measured on a self-assessment basis at three points in the programme: pre-Hub, mid-Hub and post-Hub. The feedback also showed that participants were making a lot more use of adaptive strategies, especially mini whiteboards and scaffolded tasks, and that inclusive practice had improved at the individual level.
With this level of success and a recognition that we need to improve the impact of adaptive teaching at departmental level, our next steps will see the Hub extended to middle leadership, as we seek to support whole-school implementation of adaptive teaching.
