High quality, inclusive teaching which ensures that the planning and implementation of lessons meet the needs of all pupils/students, including those with SEND and other disadvantaged learners. It is about the day-to-day interactions that take place in learning contexts, the different pedagogical and inclusion approaches teachers use to engage and motivate learners, the use of formative assessment to inform teaching and learning, and the positive environment in which they take place.

Quality first teaching aims high for all learners and ensures that every pupil/student:

• Is taught in mainstream lessons wherever possible and feels included (in class, group work etc).
• Is supported and challenged as necessary.
• Develops their embedded knowledge and skills (both subject-specific and cross-curricular).
• Is confident that they can use their knowledge, skills and understanding independently, in increasingly complex problems/tasks.
• Understands how their learning flows and is connected to other areas as well as their “path” through it towards their own targets.
• Understands their strengths and areas for improvement, as well as their progress towards the targets they have set themselves.
• Develops learners’ resilience and confidence when faced with challenges they have not met YET.
• Is engaged and excited by their learning so that they display positive attitudes to learning, their classmates and their teachers/TAs.