Check. Adapt. Respond.

Check. Adapt. Respond.

Excellent teaching is responsive. Teachers continually gather information about pupils' understanding and use it to decide what should happen next.

Questioning, discussion, mini whiteboards, pupil work, hinge questions and purposeful circulation help teachers check whether learning is secure. They can then adapt and respond by moving on, providing further practice, re-teaching a misconception, adding a scaffold or extending pupils into deeper thinking.

Responsive teaching means assessment happens within learning, not simply after it. Teachers notice, decide and act within the lesson so that pupils receive the right support and challenge at the right time.