Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

We begin all blocks of learning with a discussion around learning intentions. Young people are able to describe what and why they are learning; the level they are working at and what their next steps will be. Young people can describe what success looks like. Where appropriate, young people are given the opportunity to devise their own success criteria. We use peer and self-assessment to measure success against agreed criteria.

Intro

As BtC5 makes clear, staff should discuss with young people what they are expected to learn. "They should clarify and share learning intentions and success criteria and appropriate experiences for achieving these. Both staff and learners should foster a sense of achievement by sharing challenging and realistic expectations. Sharing success criteria along with learning intentions allows learners to ‘see what success looks like’. With practice, success criteria can often be devised by the learners themselves. "

All blocks of learning will begin with a discussion around learning intentions and success criteria. Where appropriate, young people should be given the opportunity to devise their own success criteria.

Young people are able to describe what and why they are learning, the level they are working at and what their next steps will be.

Learning intentions

Learning intentions are introduced at the beginning of each new block of learning. They:

make clear what, specifically, students are learning about or to do (‘Know…’ ‘Understand…’ or ‘Be able to…’)
should focus on the learning and not the task
are clearly communicated (verbally or visually) in student-friendly language.
are revisited during lesson and in plenary
provide guidance to the teacher and the young person
help young people be aware of what they should learn
form the basis for assessing what the young people have learned

Success criteria

Success criteria is revisited at the end of each new block of learning. They:

provide clear communication of what you are looking for/what success looks like, e.g.:
- ‘I can…’ statements
- Key features
should be relevant and measurable
are used to support feedback, self-assessment and/or peer-assessment
relate to the learning intentions