Have you been using the LTA Toolkit in your school or setting? Support continued development of the toolkit by sharing your feedback.

Environment, Experiences & Interactions

Theme Overview Activity Suggestion

It is recommended that teams discuss the theme overview together prior to completing self-evaluations to ensure robustness of data. Use this activity to build a shared understanding of high-quality practice within Environment, Experiences and Interactions with your team.

Environments

What does this look like in a high-quality experience?

“The environment includes both physical and social factors. Physical factors refer to the physical layout of the classroom and the resources used within it. The social environment concerns the attitudes, expectations and actions of peers and adults.

All learners are influenced by the physical environment, the people around them, how they feel about themselves and their interests in the tasks they have been asked to do.” The Circle Framework (p14 and p15 of document)

Social Environment

The ethos, culture and practice of a school/ setting reflects a strong commitment to children’s rights and is evident in all learning environments.
The whole school ethos and individual learning environments are built on positive, nurturing relationships
The learning environment is appropriately challenging and set within a climate where high expectations are shared, valued and understood.
Consistent routines and boundaries are set. These are shared with learners so they are fully understood. Some learners may benefit from visual support to help them recognise and understand routines.
Purposeful learning environments support positive learner to learner and learner to practitioner interactions and strong learner engagement is evident
Schools/classrooms and ELC settings will have a shared language to promote words and actions demonstrating:

a desire to be challenged
a willingness to work together and independently for positive results
a belief that you can control the outcomes in your life with effort and practice
the ability to learn from mistakes and failures
emotional resilience
a love for learning and self-improvement

Physical environment:

The learning environment, both indoors and outdoors, provides challenge and the opportunity to explore exciting and relevant learning possibilities.
The learning environment is well planned, organised and differentiated with learners able to independently and easily access the resources on offer e.g. equipment, visuals, digital technologies.
Multicultural and multilingual signs and displays help reflect an inclusive ethos.
Learning resources and tasks follow pupils’ interests and are appropriately differentiated to provide both challenge and support.
Learners benefit from comfortable sensory conditions; some learners may require the use of specialist equipment or agreed sensory supports to enable them to access the curriculum or maintain focus.
Practitioners should ensure visual cues support the learner and do not distract them .
Learners should have ownership of their learning environment by being involved in developing and caring for it. Learners feel valued and included and are proud of their environment.
Wider learning environments, including workplace experiences are relevant, appropriate, supportive and challenging .

Gaelic Medium Education

The early stage of learning through the medium of Gaelic is total immersion, where immersion is taken forward in a caring and nurturing environment.
Learning in the total immersion classroom/ playroom is enhanced by opportunities to hear and use Gaelic in contexts out with the classroom/ playroom.
When Gaelic and English Medium provision are together in the one school, all learners should have the opportunity to learn Gaelic and about Gaelic culture and heritage as part of Scotland’s identity.
Gaelic should be heard and visible all of the time within classrooms, beyond the classroom and outdoors. Gaelic is used in whole school events and is visible in signage and communication.
Schools with Gaelic Medium Education, should strive to achieve a whole school positive Gaelic ethos and culture.

Real-life examples from different stages or sectors (click to expand)

Highly effective practice would show:

All

Practitioners and learners feel confident to know what it means to teach and learn ABOUT rights, THROUGH rights and FOR rights. A shared dialogue which reflects an understanding of UNCRC articles. All practitioners and learners are able to talk about how they access their rights and respect the rights of others through the social environment
Learners regularly make use of Glow to access wider online learning environments and a range of national and international contexts and partners

Early Years & Primary examples:

Learners in a Gaelic Medium Nursery (Sgoil Àraich) use their local environment to learn and use Gaelic. They visit local shops and community groups, as well as regular trips to the local beach to reinforce mathematical concepts such as pattern, shape and counting
Engagement with parents / carers via online learning journals with brief explanations of opportunities for learning in the home environment
Using the Leuven Scales, practitioners observe learners’ engagement, wellbeing, curiosity, use of spaces and experiences, perseverance, learning, social communication – and then work with their learners to make adaptations to the environment to ensure appropriate levels of challenge.

Secondary example:

Using the Circle resource inclusive classroom scale, one secondary school engaged with their learners to evaluate the social and physical environments, as well as structures and routines. This led to improved learner engagement and a more supportive and appropriately challenging learning environment.

Experiences

What does this look like in a high quality experience?

There is a culture of learning which goes beyond the school/setting.
Learners have high expectations of themselves and one another.
A range of different pedagogical approaches (e.g. play approaches, exploration and enquiry based learning) are evident.
Learner preferences are catered for, with opportunities for independent working, collaborative and co-operative learning, outdoor learning experiences and the use of digital technologies
Practitioners ensure learning intentions and success criteria are clear; success criteria are co-constructed with learners.
Feedback relates back to Success Criteria and learners are given opportunities to reflect on and discuss this feedback to identify their next steps in learning.
Well -planned, engaging experiences enable learners to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, understanding, capabilities and attributes
A variety of relevant and meaningful learning opportunities across the four contexts for learning enable learners time to think about, consolidate, apply and extend their learning and to demonstrate higher order thinking
Practitioners use assessment data and evidence to ensure appropriate support and challenge for each learner
Pupils are fully involved in the whole learning process and pupil interests followed, leading to high levels of motivation and engagement

Real-life examples from different stages or sectors (click to expand)

Highly effective practice would show:

All

The National e-Learning Offer (NeLO) and other digital forums add value to learning experiences through access to wider partners, resources for assessment, study and more.

Early Years & Primary examples:

High quality observations of learners’ wellbeing, involvement and learning development take place, which then informs a balance of responsive and intentional planning. This is used to ensure learning experiences are relevant and build on prior knowledge, leading to high levels of engagement and motivation from learners.
Learning experiences and resources are differentiated to support a range of learning needs
Family learning and engagement is supported by providing parents/ carers with examples of learning that takes place in school which can be reinforced at home e.g. pre-writing development can be shared via QR code, online learning journal, profiling
Skills of partner agencies and parents/ carers are utilised to add value to learning experiences
Digital technologies can support a learner to learn about a resource and then learners can be encouraged to use this knowledge to learn with the resource.
Learners take responsibility for reviewing their own progress in their learning through e.g plenary discussions, questioning, floorbooks, audio recording, mind mapping, learning journey displays and drawing.

Secondary examples:

Digital resources such as e-Sgoil are used to add value to school based learning experiences. Senior Phase learners access e-Sgoil Study Support sessions after school to reinforce and deepen learning.
Community partners are integral to the curriculum offer within the school and learning experiences are enriched – as can be seen within this case study.

Gaelic Medium Education:

Learners have an entitlement to high quality learning experiences as part of Gaelic Medium Education based on the principles of language immersion
During the immersion phase, the curriculum in its entirety continues to be taught through the medium of Gaelic across all four contexts of learning.
Practitioners take account of learners’ different levels of fluency and provide opportunities for learners to develop their language skills across contexts, ensuring challenge.
To address lapses in fluency, there will be occasions when learners return to total immersion experiences, to ensure challenge, breadth and depth in learning.
When Gaelic Medium Education is being delivered successfully, the immersion phase is planned to operate throughout primary and into secondary. In secondary, Gaelic immersion is taken forward within a broad general curriculum up to the end of S3 as a minimum entitlement.

Interactions

What does this look like in a high-quality experience?

Through their interactions, practitioners set a climate where all learners are comfortable and ready to learn, challenge themselves and each other, demonstrate curiosity and enquiry and engage in independent and group learning
Practitioners recognise when to interact/question/comment and when to stand back – talk less and listen more.
Practitioners recognise that demonstrating real listening gives learners an opportunity to think about what they might say and gives the adult opportunities to reflect on what they are seeing and hearing.
Practitioners should be clear about who is leading the learning. They should follow the learner’s train of thought and help them to tune in and make connections.
Interactions are attuned to the needs of each learner so that all learners are supported and challenged.
Practitioners use skilful questioning and discussion to stimulate learners’ interests and provide opportunities to think independently.
Organisation of the learning environment promotes effective interactions; friendships, working relationships and learners with additional support needs are considered when arranging seating plans to maximise wellbeing, attention and concentration.

Real-life examples from different stages or sectors (click to expand)

Early Years examples:

Practitioners implement “careful noticing” and ensure they pay attention to learners at key points over the course of the day
One nursery used ‘Realising the Ambition’ to develop its own rationale for play pedagogy, focusing on interactions, experiences and spaces. In doing so, this helped them to evaluate the balance of child initiated, adult initiated and adult directed play in their setting, which led to better experiences for their learners

Primary & Secondary examples:

Opportunities and time for learners to reflect on and share their learning with their peers or their class teacher is factored into the planning process.
Learners are given time to meaningfully reflect on feedback given and, where appropriate discuss this with a peer or their teacher.