Explicit Teaching

Want to make the most of the learning in your classroom? Explicit teaching is an evidence-based approach to effectively teach new curriculum content. It is a student-focused practice that fosters understanding. It requires teachers to show students what to do and how to do it. In this course, you will explore evidence-based strategies you can use to plan, implement and assess explicit teaching sessions in a way that supports the needs of diverse cohorts of students. These include strategies such as modelling, breaking down complex tasks through chunking and how to check for understanding. You’ll develop lesson plans grounded in explicit teaching methodologies, collaborate with other educators and leave prepared to teach with newfound precision, clarity and impact.

Our Explicit Teaching course is aligned to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers at the highly accomplished level, with a focus on evidence-based strategies tailored for today's dynamic classrooms. You will explore the role of explicit teaching within the broader context of lesson and unit planning. Feedback strategies will be investigated, as will practices supporting explicit teaching in diverse classrooms. You’ll also:

• explore and apply strategies to plan, implement and assess explicit teaching sessions to improve student outcomes
• critically reflect on the application of different strategies in your context  
• examine and refine your practice through an optional Action Research project
• connect with an active online community for discussion and reflection
• engage with, share and contribute to a repository of relevant teaching resources 
• work toward a potential credit pathway for post-graduate study at the University of Adelaide.

Module 1 – Planning for explicit teaching

Module 1 summary:
This module will explore the key components of planning and guide you through a process to design, organise and intentionally plan for an explicit teaching lesson – to create a ‘roadmap’ for learning. Practitioner perspectives are used throughout the module to help you make
connections between theory and classroom practice and provide authentic examples of strategies in action.

Evidence-informed strategies that you can use to plan for explicit teaching lessons will be explored. A lesson plan will be progressively developed as you move through the model to provide a practice example of the strategies being explored.

Throughout this module, you will be prompted to reflect on your own current practices and share your thoughts in online discussions. Here, you can also read the experiences of your peers, and build upon their ideas to deepen understanding. 

Module 1 learning outcomes:

• Demonstrate a contemporary understanding of the benefits of explicit teaching and explain its effectiveness when teaching new content.
• Identify and evaluate strategies to establish student needs and essential curriculum content and describe how these inform planning for explicit teaching.
• Plan a teaching sequence that includes the critical components of explicit teaching.
• Communicate learnings and experiences by sharing a resource or idea that supports the effective planning of explicit teaching lessons, explaining the rationale and impact on student engagement and learning.
• Plan, execute, and assess through action research a selected topic around improving explicit teaching practices (optional).

Module 2 – Differentiating when explicit teaching

Module 2 summary:
This module offers you a guided, systematic approach to help differentiate your explicit teaching practices. Practitioner perspectives are used throughout the module to help you make connections between theory and classroom practice and provide authentic examples of strategies in action.

Evidence-informed strategies that you can use to differentiate when teaching explicitly will be explored. The Planning in action lesson plans developed in Module 1 will be revisited towards the end of this module to provide practice examples of the strategies being explored. You don’t need to have completed Module 1 to engage with these.

Throughout this module, you will be prompted to reflect on your own current practices and share your thoughts in online discussions. Here, you can also read the experiences of your peers, and build upon their ideas to deepen understanding. 

Module 2 learning outcomes:

• Explain what differentiation is and describe key approaches that can be used to differentiate when teaching explicitly.
• Identify and evaluate differentiation strategies and describe how these inform explicit teaching.
• Apply strategies to differentiate an explicit teaching sequence that supports the learning of a diverse cohort of students.
• Communicate learnings and experiences by sharing a resource or idea that supports the effective differentiation of explicit teaching lessons, explaining the rationale and impact on student engagement and learning.
• Plan, execute, and assess through action research a selected differentiation approach, applying underlying theories to support an explicit teaching sequence (optional).

Module 3 – Implementing explicit teaching

Module 3 summary:
In this module, the focus shifts to the ‘how’ of explicit teaching. Practitioner perspectives are used throughout the module to help you make connections between theory and classroom practice and provide authentic examples of strategies in action.

Evidence-informed strategies that you can use when teaching explicitly will be explored. The Planning in action lesson plans developed in Modules 1 and 2 will be revisited as you move through this module to provide a practice example. You don’t need to have completed these modules to engage with this.

Throughout this module, you will be prompted to reflect on your own current practices and share your thoughts in online discussions. Here, you can also read the experiences of your peers, and build upon their ideas to deepen understanding. 

Module 3 learning outcomes:

• Identify, evaluate and apply explicit teaching strategies to teach content, concepts and/or skills.
• Identify, evaluate and apply strategies to monitor student progress throughout an explicit teaching sequence.
• Identify, evaluate and apply strategies to provide effective feedback throughout an explicit teaching sequence.
• Communicate learnings and experiences by sharing a resource or idea that supports the effective implementation of explicit teaching lessons, explaining the rationale and impact on student engagement and learning.
• Plan, execute, and assess through action research a selected implementation strategy or approach, applying underlying theories to support an explicit teaching sequence (optional).

Module 4 – Assessment and feedback when teaching explicitly

Module 4 summary:
Module 4 explores assessment and feedback when teaching explicitly, and the role of appraisal in improving teacher practice. Practitioner perspectives are used throughout the module to help you make connections between theory and classroom practice and provide authentic examples of strategies in action.

Evidence-informed strategies that you can use to assess and provide feedback when teaching explicitly will be explored. The Planning in action lesson plans developed in Module 1 will be revisited towards the end of this module to provide practice examples of the strategies being explored. You don’t need to have completed Module 1 to engage with these.

Throughout this module, you will be prompted to reflect on your own current practices and share your thoughts in online discussions. Here, you can also read the experiences of your peers, and build upon their ideas to deepen understanding. 

Module 4 learning outcomes:

• Identify, evaluate and apply short-cycle formative assessment throughout an explicit teaching sequence.
• Evaluate and apply pre-assessment, student self-assessment and summative assessment practices when teaching explicitly.
• Identify, evaluate and apply strategies to provide effective feedback throughout an explicit teaching sequence.
• Communicate learnings and experiences by sharing a resource or idea that supports the effective implementation of explicit teaching lessons, explaining the rationale and impact on student engagement and learning.
• Plan, execute, and assess through action research a selected implementation strategy or approach, applying underlying theories to support an explicit teaching sequence (optional).

The micro-credentials are designed for Australian-based school teachers (early years, primary and secondary), school leaders, other education professionals within the school setting and pre-service teachers.

This program will expand your repertoire of instructional strategies, giving you the confidence to select a targeted and student-centred approach to teaching. You will feel prepared and assured to support learning with access to a well-structured repository of resources and a framework to prepare, deliver, assess and provide feedback on learning in an explicit way. Completing this micro-credential can count towards the annual 20-hour requirement for maintaining your teacher registration. 

We know that learning happens most efficiently when teaching is clear, systematic and guided with intent. As you apply explicit teaching practices, your students will experience a more transparent, structured learning environment, fostering confidence in their own learning progress and achievements. Explicit teaching can also reduce students’ cognitive load and support them to link prior learning to new concepts. This results in better comprehension and increased student engagement.

With staff proficient in explicit teaching, your educational institution will be better positioned to deliver high-quality instruction. This proficiency helps reassure stakeholders—such as parents, school boards, funding bodies, and alumni—of the school's dedication to impactful and effective teaching. School leaders can use the micro-credential to support implementation of a whole-school approach to explicit teaching by encouraging their teachers to undertake the micro-credential together. The readings, tasks and strategies can form the basis for ongoing critical conversations of professional learning teams to share practice.

In 2022, the Quality Initial Teacher Education Review suggested that short courses could help teachers to upskill, particularly in areas where they feel underprepared, such as managing classrooms, using explicit teaching strategies, and teaching phonics. In response, the Australian Government has selected the University of Adelaide to develop evidence-based micro-credentials so that teachers in all stages of their careers can upskill in these areas of need with minimum disruption to their work capacity.