Understanding 'Quality First' Teaching

Find out the expectations set by the The Department for Education (DfE).

Page last updated 11th March 2025

High-quality teaching helps support pupils with SEND. This is also known as quality first teaching.

The Department for Education (DfE) sets out the National curriculum. This includes the expectations it has for state-funded schools.

State-funded schools must:

Offer a balanced curriculum which develops all the areas of development of young people. This includes their spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development.
Have a curriculum that should prepare young people for opportunities later in life.
Have teachers that set high expectations for all pupils. They should plan work that challenges the young people they teach.
Plan and adapt for pupils who are not yet meeting age related expectations or have additional needs.
Ensure lessons are accessible to all and allow all pupils to achieve.
Ensure all pupils can access and study the full national curriculum.
Ensure high quality teaching that meets the needs of most students takes place.
Recognise that some young people need other provision in addition to this.

The DfE set out what they consider to be 'good' high quality strategies. These change depending on the age group of the children or young people.

All ages

Planning, teaching and monitoring pupils’ work. This should allow them to reflect on understanding and improve progress.
Encourage the use of memory strategies. These include mnemonics, audio and visual knowledge.
Provide opportunities for young people to use the information they have already learnt. This should link to new learning to help build understanding and fluency.
Encourage physical activity throughout the day. There is evidence that this improves attention and behaviour.
Promoting language and communication strategies.
Explicit teaching of reading comprehension strategies. These include understanding, inference and identifying key points in a text.
If there are concerns about a young person, follow the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle. This is known as the Graduated Response.

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

Children aged 0-5 have a curriculum designed to help them with their development. All children follow the same curriculum regardless of the setting they attend.
This reflects their need to learn through movement and play.
Parents are closely worked with.
The curriculum has three prime areas and four specific areas. They are all connected with each other, but the prime areas build a foundation for children's development.

The prime areas are:

1. communication and language

2. physical development

3. personal social and emotional development

The specific areas are:

1. literacy

2. mathematics

3. understanding the world

4. expressive arts and design

Assessment is important in helping all adults involved to see the child's progress. This also allows you to see any needs they may have and plan activities to support these.

Key Stage 3 and 4

Differentiation based on task content and outcome.
Instructions repeated and reinforced.
Visual aids to support the lesson for pupils who need them. These include plans and checklists.
Pupils given more time to process verbal information.
Key words emphasised and new vocabulary explained.
Pupils supported to develop self-awareness of what they struggle with and what may 'trigger' them. This includes support with self-regulation.
Opportunities for collaborative learning where pupils of different ability levels can work together.
Drop-in or support sessions for pupils provided on a regular basis. This can be for homework or regular learning support.
Distraction free environments to aid listening and attention.
Simplified texts in place for those who need them.
The use of writing aids for support. these include writing frames, sentence starters and word banks.
Review key learning regularly. This provides young people with opportunities to reinforce their prior learning.
Behaviour policies that prioritises a restorative approach and positive relationships in place.

Post 16

Alternative learning opportunities are part of teaching. This allows students to work towards their career goals.
Students are taught planning, monitoring and evaluation strategies.
Staff model and encourage the use of memory strategies. These include study skills and revision techniques.
Students are taught and reminded of social and emotional skills. These include self-awareness, relationship skills and decision making.
Personal targets and rewards developed with individual students.
Tasked modelled and understanding checked regularly.
Tasks adapted to meet students’ individual needs.
Tasks enable success and help support pupils with more challenging work. This may help to build motivation.