At St Martin’s Primary, we use Kagan Co-Operative learning structures in each lesson to ensure that we are working together to make the most out of every moment in school. You may hear your child talk about Rally Robins, Quiz Quiz Trades or Stand Up Hand Up Pair Ups.

Kagan Structures are highly interactive learning strategies that involve children working cooperatively in pairs and in teams to improve learning and develop essential social skills.

Kagan Structures are research based instructional strategies that produce a wide range of positive outcomes including:

• Increased achievement for all groups of children
• Improved social skills and pupil relations
• Improved behaviour
• Higher self-esteem among children
• Increased liking for school, class, teacher, and content

Kagan Structures result in so many positive benefits because they create a greater degree of active engagement by all children.

Here are some examples…

Instead of calling on one child at a time to respond to classroom questions, teachers will have children respond in pairs, each taking a turn to share. This way everyone participates much more. Everyone is more engaged and everyone learns more.

Instead of practising work alone initially, children may sometimes work with a partner. Partners have roles so everyone participates, everyone has a supportive coach, and everyone gets immediate feedback. By talking aloud with a partner, children develop deeper thinking on the topic, it becomes more memorable, and they can hear how their classmates think. By structuring learning to be cooperative, children develop cooperation skills, communication skills, and teamwork skills. This results in a safer learning environment, kinder and caring students, and less time off task dealing with discipline issues.

For teamwork, we won’t just tell children to ‘work in your teams.’ Unstructured group work often results in some pupils doing most the work and some doing little to none. We want every child actively engaged. Kagan’s highly structured strategies ensure every child is actively participating. Children love this approach because they are more active, get to move, talk, and work together. It’s just a more fun and more interactive way to learn.

Please click here for an article on a very simple introduction to the Kagan approach.