In this post we will be discussing why Precision Teaching should be considered as an approach to assessment through teaching for students who are struggling to acquire or maintain a certain skill. If you are unsure what Precision Teaching is – please see our previous post: What is Precision Teaching?
Precision Teaching, as aforementioned, is cost-effective, time-effective and backed by a number of educational psychologists as well as the British Psychological Society. It aims to accelerate learning through precise and effective teaching and it should only take up a short amount of time each day (less than ten minutes). We know schools are busy places, therefore these short time slots can be incredibly useful to fit in as start-of-day activities, end-of-day activities and can be completed by anyone trained in the approach to Precision Teaching and familiar with the child and their target.
One of the main reasons children may struggle is that they do not achieve real fluency or independence when acquiring new skills and remain dependent on close adult support and supervision. The Learning Hierarchy (Haring, 1978) acknowledges that when learning a new skill, one must combine speed and accuracy to become fluent. Precision Teaching measures exactly this. In addition to this, Precision Teaching encourages educators to ensure that the materials used are accessible to learners and are within their Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky).
If you would like more information on how to use Precision Teaching in your school, please see our online course: Precision Teaching.
References:
- https://www.bps.org.uk/member-networks/division-educational-and-child-psychology
- Haring, N. G., & Eaton, M. D. (1978). Systematic instructional procedures: An instructional hierarchy. The fourth R: Research in the classroom, 23-40.
- McLeod, Saul. “Zone of Proximal Development and Scaffolding.” Simply Psychology, 2012. https://www.simplypsychology.org/Zone-of-Proximal-Development.html
