C Smith-Thomas
Head of School, Craig Yr Hesg Primary School, Pontyprydd, Wales

Empowering teachers with the tools to create tomorrow’s leaders!

Using Kagan Cooperative Learning has transformed teaching and learning in our school from students being passive recipients of knowledge to engaged learners who play an active role in their own learning. It has helped teachers create that true classroom community using the class and team-building approaches. It has given teachers a toolkit to allow them to be led by pupils during their learning but always keep the lesson on track by pulling one of the structures out of their toolbox to refocus the class.

Also, teaching the children to coach when they have used structures like Fan-n-Pick or RallyCoach, has been transformational in allowing them to have deep profound learning when they can articulate to others how to complete the challenges they are set. Lastly, I think it has made every child realise their value and the importance of their voice not only in their team but in their class! They know if they need support they will get it in abundance this makes them feel happy, safe, and cared for and then the learning just takes care of itself.

Some of the challenges are around classroom organisation and maybe setting up the teams. Another challenge is getting that whole school approach right. Having consistency and ensuring everyone is using the approach and following the steps of the structures correctly. However, no matter what the challenge, the team is always on hand to talk to them about some of the barriers you are facing. They are there to offer support, advice, and practical solutions to overcome these challenges and allow their learners to benefit from the power of using the Kagan approach to get active engagement in their classes. It’s good to have people who have walked the walk before you and used Kagan successfully.

Whatever professional learning we deliver in school now we always use the Kagan structures during this professional development- if we want active engagement from our staff during these sessions we have to structure for it!

This will be the best thing you do and will make the most difference to all learners so just give it a go! Some advice I would give are :

1. Make sure you try out the structures for fun first, many times before you introduce them with academic content.
2. Don’t skip or add any steps to the structures.
3. Let it permeate your teaching don’t just see it or use it as a bolt-on on that isn’t how it’s supposed to be used.
4. Don’t be afraid to let go of control in your classroom- after all remember the person talking is the person learning!

Claire Garnett
Headteacher, Juniper Hill Primary School, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

Juniper Hill’s Kagan journey started after we returned from Covid in 2021. The pandemic left our children withdrawn and unable to connect with their peers, a far cry from what you see at Juniper Hill today.  Kagan has transformed the culture of our classrooms into exciting, stimulating, fun learning environments where the children know each other, they support each other, and are happy to talk to each other (and adults) about their learning. We talk about being a powerful learning community, where every minute matters. Investing in Kagan training and coaching, incorporating Kagan into our yearly school development plan, having Performance Management targets, (written in staff meetings using Kagan Structures) and creating an expectation that everyone uses Kagan Structures has driven and continues to drive our Kagan journey.

Visitors to Juniper Hill observe our children sitting in tables of 4, working with shoulder and face partners, seeing structured modelled by their teachers, supported by the use of anchor charts, designed for us by one of our teachers. The children are explicitly taught the social skills of active listening, compromise, patience, greetings and praise. They enjoy team and classbuilders where they have fun and learn about their team members, this builds relationships and promotes our school motto of kindness, and reduces bullying incidents on the playground. Cara Duhan, Assistant Headteacher for Teaching and Learning, openly shares with any visitors, using Kagan structures has had the greatest impact on her teaching and the children’s learning outcomes in 30 years.

Our Year 6 children shared, using Jot Thoughts, what they think about Kagan Structures and how it helps them, their comments included;

You get more confident speaking.
You work with people you don’t normally work with
It makes learning fun.” “You learn to listen to others.
Everyone can say something.
You can make people better.
It helps us to explain our answers.
It helps me think more.
It makes people feel valued.
Everyone gets heard

As a headteacher I can’t imagine leading a school now without using Kagan Structures. We even use Kagan Structures during our staff meetings to evaluate our School Development Plan and make decisions. Kagan Structures are a part of the culture and ethos of the school. I’m so grateful to have met Gavin Clowes, he is an excellent trainer; having discovered Kagan I would never go back. Kagan has revolutionised the quality of education at Juniper Hill School.

Kate Atkins
Headteacher, Rosendale Primary School, Dulwich, London, Kagan Model School

Introducing Kagan Cooperative Learning across Rosendale Primary School facilitated a fundamental shift in our approach to education. It gave us a structure with which we could stop grouping pupils by attainment and start a fully inclusive learning environment. As a result, outcomes for pupils in all areas improved. Furthermore, when schools began to focus on evidence-informed practice, such as Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction, we were already using structures to support guided practice, small step instruction and the use of oral rehearsal in order to embed vocabulary, knowledge and understanding. The success of our use of Kagan is due to a highly effective implementation strategy over a long period of time. Initially, we visited a school in the UK to see Kagan in action and then sent five members of staff to complete the training programme in Florida. As soon as they came back, they were so enthused that they introduced Kagan into their classrooms. This meant that staff were able to see it in action and discuss how it worked with colleagues for a few months before whole school implementation. We then embarked on a two year programme with Gavin of training days, implementation targets, peer observations, in class coaching and ‘structure a month’ adult learning sessions. Over 10 years later, Kagan is a fundamental part of our pedagogy. When we train, we do so in Kagan teams using Kagan structures. We use structures in assembly and throughout the school day. We were incredibly proud to become a Kagan model school and our meetings with our partner school and our trainer, Gavin, make sure that we are regularly evaluating our practice and thinking about how to improve. Our current challenge is exploring how structures can be used to support pupils with Social Emotional and Mental Health needs. How team and class builders create a sense of belonging, how listening to and being heard by others develops attachment and how being celebrated supports self esteem. Rosendale’s motto is “restless in the pursuit of excellence” If I were to describe KaganUK’s legacy in one sentence it would be “An organisation that inspires and supports schools to transform children’s lives”

Andrew Ridelly-Ellis
Head of School for Sixth Form, School of Applied Science, and School of Allied Health, Bradford College

KaganUK and Our Journey to Outstanding As An FE Provider of Science & Computing.

I have worked with KaganUK for almost 15 years in the development of teaching and learning in the secondary and latterly further education fields. The main reason that Kagan Cooperative learning has been the core pedagogical approach is that it engages learners in doing what they naturally want to do in a structured way that focuses them on talking about their learning and ideas. This is what I have found the most powerful aspect of Kagan Cooperative Learning [KCL]. Gavin Clowes leads KaganUK and as a mentor, he has enabled me to implement two key KCL approaches in the two schools I led Teaching & Learning and now as a Head of School of Further Education. These two powerful approaches are Kagan Cooperative Learning and Win-Win Discipline. As a teacher who has been in education for over 33 years, I have seen lots of teacher training and none compare to the approaches KCL and Gavin and his team at KaganUK use. Traditional training often involves the expert talking at you for hours and you may have the odd activity to complete like a diamond 9 or discussion. With KCL and the approaches KaganUK employs you are fully immersed in the training experiencing it and practicing it like you would in the classroom, The power is rather than tell you what a structure is you experience it so that you understand its power and how the students will then experience it. Rather than listening for hours, you are interacting with your colleagues and team members, getting to know everyone in the room through class building activities ensuring the environment you are in is safe to learning so when you share your ideas you feel safe to do so. In essence, you are fully engaged in learning. One of the best things about attending a KaganUK training event is the opportunity to share ideas about how you will implement it with other colleagues in different schools. KaganUK really fosters the networking of colleagues between schools in lots of different situations. In FE a department is often the size of a school, KCL and KaganUK has enabled my department to excel in achievement and outcomes with 100% of students progressing to University or work with the significant majority 95% of students going to the University of their first choice. The growth of the department in the last 4 years has been amazing an increase of 70% in student numbers at level 3, due to exceptions achievement rates and this can be put down to the implementation of KCL. When I joined the department the first thing I introduced was KCL, KaganUK came in and delivered to all team members including lectures, academic coaches, and support staff to dispel the term lecturer and replace it with we are all teachers. It has been tough at times as many lecturers believed and got bogged down with the terminology of the structures believing they are below the level they taught at. With time, patience, and persistence this has turned around. This is probably one of the biggest barriers I have come across when implementing KCL in secondary and FE settings. People get hung up on the names of the structures and it does take time to demonstrate that the name says what it does. The biggest win for KCL however is that once you have learned the structure steps you can use it anytime in any situation no prep of special resources is required. Reflecting back on my career Cooperative Learning has been something that schools have tried to implement numerous times and I remember working with colleagues for hours on the design of lessons that was all about collaboration but then as the curriculum changes on its regular cycle all those lesson no long fit the new curriculum and you thought that was a waste of time. This can also be a barrier as educators think it’s the rehash of the same old approach, however KCL when delivered by KaganUK makes it so clear that it is not the same. The structures are content-free and be used in any situation and indeed I use them in department meetings. In both the schools I led teaching and learning and in FE when inspected by OFSTED what has stuck out is student engagement and the progress students make and this is all because of KCL.

Working in partnership with KaganUK we have trained using the Win-Win Discipline approach to student management or a better description would be interactions. Discipline has a negative connotation and what is clear about this training it’s all about understanding your students and why they display the behaviours they do and what do you do to then better enable them to make the right choices so they can learn. I believe in my experience in FE when we meet students at the age of 16+ not knowing their backgrounds sometimes they have failed this training has been invaluable in helping us as a team better identify and deal with situations that can arise.

In education, we have the universal challenge that our students arrive with us and we only have a limited knowledge of them, however, we all want them to become the best they can be. I am a teacher as well as being a senior leader in school and a leader in FE. The greatest impact I have seen not only on the social interactions, achievement, and progress of my students has been using Kagan Cooperative Learning. As the challenges we face of students arriving in school with lower vocabulary levels and social skills because they spend time interacting on a device rather than in person the more I believe that the work KaganUK is doing to bring KCL to teachers across the UK at all levels will enable our young people to develop the skills they need for life. The challenge we have as educators in the future is the appropriate use of technology as with its use we can sometimes forget the human interaction that need to take place. I see this as a stark contract in FE with students preparing themselves to go into Allied Health Professions and those going into more technological industry. KCL and the work KaganUK has done with us has better enabled these students to be able to tackle what the future brings them.

Mrs. L. Frame
Head of Teaching School, Broken Cross Primary and Nursery School, Macclesfield, Cheshire

Implementation Support

Recently, several educators from my Academy Trust participated in a transformative two-day Kagan Coaching programme led by Gavin. The experience focused on the 'Engagement Support model,' which not only inspired creativity but also reignited a passion for teaching within our team.

On Day One, the atmosphere was filled with enthusiasm as educators came together with Gavin in their Year Groups, eager to enhance their lesson plans. They shared innovative instructional strategies, collaboratively brainstormed thought-provoking questions to stimulate their students, and received invaluable guidance on selecting the appropriate Kagan structures that would align with their teaching objectives. The discussions were constructive, allowing teachers to address important questions about classroom management, developing social skills, and meeting the individual needs of students. The strong connections formed with Gavin played a crucial role in fostering an environment conducive to growth and success.

The trust established on the first day created a supportive environment that carried into Day Two, during the coaching observations. This growing rapport was beneficial, even for those with prior training experiences. By cultivating such collaborative relationships, our educators felt empowered to venture beyond their comfort zones, exploring Kagan structures that they had not previously considered. This positive shift has sparked a heightened level of professional development, encouraging everyone to embrace bold new approaches in their teaching practices.