Quality Practices for Multigrade Teaching

The emphasis in primary education has shifted from providing access to improving the quality of education in an inclusive and equitable way. This chapter builds on Chap. 2 where quality learning principles were discussed, and a framework for classifying the skills and behaviours required for the twenty-first century was briefly introduced. The framework organises desired twenty-first-century skills and behaviours into life and career skills; the learning and innovation skills of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity (the 4Cs); and ICT and media skills. In order to help learners develop these skills and behaviours, quality teaching practices and strategies need to be implemented by multigrade teachers in ways that are suitable for their contexts. Some strategies reduce learners' waiting time and make the planning and teaching more efficient, such as by combining the grades for common lessons. Other strategies are based on differentiating the learning for the different grades, often incorporating cooperative learning, peer tutoring and open-ended activities. The routines and skills that learners practise when these strategies are implemented help them develop life and career skills, and the 4Cs. Where the context allows, ICT and media skills can also be developed.