A new school year brings a fresh opportunity to establish the habits and expectations that will shape your classroom culture. In the Great Teaching Toolkit: Evidence Review, Element 3.1 highlights the importance of managing time and resources efficiently, giving clear instructions, and using and explicitly teaching routines to make transitions smooth. 

Routines help students know what to expect, what they should be doing, and how to move between activities efficiently. They are not about making every classroom the same, but creating clear, predictable patterns of behaviour that maximise opportunities to learn. 

What the research says

A routine is a sequence of behaviours that students use regularly to achieve a particular goal. Unlike broad expectations such as 'be respectful', routines make the expected behaviour specific and predictable. They might include entering the classroom, transitioning between activities, or getting equipment ready. 

Well-established routines can help reduce disruption and wasted time by making classroom behaviours more automatic (Kern & Clemens, 2007). They also make the classroom more predictable, helping students know what to expect and allowing more of their attention to be focused on learning (Wood et al., 2002). 

Importantly, routines need to be taught, practised, and reinforced rather than simply explained once. Repeated opportunities to practise help students develop the habits needed to follow routines independently (Lemov, 2015). 

Why routines matter for inclusive classrooms

Clear, consistent routines benefit all students but can be particularly valuable for those who rely on additional structure or find transitions challenging. Knowing what to expect can reduce uncertainty and help students move between activities with greater confidence and independence. 

 Where needed, visual prompts, modelling, or breaking routines into smaller steps can make expectations more accessible, while maintaining the same high expectations for everyone. 

Signs you might want to work on routines

You might notice that: 

• lesson starts take longer than you would like 

• transitions between activities regularly interrupt learning 

• you find yourself repeating the same instructions 

• students need frequent reminders about expected behaviours 

• different students follow routines in different ways 

These moments can be useful prompts to reflect on whether a routine needs to be made clearer, taught more explicitly, or practised more consistently. 

Strategies to consider

Not every behaviour needs to become a routine. Start with key parts of the day where time, attention, or learning is most likely to be lost. 

1.Identify key routines

Think about the points in your lessons where students regularly need to follow the same sequence of behaviours.  

• Where is time typically lost? 
  Lesson starts, transitions, getting equipment ready or moving between activities 

• Where do expectations or behaviour tend to slip? 
  Look for moments where students regularly need reminders about what to do 

• Where could a lack of routine affect learning? 
  Consider points where uncertainty or disruption can interrupt students' focus.  

• Are there routines that are particularly important for safety? 
  Using equipment, moving around the classroom, or travelling outside of school 

Choose a small number of routines that would make the biggest difference to everyday classroom life, rather than trying to change everything at once. 

2. Make routines explicit

Routines need to be explicitly taught so that students understand exactly what is expected. Break each routine into clear, manageable steps, explain why it matters, and model what success looks like.  

Teach and practise: 

• Explain the routine and why it matters, making each step clear and specific 

• Model the routine so students can see exactly what successful completion looks like 

• Practise the routine with students, giving them repeated opportunities to perform it 

• Check and give feedback on how well the routine is being followed 

• Re-teach and practise again if parts of the routine are not working as expected 

The goal is not to achieve one successful performance, but to establish a habit that students can follow confidently and independently. 

3. Maintain and refine

Routines need to be reinforced beyond the first few days of term. Continue to remind students of expectations, check their understanding, and monitor how well the routine is working. 

Keep it going: 

• Reinforce the routine consistently  

• Gradually reduce prompts as students become more familiar with it  

• Notice whether starts and transitions are becoming quicker and smoother  

• Look for fewer interruptions or repeated instructions  

• Simplify, adapt, or reteach the routine when needed  

Consistency matters. The aim is for students to know what to do without waiting for the teacher to tell them, freeing up more time and attention for learning. 

Effective routines do more than help lessons run smoothly. They create predictable classroom environments where students know what to expect, can become increasingly independent, and spend less time working out what to do and more time focused on learning. By identifying the routines that matter, teaching them explicitly, and reinforcing them over time, we can make the most of every opportunity to learn. 

You can explore these strategies in more depth within the Great Teaching Toolkit. Access resources, feedback tools, and courses to support the ongoing development of your practice. Book a demo to see what the platform can do for you.

References

Coe, R., Rauch, C. J., Kime, S., & Singleton, D. (2020). Great Teaching Toolkit: Evidence review. Evidence Based Education. https://evidencebased.education/the-great-teaching-toolkit-evidence-review/ 

Kern, L., & Clemens, N. H. (2007). Antecedent strategies to promote appropriate classroom behavior. Psychology in the Schools, 44(1), 65–75. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.20206 

Lemov, D. (2015). Teach like a champion 2.0: 62 techniques that put students on the path to college. Jossey-Bass. 

Wood, W., Quinn, J. M., & Kashy, D. A. (2002). Habits in everyday life: Thought, emotion, and action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(6), 1281–1297. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.6.1281