Learner surveys
Act on personalised feedback, to get better together.
Get better, together
Act on personalised feedback
Develop expertise
Embed great teaching
Feedback from the most important people
Learners have more collective experience of the classroom environment and teaching practices than anyone else. Build a more equitable classroom by ensuring every learner’s voice is heard.
Learner surveys (accessible for reading ages 5-16+) generate feedback that allows each individual teacher to:
- Identify strengths and areas for improvement
- Set specific goals for improving their classroom practice
- Measure improvement with insights from their learners
Identify a development area
The strong, overarching goals with feedback from the learner surveys are to promote equity and provide information to the teacher to help inform their professional learning. The feedback provides additional insight that indicates strengths and areas to consider as possible development priorities.
Teachers can generate feedback from each of the four Dimensions from the Model for Great Teaching.
“The Great Teaching Toolkit places the teacher, rather than the reviewer, at the heart of the process. They get to choose which students to survey, which aspects of their practice to survey, and they can choose whether to share results with their reviewer (or not), giving the teacher a sense of agency over their own professional development.” (Read full case study here.)
Claire Badger
Senior Leader (Teaching & Learning)
Senior Leader (Teaching & Learning)
Give every learner a voice
Teachers can choose from four different versions of the Model for Great Teaching survey to generate feedback, depending on the reading age of their learners:
- Version B: Suggested for learners with a reading age of 5-7; questions are both text and video. Version B includes questions only on Dimensions 2-4.
- Version C: Suggested for learners with a reading age of 8-14; questions are both text and video.
- Version D: Suggested for learners with a reading age of 11-16; questions are text only.
- Version E: Suggested for learners in a post-16 context; questions are text only.
All of the questions are closed responses, ranging from ‘Strongly Agree’ to ‘Strongly Disagree’, or emoji responses for younger reading ages. See the images below as an example.
A survey question from Element 4.1 (Version D)
A question from the Model for Great Teaching survey (Version B)
“The survey was such a useful, informative diagnostic tool that really empowered me to take advantage and take control of my own professional learning.” (Read full case study here.)
Mike Downes
Head of History
Head of History
Act on personalised feedback
The survey data is confidential for every teacher. Once five teachers have completed a survey, we send anonymised aggregated survey data to a Senior Leader’s account to identify school-wide strengths and areas for development.
This graph shows responses to the Model for Great Teaching survey. Each bar represents an element of practice and the collective agreement of students in relation to statements about classroom practice.
In this Model for Great Teaching survey, this teacher appears to have a real strength in managing disruptive behaviour, but also in elements of Dimension 4.
This is a pocket of expertise a school leader could identify to support, coach or guide other colleagues who are working on similar elements.
Develop adaptive expertise
Develop adaptive expertise in your chosen element with one of the Great Teaching Toolkit courses.
All of the courses incorporate structured collaboration with colleagues to help teachers to get better, together!
Teachers can also draw upon 500+ resources, ranging from blogs, videos, podcasts and eBooks, mapped to the Dimensions and Elements of the Model for Great Teaching.
“We’ve already had great feedback from colleagues who’ve found the surveys easy to use and love the way the information generated is displayed. One of the members of staff described them as ‘transformative’, as student feedback had really opened his eyes to how he supported students in planning and regulating their own learning.” (Read full case study here.)
Eleanor Richards
History Teacher, Learning and Teaching Advisor
History Teacher, Learning and Teaching Advisor
Check progress
Following a period of integrating a new strategy or technique into your classroom practice, generating more feedback is really important to check your progress.
The image below shows the breakdown of scores over three of the survey items, with the three bars of each showing feedback from October to April, left to right. This shows an especially noteworthy improvement for “My teacher encourages us to work independently” and “When we are stuck, our teacher encourages us to work out the answer without help”.
Embed Great Teaching
Every student deserves a great teacher. Great teaching is for everyone.
Enter the number of teachers below to see how much a Great Teaching Toolkit membership costs.
For more than 100 licences in one school/college, or to discuss group and MAT rates across multiple schools, please contact us.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I provide my colleagues with professional development bespoke to their needs?
The learner surveys in the Great Teaching Toolkit enable individual teachers to identify development areas bespoke to their needs.
Learners have more collective experience of the classroom environment and teaching practices than anyone else, and their feedback can be a powerful tool for teacher learning, offering additional insight that allow teachers to personalise their professional development.
How can I provide my colleagues with a framework to get feedback on their practice?
The learner surveys in the Great Teaching Toolkit cover each of the four Dimensions from the Model for Great Teaching – a summary of the best available research evidence on the things teachers do, know and believe that has the biggest impact on student learning.
Can we try the surveys before we buy?
Yes, you can sign up for a Great Teaching Toolkit: Starter Account, which allows you to see the platform, try a student feedback survey, and sample lessons from the courses.
Click here to create your account.
How can I identify priority areas for my school’s professional development?
While the survey data is confidential for every teacher, once five teachers have completed a survey, we send anonymised aggregated survey data to a Senior Leader’s account to identify school-wide strengths and areas for development.
How have schools implemented the Great Teaching Toolkit?
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How can I be even better next year than this?
Bangkok Patana School are now entering their second year of using the Great Teaching Toolkit (GTT). Following an initial pilot, the school are now rolling it out across all Secondary colleagues, underpinning their Professional Growth Programme. We spoke to their Secondary Principal, Matt Seddon, Assistant Principal, Luke Jones and Great Teaching Lead, Eleanor Richards about […]
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Feedback from the most important people
We recently spoke to Mike Downes, Head of History and a teacher at Dulwich College, Shanghai Pudong. The college began using the Great Teaching Toolkit in 2021 as an initial pilot of 40 to 45 staff, before rolling out more widely. This was as part of their ongoing commitment to professional development that is evidence-based […]
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“The Assessment Lead Programme is some of the best CPD I’ve done in a long, long time”
Parrenthorn High School in Manchester began using the Great Teaching Toolkit in summer 2022, focusing specifically on our Assessment Lead Programme, to try and drive whole-staff development in assessment theory and practice. We spoke to Alex Havers, Assistant Head Teacher and the school’s Coordinator, and Maria Stevens, Head of MFL, about how they are implementing […]
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The Assessment Lead Programme has been very helpful, both within my classroom and beyond it!
Jess Alfaro is a third grade teacher and Math Content Coordinator at Summit School in North Carolina, USA. Summit began using the Great Teaching Toolkit in 2022 to support their ongoing commitment to evidence-based and personal professional development of their staff. Her focus has been working with a couple of colleagues through our Assessment Lead […]
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An excellent framework to support individualised professional development
Dawn Watson is Headteacher of Eaglesfield Paddle CE Primary Academy, who joined the Great Teaching Toolkit in 2021 as part of a small group of schools across Cumbria with the support of the WELL Project (Western Excellence in Learning & Leadership). In light of the feedback from this initial group, several more schools in West […]
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Encouraging better conversations about teaching and learning
Rachel Gordon is Assistant Head (Teaching and Learning) at Eltham College. She has led the school’s professional development program, using the Great Teaching Toolkit as the framework on which all discussions about teaching are based. She manages the schools use of the GTT platform and coordinates the use of student surveys with teachers across the […]
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“Empowering staff” with their professional development
Olivia Graham is Assistant Headteacher at Queen Elizabeth II High School on the Isle of Man, having previously been Head of Maths and Director of CPD at the school. She began using the Great Teaching Toolkit with the school’s staff in September 2022, so we caught up with her to see how the first six […]
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Bespoke, targeted and relevant CPD
Ruth Stead is the Assistant Headteacher of Netherhall School, in Cumbria. Netherhall School has 800 students on roll, 39% of which are pupil premium students. Over the last 6 years, Netherhall has been on a journey from ‘special measures’ to becoming a ‘good’ school in 2018. In 2021, Ruth enrolled Netherall School on the Great […]
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Efficient and impactful professional learning
John Etty is Associate Headmaster at Auckland Grammar School, one of the first schools to adopt the Great Teaching Toolkit, having supported with the development of the student surveys in 2020. We spoke to John about how the GTT has helped inform a whole-school approach to professional development with his staff, both during lockdowns and […]
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“I would 100% recommend the GTT, no doubt about it!”
Neil Groves is Head of Humanities at Bangkok Prep School; he and his colleagues came to the Great Teaching Toolkit after having previously done the Science of Learning Programme with EBE. Here, we speak to him about this journey so far. You came across EBE before we launched the Great Teaching Toolkit via our […]
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Using the GTT means all staff are learning together
Jablai Saleh is Headteacher at Story Wood School, a primary school in Birmingham. She and her team began using the Great Teaching Toolkit in summer 2022, and we caught up with her to see how the staff were benefitting from access to the tools, courses and resources the GTT provides. How has the GTT […]
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The Great Teaching Toolkit has the potential to be game-changing for our whole-school PL
Jean-Pierre Adamson is Head of English at the German-Swiss International School in Hong Kong. Having initially engaged with the Great Teaching Toolkit through our free Starter account and checked out the Foundation Course, he joined the GTT on a solo account with one other colleague to access the full suite of resources, courses and tools. […]
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Transformative professional learning that is done “with you, not to you”
Jamie Kelleher is Head of English and Assistant Headteacher at Birchgrove Comprehensive School in Swansea. They were among the first to join the Great Teaching Toolkit on its launch in September 2021, as part of a pilot across three local authorities in Wales. Now into their second year of access, we spoke to Jamie to […]
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The GTT as personal professional development
David Cooksey works in an international school setting, and joined the Great Teaching Toolkit on an individual basis in order to fulfil his own professional development needs, as well as trialling the full offering with a view to potentially rolling it out more widely in the future. Here we speak to him about how he […]
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Using the Great Teaching Toolkit as part of an ITT programme
Teesside University’s ITT programme uses the Great Teaching Toolkit to integrate additional analysis and critique of theory, research and expert practice into their curriculum. All trainees and tutors have a GTT account, giving instant access to courses and feedback tools that help them set goals, build understanding, develop skills and embed the habits of effective […]
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The GTT is my go-to for teaching and learning!
Farmor’s School is a secondary academy in Gloucestershire. Having worked with EBE in a previous role, the school’s Assistant Head for Teaching and Learning, Claire Wells, began using the Great Teaching Toolkit in summer 2022. We caught up with her to find out how she was finding it, halfway through the academic year. How did […]
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Identifying an area of focus with student surveys
The student surveys in the Great Teaching Toolkit can be used to identify an area of focus. David Jones, Assistant Head of Wallington County Grammar School, spoke to us about how they have been using student surveys to inform professional development choices. Why did you decide to use the student surveys? For years we […]
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Using student surveys to support professional development
Student surveys are one of the feedback tools available to teachers as part of the Great Teaching Toolkit. The student surveys can be used by a teacher to gain insights into their practice, and provide indicators into what they are already great at, and what could be an area of focus to be even greater. […]
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The GTT is a must for teachers at any level!
Durham Sixth Form Centre is one of a number of schools and colleges using the Great Teaching Toolkit as part of a group led by Education Durham. With this partnership having begun almost a year ago at the time of writing, we caught up with Sue Barnard, Teacher and ITT Programme Lead at DSFC, about […]
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A common language for great teaching
First published for ISC Research, ‘A common language for great teaching’ was written by Julia Armstrong, Assistant Head for Professional Learning at Kellett Senior School Hong Kong. As part of a review of Continuous Professional Learning (CPL), the senior leadership team at Kellett School has identified the potential of using a clearly articulated common […]
