The Elements of Great Teaching

The Elements of Great Teaching

The videos on this page summarise four of the 17 elements from the Model for Great Teaching, published in the Great Teaching Toolkit: Evidence Review. The full collection of 17 videos can be accessed by creating a free Great Teaching Toolkit: Starter Account.

Use the videos to help bring these elements of great teaching to life as part of conversations with colleagues about evidence-informed teaching and learning. What could be more important!

Dimension One – Understanding the Content

Great teachers understand the content they are teaching and how it is learnt. This means teachers should have deep and fluent knowledge and a flexible understanding of the content they are teaching and how it is learnt, including its inherent dependencies. They should have an explicit repertoire of well-crafted explanations, examples and tasks for each topic they teach.

View all videos relating to Dimension One in a GTT: Starter Account.

Element 1.1 – Content Knowledge

Element 2.1 – Teacher-Student relationship

Dimension Two – Creating a supportive environment

Great teachers create a supportive environment for learning. A supportive environment is characterised by relationships of trust and respect between students and teachers, and among students. It is one in which students are motivated, supported and challenged and have a positive attitude towards their learning.

View all videos relating to Dimension Two in a GTT: Starter Account.

Dimension Three – Maximising opportunity to learn

Great teachers manage the classroom to maximise opportunity to learn. No model of teaching effectiveness could be complete without classroom management: managing the behaviour and activities of a class of students is what teachers do. Yet is it also controversial. Different teachers have very different styles, values and priorities.

View all videos relating to Dimension Three in a GTT: Starter Account.

Element 3.3 – Preventing and responding to disruption 

Element 4.1 – Structuring

Dimension Four – Activating hard thinking

Great teachers manage the classroom to maximise opportunity to learn. No model of teaching effectiveness could be complete without classroom management: managing the behaviour and activities of a class of students is what teachers do. Yet is it also controversial. Different teachers have very different styles, values and priorities.

View all videos relating to Dimension Four in a GTT: Starter Account.

Aligned to the Model for Great Teaching

The Great Teaching Toolkit platform offers every teacher a structured, personalised journey to deepen teaching expertise, all aligned to the Elements and Dimensions of the Model for Great Teaching.

Define a clear, achievable goal based on insights. Access evidence summaries, curated resources, courses, videos and classroom techniques. Use step-by-step guidance to implement and adapt techniques authentically to your classroom.