Supporting High-Ability Students

Planning for extension, challenge, and enrichment

Responsive teaching involves using evidence of learning to adapt instruction, as required, to support student learning and engagement. For high-ability students, this may mean once subject mastery is identified, the teacher can compact the curriculum to allow for greater depth, complexity, and challenge than their peers.

Adjustments can be planned to meet the needs of high-ability students within each of the 4 elements of effective teaching practices, as outlined in the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model (VTLM 2.0). This may include offering:

• access to advanced or deeper content and processes
• tasks that require more complex thinking
• opportunities to explore interests beyond the standard curriculum
• the explicit teaching of skills for independent learning.

Responsive teaching for high ability may look different depending on each context. There is no single approach to best practice. When planning to meet the needs of high-ability students, teachers are encouraged to make decisions based on the following areas:

• student readiness – how prepared are they for the learning and level of increased challenge
• student interests – what topics or ideas they enjoy
• student learning profile – what are their preferences around pace, collaboration, and ways to access, process, and present information
• curriculum coherence – which advanced activities will reinforce, build on, and extend the related whole-class learning.

VTLM 2.0 practice guides to assist responsive teaching are available on Arc.

Teachers can develop learning activities that offer greater challenge and extension for high-ability students by:

• using the 4Ss model (scaffold, scale, structure, and style) to adapt tasks
• incorporating higher-order thinking skills
• tailoring the resourcing or the pace of the curriculum being delivered
• using flexibility and creativity to engage high-ability students
• using collaboration strategies to support learning and social-emotional wellbeing.

These strategies can be explored in more detail in the resource Adjusting the learning for extension, challenge and enrichment (DOCX).