This is the question I was asked by one of my PGDE students that made me think there are some words we use in Initial Teach Education (ITE) that are not commonly used in other parts of society.
The student had been told that they needed to use a plenary at the end of the lesson. They wanted to know what is it exactly and why is it a good ending to a lesson. I considered my understanding of a plenary and realised my insight came primarily from experience and not from literature or research.
If I want and believe that teachers should be research informed practitioners (GTCS, 2021) then I should be able to direct the student to appropriate literature and research that would help answer their questions.
I started by looking at the core literature we recommend for the pedagogical element of the PGDE programme. As these are available as e-books via the University Library it allowed me to search for the term “plenary” very easily.
The first text I searched was Kyriacou (2007, p44) which only mentions the term once in a section about starting a lesson and simple states “… or a plenary at the end.” Which fails to address the questions raised by the student.
The next text was Petty (2009) which returned 12 matches to the search for “plenary”. This text is more informative, explaining that a plenary is about what has been learned in a lesson. It also describes using a plenary to allow groups of pupils to report back to the whole class. It also conflates a plenary with a debriefing when using role-play scenarios in the class.
The third text was Muijs & Reynolds (2017), which starts with a brief mention in relation to lesson structure but does not provide an explanation. Later in the text, however, they describe it as an activity where pupils can reflect on their learning and describe how this might be done using a question poster to stimulate reflection.
Cohen (2010, p71) mention the focus of a plenary session being to address “misconceptions, to identify progress, to summarise key facts and ideas, to link to other work, for forward planning and to set homework.” All to be done in the last 10 to 15 minutes of a lesson. Like other texts the use of a plenary is related to the structure or routines of a class lesson. Later in the text, under the lesson phases, the clearing up phase mentions using a plenary to provide feedback to learners and teachers, which suggests it has a part to play in formative assessment strategies. Later still, in the text a plenary is described as an activity that follows group discussion and where a member of the group will “report back” to the teacher and class.
Pollard et al (2018) is a popular text for teacher education, but only has 3 references to plenaries. The first is in relation to the pacing of a lesson. In a similar way to Cohen (2010), Pollard (2018) discusses the ending of lessons and suggest that the concept of the plenary is a positive method of reviewing progress, reinforcing good work and for contextualising completed activities. The final mention is that using a plenary is a method of gathering ideas from different groups in the class.
The next two texts focus on Primary teaching and addressed the concept of a plenary in a similar fashion to the previous texts.
Cremin and Burnett (2018) first use the term plenary in a chapter on lesson planning where it is listed as a stage of short-term lesson planning process. There is no attempt to provide a detailed explanation of what a plenary session is. Later in a section about classroom talk a more detailed explanation of the term “whole-class closing plenary” (2018, p208) is provided and that it should be used to elicit learners ideas from the lesson and also allow pupils to reflect on their participation in the lesson. In a later section of the text the use of reflection and discussion in the plenary is justified in relation to helping develop pupils metacognition skills.
Another Primary focussed book by Carroll and McCulloch (2018) initially mentions a plenary in a section relating to phases of a collaborative learning experience. They indicate that it is there to debrief learning and allow pupils the opportunity to reflect on their learning. Although plenary is mentioned two more time it is only as the later stage of a lesson.
The final text was Capel et al (2013) has an impressive 14 matches for the term “plenary”when searched for. The first mention is in relation to determining pupil’s learning and is used without further explanation. In the section “How lessons begin and end” (2013, p230), a plenary is suggested as a method to end a lesson and is used to “summarise key points” and allow pupils to reflect on their learning. Later in the text (p232) the authors emphasise again that the plenary is an activity that gets pupils to summarise their learning and to consider next steps in their learning. The concept of a plenary is dealt with in more detail (p273) with the focus being on summarising learning in relation to lesson objectives. There is also mention of the teacher using “skilful questioning” to assess learning. Capel et al (2013, p483) suggest that the teacher should note “unexpected events and achievements” during a lesson for the plenary session. Presumably to provide specific feedback to the class about their learning.
Taking all these texts into account it would appear that, in answer to the original question, a plenary is the ending of the lesson where learning is summarised and reflected upon using formative assessment strategies.
This leaves the question of why do we end a lesson with a plenary?
Watt and Burrell (2006) suggest two influences as to why plenaries are enshrined in lessons. Firstly, they suggest that the DfEE (1999) and OFSTED (2003) both prescribe the use of a plenary as good practice at a national (England and Wales) level. Secondly, they link the plenary to the research of Black and William (1998) on formative assessment, which suggests pupils learning will be improved.
Another reason for why we do plenaries might be related to the work of Ebbinghaus (1913) and the ‘forgetting curve’. His research showed that by revisiting learning over a period of time the learner was less likely to forget. This may be the best reason for why plenaries are valuable elements of a lesson: they help learners remember their learning.
Lastly, the final reason for doing a plenary is that it has become a de facto ending to lessons, lectures, seminars and conferences. It is what is expected of a beginning student teacher from the mentoring teachers. It is also a common experience for learners so would seem contrary not to end the lesson with a plenary.
Reading List
- Carroll, M. and McCulloch, M. (2018) Understanding Teaching and Learning in Primary Education. 2nd ed. London: SAGE Publications.
- Capel, S.A., Leask, M. and Turner, T. (2013) Learning to teach in the secondary school: a companion to school experience. 6th ed. Oxfordshire, England: Routledge.
- Cohen, L. (2010) A guide to teaching practice. Rev. 5th ed. London: Routledge.
- Cremin, T. & Burnett, C. 2018, Learning to teach in the primary school, 4th ed. Routledge, an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, Abingdon, Oxon.
- DfEE (1999) Guide for your professional development: Book 1—The daily mathematics lesson , London : Department for Education and Employment.
- Ebbinghaus, H. (1913) Memory. A Contribution to Experimental Psychology. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University.
- Kyriacou, C. (2007) Essential teaching skills. 3rd ed. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.
- Muijs, D. and Reynolds, D (2017) Effective teaching: Evidence and practice, 4th ed. London: SAGE Publications.
- Ofsted (2003) The national literacy and numeracy strategies and the primary curriculum, London : Her Majesty’s Stationary Office .
- Petty, G. (2009) Teaching today: a practical guide. 4th ed. Cheltenham, Glos: Nelson Thornes
- Pollard, A., Black-Hawkins, K., Hodges, G. C., Dudley, P., Higgins, S., James, M., Linklater, H., Swaffield, S., Swann, M., Winterbottom, M., & Wolpert, M. A. (2019). Reflective teaching in schools 5th ed. Bloomsbury Academic.
- Watt, H. and Burrell, A. (2006) ‘Making the plenary session count’, Education 3-13, 34(1), pp. 11–18. doi: 10.1080/03004270500507537.