Developing and Embedding Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities
Learning Intentions and Success Criteria
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Learning intentions are usually stated at the start of a lesson plan. They summarise what the teacher expects the result of teaching and learning to be. They are usually a single statement or several closely associated statements of what pupils will learn as a result of the lessons.
Success criteria expand on the learning intentions. They specify a set of conditions that pupils must meet. Success criteria clarify key factors that can be used to indicate where, or to what extent, the pupils have achieved their learning intentions.
It’s generally accepted that learning intentions should be shared with classes so that pupils have a clear sense of what they are expected to know, understand and be able to do at the end of the lesson or sequence of lessons.
These materials on learning intentions and success criteria outlined below can be used to run an in-house Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programme on Learning Intentions and Success Criteria should your school wish to focus on developing this approach at whole-school level.
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This PDF paper provides an overview of some of the significant issues around creating learning intentions and success criteria. The principles are appropriate to primary and post-primary settings (although the examples used are mainly set in a post-primary context).
Suggested Steps for CPD is a sample exercise that can be used in-house to run sessions on learning intentions and success criteria. The List of Thinking Words identify the active verbs
This PowerPoint presentation summarises the principal features of the CPD approach to learning intentions and success criteria.